Electricity poured into Electivire's body. The current around it intensified, scorching black trails into the arena floor. Motor Drive churned, converting the incoming energy into speed, doing what it was designed to do.
Then Electivire's expression changed.
The power wasn't stopping. Motor Drive kept drinking, but the flow had no end. It poured in and poured in, a river with no bottom, and Electivire's capacity was finite.
There was a ceiling to how much electricity Motor Drive could absorb before the conversion process bottlenecked. Past that ceiling, the excess had nowhere to go.
If this kept up, Electivire's own body would become the overflow tank.
Paul saw it. The move, 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt, wasn't a burst. It was sustained output. A continuous beam of Elite Four-calibre electricity with no sign of tapering off.
"Electivire, vent it! Release everything you've absorbed!" If full absorption was impossible, then absorb what it could and discharge the rest. Electivire should still be able to manage that much.
Silence.
No response.
Electivire's face was locked in a rictus of agony, sweat beading on its skin and evaporating the instant it formed, vaporised by the current running through every cell of its body. It couldn't move. It couldn't speak. The pressure crushing it from the inside out had gone beyond anything Paul had prepared for.
Paul's face stayed blank. His fists, hidden at his sides, clenched until the knuckles went white. He was not as calm as he looked.
"Pikachu. Finish it."
"PIKA!"
The golden aura surrounding Pikachu flared to a new intensity. The light was no longer something you could look at. The protective barrier around the arena groaned under the ambient discharge alone, stray sparks crawling across its surface.
The shield was rated to withstand attacks at the lower end of Elite Four power. The fact that the residual energy was straining it told the full story of what the direct hit was doing to Electivire.
Goodshow wiped sweat from his brow in the VIP section. If the barrier failed, the front rows would be in serious danger.
Five seconds passed.
Five seconds that felt like five years to Electivire. Motor Drive had stopped absorbing. Its body was taking the full current now, every volt of it, and the damage was compounding on top of everything Pikachu had inflicted earlier in the match.
Electivire hit its limit.
10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt detonated.
The explosion of light and sound swallowed the arena whole. Pikachu dropped from the sky, no longer suspended by the current, and landed on all fours. The haze rolled across the field, thick and crackling with residual static.
When it cleared, Electivire was standing.
Pikachu's eyes sharpened. Still up? That move had cost half of Pikachu's total energy reserves. At that output, against an opponent already battered from a full match, there should have been nothing left.
One second. Two. Three.
Electivire hadn't moved.
The referee leaned forward, peered at Electivire's face, and saw its eyes rolled back.
Unconscious. Standing. Defeated on its feet.
Rare. Worthy of respect. But defeated all the same.
"Electivire is unable to battle. Pikachu wins!" The referee's flag dropped. "With all six of Paul's Pokémon unable to battle, the winner of the Indigo Plateau Conference Final is Ash, from Pallet Town!"
The announcer's voice erupted across the stadium, raw and electric with emotion. "The Champion of the Indigo Plateau Conference is ASH!"
For a single held breath, the stadium was silent.
Then it broke.
Ten thousand voices, all at once, a wall of sound that shook the structure and rattled the barrier pylons. Cheers, screams, stamping feet. The noise was overwhelming, physical, a force you felt in your chest.
In the stands, arguments were already starting. "Paul was strong, but Ash was stronger." "Gary at least knocked out one of Ash's Pokémon." "Infernape never fainted, that doesn't count." "Pit Paul against Gary and Gary loses." "Who cares about second place? Ash just won!"
None of it mattered to the boy on the field.
Ash stood frozen for two full seconds, brain catching up to reality. Then he sprinted forward, scooped Pikachu off the ground, and hurled it into the air.
"We did it! We won, Pikachu! We're Champions!"
Pikachu tumbled once, grinned, and landed back in Ash's arms. Its hat, Ash's hat, sat crooked on its head.
This was Ash's first Indigo Plateau Conference. His first championship. A title he'd dreamed about since the day he left Pallet Town.
And it was only the beginning.
Beyond Conference Champion lay the Elite Four. The true Regional Championship. The Masters Eight, where the strongest trainers in the world competed for the throne. The road ahead was longer than anything he'd walked so far.
None of that dimmed what he felt right now.
Paul recalled Electivire in silence. He lifted his gaze toward Ash for a fraction of a second, then turned and walked away.
His back was straight, his stride was even, but something about the set of his shoulders carried a weight that hadn't been there before.
Ash caught the retreating figure just as the adrenaline began to fade. "That was an incredible battle, Paul! Let's do it again sometime!"
Paul didn't turn around. His step hitched for the briefest instant, then he kept walking. His silhouette shrank down the tunnel and disappeared into shadow.
The Conference had its Champion, but the event wasn't finished. Third place still needed deciding, and this year, bronze meant something. The top three earned a trip to Dragon Island, which made the consolation match anything but.
Gary and Travis's battle began less than an hour after the final. It should have started sooner, but the arena needed extensive repairs first.
The fight was brutal. Gary emptied every trick in his arsenal and scraped past Travis by the thinnest of margins, claiming the last Dragon Island ticket.
The awards ceremony followed. League President Goodshow presented the trophies, and when Ash lifted the heavy golden cup above his head, the grin on his face could have lit the stadium on its own.
"I'm the Indigo Plateau Conference Champion!"
"Pika-Pikachu!"
Trainer and Pokémon shouted in perfect unison, the same way they'd celebrated every Gym Badge. But this wasn't a badge. It was a League trophy. Under the afternoon sun, the gold blazed so bright that Gary and Paul, standing on either side of the podium, couldn't help but glance over. Ash's joy was infectious and blinding in equal measure.
The ceremony ended. The crowd began to filter out of Indigo Stadium. The matches had been broadcast worldwide, and from this day forward, Ash's name would carry a different weight. What he didn't know was that the Johto League had already begun revising the ruleset for the upcoming Silver Conference. This year's tournament would be unlike any before.
But that was a problem for later.
Dragon Island departure was set for seven days out. Time for everyone to rest. Lance left early to prepare the island, sectioning off areas that would remain restricted even to the invited guests and assembling three separate sets of location clues for the competitors. The work was considerable.
The other three members of the Elite Four scattered in different directions, each hunting for Mega Stones of their own. Lance was the only one who possessed one. The next title challenge could come at any time, and showing up without Mega Evolution was no longer an option.
Lorelei in particular felt the urgency. If she couldn't find a compatible stone before the next match, stopping Lance would be out of the question.
The Indigo Plateau Conference was over. Its ripples were not.
The festival stalls ringing the plateau hadn't packed up yet. Vendors selling food, souvenirs, and carnival games still lined the paths, lanterns swaying in the evening breeze.
Which made it the perfect backdrop for a date.
Yes. A date.
Misty had said the word the night before, and now it was happening, and she had no idea what to do with herself. Her face had been various shades of red since they'd left the hotel.
She'd thrown the invitation out on impulse, carried by moonlight and emotion, and Ash had just... accepted. Whether he understood the full weight of what he'd agreed to was an open question.
Did Misty have feelings for Ash? That wasn't a question at all. More than half a year of travelling together, watching him grow from a clueless rookie into someone extraordinary, watching his kindness and his stubborn courage and, if she was being honest, his looks.
Maybe it had started the moment she saw a boy standing in a river, shielding a Pikachu from a flock of Spearow with nothing but his own body.
A date wasn't a confession. But it was close. And Ash being here, walking beside her, meant something, even if he hadn't thought through exactly what.
They wandered the plateau with no plan and no destination. Pikachu rode Ash's shoulder. Togepi dozed in Misty's arms. The evening air was warm. Just walking side by side was enough to make Misty's chest feel full.
Ash felt something too, though he couldn't name it. Normally the only things that stirred this kind of warmth in him were undiscovered Pokémon or a battle that pushed him to his limit.
If he had to put it into words, the best he could manage was: comfortable.
The silence broke when they reached a shooting gallery. Misty spotted a Starmie plush sitting on the prize shelf and stopped dead.
Ash followed her gaze. Starmie. Her favourite. He didn't need to be told.
"You want it?"
She nodded with the enthusiasm of a starving Pidgey. In her arms, Togepi copied the motion.
"I've got this." Ash grinned, grabbed Misty's hand without thinking, and pulled her toward the booth. He didn't notice the colour that flooded her cheeks. His attention was on the vendor.
"How much for a round?"
"Two hundred for ten shots." The vendor leaned back in his chair with a practiced sales pitch already forming. "Don't balk at the price. These are premium plushies. Top quality. Way better than the street stuff. Knock one down and you're already ahead on val..." He trailed off mid-sentence, eyes widening. "Wait. Aren't you Ash? The Indigo Plateau Champion?"
Ash took two startled steps backward. He'd been walking around unrecognised for so long he'd forgotten that had changed.
"Tell you what." The vendor was on his feet now, rubbing his hands together with a grin that was equal parts starstruck and opportunistic. "Champion's discount. One hundred for ten shots. Have fun, win the girl a prize, and maybe mention to a few people where you played, yeah?"