Chapter 328: Oceanic Museum
At the Grand Festival Kannazuki Tournament finals, Ash and May stood on opposite sides of the stage.
May said, "Ash, I won't hold back!"
Ash smiled, "Yeah, me neither."
Although he said that, before going on stage, Ash had actually agreed with Milotic to hold back as much as possible and put on a good show without letting anyone else notice anything amiss.
Both sides released their Pokémon simultaneously.
"Beautifly, use Air Cutter!"
"Milotic, use Whirlpool."
Beautifly flapped its wings to launch two wind blades. While Milotic raised a Whirlpool to block the Air Cutter, the Whirlpool also trapped Beautifly.
May's score dropped sharply.
"Beautifly, use Hidden Power to break free!"
Upon hearing this, Beautifly instantly unleashed its full power to disperse the Whirlpool and fired five beams of light at Milotic.
"Milotic, use Aqua Ring."
Milotic once again surrounded itself with water; Aqua Ring would restore stamina every turn.
Both Ash and May's scores dropped, but May's score dropped a bit more. After all, Aqua Ring was a continuous recovery move, and the water wrapping around Milotic added a unique beauty to it.
May glanced at the time and the score, thinking to herself, "No, if this keeps up, I'm definitely going to lose!"
"Beautifly, use Bug Buzz!"
Beautifly vibrated its body, emitting a special sound wave to attack.
As soon as the Bug Buzz started, Ash's score dropped.
"Milotic, use Disarming Voice."
Hearing this, Milotic looked up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle and then emitted a highly charming cry. Because the level difference was too great, Beautifly's Bug Buzz was interrupted upon hearing the sound, and it became unsteady, looking as if it were about to fall.
Both sound attacks caused damage to the other, but Milotic's offensive was clearly more effective, so May lost significantly more points than Ash.
Facing this result, May was not discouraged; she knew very well that Ash's strength was inherently greater than hers.
"Beautifly, use Hidden Power again!"
"Milotic, use Aqua Tail."
As Beautifly's Hidden Power struck, Milotic swung its tail, slapping it several times to block all the attacks.
Ash just parried each move as it came, and after five minutes, he won first place in the competition with a one-third point lead.
The Host, Vivian, announced, "The Champion of the Pokémon Contest Kannazuki Tournament is Mr. Ash!"
As the top guest of the competition, Mr. Contesta personally presented Ash with the Kannazuki Tournament Ribbon.
After the match, Ash's group returned to the Pokémon Center.
They were not in a hurry to head to Mauville City, because there was one more place in Slateport City that the group planned to visit, and that place was the Oceanic Museum of Slateport City.
... The next day.
Ash's group arrived at the so-called Oceanic Museum.
However, for some reason, the doors of the Oceanic Museum were tightly shut, with no intention of opening for business.
"Strange, according to the information in the guidebook, today shouldn't be a closed day, right?" Brock asked, puzzled.
"Could something have happened inside the venue?"
May, filled with doubt, went up to a nearby window to take a look.
"Hey, what are you guys doing here?"
Just then, a child wearing a straw hat appeared behind the three of them.
"Um... excuse me, why is the Oceanic Museum...?"
Just as May was about to ask, the child interrupted again, "I know, you must be thieves, trying to steal the exhibits from the Oceanic Museum, right?"
"Thieves?"
The child's words left Ash and the others speechless.
However, the child acted as if he had already decided that Ash and the others were thieves. He took out a Poké Ball, "Spheal, I'm counting on you! Teach these thieves a lesson!"
A round, spherical seal appeared in front of the three. Upon seeing Ash and the others, Spheal smiled and clapped its hands.
Seeing this, May said in surprise, "So this is a Spheal? It looks quite cute!"
"Go, Spheal, aim at those thieves and use Water Gun to deal with them!" The child pointed at Ash and the others.
Hearing this, Brock hurriedly waved his hands to explain, "Hey, hey, hey, kid, you must have misunderstood!"
However, after hearing the command, Spheal did not attack Ash and the others; instead, it laughed and clapped its hands.
This action left them all speechless.
"Hey, hey, hey, Spheal, not like that, use Water Gun!"
As soon as the child finished speaking, Spheal happily jumped and turned around, spraying a stream of water at him.
Seeing this familiar scene, May couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Pfft, hahaha~"
She had experienced the feeling of a Water Gun to the face at close range twice before, so she knew it didn't feel good.
"Spheal..."
Just as the child was about to continue the attack, a middle-aged man in a suit walked out of the museum.
The middle-aged man asked, "Yosuke, what happened?"
"Director Stern, these thieves are planning to steal the museum's exhi..." the child explained.
"So you're the director of the Oceanic Museum? This is actually a misunderstanding. We are traveling Pokemon Trainers who came to visit the Oceanic Museum and, by the way, learn about the Water-type Pokémon information recorded in the museum." Ash explained.
"What! Why didn't you explain it clearly just now?" the child named Yosuke asked, looking at Ash and the others.
"Uh... come on, we already explained, but you just wouldn't believe us and even released Spheal to attack us."
May said, speechless.
"Ah... I guess so. Sorry, sorry!"
Yosuke said, realizing it belatedly.
"So that's how it is. It's good that the misunderstanding is cleared up. I am Stern, and I am indeed the director of the Oceanic Museum. We are indeed closed today due to some issues, but since you are here, I will invite you inside to take a look." Stern said.
"Really? Thank you, Director Stern!" May said excitedly.
She did indeed want to learn about Water-type Pokémon. Among her current Pokémon, only Beautifly was suitable for participating in the Grand Festival, so she was quite keen on catching a Water-type Pokémon.
Just as Ash and the others entered the museum.
Less than two kilometers away from the museum, a red aircraft landed quietly. A team of personnel dressed in Team Magma uniforms got off the plane and headed straight for the Oceanic Museum.
In the bushes next to the museum.
The Team Rocket Trio, who had been tailing Ash's group, happened to see the Team Magma members planning to infiltrate the museum.
"What is that... Team Magma?" James said.
"Those guys seem to be planning to sneak into the museum, meow!"
"Could it be that there is something about the Legendary Pokémon Groudon inside the museum?"
Jessie speculated.
James nodded, "It's possible; otherwise, these guys wouldn't be taking action."
"Alright, then we'll snatch what they're looking for and take it back to present to the Boss!"
The trio had the idea of intercepting; after all, something related to a Legendary Pokémon must be very valuable.
Not long ago, they had received Giovanni's praise just for relaying the plans of Team Magma and Team Aqua. Now, if they could deliver even more valuable intelligence, a promotion and wealth would truly not be a dream.
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