It was time for Ash and Trip's battle, Julian waited as both trainers made their way into the battlefield, first the announcer introduced Trip, as Trip entered the battlefield the people started to cheer louder, being someone from Unova he had the support of the home team.

The announcer then called out Ash and Ash received even a bigger welcome, people know him and he is quite famous, even though he doesn't have a league win under his name, he has been in two big finals proving that he is a very strong trainer on his own. ​​

Both Ash and Trip stared at each other as they knew that the journey will end here for one of them and they don't want to be that person.

Referee "This will be a one vs one pokemon battle, the battle will end when one of the trainer's pokemon won't be able to battle anymore"

The referee explained the rules of the battle and asked the trainers to choose their pokemon, Trip went first and sent out his Serperior while Ash sent his Pikachu.

A rematch once again, both of them battled before in the past with these same pokemon, while Pikachu continues to grow stronger, Serperior on the other hand evolved from a Snivy into what it is today, it is stronger and faster than it ever was.

But to the eyes of the strong trainers, they can clearly see this is a miss-matched battle, Pikachu here is a much stronger pokemon.

Julian also thought the same, unlike him, Ash can't help his pokemons level up super fast and have Omniforce to strengthen them, his Pikachu is still struggling to level up unlike Julian's pokemon but Pikachu's power is still beyond any elite level pokemon and can easily take on champion level pokemon and even defeat them.

Pikachu has also defeated many legendary pokemons on his own, now it is up to Trip to prove to everyone that his Serperior can hang in there with the best of the best.

Now that both trainers are ready, the referee began the match.

Ash started the battle with a Quick Attack, his Pikachu moved and left behind afterimages as he ran around the battlefield, Serperior made sure to not lose sight of Pikachu, as soon as Pikachu got behind and tried to land that Quick Attack but Serperior seems to have sensed the attack coming and moved out of his way.

Pikachu missed and landed on his feet and there was surprise written on his face, he didn't expect Serperior to be so fast.

Trip "Use Aqua Tail"

Serperior charged at Pikachu and turned its whole body, putting all its body weight and momentum behind its tail while using Aqua Tail, a veil of glowing water energy surrounded Serperior's tail.

Ash "Counter with Iron Tail"

Pikachu used his legs and launched himself towards Serperior as his tail turned itself into hard iron and swung it at Serperior, both of them collided creating a massive shockwave, both pokemons got sent flying backward from that exchange, Pikachu did a backflip and got on his feet while Serperior crashed on the ground since it had no hands and legs to land on.

Serperior got up without much effort, Trip doesn't seem much concerned about it at all and continued to focus on the battle.

The battle continued for a little while, Pikachu and Serperior continued battling, Serperior tried to use its weight and physical power to dominate in this battle but Pikachu was too fast and his moves were too explosive to take them head-on.

Serperior slowly started to get tried after moving that huge mass of it around the battlefield while Pikachu still had a lot inside his tank.

Trip "Let's end this, Use Leaf Strom"

Trip wanted to hit hard and called for a Leaf Storm, a massive green tornado appeared, sharp leaves were moving outside the tornado at high speed as it made its way towards Pikachu.

Ash "Pikachu, use Thunder"

Pikachu charged up his cheeks and shot a lightning bolt at the sky which suddenly dispersed and created a massive dark cloud in the sky, suddenly a massive bolt of lightning came crashing down on the Leaf Tornado and hitting it right in the middle.

The sudden explosion from inside the tornado destroyed it and the sharp leaves flew everywhere along with the wild winds that blew everything on the battlefield.

Ash "Pikachu, use Electro Ball"

Pikachu shot a fast electric ball at Serperior as soon as the tornado got destroyed.

Trip "Counter with Vine Whip"

Serperior shot two whips at the Electro Ball, the first whip slowed down the Electro Ball and the second one destroyed it, right after that Trip called out for a Dragon Pulse and Pikachu countered with a Thunderbolt.

The battle continued and the more it got dragged out the more Serperior was getting tired and this battle was soon coming to an end.

Trip "Use Iron Tail"

As Serperior got closer, it swing its massive tail using Iron Tail, seeing the incoming attack, Ash made his call as well.

Ash "Use Thunderbolt"

Pikachu charged up and blasted and powerful Thunderbolt right at the Iron Tail by making some distance between them, the clash of the moves suddenly caused a big explosion, and as soon as the smoke disappeared Serperior could be seen holding its heads up but its eyes were tight shut.

Its head then suddenly crashed on the ground and fainted.

Referee "Serperior is unable to battle, Pikachu wins"

And just like that Ash won and Trip will have to end his Unova journey here, Trip clenched his fist and gritted his teeth in frustration as he suffered another loss at Ash's hand.

Ash on the other hand was very happy that he won and will be continuing forward into the qualifiers.

Julian who was watching this smiled like an old man, he knew that Trip will one day become a great trainer and maybe even the champion of Unova in the future and he would love to battle with the young man when that happens.

Julian headed back to his hotel room as the last battle of the day ended, tomorrow will be another round of the Preliminary before the Qualifiers start.