It was time for Shiranui's battle against Soledad.  The battles in the Grand Festival were of the double battle format with the same winning conditions as the regular Pokémon Contests.  Soledad sent out Lapras and Slowbro and Shiranui sent out his Blaziken and his shiny Aegislash.  "Lapras, use Hydro Pump on Blaziken; Slowbro, Fire Blast on Aegislash!"
"Niwatori, make like a swordsman and use Aerial Ace on Lapras; Yoto, Sacred Sword!  Mega Ring activate!"  Niwatori the Blaziken let off a glow as he Mega Evolved into a Mega Blaziken before wielding Yoto like the two-handed sword he is, one talon-like hand gripping the handle and the other holding onto the sharp pommel.  He then showed off his speed while Yoto changed to his Blade Forme and let off a cyan glow before Niwatori used the Aegislash he wielded to slash Lapras into a one-hit knockout.  Slowbro breathed out an intense flame that formed into a [i]daimonji[/i] shape, but Niwatori was too fast for the attack to have any effect.  Shiranui still lost points, but Soledad lost more points and was down one Pokémon.
"Slowbro, Trick Room!"
"Niwatori, use Acrobatics on Slowbro; Yoto, fire a Shadow Ball at Slowbro!"  Niwatori jumped high into the air and let go of Yoto before nimbly striking Slowbro for a lot of damage.  Before Slowbro could recover from the Mega Blaziken's attack, it copped a Shadow Ball from above compliments of Yoto.  The two-pronged attack did enough damage to knock Slowbro out and Shiranui advanced to the semi-final.[hr]After the battle, Shiranui was pondering on how he would face Sashia's Pokémon should the computer pit him against her in the semis.