Time flew by, and it was soon the opening day of the 1st Lumiose Doubles Championship.
Since the news of Aiden's participation had already spread all over the internet, the hype for this event was incredibly high, even faintly catching up to the traffic of the previous Masters Tournament.
After all, Teacher Azure had personally admitted that he was actually better at Double Battles than Singles. So, right from the start, he was viewed as a strong contender for the championship title.
If it weren't for the fact that this tournament's participant list was simply too absurd, "strong contender" might have been changed to "pre-determined champion."
But alas, what could they do when two legendary-tier experts suddenly crashed the tournament?
Whether it was the universally known Professor Oak or the highly respected Master Mustard of Galar, their careers as trainers were steeped in legend.
Moreover, it was said that before retiring, Professor Oak had never suffered a defeat on the international stage, making him a true "Undefeated Champion."
How remarkably similar to Aiden's own track record.
"There are no invincible legends in the battle world. I'd say Teacher Azure has a real shot at beating Professor Oak!"
"But you gotta respect the seniority. The man has fought more battles than we've eaten meals. The experience gap is just too massive—"
"I say Teacher Azure will absolutely insta-wipe Professor Oak. Anyone with me?"
"Insta-wipe my ass!"
"Insta-wipe for real!"
The internet's favorite pastime of comparing power levels was, of course, indispensable.
And the debates over who was stronger between Aiden and the two veterans indirectly fueled the fire of this tournament's popularity.
Right before the opening ceremony, Aiden, who was sitting in the competitor's lounge scrolling through his phone, saw the recent trending topics and casually gave a brief verdict——
"What a massive cope!"
"Besides, I don't lose anything by losing to Professor Oak. I'll just treat it as a tournament to grind some experience."
"Winning is a massive profit, losing is breaking even. At least mentally, I'm already in an invincible position!"
Sitting on the sofa across from him, Cynthia smiled elegantly.
"True, having a good mindset definitely greatly impacts the outcome."
"But you really do want to win, don't you, Aiden?"
"Otherwise, you wouldn't have prepared so many—special tactics."
Recalling the results of their closed-door intensive training over the past two days, a hint of helplessness flashed in Cynthia's eyes.
How should she put it—
She absolutely did not want Aiden to be her opponent.
Because whether she won or lost, her mental state would definitely explode by the end.
But I guess this has always been Aiden's tactical style, right?
"Of course. You enter a tournament to win. All that 'friendship first, competition second' stuff is just polite lip service."
Aiden nodded seriously.
"Plus, we have a reason we can't lose this time."
"The points from winning one Type Masters Tournament aren't enough to break into the world's top eight. If we want a direct ticket to the Masters Tournament, we need to grind more points."
After all, at their core, he and Cynthia were still rookies. Even though they had proven their strength by winning an international tournament, they still lacked a bit of refinement compared to true veterans.
If they could rank in the top eight via points, not only would they get direct access to the most important "Master Ball" tier event—the Masters Tournament—but they could also skip the preliminaries entirely and focus on dealing with more important opponents.
The advantages were huge, so they had to fight for it no matter what.
Even if he didn't want to, he had to fight for it for Cynthia's sake!
"I don't really mind, as long as I have fun."
Cynthia's tone remained calm; she truly didn't seem to care about such superficial fame.
After all, her original motivation for becoming a trainer was to travel with Gible, and she also hoped that Aiden, who had left Celestic Town, would be able to see her on TV—
And now, it seemed her wishes had already come true.
Did she no longer have a reason to fight?
Cynthia shook her head, immediately tossing that thought aside.
At the very least, in the next Masters Tournament, she had a chance to stand on the same stage as Aiden.
For a trainer, the best way to confirm each other's feelings was naturally through battle, so—
She would just look forward to the future a little bit.
"You seem to be in a good mood?"
Seeing Cynthia smile more and more warmly, Aiden felt healed and asked out of curiosity.
"Yeah."
Cynthia squinted slightly, unable to hide the bright smile in her amber eyes.
"After all, life goals are very important."
"Only with them can you avoid losing your way."
"Life goals?"
Aiden raised an eyebrow, subconsciously wondering if he had ever thought about his own life goals.
Excluding options like "having a whole football team of kids with Cynthia," it seemed he had never seriously thought about it before.
But everyone thinks differently!
For Aiden, he preferred his life to be an "exploration" full of fresh experiences, so he might not need a clearly defined goal.
The interesting future is still long, so as long as he could enjoy life, that was enough~
"Hey! Red, our seats are over here!"
"..."
A few minutes before the opening, a red-and-green clad pair of trainers navigated through the audience area.
It wasn't until he sat down in his seat that Blue finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness, we almost didn't make it."
"This is the most interesting tournament of the year. It would've been such a pity to miss it."
"It's a good thing Granny Agatha actually convinced Grandpa to temporarily come out of retirement for this tournament. That's how we got these front-row family tickets—"
Blue seemed to be talking to himself, but he was actually secretly observing Red's movements.
Seeing the other party silently nod and sit down to seriously observe the venue, he suddenly remembered what happened a while ago, and his gaze turned resentful.
"Come to think of it, no wonder I couldn't find you in Pallet Town recently. You sneaked off to Paldea to do special training with Teacher Azure."
"You bastard, do you want to beat me that badly?"
"—"
Red remained silent for a long time before finally shaking his head.
"No, I just wanted to test my own strength."
"Plus, I asked you back then, and you clearly said you didn't have time—"
Hearing Red's slightly wronged tone, Blue thought for a moment before finally remembering.
What was he doing back then?
It seemed like he had just recovered from Boss Giovanni's assessment and was preparing to rest for a few days before tackling the rest of the Champion path. At that time, he was absolutely physically and mentally exhausted. If he had just barely crawled out of the Viridian Gym, only to be intercepted and brutally tortured by Teacher Azure—
Wow, that would be way too terrifying!
"Alright, I forgive you."
Even realizing it seemed to be his own fault, Blue just gave a tsundere scoff and dropped the subject.
After buying a few packs of sunflower seeds and potato chips from a passing vendor Meowth, the opening ceremony officially began.
Perhaps because he had inherited the Oak family's consistent bloodline of research, Blue was actually a bit curious about that Meowth that could speak human language.
But compared to that, battles were still more important!
Today, besides his Grandpa's match, Teacher Azure and Cynthia's duo would also take the stage!
With his two favorite competitors both appearing, Blue had to admit he was indeed a bit hyped.
Whether it was Grandpa or Teacher Azure, the things he could learn from them would definitely come in handy in the future when challenging the Champion path!
A mere Champion is easy pickings!
Red seemed to sense his mood and nodded in agreement.
Before becoming a trainer, Red didn't understand why Blue carried such a heavy burden.
However, as his understanding of Professor Oak grew clearer, he could roughly understand Blue's mindset.
Forty years ago, the newly debuted Professor Oak (Youth Edition) had swept through the League in a crushing manner and maintained an undefeated streak in international tournaments for years.
He had won three consecutive Masters Tournament championship trophies—the ultimate goal of all trainers!
If he hadn't retired early, his number of championships would probably have increased by many more.
With such a martially proficient grandfather who was also unrivaled in the field of research, Blue had probably been under immense pressure since he was little, right?
Fortunately, over the past year of traveling, Blue had continuously grown on the road and finally untangled the knot in his heart.
Being able to see his best friend grow made Red genuinely happy for him.
This way, if the two of them had to determine a winner on the path to the Championship—
No matter who lost or won, there would be no more regrets. They would only be genuinely happy for the other person, right?
But still, he really didn't want to lose.
Red's expression turned serious as he quickly shifted his gaze to the battlefield below.
The simple opening interaction segment quickly ended, and four pairs of competitors took the stage simultaneously.
Because the hype for the first Doubles tournament was so high, a full 64 pairs of eligible competitors had signed up.
As a result, the matches for the first two days had to run simultaneously so as not to affect the set schedule.
He didn't really have any impression of the names of the three other pairs, but he was familiar with the Mustard & Honey duo.
Galar's most legendary Champion, a holder of the "Battle Legend" title on par with Professor Oak.
Although his wife didn't seem to have much of a reputation in the battle scene, she was reportedly a brilliant investor. Buying the ownership of the Isle of Armor was one of her major moves.
And the result of the match was just as he expected.
Master Mustard didn't even send out his two famous Urshifu. Relying solely on a Mienshao, he synergized perfectly with Honey's Blissey and quickly steamrolled their opponents.
Anyone who becomes a Champion has immense strength, let alone a "Battle Legend."
To use Teacher Azure's words, him and Professor Oak participating in a tournament of this level was no different from smurfing.
Although that phrase seemed perfectly applicable to Teacher Azure himself—
But when three monsters capable of crushing normal contestants appeared in a Premium Ball-tier tournament, could this pond still even be called a pond?
Red wasn't aware of these specifics; he only knew that he really wanted to see Teacher Azure's tactics when he faced them as soon as possible.
It would definitely be spectacular!
Red sincerely looked forward to it.
The skill gap between the first-round matchups was huge, so the pace was much faster than the audience imagined. Nearly all the matches were completely one-sided.
Soon, it reached the segment the audience had been dying for: "Let's see what unhinged, dirty strats Teacher Azure has prepared for us today."
Ding——!
When the silhouettes of the Aiden & Cynthia duo appeared on the stadium's big screen, the audience stands erupted in cheers, as expected.
"It's finally here, bros! I've been waiting all day just to learn strats from Teacher Azure!"
"Bro, are you seriously not just here for the memes? Let's guess what Teacher Azure is going to use to bully the kids today~ (lol)"
"Teacher Azure, I'm begging you, please stop crushing kids' dreams!"
Walking in the competitor tunnel, Aiden listened to the noisy but vaguely understandable voices from outside, and the smile on his lips suddenly stiffened.
"Your fans are really interesting~"
Beside him, Cynthia half-covered her face with her hand, her tone carrying an obvious teasing edge.
Aiden: "—"
Tbh, is this really cheering for me? Why does it sound like they're loudly roasting me?!
Oh well, haters are still fans. He'd just treat it as encouragement.
For Teacher Azure, who was long used to seeing the world, this was just a light drizzle, completely not worth mentioning!
Amidst the commentator's introduction, Aiden and Cynthia took the lead onto the battle platform.
Appearing opposite them were two young girls—wait, them?
T-two, right?
Aiden shook his head, finally recalling that this duo of kids who looked very proficient in Doubles were actually a brother and sister!
Tate & Liza, the Gym Leaders of the Mossdeep Gym in the Hoenn region.
They looked quite young, but in the Pokémon world, anything was possible. Underage Gym Leaders could only be considered ordinary.
However—
Observing their do-or-die, charging-forward, death-defying gazes, Aiden's mouth twitched again.
It's just a match, it shouldn't be this serious, right!
"T-Teacher Azure!"
Just as Aiden was pondering, the seemingly meeker brother, Liza, suddenly raised his hand and looked at him.
"We're both your fans, so—"
"Yeah, I get it~"
Aiden nodded, instantly grasping their intent, and smiled as he spoke.
"I told you my stream had a lot of talent in it. To think I'd bump into chat members even at an Ultra Ball tournament!"
"So rest assured, Teacher Azure will definitely teach you the real deal today!"
"..."
For some reason, the moment he finished speaking, Liza's face turned pale as a sheet, even giving Aiden the illusion that he might burst into tears at any second.
"Alright, stop scaring the kids."
Beside them, Cynthia shook her head helplessly, pinched Aiden's palm, and then showed a very kind smile to the two little opponents.
"Let's both do our best~"
Tate and Liza exchanged glances and finally seemed to muster their courage, nodding heavily.
"Yeah!"
After the brief exchange, the four quickly arrived at the baselines of the field and threw their Poké Balls.
"Go, Solrock/Lunatone!"
Tate and Liza sent out a very classic Doubles combo.
As for Aiden and Cynthia's side—
What appeared on Cynthia's side was a creepy vortex of souls tied by a green rope, emitting a sinister and terrifying aura: Spiritomb.
And Aiden's choice, was——"Go, Ting-Lu!"
After the red light flashed, the eerie Pokémon with a giant bronze ding atop its head appeared, instantly causing the opposing Tate and Liza to feel a primal, instinctual fear.
Wait!
When did Teacher Azure's team have this Pokémon?!
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