"Is Grandpa taking this a bit too seriously?"
After a match that could only be described as a slaughter concluded, even Blue in the stands narrowed his eyes, feeling a bit puzzled.
He had almost never seen his grandfather look like this. In his memory, his grandfather was always a smiling, amiable, and reliable researcher.
He didn't expect to see a completely different side of his grandfather in this tournament.
Was this the unique aura of a "Battle Legend"?
Rather than fear, Blue felt that "excitement" was a much better word to describe his current mood.
He would eventually become a top-tier expert just like his grandfather!
Sitting next to him, Red didn't say a word, but his mood was clearly quite similar to Blue's.
So powerful, worthy of being a Legend!
But—was that really Professor Oak going all out just now?
Red couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. After all, both Kangaskhan and Gengar explicitly had Mega Evolution forms.
Moreover, Professor Oak's true ace should be that Dragonite, right?
He had a feeling things probably weren't that simple.
However, for them as spectators, the battle they just witnessed was definitely a good thing.
Not only did they get to witness a Battle Legend's match with their own eyes, but more importantly—that battle would undoubtedly bring immense pressure to all their upcoming opponents!
To win the championship of this tournament, they obviously had to get past Professor Oak, and the Professor clearly had no intention of holding back.
Therefore, the other contestants had no choice but to take this seriously and brainstorm with all their might on how to clear this Professor Oak hurdle.
Especially the players in the bottom half of the bracket—
Red fell into deep thought.
The top half of the bracket had Teacher Azure and Master Mustard from Galar, while the bottom half had the duo of Professor Oak and the Hoenn Champion, Steven.
In terms of pure competitiveness, this tournament probably didn't pale in comparison to the once-every-four-years Masters Tournament.
And this was in the relatively niche, new territory of Double Battles, no less.
While it was pressuring, the rules of the format also gave the younger generation a sliver of hope. Teacher Azure had said it before: in Doubles, anything can happen. So!
Even beating those two Battle Legends was theoretically possible!
If they thought about it that way, Professor Oak's blatant declaration of war just now would actually ignite many people's fighting spirit.
So. The upcoming matches were definitely going to get more and more interesting!
Sitting in the front row of the audience, Red began to look forward to it.
"Tsk tsk, Steven and the others' expressions have changed too~"
In the competitor's lounge, Aiden softly snarked as he looked down at the duo of Steven and Wallace. As they walked out, their faces were heavy with resolve.
A few days ago, when he saw them training, they looked quite relaxed, completely unlike people who were here to compete.
Sure enough, once the intensity of the tournament ramped up, even their mindset underwent a subtle shift.
Should one say that the high pressure finally gave them some motivation, or that Professor Oak showing his hand just now triggered their competitive drive?
And this situation was clearly not an isolated case.
Aiden narrowed his eyes, subconsciously clenching his fists as he waited for the match to begin.
To have a duel against Battle Legends going all out—
This really might be a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
After all, Master Mustard and Professor Oak were technically already retired. If they missed this village, there wouldn't be another shop.
Interesting.
Aiden was increasingly understanding Professor Oak and Master Mustard's mindset now.
No one would choose to refuse this declaration of war, he believed!
"So—I'm really looking forward to the battles ahead."
Aiden's casual remark perfectly summed up his current thoughts.
Cynthia, sitting next to him, didn't say a word, but the fighting spirit hidden within her smile was very obvious.
Master Mustard glanced at the two of them, and a satisfied smile quickly appeared on his face.
However, it only lasted for a brief moment.
"So that's the Champion of Hoenn's new era. They look quite capable!"
Master Mustard reverted to his usual old boy persona, clapping his hands with a laugh.
"Let this old man see what they're made of!"
Aiden also shifted his gaze over.
Steven and Wallace's opponents were nothing special. In a game, they'd probably be "Ace Trainer" tier NPCs.
But even though Aiden couldn't remember their names, he knew exactly what it meant to qualify for an Ultra Ball-tier tournament.
At the very worst, they were slightly weaker than Gym Leaders, but not by much.
The Pokémon League's hierarchy only had three quantifiable ranks: Champion, Elite Four, and Gym Leader. But not everyone wanted to be a Gym Leader.
Take the Frontier Brains of the Battle Frontier, for example. They were a group of elites with formidable strength who preferred the freedom of battling.
If they participated in enough tournaments, they might occasionally have a breakout performance and make a deep run into the Top 8 or Top 4.
It was just a pity that this time, they ran into a pair of Champions—
"Politoed and Metagross, huh? Looks like they're openly telegraphing a Rain team."
Seeing their leads, Aiden nodded.
To be fair, Steven and Wallace had pretty good synergy as bros.
Wallace was a Water-type specialist to begin with, so setting up Rain at the start was the optimal play in many scenarios.
And Rain also benefited Metagross, such as helping it mitigate its Fire-type weakness.
Metagross was Steven's absolute core. A pair of iron fists could probably easily sweep the opposing team—
They really are taking this seriously, huh.
Just as Aiden was thinking this, he noticed Steven suddenly extend his right hand, revealing the Key Stone on his ring.
He was instantly dumbfounded.
I mean, bro?
It's only the first round, is Mega Evolving really necessary?!
(daddychill.gif)
Soon, two pillars of light shot up on the field, and the arena instantly became dazzling.
As for the two Ace Trainers across from them, their faces could only be described as "seeing a ghost."
After all, they could never have imagined that opponents with Champion-level strength would actually use Mega Evolution against their nobody selves.
Sending out their aces was already flattering enough, but the current situation wasn't a pleasant surprise—it was sheer terror!
Their Pokémon on the field were Quagsire and Gyarados. They probably predicted the Rain setup before the battle even started, so they planned to leech off the Rain to counter Steven's side.
Winning or losing was one thing; against Champions, just putting up a good fight was a victory in itself!
But now—
Looking at the fully Mega Evolved Mega Metagross directly feeding its giant fists to Quagsire's face, their mood could only be described as despair.
How are we supposed to fight this? This is unplayable!
Although they managed to hold on for a bit by quickly reacting and commanding Protect, facing Metagross's relentless assaults and Politoed's Hydro Pumps fired from incredibly tricky angles, the two of them ultimately fell in defeat very quickly.
A very relaxed 4-0 sweep, the outcome was obvious the moment Metagross took the field.
"Ruthless—"
After watching, Aiden shook his head.
Even though he was complaining about their actions out loud, he actually couldn't blame them.
After all, someone had already "flexed their muscles." If these juniors didn't immediately follow suit, their momentum would obviously be dwarfed.
When the strength gap isn't too large, somewhat mystical factors like aura and sudden flashes of inspiration really are quite useful.
To prove themselves, even Champions had to go all out.
How did this Doubles tournament—which started from League President Dacascos's spur-of-the-moment idea—suddenly go completely off the rails?
Aiden fell into deep thought.
It really was true what they say: You smurf, I smurf, and the pond instantly turns into a King's Game—
But honestly, it was pretty interesting.
Before the Masters Tournament, being able to test his skills against two retired Battle Legends and a bunch of Champions was exactly what Aiden wanted.
Ever since he completely resolved the Gym crisis, how long had it been since he went all out in a serious battle?
Even when facing Legendary Pokémon, because his backing was solid enough, he actually didn't spend much effort, easily resolving many crises that should have been troublesome.
But this time was different.
Aiden looked at Master Mustard, who was squinting and smiling across from him, and felt the engine in his chest burning hotly.
Professor Oak, Steven, and Wallace were all in the bottom half of the bracket. For him and Cynthia to face them, they'd definitely have to wait until the finals.
But before that, they would definitely run into Master Mustard and Honey first.
Master Mustard was inherently incredibly strong. Even if he had neglected his training later on, it would only have affected his physical body; his battle sense remained as sharp as ever.
Plus, the lifespan of Pokémon wasn't comparable to humans. It was highly likely that now was the true peak strength of his two Urshifu masters.
If he let his guard down even for a second, he could instantly crumble.
And then there was Honey. Her background seemed ordinary (just the president of an unremarkable multinational trading company), but the games had mentioned that her battling talents were outstanding.
According to his disciples' speculations, her strength was likely on par with Master Mustard's.
It might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was enough to prove Honey's strength.
To defeat this duo, he obviously needed to do everything in his power to prepare.
Aiden sighed helplessly in his heart.
Not just Steven, even he felt the pressure on his shoulders instantly multiply.
But since they were already here, they'd definitely regret it later if they didn't give it a shot.
So, go all out!
As the final pair of advancing contestants was confirmed, the second day of the tournament came to a close.
Their opponents in the next round were relatively average. Based on their previous performance, they were even a bit weaker than Tate and Liza.
No special preparation was needed; just going all out would be enough.
So, Aiden chose to focus his attention mainly on the Top 8 elimination match that immediately followed.
As the contestants were gradually eliminated, the trainers remaining on the roster clearly all had impressive skills.
And in the third round, their opponents would, as expected, be Caitlin and Willa.
Two future Unova Elite Four members. Even if they were still a bit green right now, their strength was absolutely not to be underestimated.
"Caitlin—she'll probably still use Gothitelle as her lead."
Since they were besties, Cynthia could probably guess her thought process.
"However, to counter the Ting-Lu that already debuted, they've probably prepared some special tactics."
Aiden nodded after listening.
Trainers who specialized in Psychic and Ghost types were inherently hard-countered by Dark types.
The reason Caitlin previously felt she had a big advantage was, firstly, because Aiden's side genuinely didn't have any proper Dark-type Pokémon, and Cynthia only had Spiritomb, whose offensive capabilities were just average.
Secondly, from Caitlin's perspective, Aiden always liked to win in unique ways, and he didn't seem like the type to just win through direct type advantage stomping.
So the disadvantage wasn't that huge.
But once Ting-Lu showed up, the situation completely changed.
Just because he didn't rely on type advantages didn't mean Aiden wasn't good at it. The students at the Orange Academy should know this better than anyone.
So, they were probably racking their brains right now trying to figure out a way to break through?
Thinking of this, Aiden suddenly felt like laughing.
"Let them overthink it. Ting-Lu isn't going to take the field again anyway."
"If they see me pull out a Wo-Chien tomorrow, I wonder if they'll just blank out."
Not repeating Legendary Pokémon was a little self-imposed restriction he added to this tournament.
The advantages were obvious: every match would catch the opponent off guard. It was his signature playstyle of capitalizing on information asymmetry.
As for the drawbacks—
Did having too many Pokémon on hand and not knowing who to pick count?
Thinking of this, Aiden looked down at the shadow cast by the lights at his feet and suddenly chuckled.
Four matches that weren't overly intense. It was the perfect opportunity to showcase the Four Treasures of Ruin one by one and register their data into the Pokédex.
As for the semifinals and finals, when facing Master Mustard and Professor Oak, he still had other trump cards up his sleeve.
Whether it was the Ghost-type Marshadow, or Reshiram, who could temporarily unleash its full power, both had plenty of room to shine.
Of course, winning solely by relying on Legendaries was never Aiden's style.
Perhaps there were even better choices?
A faint idea formed in Aiden's mind, but he didn't voice it.
There was no rush anyway. He'd decide when it was actually time for the semifinals.
"By the way, what are you thinking for the next match?"
After Aiden finished pondering, Cynthia suddenly spoke up again.
"Nothing much. How about we just let Garchomp flat-out steamroll them?"
Aiden replied casually.
Purely in terms of combat, Wo-Chien was indeed a bit lacking, and it probably wouldn't exert that much pressure on their opponents.
But that was fine; this was a Double Battle, and he had a partner!
He had stolen the show in the last match, so it was time for him to play the supporting role and let Cynthia show off her Champion-class prowess.
Just like Steven and Wallace today—so overwhelming it almost made their opponents cry!
"Mm—okay."
Cynthia thought for a moment and quickly nodded in agreement.
She hadn't let Garchomp take the field yesterday, and it was indeed throwing a little tantrum.
Plus, having felt a lot of pressure from Master Mustard today, it really did need to let off some steam.
Saying that felt a bit bad for their next round opponents, but—
From the moment she chose to enter the tournament with Aiden, Cynthia only had one thought in mind: take the championship!
Even if two Battle Legends were blocking her path, her goal hadn't changed in the slightest.
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