"…Slowbro, Psychic!"
"Sloooow~bro…"
With a fully materialized wave of Psychic energy, even though Scizor held a type advantage, it still couldn't avoid defeat.
"Scizor has lost the ability to battle. Slowbro is victorious. As all three of Contestant Nagato's Pokémon have been defeated, the winner of Match Sixteen in Round One of the Elite Four Tournament is… Will!"
---◓---
"Aye! Finally got the win! That's my friend White for you~"
From the stands, Clair and Rose Joy simultaneously rolled their eyes at White.
Sato and Lance shared a look. Their attention was focused squarely on the Slowbro.
This pink Pokémon that looked silly on the outside clearly possessed terrifyingly abnormal Psychic powers.
"Not gonna be easy to deal with…" Lance murmured, though he was also sincerely happy for his good friend Will.
As the staff quickly restored the battlefield, the next two competitors promptly stepped forward to take their positions.
Sato and the others kept watching, not willing to miss a single opportunity to learn about their potential opponents.
This wasn't the Elite or Ace Tournament. Every single participant here was Elite Four level, and most had fully established their own complete tactical systems.
As for Sato and Morty's quick resolution… no second match had ended that abruptly since.
The ranking tournament wasn't a knockout format. In certain cases, conceding early could be a legitimate way to conserve strength.
So brutal head-to-head fights were rare; most battles revolved around strategy and prediction.
Soon, Will returned to the spectator seats, and the usually stern look on his face was now replaced with a subtle smile.
"Congratulations on the first win!"
Lance gave Will a thumbs-up, no different from how he'd congratulated Sato earlier.
Will pressed his lips together, clearly not in the mood to talk.
Soon, all six of them had their attention pulled to the next match, and the idle chatter faded away.
Since the tournament involved many matches and the preliminaries weren't open to the public or ticketed, that same afternoon, Sato stepped into Field 3 for his second match.
Same 3v3 format. But this time, the opponent was a completely unfamiliar new challenger.
Still, Sato's win came rather easily.
His opponent in this second round was an Elite Four level Trainer backed by a certain Johto conglomerate; someone whose Trainer ability clearly lagged behind the strength of their Pokémon. It was obvious they'd been "rushed" to this level.
So Sato only had to send out his Low Elite Four level Umbreon and Mid Elite Four level Weavile to defeat his opponent, preserving as much strength as possible.
---◓---
As night fell, the full team of six from The Braves Fight the Evil Dragon™ returned together to their villa base.
Lance, having been seeded straight into the finals, remained relaxed the whole time.
And with both Sato and Will claiming two consecutive victories, they were also in good spirits.
The others had even less to complain about; after witnessing so many high-level matches in a single day, even Rose felt like she had learned a lot.
But likewise, many previously unknown "powerhouses" had made a huge impression on the very first day.
◓---
Siegfried, Lance's third uncle, opened with a High Elite Four level Charizard and nearly swept his opponent 3-0.
Arata, a younger member of Agatha's line, didn't use Ghost-type Pokémon at all. Instead, he used a Kangaskhan and Snorlax combo to overwhelm his opponent two-versus-three.
Shuto, a senior League Investigator, 35 years old, possessed extremely rich battle experience. He had no fixed specialty in types, making him very difficult to counter.
Edward, the younger brother of the chairman of the Steelhead Group in Johto. His own Trainer skills weren't particularly remarkable, but all three of his Pokémon were High Elite Four level.
Kuraki, an independent Trainer with no ties to any faction. Everything he'd achieved up to this point came solely from his own efforts. A testament to his talent.
---◓
Sato and the others went down the list one by one, and quickly realized there were far more opponents worth watching than they had expected; more and more with each review!
Soon, the joy of victory that Sato and Will had been feeling was completely wiped out.
"So… getting into the finals really isn't gonna be easy, sigh…" Lance said with his arms crossed, his tone full of dramatic sighs, which only made Sato and Will want to punch him.
But after his little quip, Lance "obediently" sat down and started helping them analyze the other competitors' battle styles and traits…
The next morning, the Elite Four Tournament resumed.
This time, Will had a stroke of bad luck. He was matched up against Siegfried, Lance's third uncle.
Compared to Will, Siegfried was ahead both in battle experience and Pokémon strength.
But Will was determined and relentless. Even knowing he was very likely to lose, he still launched a full-force counterattack.
And Slowbro once again shocked everyone with its performance!
After Will's Alakazam and Espeon were both defeated one after the other, Siegfried had only lost a Gyarados. His second Pokémon, Ampharos, still had plenty of stamina left.
Despite this, Will didn't hesitate at all and sent out his Slowbro.
Relying on sheer, overwhelming Psychic power, Slowbro didn't even allow Ampharos to launch a single Electric-type move before it collapsed in frustration.
But then Siegfried got serious, sending out his ace Charizard and activated the Key Stone on his wristband…
Mega Evolution!
This wasn't the first time Mega Evolution had appeared in the Elite Four Tournament, but the fact that Siegfried had to activate his first made it a point of pride for Will.
Right after, Will also took out his own Key Stone and Mega Evolved Slowbro!
That battle lasted a full twenty minutes. The thick-skinned, bulky Mega Slowbro withstood the most explosive output from Mega Charizard Y and finally ground it down to defeat…
Will defeated Siegfried!
That match made everyone following the Elite Four Tournament remember Will's name.
As for Sato, he lucked out and was matched with an average Trainer. Just enough for his Cacturne, Sharpedo, and Houndoom to get a solid warm-up.
But soon after, in the afternoon, Sato was matched against one of the tournament's most popular contestants…
Independent Trainer: Kuraki!
Maybe it was because everything he'd achieved was from his own effort, but behind Kuraki's calm and smiling expression was immense pride!
And a faint, hidden disdain in his eyes…
In his view, someone like Sato was just a "Golden Boy" backed by powerful forces. Otherwise, how could anyone become Elite Four level before twenty?
He was going to use this battle to prove that even League's "Golden Boys" had limits!
"…Battle start!"
"Gliscor, take this match!"
"Honchkrow, get ready."
A flash of red light. Black and purple silhouettes appeared on the field at the same time.
Kuraki's Gliscor was normal-sized, only about two meters long including the tail.
But Sato's Honchkrow was like a behemoth. Its wingspan stretched over eight meters. In front of it, Gliscor looked like a baby…