Next came the most crucial part of the ceremony: the eight Elite Four members on stage needed to choose one person from the entire venue as an opponent to showcase their strength.
This could be another Elite Four member from the two regions on stage, or a guest from any region in the stands.
As long as they could demonstrate their strength, winning or losing didn't really matter much.
If one was confident enough in their own strength, they could challenge someone who had achieved fame earlier and was strong enough; they didn't necessarily have to win, but fighting a strong opponent would make it easier to highlight their own power, allowing all spectators to feel the challenger's formidable strength.
Of course, if someone was already famous, recognized by everyone, and felt no need to prove their strength, they didn't need to challenge anyone.
For example, the somewhat elderly Elite Four Agatha, whose strength was universally acknowledged.
In fact, this challenge was more for the four newly appointed Elite Four members of the Johto region. The current Kanto Elite Four were the former Kanto Elite Four, and there was no need for them to display any strength.
"This old woman will not participate in your youngsters' competition. I forfeit the challenge," Elite Four Agatha said with a smile, leaning on a wooden cane.
Elite Four Agatha was the oldest of the eight Elite Four members on stage, both in terms of strength and age, and her power was 100% recognized by them. Therefore, no one would object to her statement.
In fact, Elite Four Agatha's presence here was a result of some League officials persuading her with reason and emotion; it was difficult to convince her to participate, otherwise, with her reputation and strength, she wouldn't need to attend such a ridiculous event.
After speaking, Elite Four Agatha vanished from her spot in a flash.
Next was the Fighting-type Elite Four Bruno.
"Haha—I won't get involved in this either." With that, Bruno stomped hard on the stage, his immense physical strength directly shattering a floor tile on the platform.
He leaped into the stands and took a seat in the VIP section with Elite Four Agatha, who had disappeared earlier.
Bruno also had his pride; he wouldn't demonstrate his strength by challenging someone weaker than himself. The only person stronger than him in the entire arena was Elite Four Agatha, and since she wasn't willing to participate, he also gave up on this challenge.
Actually, he had wanted to test Lance's strength. After all, when Lance first became an Elite Four member, he had frantically challenged Bruno. After realizing the gap in their strength, the two had not battled since.
But for an elder like him to challenge his junior would give the illusion of bullying the weak. If Lance wanted to battle him, he would naturally challenge him. If Lance didn't want to, then Bruno would save himself the trouble.
Bruno also forfeiting the challenge left the audience in the arena slightly disappointed.
Elite Four Agatha's decision to forfeit was understandable, but Elite Four Bruno also giving up on the challenge disappointed the audience, who hadn't seen Bruno display his strength in a long time.
It was Lance's turn, the third one.
Lance surveyed the entire arena, knowing that when it was his turn, he could no longer choose to forfeit the challenge. Otherwise, the audience might think the Elite Four were too arrogant, and it would also cause their dissatisfaction.
Moreover, Lance was not like Agatha and Bruno, two Elite Four members who had achieved fame earlier. Now was a moment of worldwide attention, and he indeed needed to display more of his strength.
His original Elite Four challenge match, when he challenged the incumbent Elite Four, was criticized for the opponent going easy on him. Although he later showed some of his strength in the Elite Four exhibition tour, the opponents were too weak, and the strength he displayed was not enough to prove his power.
Lance looked around the stands, pausing for one second on Bruno and three seconds on Aoki, before finally making his decision.
"Since it's a challenge, as a Kanto Elite Four member, I naturally know our members better. Therefore, my challenge target is… Elite Four Lorelei!" Lance announced his challenge target after a flick of his cape.
"Whoa—!"
Finally able to see a battle between Elite Four members, the audience cheered with joy. They didn't care who challenged whom; they were here to watch Elite Four-level matches, and even if they were somewhat performative, they were still their favorite.
"Pfft—!" Aoki, who was in his seat at the time, heard Lance's challenge target and spat out all the water he had just drunk.
It splattered on Steven and Phoebe, who were sitting beside him.
Steven glared at Aoki, annoyed, and took out a handkerchief to wipe his brand new black suit. "Isn't it just Lance challenging Lorelei? Do you need to be so dramatic?"
Steven knew a part of the animosity between Lorelei and Lance, or rather, Lorelei's one-sided resentment towards Lance, but what he knew wasn't as clear as what Aoki knew.
"You don't know, ever since her defeat in the last Elite Four challenge, Lorelei has kept Lance in her heart. Before becoming an Elite Four member, she challenged Lance more than a dozen times, forcing the League to give her the vacant Elite Four position, acknowledging her strength.
But after becoming an Elite Four member, Lorelei became even more aggressive, challenging Lance more frequently. This made Lance miserable; he's asked me for advice more than once.
Now, under the world's gaze, Lance challenges Lorelei again… tsk tsk…" As he spoke, Aoki showed a look of pity.
"Then won't the relationship between Big Brother Lance and Big Sister Lorelei become even more strained?" Phoebe asked like a curious child.
"This is where Lance's brilliance can be seen," Aoki's smile grew wider.
The three looked at him, waiting for an explanation.
"It's simple. Elite Four Agatha and Elite Four Bruno forfeited because their own strength was solid enough, and they had been Elite Four members for a long time, so they didn't need such a challenge to prove their strength. Lance, on the other hand, has only been an Elite Four member for a little over a year and hasn't had a battle that could prove his strength. So, in this kind of setting, he absolutely had to choose someone as an opponent.
First to be excluded were the four newly appointed Elite Four members of the Johto region. They hadn't proven themselves yet, and therefore couldn't prove Lance's strength either.
Then Elite Four Agatha was excluded. Although Elite Four Agatha's strength wasn't overtly displayed, any fool knew it was because she was incredibly powerful and didn't need to show her true strength excessively. Lance challenging her would undoubtedly be suicidal.
So he made a choice between Bruno and Lorelei, and ultimately chose Lorelei," Aoki explained to the three curious onlookers.
"Then why did he choose Lorelei and not Bruno? You know Elite Four Bruno is stronger. If he could win, he might even rise to the second Elite Four position. If he lost to Lorelei, he might even drop to fourth place," Steven asked.
"That's because he knew that even if he chose to challenge Bruno, when it was Lorelei's turn, Lorelei would also challenge him. Fighting twice, the possibility of losing to Lorelei was clearly greater.
Moreover, even if he really lost to Lorelei in this challenge, not many people would criticize his strength. They would only think he was being humble to his opponent, that this wasn't his true strength, because this was an exhibition match.
Taking it one step further, even if Lance really lost to Lorelei, he lost the match but gained Lorelei's forgiveness. Isn't that pretty good too?"
From what Aoki said, one could feel how meticulous Lance's thoughts were.