After Piers returned to Galar, he indeed went to find Raihan.
And that Dragon-type master, shouting some grandiose line like "Today I'm going to be the Galar Champion," conveyed his thanks to me.
For the more detailed matters, he hoped we could talk after I arrived in Galar.
At the same time, through the message Piers relayed, Raihan also strongly invited me to come to Galar to watch the battle in person, inviting me to witness the spectacular moment when he defeats Leon.
"Ahh… Leon, my performance is so brilliant, why won't you—"
"Ahem. Somehow I started thinking about that. What a sin."
"Yeah, a rain-boosted instant Max Cannon should still have a chance to win, right?"
"But is it really okay to pop champagne at halftime?"
The reason he had Piers relay the message was mainly because Piers was closer to me, and because Raihan had now entered a two-month gag order—he had made up his mind to have his ace, Gigantamax Duraludon, complete its evolution, so he was going to the Isle of Armor to study… and drink soup.
At the same time, Raihan also sent me some special "insights."
[An electronic copy of my notes on Breaking Swipe. I'm sending it to you now.]
[Raihan says that if you want to see the original version, you can come to Galar anytime. Breaking Swipe was originally recorded on a Wide-Area Scroll, so it's stored in the Vault. Only certain kinds of Dragon Pokémon can learn it through training.]
[Also, he's prepared something for you… you'll find out when you come. Anyway, it's good stuff. He took it out of the Vault.]
[By the way, the essence of Breaking Swipe isn't "breaking," it's "wide-area." You know Breaking Swipe, Wide Guard… what exactly does "wide-area" refer to? Well, you'll probably understand after you read it. Maybe there are even new wide-area moves that haven't been discovered yet.]
[For example, Wide Guard. A poorly trained Wide Guard can't block any status moves at all, but as long as you train and comprehend it properly, you can block those moves. That's one of the true meanings of "wide-area."]
[Right now, that guy is studying and training on the Isle of Armor. He's the type who loves being online, so going at least two months without using the internet really is tough on him. There's an incredibly powerful old man living on that island. Yeah, an astonishing old man.]
[Raihan's studies this time might be extremely grueling.]
[But giving up Gigantamax Duraludon… well, I can't say he's giving it up completely. He's also going to raise a second, female Duraludon, and use that one for Gigantamaxing.]
[That was your suggestion, right? Use Attract to mess with Leon once. But it's not exactly that either.]
[Mainly, he's giving up Gigantamax because he wants to master an even stronger power. But he's also not giving up Gigantamax, and is raising a new Gigantamax Duraludon, because the whole selling point of Galar matches is Dynamaxing.]
[If you don't Dynamax in a match, the audience won't feel satisfied, and Chairman Rose will definitely be unhappy and hold people accountable.]
[That's called battle presentation. But I don't really care, since my Spikemuth doesn't have a Power Spot.]
Spikemuth had no Power Spot, so it grew more and more desolate. In a bloodthirsty region like Galar, there was simply no space for it to survive. If they went to another region, maybe their unique punk-rock style would explode in popularity overnight.
But not in Galar. Yes, not in this place, where bloodthirsty spectators are everywhere.
Even though there's also the ultra-popular Pokémon band the Maximizers, that's obviously not something Piers can "claim credit for" by association. If anything, how come after all these years in Galar, they're the only ones who got big? Is Chairman Rose secretly sponsoring them with his "big hand" behind the scenes?
Truly magnificent. Chairman Rose's big hand.
"I see. Then please thank him on my behalf! For raising Dragon Pokémon—no, for any Pokémon that uses wide-area moves—these notes might be genuinely useful!"
"The essence of 'wide-area,' huh…"
"You're asking where I am right now? Haha, I'm temporarily in the Paldea region handling some work."
"Hm, my work schedule and my invitation schedule are starting to pile up."
The Galar Champion Cup is an official Dynamax competition held every year.
At this point in time, Unova's World Championships venue still hasn't even begun construction, so naturally there won't be any situation where Galar hosts a World Championships early.
After all, Chairman Rose's big hand is still a bit weak right now.
As for Champion Leon's publicity, while the official line to the outside world is that he's "the strongest Champion," many people in other regions don't acknowledge it.
Even in official material, in the Pokémon Masters spin-off line, the explanation for that setting is vague. They even had Leon lose to Red once, and only after awakening a Sygna Suit did he defeat Red.
You could say the "mountain god" of Mt. Silver still carries enormous weight in the official canon hierarchy.
Besides, the internet right now is still just for reading the news. Using it for live broadcasts or global promotion is still beyond reach.
You have to wait until the Rotom Phone is mass-distributed—until the internet enters the 2.0 or even 3.0 era—before Galar's economy, tournaments, and even Leon can truly take off.
Well, Leon taking off is fine. Charizard can catch him anyway.
But compared to the promotional title "strongest Champion," Leon's identity as "the man of advertisements" leaves a deeper impression on people.
Galar has plenty of overseas industries, and Leon endorses a lot of them. So when people see him, their first thought is "He's an ad celebrity," not "He's the Galar Champion."
[Mm. The Galar League's challenge format is split into two stages: the Gym Challenge, and the Champion Cup. Each is held once a year.]
Piers sent a reply.
[I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but the content and timing of the two competitions are separate. After all, challengers aren't always able to push through every obstacle in one single burst.]
[People who finish early go into a waiting period. Once all challengers complete the challenge, or give up the challenge, then the next stage begins.]
[But this year's challengers are suffering.]
"You're saying this year's challengers are suffering? Why?"
[Ah, it's at the third Gym. The Gym Leader there, Kabu, is known as the first real wall for rookies, so he blocks quite a few challengers. But compared to previous years, Kabu's condition this year seems especially good. Even though in the first half of the year he looked listless, like he was burnt out and mentally exhausted.]
[I originally heard he was going to be demoted to the second string. But then he suddenly became this strong, like us musicians—when inspiration hits, you just explode all at once!]
[His firepower shattered a lot of challengers' mental states. Some even dropped out. That's really bad.]
[If you lose challengers, you lose a crucial viewing hook. League audiences will drop, and the economy takes a hit. Because Gym Leaders participate every year, so aside from the fixed fanbase, the way you attract new fans and domestic and overseas viewers is the annual challengers.]
[That's the hook: whether there's a dark horse this year, or a super-popular contestant, a new rising star. But if you can't produce even one popular player, it becomes boring. Ratings drop, and a chain of problems follows.]
[The funniest part is that Chairman Rose originally thought this was a good thing, because he wanted to temper the challengers and forge a few strong seed players. But the more he "tempered" them, the fewer there were. Then he realized something was wrong, and hurriedly called it off. It was hilarious.]
Hikaru also nodded inwardly.
Indeed, the Galar League's challenge is basically a celebrity sports entertainment circuit, unlike other regions. What they want is hype. To generate hype, there's basically nothing they won't do.
For example, that old man Mustard. Back in the day, he held the championship for years.
He had once been a champion who stood undefeated. But after his partner Pokémon died, his condition gradually declined, and his undefeated record was broken.
Even so, after he handed over the champion seat, he still maintained extremely high popularity.
But one day, the then-League Chairman invited him to act as the "winner" in a fixed match, and that finally pushed him to decide to retire.
In other words, regardless of competitive fairness, the Galar League values ratings and hype more. Fixed matches? Basic operations.
So why did Kabu's firepower spike?
Hikaru tugged the corner of his mouth.
"Maybe I sold Kabu some items too… but even so, just the 35% firepower increase from Charcoal made challengers collapse mentally…?"
"As Pokémon Trainers, aren't you supposed to have the 'Route 1 Sword Saint' mentality? If you get stuck at some Gym, you grind like crazy nearby and level up. Even against type disadvantage, you can brute-force your way through in the end. Besides, are you telling me even Water-type Pokémon are getting roasted to death by flames?"
"Kabu isn't that strong, right?"
"At a time like this, am I supposed to say, 'You're the worst class of students I've ever taught'?"
"Also, since it's a Gym Challenge, don't get so worked up. Aren't you supposed to go easy? If nobody passes, that's way too strict. It's not a Champion assessment."
This wasn't slapping challengers in the face. This was slapping Chairman Rose in the face.
You Gym Leaders just need to battle people. Chairman Rose has to think about a lot more.
Piers replied.
[Probably revenge. Chairman Rose wanted to demote him to the second string before, and now is exactly the time to show his strength. Kabu's been holding a fire in his heart.]
[After all, Motostoke's Gym is a prestigious institution. And Kabu's an outsider from Hoenn, so he can't not show results. But now the one with a headache is Chairman Rose.]
[But even so, there are still some challengers who passed the third Gym. The Champion Cup's date is… anyway, Chairman Rose learned about Raihan's situation and is preparing to package the Raihan vs. Leon match as the biggest headline of this tournament.]
[Because everyone loves stories where the loser flips the script, and the winner falls from the clouds. Of course, Chairman Rose is also a dedicated Leon stan. I think he believes that even if Raihan masters a new ultimate move, it still won't be enough to shake Leon.]
[Because of these things, the Champion Cup got delayed, and they loosened the time limits for the challenge process, to help those depressed contestants, so they won't be tense and impatient.]
[And Chairman Rose also issued an extra batch of new invitations. That means… they're going to raise the challenger count and fill the gap left by dropouts. As long as you can generate hype, even joining mid-season is acceptable.]
[Ah, of course, Marnie's age and strength don't meet the requirements. I won't let her participate.]
[Anyway, you absolutely have to come then. Even though I shouldn't say this from my position, Dynamax battles really are spectacular. We'll prepare a first-class seat for you.]
With Raihan and Piers sincerely inviting him, Hikaru couldn't refuse. But thinking about the timeline right now, there were originally very few named, distinctive characters at this point of Sword and Shield's era. Most of them were bloodthirsty nobodies. If you go watch the Champion League, you won't really see familiar faces.
Marnie participating would be something that happens at least several years later. Sword and Shield's timeline is half a year after Sun and Moon, and Sun and Moon is half a year after X/Y, while X/Y and Black 2 and White 2 run parallel.
So the real highlight this time truly was Raihan vs. Leon.
But still…
"Just watching the tournament, there shouldn't be any new incidents."
"Galar's incidents were scarce to begin with. In the game's main story, you even get scenes where Leon solves problems for you. Seriously, if you solve all the problems, what are players supposed to play?"
"Eternatus can't possibly wake up at this point, and there's no conflict with Chairman Rose either. In a few years, his scheme will fail and he'll end up in prison anyway. And the impact is just 'commotion-level,' it calms down quickly. Even from a Ranger's perspective, you can't interfere."
"By that logic, maybe I should take the opportunity to advertise Glorious Vegetables… or promote Calyrex and wake it up. Galar also has a 'King of Giants,' but it's currently in a crashed, powered-down state. Should I fix it while I'm at it?"
Sword and Shield's content is thin. It's basically "Chairman Rose's scheme fails." The random trainers don't reveal anything useful either. Only the famous Galar taxi driver said something interesting—about Corviknight and the legends of Galar.
"Legend says: if Galar loses Corviknight, the region will perish."
It's such a nice legendary setup, but nothing like that actually happens. If they made it happen, it would be worthy of a major DLC. But even if you shipped all the Tinkaton in Paldea to Galar, Corviknight still wouldn't go extinct.
They might even, under population pressure and predator pressure, produce things like "Corvibronze," or "General Corviknight," or something.
Hikaru accepted Piers's invitation. Watching the tournament would only take a few days. At most it wouldn't exceed a week.
Seven days can feel long, or feel short. But sometimes you can accomplish a lot in seven days.
Just like in Pokémon Adventures—Emerald's arc. He smashed through the Battle Frontier, then dealt with the sea monster and the armor man, then even held a Pokédex Holder competition. All of it was only seven days.
So the training continued, and there were results.
And Kubfu was recorded by Hikaru.
'Kubfu, a Pokémon encountered at Fury Falls.'
'Encountered in North Province (Area Two).'
'A diligent nature.'
'Can accept all flavors.'
'Proud of martial arts that never miss!'
"Bang!"
A massive boulder was hammered again and again. Power seeped in through a special method, and through repeated tempering, Riolu was the first to master a new move.
By repeatedly striking the opponent, it gradually hardens its fists. When it hits the opponent, its Attack rises.
This is a move that, after Generation VI ended, was restricted in Generation VII, and was outright removed in Generation IX!
"Woof!"
Riolu's fists glowed with a hardened sheen, orange light wrapping around both hands.
Fighting-type energy condensed, hard as iron!
Attack rose to the maximum!
[Riolu learned Power-Up Punch!]
In Generation VI, many Pokémon could learn this ultimate move via TM—like Double Team, it was a broadly usable move. The Riolu line was no exception. Overall, this was like Magnet Rise: it looks illegal, but it's actually legal.
That said, at the beginning, Power-Up Punch wasn't that strong.
However… because of the rise of a certain Mega-Evolved Pokémon.
Mega Kangaskhan.
Parental Bond meant two punches per turn, and Attack could rise by two stages in a single turn. By repeatedly pummeling, it beat countless Pokémon into misery, so the move was urgently sealed, and in later generations it was restricted and put into cold storage.
Marshadow's training was outstanding. While the little shadowman couldn't learn the move, its Shadow Mimic could imitate the attack and motions of this punching style.
After that, the next general-purpose move taught to everyone was Feint.
Feint can break through Protect and fight, and with Technician it can reach respectable damage. More often, though, it's used to pierce protection effects.
After that, the one who learned a new move was the diligently training Kubfu!
Because through constant refinement and combat, through training at Fury Falls, Kubfu had already grasped some incredible abilities. When it demonstrated them, even Marshadow was surprised.
Facing the enormous waterfall plunging straight down, Kubfu, with astonishing perseverance, wrapped in the torrent, charged upward in one breath!
This was the secret technique Waterfall!
It's an ultimate move that only a Rapid Strike Style Urshifu can learn after evolving!
But this place already had countless waterfalls, and Kubfu had trained here for many years, so learning Waterfall was reasonable too.
Of course, using the momentum of surging up the waterfall, then launching its power into the sky in one breath, the new ultimate move was—
"Punch!"
Kubfu's single punch tore through the waterfall. From bottom to top, it blasted the waterfall cleanly into two halves! And that force didn't disperse—rather, it held against the water, surged into the sky, and exploded overhead!
[Kubfu learned Sky Uppercut!]
A move added in Generation III. It was once Blaziken's signature, and then was brutally removed in Generation VIII.
It attacks with an uppercut that launches the opponent as if punching straight into the sky!
This move can hit Pokémon using Fly!
There's no rule that says Fighting-types must fear Flying-types!
Watch me punch you down!
Even though its power is only 85 and its accuracy is only 90, with the boosts from the three great secrets, those aren't problems!
"Ma-sha!" Marshadow nodded, extremely satisfied with its teaching results.
Some moves are ones I don't even know, but I've recorded them and passed them on. Whether you can learn them—that's your own power and effort!
Mm, and a tiny bit of external help too!
(End of Chapter)
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