Faced with Tobias's explosive opening move, Edward rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He figured that if he were the one dealing with this kind of aggressive strategy, he might consider calling in the Overlord Apex Gengar for assistance—or even the Apex Volcarona he had encountered once before.
Those two powerful Apex Pokémon should be able to suppress Tobias's pair of legendary Pokémon. And if that still didn't work, well… Edward could always pull out Ho-Oh's feather. If he was lucky enough to summon Ho-Oh, that would practically guarantee him the championship title.
After all, Ho-Oh was a true Legendary Pokémon, and especially in the Kanto and Johto regions, its popularity was sky-high—sometimes even surpassing Lugia.
That might be because Lugia remained mysterious and rarely showed itself, whereas Ho-Oh flew around all the time like a celebrity… or rather, like a mobile feather-dispenser. Thanks to this, Ho-Oh's popularity was massive. There was even a rumor in Johto that possessing Ho-Oh's feather was a symbol of supreme good fortune.
Edward had even seen some restaurants in Johto advertise that anyone holding a Ho-Oh feather could eat for free, for life.
That just showed how high Ho-Oh's status was in those regions.
…
"Darkrai and Latios, huh? Pretty impressive!" Leon said, visibly excited. His reaction prompted the announcer to exclaim: "Could Champion Leon still be absolutely confident?"
Tobias's expression was also much more serious than usual. Gone was his previous calm arrogance—now, he looked focused.
In the Pokémon world, anyone with even a bit of common sense knew what the title of Champion meant.
It meant being the strongest—undisputed.
If it had been any other challenger, Tobias might've confidently dropped a line like "You're the one who should be worried," or "Victory is mine"—classic flag-raising quotes.
But standing across from Leon, the undefeated Champion, Tobias clearly felt the pressure. He looked like he might blurt out: "Forgive me for not giving you a worthy challenge, Leon."
….
"Charizard! Let our challenger witness our bond!" Leon shouted.
The next moment, Charizard gigantamaxed, growing so large it smashed right through the stadium's ceiling. The titanic figure stood over ten stories tall, possibly even more.
The intense heat it radiated melted the ceiling before it collapsed—burning a clean hole into the roof without leaving debris.
"Holy crap…" Edward muttered under his breath.
"I didn't expect Champion Leon to actually bring the equipment for Gigantamaxing," Zoroark said, lips twitching.
The sheer size of the Gigantamax Charizard delivered tremendous visual impact and pressure.
Normally, a Gigantamaxed Charizard was around 28 meters tall, give or take a couple meters. But Leon's Charizard… Edward guessed it was well over 35 meters. That was just Leon being Leon.
"My Arceus…! Champion Leon is facing off against Tobias's double-legend combo, yet he's fearlessly responding with a Gigantamax Charizard!" the announcer's voice cracked with astonishment.
At this point, the competition's iconic giant tree looked like a toothpick next to the Gigantamaxed Charizard.
Leon wasn't done. He commanded Charizard to use Dragon Claw, and as the energy gathered in Charizard's massive claws, it formed a smaller, glowing dragon-shaped aura.
Then Charizard brought its claw crashing down.
Edward sat up straighter, instinctively.
With that enormous size and massive claws, achieving the signature "Tom Tree" effect wasn't going to be easy. The entire stadium went quiet. Everyone held their breath. The broadcast cameras locked tightly onto the tree.
And then—
Slaaash!
The tree split perfectly, transforming into the classic Tom Tree shape. Not a millimeter off.
"OOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!!"
The thunderous cheers nearly deafened Edward.
"COOOOOOOOOOOOL!!" the announcer shouted like a soccer commentator, his lung capacity seemingly limitless.
Edward pressed his lips together. All these so-called "we're not taking this seriously" contestants, who claimed they wouldn't bother training for a silly performance match, were clearly lying. What part of this was casual?
This was premeditated.
"No suspense left now." Edward looked at Tobias's expression and knew instantly—this match was Leon's.
And that's exactly what happened.
Despite the stunning appearance of Darkrai and Latios, Tobias ultimately lost to Leon—specifically to that Gigantamax Charizard.
Edward felt a strange, inexplicable satisfaction. Especially when he saw Tobias's unwilling, frustrated expression—that felt even better.
…
"Tobias…" Edward pulled out his phone and searched his name.
There was a decent amount of information, mostly about his crushing performance in yesterday's matches. But almost nothing else.
It was like Tobias had appeared out of nowhere, mysterious and unexplained.
"Zoroark, have you looked into Tobias before?" Edward asked, his curiosity now thoroughly piqued.
Unlike other characters, Tobias was an anomaly. Sure, Ash had also entered the Pokémon League without becoming Champion, and the so-called "Champion Trio" back then barely had any defined appearances.
But Tobias showed up with Legendary Pokémon, and that gave him instant credibility and mystique.
What was odd was how Tobias had just popped into the Sinnoh League, crushed his way through with legendary power, and then… nothing. No backstory, no follow-up.
Even the official Pokémon channels never offered an explanation. It was as if Tobias was just a random NPC that spawned for drama.
There were even fan theories online suggesting that Tobias was actually a player-controlled character, and Ash was living inside a game world.
…
"Boss, we've only found battle records," Zoroark said. "Against Sinnoh's Gym Leaders, Tobias mostly used only Darkrai and crushed them all."
Zoroark was just as curious, but Tobias's trail went cold fast.
"Are there any other trainers in the League who use Legendary Pokémon?" Edward's mouth twitched.
This guy was really something else.
"None. Tobias is the first and only one so far," Zoroark shook his head.
Edward rubbed his brow. "Forget it. Let's just keep watching the matches. The Sinnoh League is definitely already watching Tobias. With two legendaries, it'd be a miracle if he wasn't being tracked by criminal organizations."
He glanced back at the screen. Tobias was now walking into the dimly lit players' tunnel.
His time was over.
(End of Chapter)