Hmm?
Noticing the movement of the phone on the table, Aiden blinked and subconsciously reached for it.
There weren't actually many people who would actively contact him through the internet. Besides Professor Kukui from the last emergency situation, only Chairwoman Geeta and Cynthia would frequently send him messages.
And at this time, the League should have already gotten off work, and Chairwoman Geeta was a gold-medal superior who was very good to her subordinates (at least to him).
So the range could be further narrowed.
Thinking of this, a smile already appeared on Aiden's face.
Although still streaming, video calls were impossible, but just receiving a message from Cynthia made his mood involuntarily cheerful.
But the result—
When he turned on the screen, he actually saw an unexpected message.
[Red: —————]
Aiden: ?
What does it mean?
Although the Red in his impression was indeed a pure trainer who didn't like talking much, treating ellipses as language like in the games was too outrageous, right?
Aiden wasn't Blue, who grew up with him and had Level 10 Red-language proficiency, so of course he couldn't understand what he wanted to express.
So, after sending him a question mark, Aiden put down his phone, managed his expression, looked at the computer screen, and smiled as he spoke: "Alright, starting the next match. This time I'll definitely use Gengar to execute a perfect Shadow Tag Perish Song!"
—
In late-night Pallet Town, Red was sitting before the computer, his face showing conflicted colors.
In fact, he was now awkwardly pressing his feet together, using his toes to dig into the floor.
Don't look at how young Red was—actually, certain aspects of his life were no different from an old man. He rarely used phones and computers, and his typing speed was also extremely slow.
Even Pokémon Champions was something he worked hard to learn after understanding it from Teacher Azure.
And normally, the only person who would contact him on the PokéNav was Blue. Even his mom or Professor Oak mostly used video calls.
So, when he sent a message to Teacher Azure just now, he subconsciously used his usual long string of ellipses as the opening.
If the other side was Blue, at this time he would definitely actively ask what was the matter, and then the topic could continue very naturally.
It was their small inside joke.
Just very unfortunately, this time he was looking for Teacher Azure, so unsurprisingly he received a question mark as a reply.
At this moment, Red was focusedly staring at the message Aiden sent, repeatedly thinking in his mind whether to just directly send his thoughts to the other party.
But——
Teacher Azure seemed to still be streaming. After he sent the message just now, a sound immediately came from the livestream room.
So would it disturb him?
Thinking back and forth, Red could only shake his head helplessly.
"Better to wait until after the stream, then use a video call to explain the situation to Teacher Azure face-to-face—that would be more formal."
After all, letting a trainer from another region challenge the Victory Road without collecting eight Gym badges—such a precedent seemed to completely not exist————
But if he couldn't catch this opportunity, wanting to challenge Teacher Azure in a formal setting, it probably would only be possible at the next Masters Tournament!
Thinking of this, Red's face became even more conflicted, and even Teacher Azure's livestream before his eyes became less appealing.
Aiden naturally knew nothing of Red's thoughts on the other side.
In the following hour, Aiden continued using this strange lineup, killing all directions in doubles ranked battles, consecutively cutting down multiple stream friends, ruthlessly eating a wave of their points.
"You thought Ghost-types wouldn't fear Gengar's Shadow Tag? Sorry, eat my Shadow Ball first!"
"What the heck? The opponent even pulled out a Wobbuffet trying to trade one-for-one with me?"
"Then sorry, Amoonguss, 'amuse' it to death!"
"Want to target Mabosstiff? Fine, but if you hit Mabosstiff, you can't hit my Azumarill anymore oh~"
"Didn't expect it, right? My backline this time is Arcanine. One Intimidate and you still want to focus fire Gengar?"
"Azumarill, elbow the opponent to avenge your teammate!"
——
A "simple" Shadow Tag Perish Song system, in Aiden's hands, was played with all sorts of variations. Every Pokémon had its own highlight moments.
However, each victory had a kind of win condition—
Aiden's six consecutive wins this wave, in the end, didn't rely on Perish Song to win, but rather the Pokémon in his team each showed their divine abilities, looking very 'physical'.
[Teacher Azure, stop killing! Leave a living path for the students challenging in two days!]
[Asking because I don't understand—where's the Perish Song in this Shadow Tag Perish Song set? Ain't seen a single note]
[There were also quite a few matches where Perish Song could kill the game at the end. It's just that Teacher Azure didn't want to waste time—one punch ends it, why bother with so much~]
[Perish Song isn't as good as fists looool]
[Paying tribute to the legendary elbow king Mega Kangaskhan. Recently, Teacher Azure seems to really like this kind of strength-over-technique Pokémon?]
[Compared to Teacher Azure's current pure strength crushing, I suddenly feel the previous underworld tactics were somehow endearing again—]
"You guys indeed didn't misunderstand. The significance of Perish Song is indeed to deter opponents, and in many endgames, Perish Song is also the most reliable way to win."
When the time came to 7:30, Aiden glanced at the time, feeling it was about time, and actively responded to a couple of chat comments.
"However, you must remember to stay calm even if hit by a Perish Song. Don't forget that opponents won't necessarily wait bitterly for time to run out."
"This also counts as the last exam highlight Teacher Azure is drawing for you before the Victory Road~"
"As for why I'm saying this——once the Victory Road opens, Paldea students should understand."
"Alright, that's it for today."
"Class dismissed!"
After speaking, the livestream's push stream instantly disconnected, leaving only darkness before the screen.
Only countless Paldea students suddenly felt a chill behind their backs, and students from other regions skillfully fanned the flames.
[Ah, I really envy you Paldea people, being able to challenge a master like Teacher Azure at the Victory Road. The Type Masters Champion personally assessing your levels~]
[Exactly, exactly. If only Teacher Azure could come to our Blueberry Academy. I heard all the BB Elite Four are Teacher Azure's hardcore fans!]
[What's good about it? One listen to Teacher Azure's words and I know this Victory Road is going to be heavy. You people from other regions can't experience that sense of frustration!]
[Before Teacher Azure, even with eight badges, I feel like an unintelligent single-celled organism—]
[ggs, glhf to everyone in Paldea]
Scared by Aiden like this, Paldea students probably couldn't sleep tonight.
However————
As the perpetrator spreading anxiety, Aiden's mood was unusually good.
The reason was simple—in two days, he was going to be promoted to Elite Four!
Even if it was only temporary, just a nominal title, just to enter the Victory Road as an examiner, it still somewhat fulfilled one of his dreams.
From Gym Leader to Elite Four, the next step seemed to only be Champion?
Thinking of this, alarm bells immediately rang in Aiden's heart, and he shook his head fiercely to throw this thought to the back of his mind.
Too dangerous, how dare he think such things!
Paldea's Top Champion was Chairwoman Geeta, a ruthless person who truly achieved empathy.
Even the League-internal recognized workhorse (crossed out) model employee Larry, his workload might only be less than half of Geeta's——
If he took over the responsibilities from Chairwoman Geeta, that would really be carrying all three regions of Paldea on his shoulders alone—just thinking about it was terrifying!
Thinking carefully, being a Gym Leader wasn't bad either. He could train students, give them some fun moves when bored, and also enjoy leisure without extra task quotas.
Long live slacking off!
Just as Aiden made this major life declaration, the phone on the table suddenly rang again.
Opening it to look, sure enough, it was Red again.
But this time, Red finally didn't send ellipses anymore, but instead sent him a line of text that wasn't too long or too short.
[Red: Teacher Azure, I saw in your stream just now that Paldea's Victory Road is about to open——May I ask if trainers from other regions can come to challenge?]
He can speak properly after all?
Aiden chuckled twice, roughly understanding Red's thoughts.
He was planning to come to Paldea first to challenge the Victory Road and find his form?
Although there indeed hadn't been similar precedents before, he was also quite curious about Red's current level, so————
[Aiden: Of course you can, but you can only challenge the Elite Four, and there's no Champion title.]
Aiden replied. He could still decide on such small matters himself.
To prevent Red, this little monster, from coming to Paldea to farm noobs, accidentally becoming this year's Victory and unable to return to Kanto, he added some slight restrictions.
As long as he didn't challenge Chairwoman Geeta, even if he really won against the League Elite Four, there wouldn't be any problems.
After about half a minute, just as Aiden yawned and was about to finally organize materials and turn off the computer, Red finally made his response.
[Red: Okay! I will come challenge!]
Just these few words, it actually took him so long?
Could it be that the price of becoming Champion is having decision paralysis?
Aiden thought inexplicably.
Time quickly came to July 2nd, Thursday.
——
For Paldea students, today was absolutely a very important day.
Because the Victory Road trial, as their "final exam," would officially open today to all students in the school who had collected eight Gym badges.
If they could perform well on the Victory Road, they could show off in practical classes next semester, and even become role models for incoming freshmen next year!
As for going further——if someone could, in one go, defeat the Elite Four and Top Champion, then they would become this year's Champion, the undisputed number one of the academy!
Just thinking about it was exciting, so many students didn't sleep well last night.
Of course, the reason was probably not actually excitement, but perhaps more fear about challenging the Victory Road—
"I've clearly already challenged Teacher Azure during the Gym assessment, now the Victory Road again, how could there be such a thing in this world!"
"How are you all preparing today? I already feel like I'm going to be kicked out in one second—"
"You're still showing off, right? Which exam since childhood didn't you say this, but every time you were in the top few!"
"The first level is Teacher Azure. Losing is very normal, right?"
Students gathered in threes and fives in Mesagoza's large square were chattering noisily.
In the crowd, Nemona, who arrived late, was panting heavily. After arduously crossing the last step, she couldn't help but complain: "The school's stairs are too long. Why design it like this—"
"If I can become Champion in the future, the first thing I'll do is tear this place down!"
Nemona, who wasn't good at running and had very poor stamina, was full of resentment toward that unknown-name founding principal.
And just as she was resting with her hands on her knees, planning to quietly wait for the Victory Road to open, a familiar voice suddenly came from beside her.
"Nemona, Brother Aiden was right—you really should exercise more."
"What trainer has physical fitness as poor as yours—"
Arven suddenly appeared behind her, startling Nemona, who instinctively jumped back a step.
"What, it's Arven."
After noticing who it was, Nemona let out a breath of relief, her face flushed from physical exhaustion clearly showing several points of dissatisfaction.
"I also tried hard! And why can't we ride Cyclizar in school? It's really strange, right!"
"Because there was a student who drag raced in Mesagoza before, and ended up crashing the school wall. After that, this rule was added——"
Arven helplessly held his forehead, speechless at Nemona's airheaded nature.
And at this time, Nemona suddenly reacted—"Wait, why would you appear here?"
"If I remember correctly, you never challenged any Gym at all, right?"
Arven nodded, expressionless.
"Indeed so. After all, my goal was never to become a trainer."
"It's just that Brother Aiden asked me to come help, saying that these few days there might be many Pokémon needing care and treatment."
"..."
Nemona blinked.
"But isn't there a Nurse Joy specifically responsible for the Victory Road? Why would Teacher Aiden specifically emphasize this?"
Arven only gave her a meaningful look, then stopped speaking.
"Really, since you know, say it clearly!"
While Nemona and Arven were talking, behind them, a girl with an Eevee backpack, blue hair with a streak of rebellious red bangs, was silently observing them.
'If I remember correctly——they should both be students from Cabo Poco, and seem to have a very good relationship with Teacher Azure.'
As the president of the academy's largest club "Team Star," Penny didn't proactively step forward to greet them, quickly turning her gaze to look at other students.
Arven and Nemona weren't the current focus. All students who came here now had only one common goal—to do their best to clear the Victory Road, at least passing Teacher Azure's level!
This time, Team Star had made full preparations. The strategy team and logistics team were running at full power, researching all the commonly used Pokémon of this Victory Road's Elite Four.
Although they didn't know if it would be useful, however——
At least they had to prove to Teacher Azure that students were also constantly improving, hoping to one day receive his recognition!
About ten minutes later.
Amidst the students' various expressions, the northern gate of Mesagoza slowly opened, and the road to the League appeared before their eyes.
This also meant—the half-month Victory Road was now officially open to the public!
------------------------------------------------------
30+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)