"Senior Mustard, do you have something you want to ask me?"
Grey asked the question.
Mustard and Alder both froze.
Even these two elderly Champion-level Trainers, who had dominated the scene for decades, were completely thrown off by Grey's response.
What did he mean, "Do you have something you want to ask me?"
If they remembered correctly, Grey only had two Legendary Pokémon at most, and he had not even had them for as long as Mustard had.
Mustard was fairly sure that among the Legendary Pokémon Grey had shown so far, there were only Articuno and Zapdos. If Mythical Pokémon were included, then Keldeo and Meloetta counted too.
So the question was, why exactly was Grey saying something like that?
Mustard closed his eyes.
After years of training, he had developed a special ability to sense a Pokémon Trainer's "energy."
This "energy" reflected a Trainer's overall strength through the aura of the Pokémon they carried.
And for Champion-level Trainers like Mustard and Alder, the standard of comparison was their peak strength.
Then Mustard sucked in a breath.
Once he felt the energy around Grey, he realized Grey's aura was actually even stronger than Alder at his peak.
Alder noticed the change in Mustard's expression and raised a brow.
There were not many young Trainers who could make his old friend show that kind of reaction.
Leon, Red, Blue, there were really only those three.
And now Mustard was making that same face when looking at Grey.
Did that mean Grey's strength had already reached that level too?
"That's some incredible Dragon-type energy... Gym Leader Grey, did you catch something truly extraordinary?"
Mustard's eyes fell on the Premier Ball at Grey's waist.
He had not sensed Fighting-type or Ghost-type energy.
Instead, he had felt an overwhelmingly pure Dragon- and Fire-type aura.
Its essence was so pure that it was even...
Purer than his own Urshifu.
Could it be?
Mustard thought of one possibility.
A Pokémon with an essence like that, here in Unova...
Then the Pokémon Grey had caught was probably the embodiment of truth itself, Reshiram.
"Just luck, really. Without it, I'd only be an ordinary, freshly started Champion-level Trainer right now."
Grey laughed it off.
It sounded modest.
But the undertone was absurdly smug.
Alder fell silent.
Incredible Dragon-type energy?
And Fire too?
Then wasn't that obviously Unova's top-tier Legendary, Reshiram?
Alder had spent many years around Fire-type Pokémon, so he could naturally recognize the aura coming from Grey's Premier Ball.
In Unova, only Reshiram could have that kind of presence.
Grey had come to Unova for less than a month and already carried Reshiram off?
No wonder he and N got along so well. So they were both heroes.
Come to think of it, every past pair of heroes of truth and ideals had always opposed each other.
So how had these two ended up becoming such good friends?
Alder could not really understand it, but under the current circumstances...
If both N and Grey ever wanted to make a move against Unova, the Unova League probably would have already been destroyed several times over.
For some reason, the thought crossed Alder's mind that the Unova League really had survived by sheer luck.
Well, seeing how close Caitlin and Grey were, if Grey wanted a few small privileges in the future, then they might as well just give them to him.
Both Mustard and Alder had guessed that Grey was carrying Reshiram.
Mustard shifted the conversation back to training Legendary Pokémon.
"Gym Leader Grey, my dojo is actually raising several Legendary Pokémon. They're young Urshifu, in other words, Kubfu."
Urshifu, along with the Galarian legendary birds, was one of the Legendary Pokémon introduced in the Pokémon Sword and Shield DLC, The Isle of Armor.
It was a Fighting-type Pokémon, and depending on its style, it gained an additional type.
Rapid Strike Style Urshifu was Fighting/Water, while Single Strike Style Urshifu was Fighting/Dark.
Its signature moves also differed by style.
Thankfully, both forms shared the same Ability.
Mustard was an Urshifu Trainer.
Recently, the Kubfu at his dojo had been getting more and more restless.
That had become a real headache for him.
He was struggling with what to do about them.
The apprentices at his dojo...
Mustard felt they had some talent, sure.
But if Kubfu went with them, then frankly speaking, it would feel like wasted potential.
At the same time, if he did not hand them to other Trainers, he himself did not really have the energy to raise new Kubfu anymore.
If there had only been one, it would have been fine.
At that number, he could have trained it personally.
But now there were three Kubfu.
That number was just awkward.
So in recent years, Mustard had been searching for talented Trainers to see whether any of them would be suitable partners for the Kubfu.
A Trainer like Grey, who specialized in Fighting-types and improved at such a terrifying speed, seemed like an excellent choice.
At first, when Mustard had started paying attention to Grey, he had only thought of giving him one Kubfu and seeing how he handled it.
After all, at that point Grey had only been a newly starting Gym Leader, someone with a bit of talent.
But as time passed, Grey's talent had become downright monstrous.
The speed at which he trained Pokémon only kept increasing.
It felt like Mustard had only watched him for a month before Grey's Pokémon had already reached Elite Four level.
And now, in what felt like only two months, Grey had even caught Reshiram.
That kind of progress was almost incomprehensible.
Looking at Grey's current team, it seemed that Annihilape had reached Champion level too.
Having a Champion-level Pokémon at such a young age already put him near Red, Blue, and Leon.
That made Mustard feel that if he handed Grey two Kubfu, Grey could probably raise both of them just fine.
"So, Gym Leader Grey, are you interested in training them?"
With that thought, Mustard finally asked.
He truly did want Grey to raise two Kubfu, but if Grey had no interest, then of course he could not force it.
Mostly, he just wanted to see whether Grey even knew what Urshifu was.
Back in the last century, Urshifu had been a true terror on the battlefield in Galar.
After Mustard retired, though, Urshifu gradually faded from the public eye.
If it could return to prominence in Grey's hands, that would be a wonderful way to restore its reputation.
"Sure. I was already thinking about raising some new Pokémon anyway. Otherwise, pretty soon every Pokémon on my team is going to be close to Elite Four level, and even running a Gym is going to get hard."
Grey nodded lightly. It was not only because Urshifu was a Legendary Pokémon, but also because the power growth of the Pokémon already on his team had started speeding up dramatically.
Aside from the ones he had just recently caught, the weakest among his Pokémon were already around strong Gym level.
Mustard stared.
Hearing such an outrageous humblebrag made him think of Blue.
That guy also seemed able to build up a whole team in no time.
Could it be that Kanto really had something weird going on?
The thought left Mustard speechless.
Good grief, this was ridiculous.
Was Kanto concentrating all its fortune into just a handful of people or something?
Otherwise, why was its mid-tier strength so weak, while its top-tier strength was absurdly high?
Red, Blue, and Grey.
The first two were already battle legends.
And the third was quickly approaching that same level.
Terrifying.
"All right then. Once this Strongest Trainer Tournament is over, I'll hand those two Pokémon over to you."
Mustard said it with a smile, then slowly walked off with his hands behind his back.
"Gym Leader Grey, if there's ever anything you need, just tell me. I'll do my best to make it happen, haha."
Alder stepped forward and gave Grey's shoulder a hearty slap, then lowered his voice.
"Need a good match? Our Unova League has plenty of fine girls too. Like Ghost-type Elite Four Shauntal, or Nimbasa Gym Leader Elesa, or Mistralton Gym Leader Skyla..."
Alder kept rattling off names like he was reciting a menu, listing beautiful female Trainers one after another until Grey was completely dumbfounded.
Caitlin's expression became a little strange.
Before Alder could continue "recommending" people, she grabbed Grey's wrist and pulled herself against him.
"Well, looks like I've said too much."
Alder immediately saw what was going on. He laughed a few times, then waved a hand.
"Gym Leader Grey, I'm really looking forward to this battle. I hope I get to face you when the time comes."
"Same here. I'm really looking forward to battling you too, Mr. Alder."
Grey genuinely meant that.
Alder was a Champion-level Trainer, after all.
Grey also wanted to see how close his current self had gotten to a true Champion Trainer.
That said...
Type-wise, didn't he actually have the advantage?
After thinking it over, Grey realized that if it came down to his current ace against Alder's ace, he really might win.
Speaking of which, he still needed to ask about Annihilape.
The thought of his Annihilape running off too made Grey want to laugh.
There was still plenty of time, so he might as well make a call and ask.
Kanto Region, Saffron City, Fighting Dojo.
They had not held the victory celebration yet. Everyone was waiting until Grey got back.
"Grey is calling!"
Bumiao's ringtone echoed through the dojo.
It made her feel like she was facing a mortal enemy.
To be honest, she still had not figured out how to explain the situation to Grey.
Too many of the dojo's Pokémon had slipped away this time, but only letting some of them go would have felt weird too. It would have made the others feel left out.
So over the past few days, Bumiao had been racking her brains trying to figure out how to explain that they had all gone off to compete in a tournament.
"Answer it. It's just a shame we couldn't get second place."
Zapdos walked over and shook its head.
Their goal the whole time had been second place.
Then Annihilape entered the ring and immediately had a massive battle against Bruno's Pokémon.
It had even swept both of them and won the championship outright.
"All right, then you explain it yourself."
Bumiao decided to dump the problem on Zapdos. After giving it a thumbs-up, she pressed the answer button.
The call connected.
Grey's voice came through from the other side.
"Hey, hey, can you hear me?"
"Boss, long time no see. I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
Zapdos leaned into the microphone and chatted with Grey for a few moments.
"Oh? Go on, then. Tell me the good news first."
Grey raised a brow and let Zapdos continue.
"Well, the good news is we entered a tournament, and we even won a prize."
When it got to the reward, Zapdos's tone obviously grew more excited.
"Oh? You got a prize? That is good news. Then what's the bad news? I want to know what the bad part is."
Grey nodded lightly. He agreed that was definitely a good thing.
But now he really wanted to know what Zapdos meant by bad news.
"Well... the bad news is that we won first place."
Zapdos sounded a little weak as it said it.
Originally, it had wanted second place.
Instead, Annihilape had dragged them all the way to first.
The original plan had been to get Grey a deed to property, but now that had turned into two glass marbles instead.
Its whole idea had collapsed instantly.
That was why Zapdos felt a little embarrassed telling Grey about it.
"First place? How is that bad news?"
Grey sounded suspicious. First place was obviously a good thing, so why did Zapdos think it was bad?
Then Zapdos went on and on, explaining the difference between second place and first place rewards.
Once he heard that, Grey finally understood.
"Oh, so that's what it is. I thought it was something serious."
Grey laughed, then told Bumiao to send him photos of the glass marbles in a bit.
If they were the first-place glass marbles, then the prizes probably were not actually bad at all.
Then Grey hung up.
Bumiao snapped several photos in a row and sent all of them over.
Unova Region, Liberty Garden Island.
Grey received the pictures, and the moment he saw them, he raised a brow.
They really were two "glass marbles."
One was a rainbow-colored marble.
The other was orange on the outside, with blue and red spiraling inside like a DNA helix.
A Key Stone and a Lucarionite.
These two items were a very big deal. One was used by a Trainer to trigger Mega Evolution, and the other was the Mega Stone needed for Lucario to Mega Evolve.
In other words, it was a perfect pair, neither one complete without the other.
And with these two marbles, Grey would be able to make Lucario Mega Evolve.
On top of that, Grey himself already had a Blaziken Mega Stone.
Which meant that during this Strongest Trainer Tournament, he might actually be able to let one of his partners Mega Evolve.
The thought immediately excited him.
So Grey told Bumiao to have Annihilape hold both marbles and send over the Poké Ball as well.
Very soon, Annihilape's Poké Ball was back in Grey's hands.
Annihilape popped out of the Poké Ball with the Key Stone and Lucarionite in hand and passed them both over to Grey.
"Thanks."
Grey rubbed Annihilape's head and then made another decision.
For this tournament, it might be a good chance to let all his partners show themselves a little.
Otherwise, sending Elite Four-level Pokémon out to bully Gym-level opponents...
That really did feel a little like picking on children.
And just so happened, he still had some Gym-level partners around.
He might as well let them all get some time in the spotlight so they would not feel neglected.
With that in mind, Grey went to rotate his team again.
His current team lineup was: Poliwhirl, Machamp, Heracross, Conkeldurr, Larvesta, and Breloom.
And, of course, Reshiram. Little Riolu was holding that Poké Ball.
Little Riolu had also been carrying Genesect's Poké Ball earlier.
But when they passed through inspection, it got stopped and was sent straight back to the Fighting Dojo.
That was fine now. There was no customs check here anymore, so later he could just send one Pokémon back.
"Feels like I haven't spent much time with them in ages."
Grey thought it over.
Most of the time, what he did with his Pokémon was special training and similar things.
He had not actually spent much time just playing with them.
So this was the perfect chance to do exactly that.
"First up, Poliwhirl. It's already close to Elite Four level, so it can evolve now."
Grey took out the Water Stone he had been saving and tossed it to Poliwhirl.
The moment Poliwhirl touched the Water Stone, it burst into the light of evolution.
When the light faded, a Poliwrath stood there instead.
[Pokémon: Poliwrath]
[Type: Water / Fighting]
[Level: 58]
[Ability: Damp]
[Moves: Omitted.]
After evolving, Poliwrath had gained the Fighting type too, making it a perfect representative face for the Fighting Dojo.
"After evolving... my strength really did improve a lot."
Poliwrath threw a few punches. It had personally seen Bruno's Poliwrath battle before, even if it had gotten flattened by Annihilape in just a few blows.
That had made it full of anticipation for evolution.
And now that it had evolved, it was already getting used to its new body.
It felt pretty good. Its strength really had increased a great deal.
At the very least, compared to its old self, battling certain Pokémon had become much easier.
"All right. Next up, we'll just spend some time having fun together while we wait for the tournament to start the day after tomorrow."
Grey let all his partners out and spent the entire day having fun with them.
Two days later, the Strongest Trainer Tournament officially began.
The method for drawing opponents was simple.
It was purely random.
Grey's opponent ended up being Drayton of the Blueberry Elite Four.
In a way, this was also an Elite Four versus Elite Four match.
Kanto League Honorary Elite Four versus Blueberry Academy Elite Four.
An Elite Four showdown, if he used that in the stream title, it would probably make for a nice hook, wouldn't it?
After thinking about it, Grey mentioned the idea to Caitlin.
Caitlin went quiet.
Did the Blueberry Academy Elite Four really count as Elite Four?
If that actually got put into the title, people would probably accuse him of clickbait.
"True."
After hearing Caitlin explain the likely backlash, Grey decided to change the title.
He changed it to:
Title: [Strongest Trainer Tournament Day 1, VS Blueberry Academy Ace Student!]
Tags: [Academy Style] [Strongest Trainer Tournament] [Outdoor] [Island]
The moment the stream went live, it was instantly full of complaints.
"Strongest Trainer? Then where are my Red and Blue?"
"I'm a Cynthia fan. If Cynthia isn't here, then it doesn't deserve to be called the Strongest Trainer Tournament!"
Everyone had something to say, and the complaints only died down once the actual Champions themselves started arriving.
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