"Leon!"
"Leon!"
"Leon!"
As Leon secured his victory, the spectators from the Galar region erupted in excitement.
The entire stadium echoed with chants of his name!
In Galar, Leon was practically a godlike existence.
Much like Aiden in the Hoenn Pokémon League, Leon had never suffered a single defeat in an official match since making his debut!
Therefore, in the eyes of Galar's people, their Champion was destined to claim a place among the Masters Eight and ultimately become the strongest Trainer in the world!
After the first match concluded, the second battle began that afternoon.
This time, the competitors were—
Kanto Vice Champion Brandon!
Versus Unova's dark horse Trainer—
N!
Looking at this matchup, Aiden silently mourned for Brandon for a few seconds.
Then, he suddenly remembered something.
Come to think of it, the Legendary Pokémon coordinates Brandon had given him before had turned out to be useless.
Aiden had made the trip, only to find nothing there!
He still didn't know whether the Legendary Pokémon simply hadn't been home at the time, or whether that volcano had merely been its temporary habitat.
In that case...
Having N teach Brandon a proper lesson didn't sound too bad!
...
The battle between Brandon and N soon began.
N was the first to send out a Pokémon.
His main partner—
Zoroark!
Aiden had always liked Pokémon such as Zoroark.
Hisuian Zoroark in particular had an enormous advantage when it came to appearance!
Unfortunately, Aiden had mostly traveled between Kanto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh so far.
He hadn't properly visited several of the other regions yet.
Once the World Championships ended, perhaps he could travel around for a while.
And catch some new Pokémon along the way!
N's Zoroark demonstrated terrifying strength from the very beginning.
It easily defeated Brandon's Dusclops and Ninjask in succession!
Only when Brandon's third Pokémon, Shedinja, entered the battlefield did Zoroark finally fall, taking Shedinja down with it.
Watching N display such overwhelming dominance, even Leon's expression became noticeably more serious.
This green-haired young man—
Was dangerous!
When the second half of the battle began, N sent out one of Unova's starter Pokémon.
The final evolution of Tepig—
Emboar!
With its overwhelming strength, Emboar defeated two more of Brandon's Pokémon in succession.
Only when Brandon finally sent out Heatran was N's rampage brought to a halt.
Both were Fire-type Pokémon, but Heatran was also a Legendary Pokémon.
Furthermore, Emboar had already consumed a tremendous amount of stamina after defeating two opponents in succession.
Naturally, it was eventually defeated by Heatran.
Seeing this, N sent out his third Pokémon—
Samurott!
The final evolution of Unova's Water-type starter, Oshawott!
Water naturally held an advantage against Fire.
But N's true strength had never simply come from type advantages.
His most terrifying ability was his capacity to communicate directly with Pokémon.
He could understand their thoughts and emotions, achieving a degree of mutual understanding that ordinary Trainers could never hope to replicate.
At the same time, N possessed an extraordinary intellect that was said to surpass even the calculating ability of computers!
He had even once convinced an opponent's Pokémon during battle to abandon its original Trainer and follow him instead.
That alone demonstrated just how frightening N could be!
However—
Brandon's Heatran was no ordinary opponent.
It possessed genuine divine authority!
In the end, even Samurott was defeated by Heatran.
But when N's next Pokémon entered the battlefield, everything changed.
The pseudo-Legendary Pokémon of the Unova region—
Hydreigon!
With Hydreigon's arrival, N finally displayed the full extent of his terrifying battle prowess.
"Hydreigon, Tri Attack!"
Three different forms of energy erupted simultaneously!
Boom!
The already exhausted Heatran was struck head-on.
After enduring several battles in succession, it could no longer withstand the attack and finally collapsed!
With Heatran's defeat, Brandon's sixth and final Pokémon was unable to continue battling.
The match was over!
N had won!
And just like that, following Leon—
N became the second Trainer to officially secure a position among the Masters Eight!
Watching this scene from the sidelines, Unova Champion Alder couldn't help but smile.
The Unova region had a worthy successor.
Even if he stepped down as Champion now—
There was nothing left for him to worry about.
...
The following morning, the most anticipated match among all eight battles finally began!
The competitors were—
Kanto Vice Champion Lorelei!
Versus—
Sinnoh Champion Cynthia!
There were already very few truly powerful female Trainers in the Pokémon world.
Cynthia, Diantha, and Geeta were three female regional Champions.
But when it came to appearance, Geeta wasn't even in the running.
Her strength was also inferior to that of the other regional Champions, causing many to call her the weakest Champion.
So, when it came to both beauty and an exceptional figure—
Lorelei stood at the very top!
As for Cynthia...
Although Lorelei completely overwhelmed her in terms of figure, Cynthia held a slight advantage in both appearance and strength!
Sitting in the spectator stands, Aiden felt rather helpless.
Tonight...
He had a feeling he was going to be very busy.
Hopefully, no tactless reporter would come running over afterward and ask something like—
"Champion Aiden, between Lorelei and Cynthia, who were you supporting?"
Once the match began, Lorelei had the initiative.
Her first Pokémon was—
Jynx!
Facing Jynx, Cynthia smiled faintly before sending out her own Pokémon.
Lucario!
Fighting-type attacks were super effective against Ice-type Pokémon.
That naturally gave Lucario a considerable advantage.
Although Psychic-type attacks were also effective against Fighting types, Lucario's Steel typing helped compensate for that weakness.
In other words—
Lucario had excellent odds!
"Lucario, Aura Sphere!"
A sphere of condensed Aura shot across the battlefield!
Jynx relied on its psychic abilities to evade repeatedly, narrowly avoiding several attacks.
However, Cynthia eventually found an opening.
Boom!
A direct Aura Sphere struck Jynx!
Lorelei's first Pokémon was defeated!
Immediately afterward, Lorelei sent out—
Slowbro!
And the moment it appeared, Lorelei activated her Key Stone!
"Slowbro!"
"Mega Evolve!"
Brilliant rainbow-colored light erupted across the battlefield.
Mega Slowbro appeared!
With access to Mega Evolution, Slowbro had now become Lorelei's strongest main Pokémon.
And it immediately demonstrated exactly why.
One attack!
That was all it took.
Cynthia's Lucario was defeated instantly!
Seeing this, Cynthia could only bring out her own ace.
Garchomp!
"Garchomp!"
"Mega Evolve!"
Another brilliant flash of rainbow-colored light illuminated the stadium.
Mega Garchomp descended onto the battlefield!
Two Mega-Evolved Pokémon confronted each other head-on.
Neither side gave an inch.
A fierce battle immediately erupted!
But ultimately—
Cynthia's Mega Garchomp proved superior.
"Garchomp, Brick Break!"
Boom!
A devastating blow crashed into Mega Slowbro.
After a long and exhausting battle, Lorelei's strongest Pokémon finally fell!
However, Lorelei remained calm.
Her ace had been defeated, but Cynthia's Garchomp had also consumed an enormous amount of stamina.
A new Poké Ball flew from Lorelei's hand.
"Go!"
A burst of light flashed.
Cloyster appeared!
The legendary—
Dragon Slayer!
Lorelei's Cloyster could practically be called Lance's personal nightmare.
One of the biggest reasons Lance's Dragonite had repeatedly failed to overcome Lorelei was this very Cloyster!
And now—
Cynthia's Mega Garchomp was its target!
After already consuming a massive amount of stamina fighting Mega Slowbro, Garchomp was eventually overwhelmed by Lorelei's Cloyster.
The Sinnoh Champion's ace—
Had fallen!
From there, both women continuously exchanged Pokémon.
One battle after another!
One knockout after another!
The match rapidly reached its climax.
Neither side was willing to retreat.
Eventually, however—
Cynthia emerged victorious!
By the end of the battle, she had only one Pokémon remaining.
Gastrodon!
Yet that final Gastrodon was enough to determine the outcome, defeating Lorelei's last Pokémon—
Alolan Ninetales!
The referee raised the flag!
"Alolan Ninetales is unable to battle!"
"Gastrodon wins!"
"Lorelei has no remaining Pokémon!"
"The winner is—"
"Sinnoh Champion Cynthia!"
The entire stadium erupted!
With this victory, Sinnoh became the third region to secure a position in the Masters Eight.
And Cynthia had rightfully earned her place among—
The Masters Eight!
Meanwhile, the situation for the Kanto Pokémon League had become increasingly dangerous.
Brandon had fallen.
Lorelei had fallen.
Now only Lance and Elite Four member Pryce remained!
Still, Lorelei's defeat was undeniably unfortunate.
Unlike the first two Masters Eight qualification matches, which had been overwhelmingly one-sided—
Her battle against Cynthia had truly come down to the smallest possible difference.
She had been—
Just one move short of victory.
...
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