In an apartment in Viridian City, Logan sat on the sofa, idly watching the news on television.
This was Yellow's home. Logan had only visited here twice before, and both times he had never seen Yellow's parents. This time, however, he met another one of her guardians—her uncle.
The man was somewhat plump and usually lived in the Johto region. According to him, he was a skilled fisherman, and it was from him that Yellow had learned her fishing techniques.
When he first saw Logan, the uncle had been suspicious, even thinking Logan might be some shady man trying to abduct his little niece. But Logan's name had recently been spreading like wildfire. Especially after the battle in Saffron City against Team Rocket, where he was now praised as one of Kanto's greatest heroes, the media endlessly glorifying him. Because of this, the uncle had eventually accepted that Logan wasn't some weirdo, but someone to be trusted.
Logan understood the League's motives well enough. The media's endless praises were nothing but a smokescreen—an effort by the Pokémon League to push him into the spotlight as a symbol of "hope and justice." They were using his image as a shield, distracting the public from the grim reality: the heavy casualties caused by the Saffron incident.
Although the war in Saffron was regional and ended in less than three days, the losses were staggering. Many Trainers and Rocket operatives had perished. Innocent civilians had been caught in the crossfire. It was, in fact, the bloodiest conflict since the Pokémon League had been founded seventy years ago.
And now, apart from the Saffron disaster, the news cycle was dominated by another hot topic—the League's structural reform.
The reform had first been tested in Sinnoh and Hoenn. After it proved successful in those regions, the League decided to implement it across every region.
The media was flooded with explanations of the reform, but Logan had already summarized it in his own mind: it was a redefinition of the "Champion."
In the past, there had never been an official "Champion" title. The winner of each regional Pokémon League tournament was simply called the "Victor." Over time, people casually began calling them "Champions," but it had never been official.
Now, that title was given weight and authority. From this reform onward, the League's structure had been reshaped:
Champion and Elite Four now held equal standing.
Beneath them were the Gym Leaders.
The Champion would be decided once every three years through the Champion Challenge Tournament, where only the victors of previous League tournaments, like the Indigo Plateau Conference, could participate.
The Elite Four would also be decided once every three years in the Elite Four Challenge, where both active and former Gym Leaders could compete. In other words, once you became a Gym Leader, you had the right to challenge for a seat among the Elite Four.
Within the Elite Four themselves, internal battles would determine their rankings. The strongest among them earned the position of Head of the Elite Four.
This new system made the League's promotion path crystal clear:
Win a League Conference → earn the right to challenge for Champion or Elite Four.
Become a Gym Leader → challenge the Elite Four.
It was simple, but it completely reshaped the ladder of prestige and power.
Interestingly, the Elite Four and the Champion could also challenge one another, swapping titles. Logan understood why—the Champion's duties were different.
The Champion, as it turned out, had the most grueling job of all. Along with the fourth seat of the Elite Four, they were forced to defend their titles against challengers every three years. Fail, and everything was lost. By contrast, the other three Elite Four members only had to accept internal challenges, making their lives much easier.
The reason the Champion had such a high burden was because they alone carried the right to declare the Master's Challenge.
This was the ultimate trial: a single Trainer facing all four members of the Elite Four simultaneously. Victory meant earning the legendary title of Pokémon Master.
The difficulty was absurd. In Logan's eyes, the strongest Trainer he'd met was Giovanni himself. But even Giovanni, facing the full force of Kanto's Elite Four, would at best defeat Lorelei or Bruno. To topple Agatha and Lance on top of that? Impossible.
In fact, no true "Pokémon Master" had ever emerged in the seventy years since the League's founding. There were rumors of someone succeeding once, but there was no proof—only whispers.
Among Trainers worldwide, it was widely believed that a Master could arise in any region. Yet in Kanto, such a feat was near impossible.
Why? Because Kanto had always been home to the strongest. Its Elite Four were unmatched, considered the most powerful in the world. To earn the title of Kanto Pokémon Master was said to be the greatest challenge in existence.
Logan mused. Unless he were given six Legendary Pokémon, the feat was unthinkable. Even Lorelei or Bruno each had the strength to handle one Legendary in battle. They couldn't defeat it outright, but they could endure. As for Agatha or Lance—both were simply monsters.
And when the four of them worked together, their combined strength was far greater than the sum of their parts.
So, in Logan's eyes, the world's hierarchy of power looked like this:
Pokémon Master — unrivaled, godlike strength.
Head of the Elite Four — the next highest echelon.
Elite Four members.
Gym Leaders.
Champions were wild cards—sometimes stronger than an Elite Four, sometimes weaker. Their position was powerful, but unstable.
Of course, this was only Logan's way of classifying things. In truth, power wasn't so easily boxed in. A man like Giovanni, for example, had the strength of an Elite Four Head but chose to remain a Gym Leader.
Legendary Pokémon, meanwhile, stood above even these categories. A single Legendary could rival an entire Elite Four member's team, and though weaker than the Head of the Elite Four, their resilience and destructive power made them far more terrifying. They were, after all, beings meant to embody catastrophe itself.
Logan stretched on the sofa, muttering to himself with a grin.
"Looks like I've still got a long road ahead… but that's fine. If it were too easy, it wouldn't be any fun."
With Mewtwo and Mew by his side, he wasn't afraid of the so-called Elite Four. As long as they didn't all attack together—or unless it was someone like Lance, who could crush opponents single-handedly—he was more than ready to face them.
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