Samuel Oak.
Former Kanto Region Champion, the world's most influential Pokémon Professor, and one of only two holders of the "Battle Legend" title.
Mustard.
Former Galar Region Champion, Master of the Isle of Armor and the Dojo, mentor to the current Galar Champion and "Strongest Champion" Leon, also revered as a "Battle Legend."
Both were living legends of the current era.
Heaven knew how terrified Aiden was when he checked into the hotel, casually glanced at the participant roster, and felt his pupils earthquake.
I mean, bro?
What kind of situation did you drop me into? Is this still that Double Battle tournament that's supposed to be mostly for entertainment?
Gotta hand it to that excellent matchmaking system——it was really doing its job.
Originally, Aiden thought the Doubles tournament wouldn't attract much attention, so he figured he'd just use it to build some synergy with Cynthia!
But the moment the roster dropped—
What do you mean the entire Kanto Elite Four is participating?
More than half of the regional Champions showed up too?!
And then there were the two even more heavyweight "senior citizen" duos, adding countless highlights to this tournament.
The moment the "Oak & Agatha" and "Mustard & Honey" pairings were announced, it gave countless trainers enough material to cook up all sorts of scenarios in their heads.
Of course, the audience was probably thrilled, but for the other participating trainers——
The pressure instantly maxed out.
Good lord, this Doubles tournament had practically become an early preview of the next Masters Eight Tournament.
So it was no wonder Aiden had such a complicated expression while on the phone with Cynthia.
"But, I guess this is a good thing, right?"
On the other end of the line, after a few seconds of shock, Cynthia quickly regained her composure and smiled faintly.
"Getting to test our skills against those two seniors in an official setting is an experience many trainers would beg for. Even if we lose, we'll learn a lot."
"Not to mention——we might not necessarily lose, right?"
Aiden nodded in agreement and quickly added,
"Anyway, the roster is set, and at least we won't run into them right away. We can observe the Battle Legends' battle styles first."
"Thank goodness it's a Double Battle format. With the right tactical setup, we might actually be able to pull a fast one on them!"
"If we can actually sweep through two Battle Legends in one breath, I bet just hearing my name will make other people forfeit in future tournaments~"
"Then let's work hard to defeat them."
Cynthia kept her gentle smile, her gaze through the holographic projection fixing on Aiden as his fighting spirit gradually rose.
"However, I probably won't be able to head out for another two days. There's still some wrap-up work to do here in Sinnoh."
"Aaron and the others signed up for the tournament too, so I can't just dump all my work on them. I should let them prepare properly."
"Yeah, I was actually planning to use these next couple of days to say hi to the other contestants anyway. Get familiar with the ones I don't know."
Aiden nodded.
Actually, his main goal was to meet up with acquaintances early. After all, more than a year had passed since he became a Gym Leader, and he had unknowingly made friends with many excellent trainers.
He had met Professor Oak and Master Mustard more than once, and Lucario was even a proud disciple of those two "Master Bears". (Urshifu)
Of course, there was an even more important point——
This was a great opportunity to gather intel!
Since he was participating in a Doubles tournament with Cynthia, he really wanted to go as far as possible—ideally, winning the whole thing.
So, his pre-battle preparations had already begun before the tournament even started!
Because Cynthia was busy with work and the time zone difference, they didn't talk for long. Soon, Aiden took the initiative to hang up.
In the afternoon, unsurprisingly, Aiden saw many familiar faces in the hotel's training room.
"Yo, Teacher Aiden! I knew you'd show up early too!"
As soon as he pushed the door open, Steven, who was chatting with someone at the entrance, immediately noticed him and took the initiative to greet him.
"Steven and Wallace, long time no see."
Aiden replied, while internally roasting: I think Steven has a girlfriend, right? At the very least, Wallace and Winona are a publicly known couple.
So why on earth are you two teaming up for this Doubles tournament?! This is an illegal stacking of two Champions, hey!
"You're mistaken. It should be 'nice to meet you for the first time.'"
Wallace smiled and corrected Aiden's mistake.
"Although we did battle twice in Pokémon Champions, we've never actually met in real life."
"So this time, let me wipe away my past humiliation, Professor Aiden!"
"I look forward to it."
Aiden politely shook Wallace's hand and replied.
"But, at least in the realm of Double Battles, I'm still very confident I can beat anyone!"
Wallace gave a noncommittal smile, then draped his elbow over Steven's shoulder.
"How the match will turn out, no one will know until the battle is over."
"But for this tournament, Steven and I have prepared a lot of interesting little tricks, just waiting to use them when we face you, Professor."
Aiden: ?
Aiden, who had been interacting amicably just a moment ago, suddenly frowned, and his smile vanished instantly.
Oh no, these two are definitely hiding some scummy stuff!
With just one sentence from Wallace, he instantly realized how dangerous this tournament was going to be—
It seemed that not just him, but the other contestants had probably also prepared more or less some "secret weapons," just waiting for a lucky victim to come to their door.
If he got hit by an unexpected toxic strat in his first match, even he had a high chance of capsizing in a gutter——
However, he quickly regained his composure and smiled as he replied, "That's fine, I'm in the same boat."
"So, if we do end up facing each other, let's see whose preparations are more 'explosive'!"
After saying that, he ignored the two who were looking at each other in dismay and walked inside.
Flex and dip, so thrilling~
Of course, he wasn't lying. After all, if he didn't have a few tricks up his sleeve, he really might flip his car in this hell-difficulty raid.
There were many private rooms in the training room that had already been rented out. Just from a passing glance, he saw plenty of old acquaintances.
For example, Lance and Bruno. These two Kanto powerhouses had already developed a synergy from years of sparring, so it wasn't surprising that they would temporarily team up.
But with that, three of the Kanto Elite Four had confirmed their teams. So, what about the remaining lonely ol'—lady?
So pitiful, Miss Lorelei~
Actually, Aiden had also seen Lorelei on the participant list earlier, but her teammate was surprisingly Misty, who had only been a Gym Leader for less than two years and had rather average strength.
But they didn't seem to be here training today; maybe they went shopping in Lumiose City?
Aiden didn't dwell on it. He quickly passed through the training rooms and finally found his targets.
Professor Oak and Agatha!
Knock knock knock—
The door was knocked, and Aiden soon pushed it open and walked in.
"I'm telling you, using Mega Gengar against those kids in the very first round of the tournament, isn't that going too far?"
"Hmph, you old geezer sure like to flex your seniority. Don't complain if you end up getting laughed at when you lose!"
"Don't think that just because you could win against the younger generation easily by holding back when you were young, you can do the same now that you're old!"
After the door was opened, the "lively" conversation between the two elders inside quickly stopped, and they both turned their gaze to Aiden.
"Aiden? What are you doing here?"
Although confused, Professor Oak soon showed a kind expression, secretly breathing a sigh of relief.
Aiden guessed that if he hadn't shown up at just the right moment, Agatha probably would have continued her "verbal assault," right?
In that sense, he had picked a pretty good time to enter.
On the other side, Agatha quickly put on a stern face, squinting her eyes and carefully scrutinizing him for a good while.
Worthy of being the famous Ghost King of Kanto. Just by being stared at, Aiden felt an illusion of "seeing a ghost," and even the air temperature instantly dropped by several degrees.
"So you're the rookie that Oak keeps blabbering about?"
Only after retracting her gaze did Agatha slowly speak up.
"You do have some skills. I didn't expect this old geezer to have such good judgment this time."
"..."
Aiden fell silent for a moment, not knowing how to respond.
Is she praising me? But why doesn't it feel like it——
However, it seemed that Agatha had traveled with Professor Oak when they were young, and Oak often mentioned her in Pokémon Masters.
Unfortunately, judging from Professor Oak's various behaviors, he actually seemed a bit afraid of this overly strict old friend of his——
Yep, all the powerhouses from Pallet Town are truly blocks of wood.
"Kid, precisely because you're close to Oak, and seem to have some interest in research and mythological legends, I must remind you of one thing."
Agatha still kept a cold face, but her tone was noticeably milder this time.
"It is a huge waste for Oak to have chosen to focus his talents on research."
"If a trainer's strength has far surpassed everyone else's, then he should remain an active competitor for his entire life, until someone comes to defeat him and takes the title of World's Strongest from him fair and square!"
"So, even if you have other hobbies, you must know your priorities!"
It sounded like she was advising Aiden, but in reality, every single sentence was poking at Professor Oak's spine, forcing him to scratch his head and give a somewhat embarrassed, dry laugh.
Obviously, even after all these years, Agatha still hadn't forgiven him for retiring at his peak.
"I understand——"
Facing Agatha's imposing manner, Aiden suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu from his past life, like being suppressed by his homeroom teacher, to the point where he was practically sweating bullets.
What do you mean 'senior citizens' leisure activity'? This is clearly a grudge-filled battlefield!
At this point, he had already said his hellos anyway. Maybe he should just bail early and let Professor Oak continue training his stress resistance—
But then again, with the atmosphere between Professor Oak and Agatha being like this, why on earth did they form a Doubles team in the first place?
I'm suddenly a little curious—who was the one that actually asked the other out first?
As if sensing Aiden's slightly complicated gaze, Professor Oak, who was currently taking a continuous beating from Agatha, walked over and whispered to him, "Agatha might not have the best temper, but the fact that she said this much means she already highly recognizes your strength."
"As for those words—just treat it as an old person's nagging, don't take it to heart."
"After all, compared to your skills as a trainer, Aiden, what you're truly more impressive at is your research on Legendary Pokémon."
After saying that, Oak paused. His eyes suddenly lit up, and his voice got noticeably louder.
"Right, I heard you've made contact with quite a few Legendary Pokémon recently?"
"If we get the chance to battle, could you let me experience their power in a real fight?"
"Also, ever since you finished that Mythical Pokémon series of Sinnoh videos last time, you haven't updated in ages! You're actually making me come to your door to urge you to update!"
"—I'll definitely update in the next few days!"
He didn't expect Professor Oak to actually resort to the despicable tactic of "IRL threats" to urge for an update. Aiden's already sweat-covered face showed a few more shades of awkwardness, and he could only agree repeatedly.
It wasn't actually that he didn't want to update; after all, he already had the raw footage ready.
It was just that the two Paldean "motorcycles" didn't have much to talk about, and the same went for the "little turtle." There was simply too little solid intel on them.
So much so that among the players in his past life, there were theories that "Paradox Pokémon" were actually fictional creatures made up by the little turtle, and these theories even held some credibility.
Therefore, he couldn't just spout nonsense without evidence.
However, his trip to Unova had gathered quite a bit of material, enough to definitely pad out—release another educational video.
So, the next video was tentatively set to start with the Tao Trio!
Aiden made his decision.
However, by the time he snapped back to reality, he realized the air in the training room had suddenly become as cold as a freezer, making him subconsciously shiver.
"——SA! MUEL! OAK!"
The Ghost King's oppressive aura was now everywhere, and even the sound of her voice in the air struck fear into people's hearts.
"You old geezer, it's bad enough that you do this yourself, but now you're going to ruin a young person's life too?!"
Agatha's gaze shot straight at Professor Oak, her tone even carrying a hint of gritted teeth.
"We are here for a competition, not for some sort of academic conference, so don't let me hear topics like that again!"
"..."
Hard to say.
Aiden suddenly had a hypothesis—
Professor Oak was actually incredibly sly. He said he was here to compete, but maybe he really just came to see the power of Legendary Pokémon in person to continue perfecting his Pokédex.
He was essentially still just doing research, and he even urged me to update in person just now——
As for the tournament? He'd just casually smurf a bit when he got tired of doing research. He could also show the rookies a thing or two. Truly killing multiple birds with one stone!
However, seeing the atmosphere between these two seniors getting more and more terrifying, Aiden felt that if he stayed any longer, he would definitely get caught in the crossfire. So, he immediately found an excuse and slipped away.
Don't be fooled by how much this bickering "senior citizen" duo argued; when it came time for the actual match, their moves would definitely be ruthlessly vicious one after another——
Maybe this was all part of the Professor's psychological warfare too!
After all, Professor Oak had been playing with tactics since he was young. Those who play tactics have dirty hearts!
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