Night had fallen, and the arena was under repair.
"Man, tomorrow I'm battling Giovanni."
Grey walked across the Indigo Conference's main battlefield with his hands behind his head, quietly watching the Machamp repairing the arena in front of him.
That afternoon's battle had used far too much force, leaving the battlefield damaged to an almost ridiculous degree. Fortunately, with Machamp helping out, it would probably be fully repaired by around midnight, without a single visible issue left behind.
"Huh? Is that...?"
Grey narrowed his eyes when he spotted a masked man dressed in an unusually wild upper-body outfit, crouching on the ground.
The night was long.
The Masked Royal's upper body nearly blended into the darkness, but Grey knew his skin was tan.
The man was none other than the Masked Royal.
He was from Alola, an outsider who had come to the Indigo Conference ready to make a name for himself, which made him not all that different from a smurf coming in to stomp lower-level players.
"Hm?"
Seeming to notice Grey's arrival, the Masked Royal turned his head, met Grey's eyes, and greeted him along the way.
"Gym Leader Grey? Alola!"
The Masked Royal had heard of Grey's reputation. As the workhorse Gym Leader who kept arresting Team Rocket members, Grey had earned his respect.
"Alola. I am Grey. I'm guessing you must be the Masked Royal?"
Grey walked over at an unhurried pace and sat down beside the Masked Royal.
In a certain sense, the two of them could both be considered strangers far from home.
"That's me. Looks like you've heard of me too, Gym Leader Grey. I'm guessing most of it wasn't anything good, right? Haha."
The Masked Royal laughed self-deprecatingly.
After all, he had swept through Kanto's eight Gyms by himself.
On top of that, he possessed Champion-level battle power. With that kind of strength, coming here to compete for the championship against a bunch of rookie Trainers made it impossible for people not to complain about him.
"It's not that bad. Honestly, I can understand it. Trainers travel around, see new places, broaden their horizons, and occasionally crush some weaker opponents. Perfectly reasonable."
Grey was not that rigid.
As for the Masked Royal's situation, he simply smiled without saying much.
"Gym Leader Grey... I didn't expect you to be exactly like people online say. You really are that easygoing."
The Masked Royal was shocked by Grey's almost Zen-like attitude.
He had such overwhelming strength, yet his attitude toward life was so casual.
Could it be that this was what true mastery looked like, stripping everything down to its simplest form?
For a moment, the Masked Royal felt genuine respect. People really could not be judged by appearances.
"It's not that impressive. I've just been through a lot, so all I want now is a peaceful life. But these days, every region has its own troubles. Especially here in Kanto. Team Rocket was running wild before. If I hadn't arrested four of their executives, Kanto might still be stuck in misery."
"Sigh."
Grey let out a soft sigh.
Thinking back, the first time he had fought Team Rocket's Four Generals, he had only barely managed to win by relying on Annihilape breaking through its limits.
As his strength kept growing, never mind the Four Generals, even the League's Elite Four might get swept by him now.
His goal had not changed.
He simply wanted to live a peaceful life.
But Team Rocket still had not completely disbanded.
He would have to find a chance to crush Team Rocket in one decisive blow before his ideal could become reality.
Until then, he would continue walking the path of truth.
"You've done an amazing job, Gym Leader Grey. I heard about your deeds before I came to Kanto, and that was one of the reasons I decided to come here."
After saying that, the Masked Royal looked a little embarrassed. He scratched his head, then slowly said, "I originally wanted to find a chance to visit you, Gym Leader Grey, but unfortunately, my schedule was a little packed. I didn't expect I'd only properly meet you today, and at the Indigo Conference's main arena, no less..."
"Want to have a battle?"
Grey suddenly brought it up.
"I can feel that you're forcefully suppressing your fighting spirit. If you keep bottling it up, it'll affect your mental game."
Grey knew the Masked Royal wanted to battle him, but was too embarrassed to take the initiative and ask.
In that case, Grey would be the one to say it.
"No, this battlefield isn't exactly suitable right now."
The Masked Royal had another concern too. Among the Pokémon he had brought this time, one was not truly his own Pokémon.
He had brought it for the sake of battling the League's Elite Four.
Of course, whether he could actually win or not was another matter.
"Hmm. Then I'll look forward to you winning the championship, so we can have a battle."
The winner of this Indigo Conference would first have to battle the winner of the Gym Tournament. If they won that match, they could challenge one of the Kanto League's Elite Four.
If he could not even get past Grey, then what was the point of talking about fighting the Elite Four?
If the Masked Royal had heard this news a month ago, he definitely would have been happy.
He would get to battle Grey, and he might even have some hope of winning.
But now things were different.
Grey's known trump card was Reshiram.
Even the Pokémon he had brought with him probably could not defeat Reshiram, right?
Yes.
The Masked Royal could be sure that Pokémon might not even last three moves.
"Don't worry. When the time comes, I'll use my own main team. I won't use a Legendary like Reshiram."
It was not as though he was battling Trainers like Giovanni or Pryce. If he still used Reshiram, he really would look like a Legendary spammer.
"Gym Leader Grey... all right! I'll look forward to battling you too!"
The worry in the Masked Royal's heart gradually drifted away as his conversation with Grey came to an end.
"All right, I'm heading out."
Grey waved. This chat with the Masked Royal had only happened on a whim.
He did not know whether it would help him or not.
Only after Grey's back could no longer be seen did the Masked Royal suddenly inhale sharply.
"Hiss! I think I forgot to ask Gym Leader Grey for his contact info!"
Only then did the Masked Royal realize that after chatting with Grey for so long, he had not even gotten his number.
It really had been a chance meeting.
"Sigh, forget it. If we're meant to meet, we'll meet again."
The Masked Royal still did not chase after Grey.
He felt that if they really were fated to meet again, they definitely would.
If there was no fate between them, then there was nothing he could do.
Some things could not be forced.
"Actually, if you send Gym Leader Grey an Admiral-tier membership, you can get his private contact information."
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
A crisp young man's voice arrived on the night wind.
The Masked Royal turned his head and looked over.
Once he clearly saw the newcomer, he realized it was Lance.
"Elite Four Lance!"
The Masked Royal's Elite Four target this time was Lance, so he had not expected the other man to also be out enjoying the night breeze.
"No need to be so stiff. Just call me Lance. Traveler from distant Alola, I'm pleased to meet you."
When Lance ran into a powerful Trainer who was not part of an evil organization, he was in a fairly good mood.
"All right, Mr. Lance. Are you out getting some fresh air this late because you just finished League work?"
"Not really. I just happened to have some free time, so I came out to admire the moon. And, while I'm at it, to look forward to tomorrow's battle."
As one of Kanto's Elite Four, Lance paid close attention to the Gym Tournament.
When he noticed Pryce, Pryce's strength far exceeded his expectations. He had even called Red and Blue over because he wanted to understand exactly what level Pryce's strength had reached.
The answer he received was naturally, "No weaker than me."
For those two battle-legend tier Trainers to give that kind of answer meant Pryce had absolutely reached the battle-legend tier.
He just did not know who would win if Pryce battled Grey.
Nor did he know exactly how many absurd Pokémon Pryce had on hand.
If his whole team was at that level...
Even Grey might be in danger.
After all, once a Trainer reached the battle-legend tier, they could solo a major Legendary.
It was just that most of the time, no one would go out of their way to provoke a major Legendary. But in a situation like this, if Pryce truly had a full team of six at that level, he might be able to rotate through them and wear down even Grey's two major Legendaries.
"Haha, sorry. You saw me spacing out there."
Lance realized he had gotten a little too lost in thought outside and had slightly neglected the Masked Royal, so he apologized.
"Not at all."
The Masked Royal shook his head and did not take it to heart.
The two chatted for a while. When midnight drew near, they each headed back.
...
...
Inside the hotel.
"What's wrong? You seem down."
Sabrina, lying against Grey's chest, felt it rising and falling unevenly. He was clearly thinking about something, which was why his breathing had changed like that.
"I'm thinking about how I should fight Giovanni tomorrow. Should I let Blaziken and the others go first, or should I send out Reshiram directly?"
This battle was a full six-on-six match, which did place some demands on a Trainer's stamina and focus.
A rookie Trainer might be nearly wiped out after finishing a single six-on-six battle.
For Grey, that was no problem at all.
But there were always exceptions.
Battling a Trainer on the same level consumed far more mental energy. Grey was genuinely afraid that Giovanni still had some dirty trick hidden away, forcing him to reveal his trump card, Kyurem, ahead of time.
"Just approach it normally. Once you've battled enough, that sort of thing becomes routine. It's like back then compared to now. Haven't you gradually built up a tolerance too?"
Sabrina straddled Grey, a few strands of hair falling against the corner of his mouth. What she was talking about was something only the two of them knew.
"That's true. I was overthinking it. Thank you, Sabrina."
"Hm?"
"Thank you, babe."
"Mhm. Also, from now on, don't thank me with words. Show me with action, understand?"
Sabrina smiled seductively.
Naturally, Grey understood.
...
...
The next day, Grey did not wake up until noon.
By then, Pryce's battle with Koga had already ended.
As expected, the winner was Gym Leader Pryce, who had won with ease.
Koga's proud Toxic, Substitute, and Protect stall tactic had been completely broken.
Many Poison-type Trainers who watched the entire battle kept letting out wails.
They had not expected Ice-type moves to isolate poison so easily. Now it would be much harder to play dirty against people!
"Your battle starts in two hours. Wash up, change clothes, then eat lunch, and the timing should be about right."
Sabrina reluctantly got out of bed, preparing to wash up first and change into a well-fitting outfit.
"Okay. I'll give the team one more pre-battle talk."
Grey went to check the members he would be sending out this time.
Barring any accidents, it should be Blaziken, Annihilape, Genesect, Reshiram, Kyurem, and Mewtwo.
He had barely scraped together a Champion-level team.
Hmm...
He was a Fighting-type specialist, yet the strongest Pokémon on his team was a Dragon-type Pokémon. If that got out, people would probably laugh at him.
Then again, that was an old Kanto tradition.
Perfectly reasonable.
"Blaziken, you'll lead for us when the time comes. Try to make full use of your Ability. After boosting with Swords Dance, use Protect, trigger Speed Boost twice, then Baton Pass out and leave the rest to Annihilape."
Blaziken had the Fire type, which was completely countered by Ground types.
Grey did not dare gamble.
He could only test the waters with a strategy from his previous life.
It had worked fine the last time he used it, but he did not know whether it would still have an outstanding effect against Giovanni.
"Chawa!" Blaziken said. "No problem. Leave the battle to me!"
Blaziken patted its chest.
It had not had much to do recently, but that did not mean it had done nothing.
Steadily improving its strength was what it had been doing day after day.
It was the second Pokémon on the team to reach Champion level through hard work. There was no need to say much about its effort. Otherwise, Grey would not have chosen to send it into battle.
Grey encouraged each of the partners participating in this battle one by one.
All at once, he felt his confidence rise to the brim.
"Mio." Riolu said. "Speaking of which, didn't you say you'd send me out during the Gym Tournament? How is it already the semifinals, and you still haven't let me battle?"
After confirming that Grey was not doing anything bad, little Riolu Teleported into the room and asked.
It was still waiting to eat all-you-can-eat barbecue.
In the end, Grey had left it off to the side and forgotten about it, not letting it work.
"Be good. We'll see next round. Right now, you're one of my only two true trump cards."
Grey bent down, patted little Riolu's shoulder, and spoke earnestly.
"That's why you can't appear too early. You have to develop quietly, then shock everyone."
"Mio!" Riolu said. "Oh! So that's how it is! I get it now!"
Little Riolu patted its own shoulder and instantly understood.
"Good. As long as you understand."
Grey got up, changed into a different set of clothes, then took his partners to eat.
...
...
After lunch, the exciting second half of the Gym Tournament semifinals was finally about to begin.
"Hello, everyone! Welcome, friends, to our channel. Right now, we're bringing you the second half of the Gym Tournament semifinals. Our two competitors are Gym Leader Giovanni, known as Giovanni of the Earth, and this tournament's greatest favorite to win it all, the once-in-a-generation Aura Hero recognized by Reshiram, Gym Leader Grey!"
Things were finally looking up for Grey. He had finally gotten a proper title.
This time, the hosts were Guli TV and Darknight, both commentators who had covered Grey's battles before.
"Now, let us welcome our two Gym Leaders to the stage!"
Bang, bang, bang!
Brilliant fireworks rose into the sky one after another, bursting into dazzling streams of light overhead.
Giovanni slowly walked out from the competitors' tunnel. His carefully tailored black suit made his posture look as straight as a pine tree, and the hem of his jacket cut a sharp arc through the air with each step.
Giovanni of the Earth, a man said to be invincible as long as he stood upon the ground!
Then, Grey also slowly walked out from the tunnel.
Today, his outfit was especially eye-catching.
His pure white shirt was spotless, the sleeves casually rolled up to his elbows, paired with washed blue jeans and white sneakers.
Compared to his usual calm, steady style of dress, the contrast was stark. His entire appearance looked fresh and full of youthful energy.
"Gym Leader Grey! Show Gym Leader Giovanni that this is a new era now!"
"Reshiram, steamroll Giovanni!"
"Gym Leader Giovanni, you've got this!"
The fans on both sides started cheering first.
Giovanni and Grey looked at each other, and the corners of Giovanni's mouth rose slightly.
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