[Shocking! The Ace Tournament quarterfinalists have been decided… look who made it!]
[Five out of eight are newcomers: What's going on with this year's tournament?]
[Strongest young generation or strongest privileged generation?]
[Tournament scandal! Backgrounds we never dared to talk about in the past]
[…]
--
Phoebe scrolled through the live News feed on her tablet, reading faster and faster, growing more and more irritated.
"What kind of news is this? We clearly made it here with real strength!"
"Blame the organizers for making things look this bad…
Mmm, this Kanto oden is really good."
Flint replied casually as he took another huge bite of the massive serving of oden in his hands.
Phoebe rolled her eyes at him, then turned to whisper something to Ryoko. Before long, the two girls were giggling again.
Seriously… women are so fickle.
"Sato, could you read this article for me? Yes, that one~ The lighting is too dim tonight… I can't see very well."
On the other side, Wallace shoved his tablet into Sato's face, his fingers pointing to one particular headline.
Sato glanced at it.
…And was instantly speechless.
[Wallace: A Once-in-Three-Millennia Heartthrob. The Eternal White Moonlight of Countless Girls… Learn More Inside!]
Without a word, Sato pushed the tablet away and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "I'm full. You guys carry on."
"Don't go, Sato! Read it for me~ I really can't see it!"
Wallace squinted on purpose, but the smug grin on his face completely gave away his true intent.
When it came to people who acted shamelessly on purpose, Sato usually just ignored them and walked away.
---
Wallace, Flint, Phoebe, Ryoko, and Sato made up the five new quarterfinalists after today's matches.
The other three were all veteran Trainers, including Mr. Alder, who had defeated Norman.
After the battles ended, the organizers gathered all eight to coordinate tomorrow's match procedures. Once that was done, the five of them naturally grouped up to grab dinner.
Once most of the food had been eaten, the chatting began. But the more they talked, the more chaotic it became.
Wallace shamelessly bragged about everything. Phoebe threw insults around freely. Flint just kept eating.
Sato looked wearily at the ever-smiling Ryoko and thought to himself, 'Now that's a professional fake smile. No flaws at all.'
As for himself? He chose to bail.
After leaving the table -and quietly settling the bill- Sato wandered the streets alone, going over the details of today's battles in his head.
After Ryoko and Will's match, Phoebe and Marshal had gone next. In the end, Phoebe claimed victory with relative ease.
Fighting-types against Ghost-types…
Fighting moves don't even hit Ghosts. And Phoebe had always been skilled at using strange and mysterious tactics.
Straightforward Marshal was no match for Phoebe at all!
The two other matches had also been very impressive. By now, all the remaining veteran Trainers were at least High Ace level, and their tactics were refined and complex. The entertainment value was top-notch.
Tomorrow would be the quarterfinals. Sato's remaining unrevealed tactics and Pokémon were growing fewer by the day.
"Ralts!"
Suddenly, Ralts tugged on Sato's ear and turned his head to the right.
"You want takoyaki?"
"Yes! I want it, I want it!"
Ralts nodded eagerly, then blinked her big eyes at Sato with a look that said: If you don't buy it, I'll cry right here
Sato twitched at the corner of his mouth. When he thought about Ralts's actual age, he felt an odd sort of confusion, though he didn't dare say it out loud.
"I'll buy it!"
"Yay!"
Ten minutes later, Ralts sat on Sato's shoulder, holding a huge handful of freshly made takoyaki, her mouth completely smeared with sauce.
"Hey, Ralts."
"Hm?"
"Do you want to battle tomorrow?"
"…You mean fight?"
"Uh… I mean a match. You'll need to maintain Ace strength, and you can't evolve into Gardevoir and just steamroll the opponent."
"Emmmm…"
"It's fine if you don't want to. I can send Tyranitar or the others instead."
"I'll go, I'll go! …I was just wondering how many portions of takoyaki you were going to buy before I agreed!" Ralts quickly added.
"…You already ate a lot. You're gonna get indigestion if you overdo it," Sato said helplessly.
"Nooo! Just two more… NO, one more portion and I'll say yes!"
"Half a portion."
"No waaay~ One full portion! And besides, the vendor doesn't even sell half-portions."
"Doesn't matter. I'll buy one and eat half myself."
"...(/＞皿<)/～┴┴"
In the end, Sato bought three portions of takoyaki…
Watching Ralts happily munching away on his shoulder, Sato felt a little hungry himself as he wandered the streets.
As for the third portion.
It was for Pikachu.
Because it didn't dare fight Ralts for space on Sato's shoulder, Pikachu had hidden angrily in his backpack… and eventually fell asleep sulking.
…The night passed without incident.
The next morning, with no Phoebe to delay him, Sato enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and walked to the venue just in time.
At that moment, Ralts was still sitting on his shoulder, while Pikachu remained pitifully curled up in his backpack, occasionally poking its head out to peek at the world.
"Sato, you're an Ace Trainer who specializes in Dark-types… Why are you surrounded by so many adorable little ones~? Are you trying to join me in promoting the greatness of Contests~?"
Wallace said this with his usual smug tone, completely unaware that he had offended both Pikachu and Ralts.
"…Ralts?"
Ralts's blood-red eyes snapped toward Wallace, instantly silencing whatever he was about to say next.
"Is it that my handsome face no longer works… or have you grown jealous of me, Ralts~?" Wallace blinked in surprise but still couldn't resist running his mouth.
"Hah~ That's because you have no idea how strong Sato's Ralts is. Hope you two run into each other today," Phoebe said snidely, then gave Ralts a deliberately cheerful wave.
"…Ralts."
Ralts turned her head away, giving Phoebe the exact same cold attitude.
"Phoebe-chan~ She ignored you too! Doesn't it feel great to have your warm smile slapped by a cold face~?"
Hearing Wallace's smug comment, Sato couldn't help but get goosebumps. He quietly slipped around them, pretending not to know them.
"SATOOOO! Today's the day we settle things. I'm gonna win for Electivire too!" Flint yelled as he ruffled his spiky afro and pointed straight at him.
"…" 'Dumbass… did you forget there's still the lottery draw?'
Besides, we already had a full 6v6 match. The author's not gonna write that again.
"Everyone's so fired up today~" The only "normal" one, Ryoko, walked over with a cheerful smile.
Sato gave a reluctant nod of agreement. He was just about to say something when Charles Goodshow suddenly appeared on the screen.