Evelyn leaned close and whispered softly into Nathan's ear.
She already knew, before coming here, that Nathan carried with him three Legendary Pokémon. So now that the opponent had merely summoned a single Legendary Pokémon, why was Nathan acting so troubled?
Could it be that what he said earlier about having three Legendary Pokémon was a lie?
"Ugh… If I just relied on them to win easily, I wouldn't gain anything from it," Nathan sighed. "Besides, you have to understand—the growth of a Trainer comes through continuous challenges, again and again."
Nathan's meaning was very simple—he didn't want to rely solely on the aid of Legendary Pokémon. Sure, as Evelyn mentioned, if he sent out Entei and the other two Legendary Pokémon, winning would be a breeze. But what about the mission? The mission specifically required him to use only one Legendary Pokémon.
Moreover, he wanted to test himself—to challenge his own limits.
Ever since acquiring his champion-level Pokémon, Volcarona and Frosmoth—both of which could completely overpower even an elite like Mewtwo—Nathan hadn't encountered a true challenge for a long time.
In most situations, he was simply steamrolling his opponents.
To him, victories like that held no real value.
If he didn't challenge stronger foes, how would he improve? And how would his Pokémon grow?
Opportunities to battle against other Legendary Pokémon were incredibly rare. To not give his Pokémon a chance to test themselves in this kind of matchup would be an utter waste.
And Nathan firmly believed that even if he only used a single Legendary Pokémon, he could still secure the win!
Even if he did lose, Celestia still had a strong shot at taking the championship. After all, there were still two Legendary Pokémon left in reserve. At that point, Evelyn could bring out the remaining two to secure the win.
But that was the worst-case scenario.
"Alright then, I guess it's all on you. Win or lose—it's out of my hands now," Evelyn shrugged, seeing Nathan's unwavering attitude.
Her strongest Pokémon was her Dynamaxed Gyarados.
But in a high-tier competition like this, she honestly wasn't that effective. Even against champion-level Pokémon, her Gyarados struggled—let alone standing against a Legendary one.
"Nope. In our match against Calica, you're going to be the final trump card. If I fail, it's all on you," Nathan said with a warm smile, shooting her a look that made Evelyn feel a sudden chill down her spine.
Wait—was Nathan really planning to make her use her Dynamaxed Gyarados against a Legendary Pokémon?
That was impossible!
"Don't joke with me! I know how strong I am. Do you seriously think Dynamaxed Gyarados is that amazing?" Evelyn protested, half-frightened, half-convinced Nathan was trying to push her into a pit.
But then Nathan leaned in and whispered a few words into her ear—causing Evelyn to immediately light up with joy and excitement.
Nathan had just told her… that she would be taking two Legendary Pokémon with her into the final round!
This was her first time ever seeing a Legendary Pokémon in person—and now she was going to be using two of them!?
Forget about her being a rich heiress—even the world's wealthiest billionaire would be ecstatic at such an opportunity.
"Don't get too happy just yet. If I win, then you won't get a chance to do anything," Nathan teased, seeing how thrilled Evelyn already looked, even before the Legendary Pokémon had entered the field.
Sure, he was challenging himself this time—but it wasn't like he had no hope of winning.
So, what if the opponent had a Legendary Pokémon? It was still a living creature—not some undying god of destruction like Yveltal.
Even if that were the case, Evelyn remained extremely excited.
Because of the overwhelming power of Zapdos, Gurney and his team were quickly defeated.
Once the referee declared the outcome, both sides left the battlefield.
Now, there was only one final match left in the World Tournament: the showdown between the nation of Calica and the nation of Celestia.
The spectators were absolutely buzzing with excitement, chattering nonstop about who would claim the championship title in this year's World Tournament.
Before Calica had revealed a Legendary Pokémon, everyone—including Celestia's own supporters—had been confident in Nathan's victory.
But now that Calica had played the Legendary Pokémon card, even Celestia's own viewers were beginning to lose confidence in him.
This was, after all, a Legendary Pokémon we were talking about—so far, there were so few of them that one could count them on their fingers.
Master-level power, Legendary-level potential—even though Nathan's team was incredibly strong, all his Pokémon were either champion-level or slightly below.
Not a single one of them surpassed champion-level.
And at one point during the competition, the cameras had caught a moment where Nathan was rubbing his temples—clearly troubled.
That brief shot was all it took for public sentiment to shift toward Calica.
Even Nathan himself looked concerned—so what more needed to be said about the outcome?
That evening, back on the island, Nathan received a phone call from back home.
The caller was none other than the Grand Elder himself.
"Nathan, the entire World Tournament is riding on your shoulders now. You've got three Legendary Pokémon—this win is in the bag, right?" the Grand Elder said cheerfully.
With three Legendary Pokémon in his possession, there was no logical way Calica could beat him.
"It's definitely winnable. But the match itself might not unfold the way you're expecting. You'll see what I mean tomorrow," Nathan replied calmly, clearly aware of what the Elder was assuming.
Still, Nathan had no intention of using all three Legendary Pokémon right out of the gate.
He had his eyes on the final reward—and he was going to go all out to get it.
-------------
A full night passed in the blink of an eye.
Nathan had stayed up late into the night, thinking through every option, before finally deciding which Pokémon he would use in the match.
With only one Legendary slot allowed, he ultimately chose Suicune.
The reasons for not choosing Entei or Raikou were quite straightforward.
Raikou shared the same Electric-type as Zapdos. In battles between Pokémon of the same type, while there may be no direct advantage or disadvantage, many moves can be negated or have reduced effect.
As for Entei—it wasn't that he wasn't strong, but there weren't many situational advantages for using him this time.
After all, the competition was taking place on an island.
That meant Suicune could exert 120% of its power in such an environment.
Had the battlefield been somewhere like a volcano, Nathan would have chosen Entei without hesitation.
For the two remaining non-Legendary slots, Nathan chose Mewtwo and Frosmoth.
The two had very different types and battle specialties.
Frosmoth excelled at battlefield control—and could even coordinate with Suicune.
Mewtwo, on the other hand, brought raw, unmatched power. Though he might not be on par with Legendary Pokémon in every aspect, when it came to sheer strength, he could hold his own.
Once he'd finalized his lineup, Nathan handed over the Poké Balls containing Entei and Raikou to Evelyn.
"These two Poké Balls… they contain the Legendary Pokémon?" Evelyn's eyes sparkled like starlight as she gazed at them in disbelief.
Legendary Pokémon.
And now she was holding two of them in her hands!
If one looked carefully, they'd see her hands were trembling slightly—as if she were afraid of dropping the Poké Balls and shattering them.
"That's right, Miss Heiress. If I lose—it's all on you," Nathan said with a smile and a nod.
Still, he believed that under his leadership, Celestia's entire Pokémon team would grow stronger and stronger.
As long as his company continued to expand and sell rare resources to the people, there would come a day when Legendary Pokémon would no longer be just a dream.
"Ahhh~ I'm so happy!!" Evelyn squealed with joy.
She carefully tucked the Poké Balls into her backpack.
Since this was the final showdown, Kelly and the others weren't staying behind on the island anymore.
Instead, they joined Nathan in heading to the main island—they didn't want to miss the Legendary Pokémon battle for anything.
After all, watching a match of this caliber live was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
By the time they arrived, Calica's team was already waiting.
The moment they saw Nathan, the members of Calica's team cast taunting, provocative glances his way.
"Alright everyone, the final match is about to begin! This battle will determine the champion of the World Tournament!" the announcer declared excitedly.
"Yesterday…" he continued, rambling on for quite a while—causing viewers in the live chat to collectively roll their eyes and wish they could punch him.
This battle carried immense significance—not just for Calica and Celestia, but for many other nations as well.
And with Legendary Pokémon participating, the level of global attention was off the charts.
Even before the match had officially started, nearly one billion viewers were already online.
And as the announcer continued talking, that number kept rising.
In just a few minutes, the total shot up by five times.
Six billion viewers!
Considering how many people existed on the entire planet, this viewership now made up one-third of the world's population!
"Alright—both sides, please send out your first fighters!" the announcer's voice rang out clearly.
At that, Nathan stepped forward with firm, steady steps.
Calica's Team, seeing that he himself was coming out, immediately responded with their strongest fighter—Gregor Ivanov.
The surname "Ivanov" was a national name in Calica Country. Gregor himself held a noble status—practically like a prince of the country.
"Nathan, I admit you're strong. But in the face of a Legendary Pokémon, you are destined to lose," Gregor sneered, his voice full of mockery.
For this World Tournament, their nation had paid an enormous price to bring two Legendary Pokémon onto their side.
And convincing those Legendary Pokémon to fight had taken an extremely long negotiation process.
"Is that so? Then I'd really like to see what kind of Pokémon you'll be using to beat me," Nathan replied without backing down in the slightest. "If it's only Zapdos… that's far from enough."
(End of Chapter)
TN: The levels are so confusing the author or the translation keep referring to them differently. Unless I see a status screen of a pokemon above Champion level, I might be incorrect on the levels.