"..."
Raihan silently stared at the glaring red "Defeat" on the screen.
He had actually lost?
But honestly, he didn't find it too surprising.
Because the trainer on the other side was clearly no ordinary gym leader.
At first, he thought this was just a Poison-type specialist who excelled at using toxic strategies. But as the match progressed, Raihan quickly realized something wasn't right.
The opponent seemed to precisely guess his every move and immediately adjusted accordingly.
In other words, each of their exchanges ended with the opponent's seemingly cheat-like foresight winning.
Perfect timing in defense, coupled with relentless pressure whenever he tried to catch his breath, unexpectedly turned into an artistic feast of offense and defense transitions.
This was too exaggerated...
Losing always leaves one feeling less than thrilled, but Raihan managed to suppress his competitive spirit.
Soon, the recording of this battle was saved.
"If you can't face failure head-on, there's no possibility of further improvement."
This was the conclusion he drew from his duels with Leon.
Although it was just a win or loss in an online game, it still held significant reference value for him.
The opponent's command and foresight abilities were worth learning.
Thinking this way, Raihan was about to start reviewing the reasons for his defeat when—
Knock knock knock—
The sound of knocking echoed through the room, and soon a man draped in a red-edged cloak walked in.
"Yo, Raihan, long time no see!"
Facing the visitor, Raihan covered his face with his hand in exasperation and shook his head repeatedly.
"If you just barge in without waiting for the host to respond, what's the point of knocking?!"
"Hahaha, that's how Master Mustard taught me!"
"I don't remember Master Mustard saying anything like that..."
"That's because you haven't trained at the Isle of Armor Dojo, Master Mustard is quite an unconventional and excellent teacher, you know."
Leon laughed heartily, taking a few quick steps towards Raihan and soon noticed the unplayed battle recording on his computer screen.
"Indeed, it's just like you. Right after finishing a ranked battle, you're still practicing hard."
"This year's Champion Cup, I'll be waiting for you to challenge me in the finals!"
After saying this, Leon looked at Raihan, his eyes revealing the absolute confidence of a strong competitor.
"Of course, the final winner will still be me."
"You're really annoying, you know!"
Raihan waved his hand helplessly.
If he didn't already know this guy had been like this since he was little, it would be hard to imagine him as our Galar region's undefeated champion...
"Forget all that, watch this match recording with me."
"The tactics used by the trainer on the other side are interesting; maybe your Pokémon can learn something from them."
"Oh? Tactics even you find impressive?"
Leon immediately became interested, skillfully dragging a small stool from the corner of the room and sitting next to Raihan.
A match lasted only ten minutes, and soon the technical aspects reached their end.
Leon, who had been smiling earlier, now had slightly widened pupils and instinctively looked at the man beside him.
"Is this one of the Elite Four from another region?"
After watching the entire match, he could only describe the opponent's performance with two words:
Stable!
Using his Pokémon's versatile attack and defense capabilities, he preemptively anticipated each of Raihan's moves and countered accordingly.
It was a complete domination of combat experience; the gap in fundamentals was evident.
Even if it were him, he probably couldn't replicate the opponent's seemingly future-predicting foresight ability.
To suppress someone as talented as Raihan in this aspect, he must be a powerful senior trainer...
However, Raihan shook his head.
"No, I've already checked his game profile. He should be a young man, younger than us, matching his trainer image."
A non-mainstream and young gym leader from the Paldea region having such strength was indeed shocking.
"Paldea region?"
Upon hearing this, Leon was momentarily stunned before suddenly breaking into a smile.
"Come to think of it, isn't the Dragon-type Master Tournament being held next month in Mesagoza in Paldea? You can go check out this genius youth then."
"Hmm... That's right."
Reminded of this, Raihan belatedly recalled the event.
With the times evolving, regional leagues were gradually moving towards integration, trying to deepen connections with each other.
Besides the millennia-old, quadrennial Masters Tournament, in recent years, to strengthen ties between trainers from different regions, the Type Master Tournaments were introduced.
Three high-level ball events with different attribute restrictions each year, cycling over six years.
The last event of this year was the noble Dragon type!
It was said that even Lance from Indigo Plateau and Drake from Hoenn would participate.
Such a good opportunity to spar with masters, Raihan naturally wouldn't miss it.
After reminding Raihan, Leon suddenly revealed a mysterious smile.
"By the way, to make our Galar region famous worldwide, President Rose might want you to play the villain during this trip to Paldea."
"For instance, after the tournament, go and have a few more rematches with local gym leaders in Paldea?"
...
After defeating Raihan, Aiden continued his climb.
His subsequent opponents were all locals fitting his current rank in the Master Ball tier, so Gliscor naturally began to dominate.
Not even needing to showcase its offensive prowess, just relying on SubProtectToxic and various control moves, Aiden's team left opponents with no countermeasures, forcing them to silently watch Aiden perform.
"Toxic at the start, Protect, not Protect, Protect, and boom goes the opponent!"
"Still want to use Safeguard? Eat my Taunt!"
"You don't want to smile nor lose, making things difficult for me!"
Several consecutive one-sided matches filled with quality gameplay made Aiden's lips curl into an uncontrollable smile.
Faced with Aiden in full swing, the audience's reactions boiled down to two words—
Scared!
[The streamer smiles so brightly, definitely looks like the sunny and cheerful male protagonist straight out of a shonen manga!]
[Oh no, it seems the streamer has been possessed by some dirty entity, quickly call for a priest to exorcise it!]
[No hope left, just wait to die. Who told Teacher Yu to keep pondering these dirty tactics daily, he's already terminally ill, and no amount of spiritual intervention can save him now...]
Amidst the laughter and joy in the live stream, Aiden's opponent once again conceded.
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