Bang bang bang!
The barrage grew even denser, but with Lucario holding a bone staff, the Psyshock Gothitelle fired off looked a lot less threatening.
Powdery chunks of energy scattered across the ground. In the clash of the two forces, Lucario was clearly coming out on top.
A bead of cold sweat slid down Gothitelle's forehead. Facing Lucario now, it felt a level of pressure it had never experienced before.
Lucario had been getting pressed at the start—so how had it suddenly flipped into the one doing the pressing?
"Gothitelle, Future Sight!"
Caitlin let out a long sigh. She hadn't expected the gap between herself and Grey to be this big.
Still, landing that many hits on Lucario was already pretty good.
Gothitelle nodded hard and gathered its Psyshock bullets together in front of itself.
"Gothi!"
With a sharp cry, Gothitelle forced both hands downward. The bullets began to fuse, merging into an enormous psychic cannonball!
The power was overwhelming—just looking at it made it feel like endless pressure was crashing down!
Gothitelle shoved forward, and the gigantic psychic shot surged in!
Lucario, bone staff in hand, saw the scene in front of it. White light instantly wrapped around its body, and it dodged a step ahead of the impact.
Then Lucario stomped several times in quick succession. The moment its feet touched the ground, sonic booms thundered out!
Bang bang bang!
Ring-shaped shockwaves lingered on the ground—and in the instant before they faded into the air, Lucario had already slipped past the massive psychic shot, appearing right in front of Gothitelle and slamming into it with full force!
"Gothi…"
Reflect flared into effect, and Gothitelle barely held against that savage hit.
At the same time, blue light rose in its eyes—Future Sight successfully went off!
Seeing that, Lucario lifted the bone staff and cracked Gothitelle a few more times, finally sending it down.
"Gothitelle is unable to battle. The winner of the first match is Gym Leader Grey."
Silver announced Grey's victory.
[Grey, how about giving the Governor a handicap this time?]
[I don't think you should. From the Governor's side, it looks like she wants a fair, head-on battle.]
[I agree with that. Since Caitlin challenged Grey, she definitely wants to see what her real strength is. If Grey goes way too easy, I think Caitlin would actually feel hurt.]
[Cynthia!]
[Cynthia's so understanding—she really knows people.]
Sinnoh Region, League Headquarters.
"Caitlin… your Psychic control has reached this level… but if you want to beat Grey, I'm afraid…"
Cynthia watched Caitlin's first battle from start to finish.
For what Caitlin just showed, Cynthia would give her an eighty out of a hundred.
That was already Elite Four–level command.
But Caitlin's opponent was Grey. Whether it was tactical planning or raw strength, he was on an entirely different tier.
Cynthia couldn't help feeling nervous for Caitlin.
If this were a standard Gym Challenge—where Grey couldn't switch Pokémon—Caitlin would at least be able to trade for one of Grey's Pokémon.
But this battle allowed both sides to switch freely.
Based on what Cynthia knew about Caitlin, she was most likely hoping that after Grey knocked out one of her Pokémon, he would also switch to another.
In other words, she wanted both sides to keep their remaining battle power on the same "line."
But under those conditions, Cynthia was genuinely worried that if Caitlin lost, her Psychic powers would spiral out of control.
That would be a livestream disaster.
Right now, Cynthia could only hope Grey would leave Caitlin a bit of dignity.
"Cynthia, Lucian asked me to bring these documents to you. Oh—are you watching a stream?"
A handsome young man with green hair walked in, holding a huge stack of paperwork—clearly Cynthia's workload for the day.
It was Sinnoh's Bug-type Elite Four—Aaron.
Cynthia glanced at her screen, then at the materials in Aaron's arms, and spoke slowly. "Aaron, I remember you said you wanted to try sitting in the Champion's seat, right?"
"Yeah! I want to beat you fair and square in the Elite Four challenge!"
Aaron nodded hard, eyes burning with fighting spirit.
"Alright, then. Today, you can experience the Champion lifestyle. Here—your job is to finish all of these within a single day."
Cynthia stood up and gave her seat to Aaron. "I'm sure you'll do even better than I do."
"W-what?!"
Staring at the Champion's seat he'd dreamed of, Aaron swallowed.
At that moment, Aaron felt completely torn—like a devil and an angel (and even a Gardevoir) had popped up in his head and started brawling.
In the end, he slammed the desk and spoke with solemn sincerity:
"Cynthia, don't test me—I really don't mean it like that!"
"Sit down, kid. I've got high hopes for you."
Cynthia patted Aaron on the shoulder, then gave him a thumbs-up. "You can do it!"
With that, Cynthia walked out with her phone in hand.
Only Aaron remained in the Champion's office.
"Ugh…"
"…Yes! First, a selfie!"
Since Cynthia was treating him like this, Aaron sat down without hesitation. After taking his selfie, he began his day as Acting Champion…
Not realizing this was the beginning of a nightmare…
Meanwhile, far away in Kanto, at the Fighting Dojo.
"Gallade, the second battle is yours."
The second Poké Ball at Caitlin's waist dropped to the ground.
[Pokémon: Gallade]
[Type: Psychic, Fighting]
[Level: 59→61]
[Ability: Sharpness]
[Moves: omitted.]
An old familiar face—Gallade took the field.
Even its Ability matched Grey's Gallade: Sharpness.
As for Grey, he fell into a dilemma.
Should he keep Lucario in, or switch to another Pokémon to handle Gallade?
"Gym Leader Grey—switch to another one."
Caitlin spoke up first.
"Okay."
Grey recalled Lucario.
Then he sent out Breloom.
"Breloo~"
The moment Breloom appeared, it threw a flurry of punches at the empty air in front of it.
Don't let its low base stats fool you—among Grey's Pokémon, it was the one with the widest range of tactical options.
Then Grey opened his mouth and asked Caitlin, "So… when you fight this one, do you want it more 'civilized,' or more 'violent'?"
"Civilized… violent?"
Caitlin's first reaction was confusion.
But soon, her knitted brows relaxed.
She'd heard something like that before—back when she fought Blue.
"Then… civilized."
Thinking back to Lucario's last match, it was obviously the definition of "violent."
She wanted to see whether Grey, on the "civilized" side, could still handle her sharp offense.
"The second battle begins now!"
With the pre-match talk finished, Silver lowered the raised flag in his hand once more.
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