Gardevoir had a great deal of experience and understood that humans and Pokémon could experience emotions with varying degrees of intensity.
Mary's emotions were neither normal nor average, yet that in itself wasn't particularly unusual; Gardevoir had encountered many humans and Pokémon whose emotions differed significantly from what was considered normal, and such individuals were far from rare.
Even her father, Alex, was one such person.
That was why Gardevoir couldn't quite understand why Mary's emotions felt so "weird" to her, especially since that was the only unusual thing she had noticed.
She couldn't quite put her finger on what exactly felt wrong, but there was something about Mary's emotions that struck her as somewhat unnatural.
It wasn't necessarily that the emotions themselves were strange, but rather that something about the way they were being expressed felt different from what Gardevoir was accustomed to sensing.
However, Gardevoir said nothing for the moment and simply decided that she would speak to her father about it later, once they were somewhere private.
If she used her psychic energy to communicate with Alex now, there was always a chance that Mary might notice that she was communicating with him, and Gardevoir didn't want to draw unnecessary attention that she noticed something. It was better to wait.
...
Professor Birch eventually led Alex to a private room where his tournament prize money was waiting for him.
Once they entered, Birch smiled and congratulated him. "Congratulations, Alex. You've won not only 50 million Poké-dollars, but you've also earned the opportunity to challenge one of the four Hoenn Elite Four members for their position within a year. Just keep in mind that this opportunity automatically expires after one year."
Alex, who had known from the beginning what the two first-place prizes were, wasn't particularly surprised by the announcement.
Fifty million Poké-dollars was certainly no small amount, even for him, and he could already think of several useful ways to spend or invest the money. However, the money wasn't the prize he cared about most.
The real prize was the opportunity to challenge an Elite Four member.
The position of Elite Four member was an extremely powerful one, offering considerably more authority than Gym Leaders while carrying fewer day-to-day responsibilities than the position of a Gym Leader did.
It was also a position Alex very much wanted to obtain.
Becoming an Elite Four member would give him a powerful voice within the Hoenn Alliance, allowing him to influence certain decisions and have considerably more political and social authority than he currently possessed.
More importantly, however, it would give him a legitimate path toward becoming the Hoenn Champion.
Alex knew that becoming Champion in this world worked very differently from the games. A trainer couldn't simply challenge the Elite Four and then fight the Champion after defeating them. Instead, a trainer first had to become a member of the Elite Four themselves.
After obtaining an Elite Four position, they could then challenge the other three members, with each opponent being allowed to choose whether the challenge would be fought as a 3-on-3 or 6-on-6 battle.
Only after defeating all three could the challenger finally earn the right to challenge the current Champion if the region has one.
Alex didn't necessarily want to become the Champion of Hoenn very soon, since the position wasn't overwhelmingly more powerful than that of an Elite Four member but much harder to get.
The Champion possessed greater authority and prestige, of course, but the difference in actual power wasn't particularly significant to a normal Elite Four member.
Becoming an Elite Four member, however, was something Alex definitely wanted.
It would give him considerably more influence, provide him with access to opportunities that were currently out of reach, and, most importantly, establish him as one of the strongest and most influential trainers in Hoenn.
Alex took the suitcase full of money with a smile and said, "Thank you, Professor Birch. I will definitely use my chance, unlike some others. I hope you will watch my match when the time comes,"
As far as Alex knew, roughly half of all the champions from this tournament and other regions didn't take the opportunity to challenge an Elite Four member.
Alex could understand why so many "champions" didn't do that, because if they already knew they had almost no chance against even the weakest Elite Four member, there was little reason for them to risk their reputition in a battle they were almost guaranteed to lose.
Even so, Alex still felt a bit repulsed that so many trainers didn't even try.
As far as Alex knew, the average Tournament champion had 2-3 Champion-level Pokémons, and it should theoretically be possible for them to defeat the weakest Elite Four member.
The average weakest Elite Four member typically had a team that looked something like this:
5 Pokémon at Low Champion level, with most of them being around Levels 60, 61, and 62.
1 Pokémon at Mid Champion level, which was almost always around Level 65 or 66 and rarely any higher.
And this was only the average, as there were sometimes even a Elite Four member who didn't have a single Mid Champion-level Pokémon on their team.
For the average champion of this tournament, who had two or three Champion-level Pokémon, it wasn't impossible to defeat a particularly weak Elite Four member, especially if they used the entire year they had been given to become a little stronger.
Professor Birch looked slightly surprised when he heard Alex say that. "Oh, really? Don't you think it's a bit too soon?"
He wasn't saying that because he thought Alex was a poor trainer. Quite the opposite.
Alex had already proven himself to be an exceptional trainer throughout the tournament, and Professor Birch had personally witnessed several of his battles.
However, there was still a significant difference between being a tournament champion and being strong enough to challenge an Elite Four member.
Alex's current team simply wasn't there yet. His Pokémon were certainly strong, but none of them had even reached Level 59, let alone the Champion level.
Professor Birch wasn't convinced that Alex's current team would have any realistic chance against even the weakest Elite Four member.
Alex understood exactly why Birch had said that and didn't take the comment personally.
With a small smile, he replied, "You're not entirely wrong. It would definitely be too early right now, but I have almost an entire year."
Professor Birch then remembered the news claiming that Alex had a team full of SS-rank Pokémon, and he understood that after those eleven months, Alex would likely have a team full of Champion-level Pokémon.
He felt that with such a team, Alex really would have a good chance against an Elite Four member, and he said with a smile, "Oh, that sounds much more interesting now. I'll definitely be there to see this match."
Alex and Professor Birch exchanged a few more words and their contact information before eventually going their separate ways.
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