"Good match."
In the player tunnel, Silas and Nina exchanged a brief greeting before heading in different directions.
"Impressive."
From the stands, three friends took turns lightly hitting Silas on the shoulder to congratulate him.
Silas's face immediately flushed slightly.
He had every reason to believe they were taking this chance to get back at him.
But in such a good mood, Silas didn't bother; who said they could enjoy the thrill of victory?
"Eh, just okay~"
His teasing tone naturally earned him three rolling eyes.
"Yezo, you better watch closely. Your next match will be against him."
Silas looked teasingly at the nervous Yezo.
"Just shut your mouth." Yezo rolled his eyes with little patience.
Silas smiled and shrugged, exchanging a glance with the other two. He hadn't expected even talkative Yezo to have a day where he wanted others to be quiet.
Silas wisely didn't say more; otherwise, instead of helping Yezo relax, he might mess up his mindset, which would be bad.
But the next moment, Yezo's words made Silas rethink.
"Anyway, I suggest you watch carefully. Maybe your Top 16 opponent is him."
Yezo "blessed" Silas with a deadpan expression.
Silas responded with a friendly hand gesture in thanks.
Amid their banter, below them, today's second battle had already begun.
The stands, originally noisy, quickly quieted. Even when people spoke, it was in hushed whispers, with almost every sentence analyzing the Pokémon on the field.
Everything proceeded as usual, with all eyes focused on the Indigo Plateau Conference.
Organizations like Team Rocket or other poacher groups remained inactive during this time.
Time quickly passed to the morning of the Top 16 to Top 8 match draw.
"Your mouth must be cursed. Admit it—are you a Gastly in disguise?"
Silas, clearly annoyed, left the service hall and unloaded his frustration on Yezo.
Yezo looked confused—he hadn't done anything.
Haruhira reacted faster:
"You didn't seriously get matched with Shizuo, did you?"
His tone carried disbelief and a touch of exasperation.
Silas nodded grimly.
"I feel like one of the four of us has some penmanship issues… but I won't say who."
Jun added quietly from the side.
"Pu… cough."
Yezo made a strange sound.
"Don't hold it in. If you want to laugh, just laugh." Silas "kindly" advised.
"I'm not laughing. Just normal… it's a probability thing." Yezo put on a serious, composed face.
Silas gave a cold chuckle.
"Who would've thought… we'd all fall to one person. Isn't this what they call fate?" Jun remarked with amusement.
As for Silas defeating Shizuo? That idea was extremely crazy and unrealistic.
The main reason was that Silas's main team composition had a poor matchup against Shizuo's Water-type ace Pokémon. It was clearly disadvantageous.
They couldn't expect a newly Quasi-elite-level Serperior and an Advance-level Ampharos to defeat a Blastoise that was suspected to be an Elite-level Pokémon.
"Unlucky~" Silas sighed dramatically.
The key was, this was the first match in the round of eight for him, leaving very little preparation time.
"Good luck." Haruhira encouraged him wholeheartedly.
"Alright, I'll head out now."
Silas turned toward the entrance to the battlefield. His figure, viewed from behind, carried a faint melancholy.
As his figure disappeared from sight, the other three silently looked up at the sky in quiet contemplation.
For these young Trainers attending the conference for the first time, being eliminated was naturally sad.
Normally, having their friends continue fighting might ease the sorrow a bit but unexpectedly, all four of them were facing potential elimination so soon.
Still, they hadn't come away empty-handed.
"Hello, you must be Yezo, right? I'm a host from the League TV program. Before the Round of 16 begins, could we take a few minutes to interview you?"
A glamorous woman holding a microphone approached Yezo, and behind her were several camera operators.
Yezo immediately straightened his appearance and demeanor, exuding energy as he answered her questions confidently.
Nearby, Jun and Haruhira were also staying busy. Although their attention from the audience was slightly lower than Yezo's—since they were in the top 64—they were still highly watched trainers at this stage.
Moreover, anyone with even a casual eye could see from their age and track record that they were rising stars.
They didn't resist becoming famous.
Although trainers cared more about strength, the benefits of increasing one's reputation were obvious. Not to mention the financial rewards alone made it worthwhile.
The three were all members of prominent families, yes, but that didn't mean they could exhaust their families' resources. Their efforts and gains had to be proportional.
Once they officially debuted and achieved results in the tournament, most of the expenses would have to be covered by themselves. Their families could only assist at certain moments—the resources were ultimately limited.
Even someone as talented as Lance doesn't receive endless support from his family; a family's prosperity is never solely dependent on one person.
While the three were taking responsibility for their futures and working hard, Silas was in the players' rest room giving final instructions to his Pokémon.
"…Anyway, the opposing leader likes to launch surprise attacks from the opponent's blind spots. If you don't spot it immediately, quickly use Acrobatics or Twister to evade and block any incoming strikes."
He summarized his instructions to his last partner, Pidgeot.
"Pidgey~!"
Pidgeot let out an excited cry.
From Silas' attitude, it could clearly sense that this battle was different from previous matches.
Even though it could be lazy at times, Pidgeot was full of interest and excitement when facing strong opponents.
Silas glanced around.
Blaziken with flames surging from its wrists, Gigalith with its crystal plates constantly rotating, Serperior swinging its tail wildly across the ground, Togekiss smiling with squinting eyes, and the pink Ampharos with electricity sparking from its body.
The other five Pokémon, like their older brothers, were all full of battle spirit.
The corner of Silas' mouth curved higher and higher.
"All right, no regrets, team. Let's go!"
The rest room door slowly opened and closed, shadows intertwining.
....
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