Inside the waiting room of the Battle Arena, Natsui and the others sat across from Bea.
No one else was in the room. Neither Greta nor Scott was there. Those two were thoughtful enough to leave Natsui and his group some private space.
Tea and fruit plates were set on the table. The room was not very large, but it was decorated in a warm and cozy way.
Natsui and Misty were already friends with Bea, so they did not feel awkward around her.
This was May's first time meeting Bea, but that did not cause any trouble. After the introductions, May sat there with her head lowered, swinging her legs back and forth while quietly eating piece after piece of fruit with a fork.
Bea looked at May's stomach. Even though she was eating so much, it still stayed flat.
Then Bea shifted her gaze to Natsui. After a brief pause, she finally said, "Now that I think about it, I still haven't congratulated you. Congratulations on winning the Ever Grande Conference."
"It wasn't a big deal," Natsui said with a smile, waving his hand. "Everything went smoothly without any danger. Winning the championship felt like the natural result. Besides, you can congratulate me whenever you want. It's not too late now."
The moment the topic came up, Misty grew excited.
She immediately started talking to Bea. "Miss Bea, you have no idea! Natsui won every match easily in both the preliminaries and the main tournament. Those people were absolutely no match for him!"
Bea hesitated again. It looked like she wanted to say something, but in the end, she stayed quiet.
Although she had already left Hoenn, she had still watched all of Natsui's battles on television.
She was just too embarrassed to say that out loud.
Normally, she never paid much attention to other people. She only cared about her own training.
But during those few days, she had done something different. Every time one of Natsui's matches was broadcast, she had gone to the Pokémon Center to watch it.
Recently, she had been feeling restless. She could not fully focus on her training anymore. Her thoughts kept drifting back to what happened that night.
She did not understand much about feelings, but she knew something was wrong with her state of mind.
She had come here to recover her fighting spirit and force those distracting thoughts out of her head. She had never expected fate to bring her face-to-face with Natsui again.
It was truly unexpected.
And now, her heart felt even more unsettled, while her state of mind was still unresolved.
Fortunately, she was the only one who knew this.
With Misty taking the lead, the conversation moved naturally from Natsui's championship victory to Bea's travels.
The atmosphere in the waiting room stayed light and cheerful.
By noon, Greta and Scott came into the waiting room together. They invited everyone to lunch.
After lunch, Greta's Pokémon had finished receiving treatment and had fully recovered.
So everyone gathered at the battlefield again.
During that time, the students of the arena had already found out who Bea and Natsui were.
They already knew who Natsui was because Scott had introduced him earlier. He was the man who had won three championships in a row: the Indigo Plateau, the Silver Conference, and the Ever Grande Conference.
They had even gone online to confirm it. As for Bea, they had learned that she was an official Gym Leader from the Galar region.
They might not know much about where Galar was, but they certainly knew what a Gym Leader was.
Now they finally understood why Greta had lost to Bea.
The previous battle had not been a simple challenger-versus-host match. It had been a clash between a Gym Leader and a Frontier Brain.
In their eyes, Bea's skills were simply better because she was an official Gym Leader.
Now Natsui and Greta stood in front of the spinning wheel again, with everyone else gathered around to watch.
Greta crossed her arms and looked at Natsui. "You already know the rules. Go ahead and spin it."
Natsui nodded, walked over to the lever, and pulled it. The wheel began spinning.
When it finally stopped, the pointer landed on the red number "2."
"Two?"
Natsui nodded.
Two meant he would only need to use two Pokémon for this battle.
That was a good result. They would not be fighting a full three-round match, but he would still get to face Greta's two strongest Pokémon.
The two trainers returned to the battlefield while everyone else formed a ring around them.
Natsui and Greta stood in their command zones and faced each other.
Natsui did not have the intense aura that Bea had shown earlier. He simply stood there casually.
On the surface, he looked like a handsome trainer without anything especially remarkable about him.
However, no one there dared to look down on him.
They all knew he had frightening power hidden beneath that calm appearance.
He looked approachable now, smiling as if he were completely relaxed, but nobody doubted that he would show no mercy once the battle started.
Greta made the first move and threw out her Poké Balls.
Two blue flashes appeared, and Hariyama and Medicham appeared on the field. Both of them had already fought very well earlier.
Natsui had expected her to use them again, since they had now been fully healed.
Then he sent out the two Pokémon he had chosen.
Two more flashes of blue light appeared. Blaziken and Scizor landed at his side.
Since winning the Ever Grande Conference, Pokémon like Blaziken and Milotic had improved again.
They had gone through a great deal of training and many intense matches in the tournament.
If they just kept traveling now, most ordinary battles and wild Pokémon would no longer help them improve much.
That meant Natsui would need to start catching new Pokémon again soon.
At that moment, he understood even more clearly why Ash always caught new Pokémon in every new region.
Once a Pokémon reached a high enough level, wild Pokémon and ordinary trainers were no longer enough to help it grow.
Natsui quietly made note of that as one of his next steps.
Then he focused back on the battlefield.
Greta's two Pokémon were actually quite strong. They would be able to give his Pokémon some useful training.
But even so, he still needed to start catching new Pokémon soon.
Greta sent out Hariyama first.
Natsui looked at it and silently admired the technology of this world again.
Hariyama had been defeated only a few hours ago. Yet after treatment and rest, it was already back on the field in perfect condition.
Natsui tilted his head slightly.
Then Blaziken stepped forward into the battlefield.
Anyone could tell that Blaziken was different from before. It had become even stronger.
It also looked calmer, and even its expression was more serious now.
This was the result of fighting so many rounds and making it all the way to the finals.
Standing on a huge stage in front of thousands of people had changed it.
The reason Natsui's Pokémon were stronger than most others was because they had already reached the top.
The students immediately started whispering among themselves the moment they saw Blaziken.
Before today, they had not known much about Natsui's Blaziken. But while he had been resting, they had all gone to watch videos of his matches.
They now knew that this Blaziken was extremely powerful. It had even defeated three Pokémon in a single battle.
That made them very eager to watch it fight in person.
None of them were especially worried about Greta.
They were facing a Champion-level trainer. In a situation like this, they were not upset that their side might lose.
Instead, they were excited to see what a Champion's Pokémon could do.
Winning or losing no longer mattered. Just being able to watch it was already something they could talk about for years.
Greta had not watched Natsui's tournament matches herself.
But from Blaziken's presence alone, and from the students' reaction, she could already tell that this Pokémon was unusual.
She looked toward Bea and understood something.
This Pokémon gave her the same feeling as Bea's Pokémon from earlier. It looked like an opponent that would be incredibly hard to beat.
That made her realize even more clearly how extraordinary Natsui really was.
Standing outside the field, Scott looked at Blaziken and openly praised it.
"Even before the battle starts, this aura alone is already impressive. No wonder Mr. Natsui was able to achieve those results!"
Then he turned to Misty and asked, "If I remember correctly, during the Silver Conference, Mr. Natsui didn't have this Blaziken yet. So this must be one of the new Pokémon he caught in Hoenn, right?"
"That's right."
"That really is incredible!" Scott said with genuine feeling. "Even one of his newer Pokémon has this kind of strength. I can't imagine how strong the Pokémon he caught in earlier regions must be by now!"
How strong were they?
Misty actually thought about that question seriously.
Even she did not know the full answer.
She thought of Gardevoir, Gengar, the giant red Gyarados, and the Crystal Steelix. Any one of them could probably defeat the ace Pokémon of most Elite Four members.
And on top of that, his truly strongest Pokémon had never even been used in any tournament.
He had Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Raikou, Entei, Deoxys, and even a shiny Rayquaza. Those Pokémon were so powerful that they could cause disasters if they ran wild.
Misty did not say any of that aloud. Scott only smiled and did not mind.
He assumed she simply did not know much, and he also believed Natsui's older Pokémon had probably stayed at roughly the same level because they were no longer traveling all the time.
The student acting as referee raised his hand and gave the signal.
The battle began.
Blaziken immediately charged toward Hariyama. It did not use any fire attacks.
It wanted to face Hariyama in close combat.
That was exactly what Greta wanted.
She became serious and gave a sharp command. Hariyama braced itself, raising its thick palms and focusing intently on Blaziken.
Blaziken moved incredibly fast. It turned into an orange blur as it rushed forward.
"Block it!!"
Greta shouted, and Hariyama swung its huge palms at Blaziken.
But neither Greta nor Hariyama had fully understood just how fast Blaziken really was.
Blaziken shifted in an instant and vanished from directly in front of Hariyama.
Then it appeared at Hariyama's side, leaped up, and drove a hard kick into it.
It was far too fast.
Greta's eyes widened in shock as Hariyama staggered back several steps.
Hariyama was huge, powerful, and extremely sturdy. One kick like that was not enough to knock it down.
But the attack had still done serious damage.
Just from that single kick, Greta felt a sharp sense of danger.
She was both a karate expert and a top trainer, so she could immediately tell how much skill had gone into that strike.
In that moment, she understood how powerful Blaziken really was.
Greta frowned and ordered Hariyama to press in. The two Pokémon began exchanging blows at close range.
But this was not like the earlier battle against Pangoro.
This time, it was a contest of power against speed.
Hariyama had the advantage in raw strength, but Blaziken had the advantage in speed.
It never tried to meet Hariyama head-on. Instead, it constantly circled behind it, forcing Hariyama to stay on guard.
After only a few exchanges, Greta was already finding it harder and harder to deal with Blaziken's speed.
She looked toward Natsui.
He was standing there calmly, giving only short, simple commands. He looked as though everything was fully under his control.
The gap in skill between them was obvious.
Greta felt stubborn, but also helpless.
She felt stubborn because the battle had only just begun, and she hated the way Natsui looked as though he had already won.
But she also felt helpless because she was trying her best, yet Hariyama still had no answer for Blaziken's speed.