Five wins out of five!
Once again, Sato had defeated his opponent with absolute strength, and this ti, the opponent had fielded a starter Pokémon plus a pseudo-legendary.
The entire crowd was chanting Sato's contestant number.
If he wanted to, Sato could easily reveal his real na.
However, Sato had no interest in this fleeting fa. It couldn't be eaten or drunk, and all it did was interfere with his personal life.
With that thought, Sato didn't even feel like waving. He returned Weavile to its Poké Ball and whispered a few words of encouragent before stepping off the stage.
On the other side, No. 38 stared at her collapsed Salance, her eyes filled with despair and helplessness.
After coming down from the stage, Sato felt the full intensity of the crowd's enthusiasm. Joseph and Mark were already waiting for him at the backstage entrance.
Ignoring the curious stares of other contestants waiting to go on, Sato chose to leave imdiately.
"Thanks, Sharpedo's injuries are more serious this ti." Sato handed two Poké Balls to Joseph with a smile.
"Now you're being polite?" Joseph took the Poké Balls, pretending to be annoyed.
"Why aren't we staying to watch? I heard there's a Pseudo-Elite Four battle later," Mark grumbled quietly, clearly unhappy about being dragged away from the stands.
"The ship isn't safe right now. Don't wander around aimlessly!" Sato said in a slightly harsh tone.
Mark pouted. 'How could there be danger on a cruise ship?' But he didn't dare talk back once Sato got serious, so he just made a face in protest.
-----
Back at the battlefield, No. 38, urged by the staff, numbly walked down from the stage, only to be quietly escorted away by two n in suits, out of view from the audience.
Click.
The sound of the door closing jolted No. 38 back to her senses. Looking up, she saw Captain Dafu sitting on the sofa, still dressed in his perfectly tailored suit.
"Boss…" she said in a trembling voice, completely unsure of what kind of punishnt awaited her.
She had used the Salance the boss had specially prepared for her… and still lost cleanly.
"Am I really that scary?" Dafu shifted his gaze from the docunt in his hands and looked at her curiously.
"N-no, it's not that. I just… I feel like I let you down. I'll accept any punishnt."
Of course No. 38 was scared. She imdiately admitted fault, hoping to lessen the captain's anger. After all, none of the Trainers who had been called in before her were ever seen again.
"This loss isn't your fault. I underestimated his strength. That kid's background is enough to make even uneasy."
"You an…" Even though she was terrified, No. 38 knew that now was the ti to play along.
"Here, take a look," Dafu said calmly, handing the docunt directly to her.
No. 38 took the file, slightly relieved. From the looks of it, she still had value. Otherwise, the boss wouldn't be talking this much.
That thought steadied her nerves.
She began reading the file carefully. On the first page was a photo, she instantly recognized her opponent from earlier.
As she flipped further, Sato's age, personality, experience, achievents, even connections with the Dragon Clan and the Joy family; were all laid out before her.
"This is insane. No way this is real!"
"I think so too. A grassroots Trainer with no background achieving this kind of growth in such a short ti… it's monstrous."
"Boss, you want to get close to him, earn his trust, and try to recruit him to our side?" No. 38 said with conviction, as if she'd already figured out her assignnt.
"You?" Dafu looked at No. 38 with disdain, clearly thinking she was biting off more than she could chew. 'Even I couldn't pull that off, and you think you can?'
"Uh… then what do you an, boss?" No. 38 asked cautiously.
Dafu grinned and slowly began to explain…
---
The battle hadn't taken long. When the three of them returned to their room, it was still before midnight.
With no more matches to watch, and Togepi starting to yawn, Mark -infected by the atmosphere- had no trouble falling asleep despite having stayed up late the past two nights.
Mark headed back to his room to sleep. Joseph stayed in the living room, carefully treating Sharpedo's wounds with Chansey's help.
"Get so rest," Sato said, watching over Sharpedo and telling Joseph, who'd been working hard for a while, to go sleep first.
"I'm fine. Are you competing again tomorrow?"
"I'll take a two-day break, let's see what 'Captain' Dafu's next move is." Sato gently stroked Sharpedo's smooth skin as he spoke casually.
"Good idea. You've been in the spotlight too much lately. It's no wonder they're getting restless." Joseph seed relieved and slumped down on the floor, relaxing.
"Yeah. By the way, did you notice anything strange about today's Salance?"
"The level was too low," Joseph replied firmly; he clearly knew a thing or two about pseudo-legendaries.
"Exactly. Its level was only at Peak Elite, but the power of its moves clearly exceeded that level. Do you know why?"
"Not really. But it's probably from forcibly evolving early by burning its potential, masking its real level with items, or maybe due to so special circumstance."
"That's what I figured too..."
Knock knock knock…
Their conversation was cut short by a sudden knock at the door. Even Sharpedo, who had been dozing off with its eyes half-closed, opened them imdiately.
Knock knock knock…
The knocking didn't stop. Whoever it was, they were persistent.
"Gengar."
A shadow shot out from Sato's own shadow, sliding along the floor and slipping out through the door.
Monts later, Gengar returned, holding up a hand and drawing the number "38" in the air.
"My opponent from earlier?" Sato asked in a low voice.
Gengar nodded imdiately and then vanished back into his shadow.
Sato and Joseph exchanged a glance, then walked toward the door. At the sa ti, Sato took Zoroark's Poké Ball in his right hand and slowly opened the door with his left.
As expected, just like Gengar had seen, Contestant No. 38 was standing there alone.
"What do you want?" Sato asked coldly, cracking the door open just slightly. He didn't soften his tone just because she was a girl.
"What, you three boys afraid a little girl like is going to eat you?" No. 38's eyes were now full of amusent, not a trace of the despair she'd shown after the match.
"Yeah, we're scared," Sato said, nodding seriously, and even shrank the gap in the door a bit more on purpose.
Out in the world, boys need to protect themselves!
"The boss was right. You really don't play by the rules, kid." No. 38 didn't show the slightest hint of awkwardness at the rejection… her shalessness was top tier!
But the fact that she revealed her identity so directly, and wasn't showing any hostility, left Sato slightly puzzled.
"Let in, kid. The boss sent openly, so obviously it's for sothing good."
Sato studied her carefully.
Then, at last, slowly opened the door…
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