Pokémon: Above the Top

For Sato, the Oak Research Lab's inauguration had finally come to a close.

Thankfully without incident.

Aside from that one moment where they locked eyes, Giovanni never approached Sato again afterward.

And once it was over, this "Gym Leader" quietly left with the rest of the crowd.

As for Samuel Oak wanting to take him as a student… neither of them brought it up again after that.

Sato just played dumb to the very end, and whether Oak really went to talk to Drake or not, that wasn't his concern.

Before parting ways, the topic naturally shifted to the upcoming Ace Tournament and the Gym Ranking Tournament.

Since Johto had just suffered a large-scale City Raid from Team Rocket, many cities were severely damaged, and a number of Gyms were in turmoil.

According to internal sources, this year's Gym Ranking Tournament in Johto might be delayed, or even canceled altogether.

However, the Ace Tournament was a major event for the entire League. Unless there were truly uncontrollable circumstances, it would not be postponed.

And this year's Ace Tournament would be held at the League's HQ: Indigo Plateau.

So before leaving, everyone agreed: they would settle things at the Ace Tournament and find out who would truly dominate this era!

Of course, Trainers like Lance and Steven had already advanced to Elite Four level, so naturally, they wouldn't participate.

But that didn't mean the tournament would be easy to win. The Ace Tournament had no age limit and no restriction on the number of times one could enter!

In other words, as long as a Trainer had previously reached the Top8 in the Young Elite Tournament, they could enter the Ace Tournament as many times as they liked.

After accumulating year after year, there were dozens upon dozens of eligible Trainers… if not hundreds.

So it was entirely possible that before any of them even met in the later stages, they might already be eliminated one after another by veteran Ace Trainers.

Some of these veterans had already married and started families, living quiet lives. But many had joined various League institutions, working silently toward one goal: becoming Elite Four members.

To them, the Ace Tournament was an extremely important opportunity.

After all, there weren't many Ace level Trainers, and it was hard to find rivals of the same caliber.

But without battles… how could anyone progress?

That's exactly why this tournament came into being: becoming one of the League's biggest events each year!

---

After seeing everyone at the Oak Research Lab, Sato had originally planned to relax a bit, but that thought vanished instantly.

After learning all this about the Ace Tournament, Sato's desire to win was reignited. He now treated it with a seriousness unlike ever before.

Which meant… the Gym trainees were in for a treat!

They had expected that once the Leader returned, he'd transform back into their demon instructor, supervising their daily training without mercy.

But to their surprise, Sato announced as soon as he returned that he'd be heading into the Forest of Shadows for training, and that he wouldn't be back for at least a month.

Even though their daily training assignments hadn't lessened, everyone felt different. Their stress levels dropped, and morale went up.

After all, to many of them, Sato's rise felt more like a legendary tale… so mythical that he felt unapproachable.

At that moment, Sato had already brought all his Pokémon and marched straight into the Forest of Shadows.

Even Pichu was perched obediently on his shoulder, its small eyes sparkling as it looked around curiously.

It had been a very, very long time since it had gone on a trip with Sato.

Soon, Sato arrived at his first destination in the forest, riding on Honchkrow.

Even during the day, the Forest of Shadows was incredibly dark, and the area where Sato now stood was so dim it resembled nighttime.

"KROOOOW!"

"Krow!" "Krow"…

Suddenly, an ear-piercing cry echoed through the forest, followed by the overlapping caws of countless crows.

Have you ever heard the cries of hundreds or thousands of crows all at once?

Sato covered his ears, thinking that even doing nothing -just having his Pokémon listen to the cries of this Murkrow flock each day- was already an extreme test of willpower.

Of course, it was also possible they'd go deaf… or just go insane.

Yes, after entering the Forest of Shadows, Sato had gone straight to the main territory of the flock.

He planned to use the entire Honchkrow flock to help his Pokémon achieve the greatest improvement possible in this short amount of time.

Whoosh~

A gust of wind blew through as the massive leader of the Honchkrow descended in front of Sato, staring down at the Trainer of its child…

Over the years, this giant Honchkrow leader had gradually come to terms with things. Under Sato's guidance, its child had grown at an incredible pace and now was nearly as strong as it was.

So when Sato asked for help, the Honchkrow leader didn't hesitate to agree.

The intensive training began!

Sato immediately released all his Pokémon, even calling out Gengar from the shadows.

"Skorupi, Zweilous… you two aren't participating in this tournament, so your training is simple: battle!

I'll have the Honchkrow leader assign subordinates with matching strength levels to fight you: one-on-one, or one-against-many. Your opponents will only get stronger every day."

"Zweee!" "Lous!"

"Skor!"

Lefty, Righty, and Skorupi all nodded, expressing their determination to train hard.

"Cacturne, Tyranitar, Umbreon, Krookodile, and Ariados… you each have your own strengths, but you all share one weakness: speed."

"Umbreee!"

The moment Sato said it, Umbreon protested. Why was it lumped into the slow group? It was fast!

"Not convinced? Then look at Zoroark and the others, who among them is slower than you?"

Umbreon immediately turned to look at the rest of the team…

Then slowly turned back.

"Ummm…"

Umbreon wanted to argue!

…At least it was faster than Ariados and the rest, right?

"Faster than the weak but slower than the strong. That's mediocrity. And in battles among equals, mediocrity is the most useless thing there is!"

Umbreon's blood-red eyes suddenly contracted, its claws tightening reflexively.

It felt a bit wronged.

Seeing this, Sato softened his tone slightly. "…That's exactly why I want you to make up for this weakness.

Umbreon, I know you've never slacked off in your speed training. But your species naturally limits your speed ceiling. Breaking through that limit isn't something that can be done in the short term, so mediocrity isn't your fault."

"Umbre~"

Umbreon nodded obediently. After being shocked by Sato's stick-then-carrot approach, it now viewed compensating for its speed disadvantage as a top priority.

"You're not that big, but you're one of the rare Dark-type Pokémon who specialize in defense. So if you can't win with speed, then compensate with agility and physique."

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150 PS - Chap