Pokémon: Above the Top

Kanto, Indigo Plateau.

This wasn't Sato's first time here. Compared to before, he was now a recognized Ace Trainer and clearly received more attention… there were staff greeting him at the airport.

Familiar with the routine, he quickly completed registration, checked into the hotel, and picked up the tournament rules. But instead of staying in his room, he went out for a walk near the hotel, accompanied by an excited Pikachu.

Since the League hosted various tournaments here every year, the areas around the venue were filled with hotels and food streets.

Occasionally, you'd even see one or two Pokémon Day Cares opened by Breeders, specifically to help competing Pokémon relieve stress and recover.

Now that the Ace Tournament was about to begin, tourists and Trainers had flooded in, making the streets lively and crowded.

"Pika pi!"

Pikachu suddenly tugged on Sato's ear and gazed longingly at a nearby food stall, sniffing hard. The sound of its little gulp was loud and clear to Sato.

"Boss, what's this?"

Sato walked up to the stall and pointed at a skewer of bright yellow-orange fruit, following Pikachu's gaze.

"Hahaha, that's candied sour Belue berry: an electric-type's favorite. Your Pikachu must've smelled it right away."

"Pika~"

Pikachu nodded furiously in agreement, drooling uncontrollably.

"Alright, I'll take two. The big ones. That enough for you, Pikachu?"

"Pikapi!"

Pikachu raised its tiny hand, ready to flash a "()1" gesture, but then caught a glimpse of the entire street lined with food stalls. It immediately nodded in satisfaction, clearly saving room for other treats later.

"Got it, Pikachu, hold it tight now~"

"Pikapi!"

Pikachu carefully took the candied berry and gave the vendor a very serious "thank you."

"Hehe, enjoy! Come back if you want more!"

"Pikapi!"

The two continued wandering for quite a while. After stuffing themselves with street food, Sato finally carried a bloated Pikachu back to the hotel.

Once they returned, Pikachu leapt out of Sato's arms and started playing its little adventure game. Meanwhile, Sato sat at the desk and began reading through the tournament rules guide carefully.

This year's Pokémon League Ace Tournament would feature Trainers from five regions: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova.

Yes.

After long negotiations, the Unova League had finally re-acknowledged the Kanto League's leadership. As for the political gains involved… well, that was none of Sato's concern.

What it did mean was that Sato would likely see familiar faces like Marshal and Jona from Unova again. Based on their age, they should have reached Ace level by now.

Add in the many veterans and newcomers from other regions, and this year's Ace Tournament was sure to be intense.

"…I'm really looking forward to this," Sato muttered as he kept reading.

"Round-robin group stages… in Double Battle format?"

After carefully going over the details twice, Sato quickly grasped the rules of the preliminary rounds.

Although the final number of participants was still unknown, all Trainers would be randomly divided into sixteen groups for the preliminaries.

Each group would then engage in internal round-robin Double Battles. A win earned 3 points, a draw earned 1, and a loss earned 0.

Each group would only have two qualifying slots. These thirty-two Trainers would become the official Top 32 of the Ace Tournament!

Once the preliminaries ended, the tournament would move directly into the ranking rounds. These would involve randomly matched opponents and use a "2+1+1" format: one Double Battle and two Single Battles.

The winner would advance to compete for higher rankings, all the way to the final four.

Even the losers would continue competing to determine their final placements.

At the end, the top 4 would engage in a 6v6 round-robin format. 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw.

Whoever had the highest score would naturally be crowned the Champion of this year's tournament.

After analyzing the rules, only one thought crossed Sato's mind: This tournament was brutal!

From the start, it was Double Battles. Then came 4-on-4s. And finally, full 6v6s.

This meant that if a Trainer only had six Ac Pokémon, it would be nearly impossible to make it to the end.

But at the same time, using just one Pokémon to determine the strength of an Ace Trainer could also spark backlash. The element of luck was just too high.

That's why the tournament started with 2-on-2 battles in a round-robin format.

Whoever could fight through all of that and win would undeniably earn everyone's "respect".

Of course, it would be tough for Trainers who didn't have many Pokémon. Either they were strong enough to bulldoze through everything, or they'd get knocked out early and have to bide their time for next year.

But the more you battled against same-tier opponents, the more both your Pokémon's level and your own capabilities would improve.

Before breaking into the Elite Four ranks, no aspiring Ace Trainer would ever skip a tournament like this!

----

Three days later, the Ace Tournament officially began!

During that time, Sato only made time during meals to greet friends from other regions.

He also found Rose Joy, from the [The Braves Fight the Evil Dragon Adventure Team,]1 and asked her to be his designated medic for this tournament.

Because of the Viridian Power, Sato still didn't dare bring Joseph with him to compete.

Now that Giovanni's public identity had been cleaned up, it wouldn't be strange for him to be invited to watch the tournament.

It wasn't out of the question!

Fortunately, Rose was one of the most outstanding young members of the Joy family. Handling Sato's medical support wouldn't be an issue at all.

Over the years, Sato's relationship with the Joy family had remained more than friendly… but not quite intimate.

This subtle balance made both sides reluctant to push further, and it actually helped preserve their mutual cooperation and "goodwill".

Once registration closed, the total number of participants was officially confirmed: 176!

With 16 groups, that meant each Trainer would need to battle in 10 Double Battle matches during the round-robin stage.

If ten groups battled simultaneously, and each Trainer had two matches per day, the preliminaries would take at least five days…

Even though Sato had mentally prepared himself, the thought still made him suck in a breath of cold air.

But since he had already decided to participate, there was no turning back. Plus, he had enough Pokémon to barely scrape together two full teams.

That would be enough!

At last, the Ace Tournament officially began. Sato entered the main arena along with more than a hundred other participants.

On the podium, Charles Goodshow looked down at the crowd of contestants, a warm smile on his face.

These were the backbone of the Pokémon League. Any one of them could protect an entire city if needed.

⎛⎝ ≽ > ⩊ < ≼ ⎠⎞

It feels like it was ages ago…