Pokemon: Spiritual Master

The next day.

The world's attention would be focused on Wyndon Stadium in Galar region for an extended period.

The massive stadium provided all contestants with a field for free expression, giving them sufficient operational space.

Johan sat in the contestant viewing area, holding little Jirachi, somewhat expectantly waiting for the upcoming matches to begin.

Watching others battle felt much more exciting than fighting himself.

"Ka-kaah~"

Gengar floated beside Johan, tongue rolling to sweep all the fruit from the table into its mouth, making little Jirachi, who was just reaching for grapes, puff up its small bun-like face.

[Johan~ Johan~]

Little Jirachi tugged Johan's clothes, pointing at the empty plate.

Johan smiled and pinched Jirachi's chubby cheeks, taking out another plate of berries and placing it on the table.

"Oowoo~"

Ninetales lazily sprawled on the sofa beside Johan, tail gently patting Jirachi's head before curling around a Pecha Berry and placing it before Johan.

Johan smiled and accepted the Pecha Berry. "Thank you, Ninetales."

Ninetales smiled gently, lying on the sofa with pale blue eyes quietly watching Johan.

Crunch crunch—

Victini sat on Johan's shoulder, swinging its little feet while munching small crackers, the "V" on its head flickering as it seemed to detect "victory fluctuations."

"Who do you think has better odds—Lance or Lorelei?" Johan bit into the Pecha Berry, finding it juicy, soft, sweet, and quite delicious.

Home-grown berries were indeed tasty.

The batch of berries grown on the island, with help from Calyrex's wooden sculpture, had already produced harvestable berry trees.

Berry trees differed from ordinary fruit trees.

While requiring higher soil and nutrition standards, they also fruited faster—multiple harvests per year.

"Lorelei!" Caitlin firmly expressed her view.

"Logically, Lance," Steven said calmly.

"Lorelei's chances aren't low either," Diantha added.

"Lance," Cynthia said after slight hesitation, thinking Lance had better winning odds.

However, both sides' supporters had valid reasoning.

Lance's raw strength was superior, plus he had "explosion" passive ability, but his weakness was obvious type disadvantage against Lorelei.

Moreover, Lorelei had reportedly learned techniques from Pryce, raising her strength another level.

Maintaining stable top-five "Ultra Ball Tier" ranking during points stage proved this sufficiently.

Everyone had different opinions.

Suddenly Flint realized something.

The person asking hadn't given his own view yet.

"What do you think, Teacher Johan?" Flint asked.

Everyone looked at him in unison.

Johan smiled slightly, peeling orange segments for Cynthia while stuffing one into little Jirachi's mouth:

"We'll know after they fight."

Flint pursed his lips, about to complain, when Johan continued:

"Though Lance's odds are slightly higher—after all, he's unlocked his 'final form.'"

"Final form?" Everyone was confused.

Cynthia covered her mouth, knowing what Johan meant, and nodded:

"It's starting."

On the field, Lance and Lorelei's battle had begun.

Lorelei opened with snow team Ninetales, while Lance's approach was more conventional—"Intimidate" red Gyarados.

But as they fought, everyone sensed Lance's difference.

"Rain Dance?"

Lance actually began competing for weather control with Lorelei.

"So everyone progresses quickly during Master Tournament stage..." Johan sighed.

Not only had Lance learned to combine Rain Dance, even Flint had learned Sunny Day.

Two famous "hotheads" were playing tactics now—though somewhat rough, they could sometimes produce surprising effects.

Like Lance competing with Lorelei for weather made Lorelei quite uncomfortable.

Rain Dance combined with Hurricane and Thunder.

Lance's Pokémon could indeed combine with rain.

Though Lorelei struggled with stolen weather, her Pokémon displayed extremely powerful Ice-type moves.

Without exaggeration, besides Pryce, Lorelei's Ice-type Pokémon could rank top three worldwide, possibly higher.

Both sides battled intensely.

Soon reaching the crucial stage.

"Lance has sent out his pride—Dragonite!"

The commentator was highly infectious: "But now snow rages! How will Lance and his Dragonite respond!!"

Current score was 3-4—Lance lost three Pokémon while Lorelei lost four.

If Lance's Dragonite fell here, Lorelei could even the score, but if Lorelei lost, the score would become 3-5, virtually deciding the outcome.

After all, not everyone could explode like Flint—with one weakened Infernape remaining, pulling off a one-versus-three comeback.

Lorelei was more "academic school," with excellent tactical reserves and literacy, but lacking in "explosion" aspects.

"Dragonite, Thunder Punch!"

"Lapras, Blizzard!"

Both sides completely invested in battle.

The next second, both Pokémon erupted in different brilliant lights.

"Lance chooses Terastallization!"

"While Lorelei simultaneously uses Gigantamax!!"

This was one of Master Tournament's most exciting stages—various enhancement methods appearing as both sides' Pokémon displayed abilities.

Tera Normal Dragonite VS Gigantamax Lapras!

Tera Normal removed Dragonite's greatest Ice weakness, while Lapras already excelled in HP—after Gigantamax, its stamina reached exaggerated levels.

"Dragonite, Extreme Speed!"

"Lapras, G-Max Resonance!"

[G-Max Resonance: Gigantamax Lapras's exclusive move—damages opponents while creating aurora veil, reducing incoming damage.]

"Leaving Kanto region, Lance with Terastallization and Lorelei with Gigantamax are obviously stronger."

Lance and Lorelei's Pokémon rarely had Mega Evolution options—Lance only had Gyarados, Lorelei only had Abomasnow, but Abomasnow's weaknesses were too obvious. Fine as weather setter, but somewhat wasteful as Mega main attacker.

But Gigantamax and Terastallization suited them better.

"Again Dragonite, Extreme Speed! Shatter the aurora veil!" Lance's cape fluttered, expression stern.

Lorelei gritted her teeth: "Lapras, G-Max Chi Strike!!"

"Fighting-type move?" Flint was bewildered.

Lapras had Fighting-type moves?

No way.

Whose Lapras learned Fighting moves?

"Heh, seems Lorelei also watched Lance's previous battle videos," Johan grinned mischievously.

Knowing Lance's Dragonite Terastallized Normal, she had to learn Fighting moves as backup.

"Lapras can learn Fighting moves?"

"Body Slam," Johan shrugged.

Lapras could only learn one Fighting move—Body Slam.

After Gigantamax, Fighting moves became G-Max Chi Strike, also boosting physical attack after use.

"Oh~~" Flint looked enlightened.

Others like Lucian, Steven, Wallace understood one principle:

Never casually "provoke" women, or they'll remember forever!

Rumble—

Massive dark red fists descended from swirling red clouds above, highly visually impactful.

"Dragonite, Extreme Speed!!"

Such huge fists were hard to dodge even with Dragonite's speed, so Lance chose the most direct, extreme approach... head-on collision!

If this were Johan, he'd wait until Gigantamax ended—Gigantamax and Terastallization had different duration limits.

Gigantamax Lapras with double HP...

But this approach indeed matched Lance's style.

Boom!!

Dust clouds rose across the entire field.

"Flying-type Elite Four playing Normal-type, Ice-type Elite Four playing Fighting-type..." Johan clicked his tongue.

Times were changing, hearts weren't what they used to be.

But... truly interesting!

This was real battle.

Rumble—

Amid massive roaring mixed with commentator's passionate shouts, audience cheers reached their peak.

When everything settled and the arena gradually calmed...

"Lapras, unable to battle!!"

The camera immediately focused on Lance, forehead slightly sweating, but when cameras arrived, he immediately swept his cape and showed a confident smile.

Lapras's defeat almost declared Lorelei's loss.

The final result was indeed as expected...

"Jynx, unable to battle! So the final winner is—from Johto region, Dragon Master Lance!!"

Whoosh—

Audiences immediately erupted in enthusiastic cheers, not just for Lance but also Lorelei.

Both presented a spectacular battle.

The final score was 4-6.

In Johan's view, this score actually represented Lorelei's success.

According to rumors, when Lance first challenged for Kanto League Champion, he beat Lorelei 3-6—though winning, it was pyrrhic victory preventing continuation of his championship path.

Now at 4-6, Lorelei's improvement exceeded Lance's.

"So let's congratulate the second 'Eight Masters' contestant, Dragon Master Lance!!"

"The third 'Eight Masters' advancement is born!!"

The commentator's voice remained infectious and passionate as audiences showed no aesthetic fatigue, continuously cheering.

This match perhaps had the highest attention since Master Tournament main stage began, even higher than Johan versus Spinel and Lance versus Lorelei.

Because the battling pair was...

Cynthia!

Diantha!

Two beautiful Champions from Sinnoh and Kalos regions, and they were close sisters and best friends—such battles were truly...

Too exciting!

Ultimately, Cynthia successfully defeated Diantha 2-6 to advance.

Honestly, this result was somewhat surprising for fellow Champions.

Even if Kalos region was famously laid-back and Diantha was actress before trainer...

Could only say Cynthia's strength exceeded her original counterpart considerably, while Diantha's difference wasn't particularly large, producing this score.

Of course, they weren't plastic sisters—Caitlin said nothing about Cynthia's 1-6 defeat against her.

They even went for ice cream together afterward... with Teacher Johan paying, naturally.

"About to battle are Mr. Pryce from Johto League and Mr. Steven from Hoenn region!!"

Pryce wore a gentle smile, slowly entering the arena in his wheelchair.

According to Agatha, Brandon, Drake and others, current Pryce's personality was much better than previous years and decades.

But becoming gentle didn't mean losing battle capability.

Just that after experiencing life's ups and downs, he'd grown indifferent to many things.

"Mr. Pryce, battling you is my honor," Steven wore a handsome, crisp suit, handsome face under light blue hair showing respectful smile as he bowed slightly with hand on chest.

Pryce and Steven—one specializing Ice-type, one excelling Steel-type.

At first glance, Steven seemed to have considerable type advantage.

Actually not.

As everyone knew, Water and Ice were inseparable—Pryce's Lapras, Dewgong, Cloyster and other Pokémon were actually Water and Ice-type combinations, not fearing Steel-type.

Conversely, though Steven excelled at Steel-type, his team included many Rock-types weak to Water and Ground-types weak to Ice.

So type-wise, Steven and Pryce were evenly matched.

But Steven had advantages—his invincible Mega Shiny Metagross!

Among Pryce's Pokémon, none could Mega Evolve.

Though League classified Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, Gigantamax, and Terastallization as unified "enhancement methods," in Johan's view... Mega Evolution surpassed the other three.

Only Mega Evolution could fully display bonds' power, turning impossibilities into possibilities.

New versus old, strong versus strong!

Johan barely ate any sunflower seeds this match, completely focused on the arena.

If Pryce were the Special Edition version with exaggerated strength, Steven, not yet at his peak, wouldn't be his opponent.

Of course, Johan's existence meant Steven determined his goals and direction earlier, allocating slightly more time from stone-digging to Pokémon training and battles, making him considerably stronger than his original counterpart.

Finally, Steven used tenacious resilience and deep bonds with Shiny Metagross to defeat Pryce's Delibird!

Final score—5-6!

This match was called the most spectacular battle to date.

Both sides' strength had reached Champion level in some sense.

At least... more Champion-like than certain regional Champions.

Sixteen to eight advancement required over a week even at one match per day.

Following Johan, Lance, Cynthia, Steven also successfully advanced.

This result was called the beginning of a "new era" by many!

Younger generation powerhouses were taking over the entire League!

Then the next day, in Agatha versus Brandon's battle, Granny Agatha won with eerie advantage over Brandon's three Legendary Titans, successfully advancing to "Eight Masters."

The older generation still had their strengths—"more cunning with age" perfectly described Granny Agatha.

This produced comments like:

"We old-timers aren't completely gone yet!"

"We'll give you—the League's future belongs to you, but we won't give it unless we choose to!"

Many comments supporting the older generation.

But another day later, in Giovanni versus Master Mustard's battle, the powerful Boss Giovanni surprisingly defeated Master Mustard!

This was someone who'd consecutively won "Master Tournament" championships!

Though he was old now...

But this Gym Leader Giovanni, appearing from nowhere, could even defeat legendary figures like Master Mustard?

Master Mustard didn't even reach the top eight?

So exaggerated?

This made the world recognize Giovanni's existence and learn of "Rainbow Rocket Corporation."

Had to admit, this promotional effect was much better than posting on job sites.

This "Rainbow Rocket Corporation" promotion whitewashed Team Rocket faster than even the League could stop.

Boss Giovanni's achievement made middle-aged people stand up between youth and elderly.

Wait for us!

New-old transition? Did you forget that between old and young, there's middle?!

Afterward, Geeta's difficult 5-6 victory over Champion Alder advancing to "Eight Masters" made "middle-aged people" feel their rise.

Young people wait—if the League changes hands, it should go to us!

For a time, various "confrontations" filled League websites and forums, incredibly lively.

The final match between Leon and Flint was also spectacular and blood-pumping.

Leon first used "Torrent" Inteleon to immediately defeat two of Flint's Pokémon, putting Flint at massive disadvantage.

Though Flint used Arcanine to defeat Inteleon, he was immediately swept again by Leon's Dragapult!

1-4!

With Leon leading by absolute advantage...

Flint began exploding.

Sending out Infernape in a manner that made even Johan gasp, directly sweeping three—consecutively defeating Leon's Rillaboom, Cinderace, and Rhyperior.

A Solar Beam Leon never expected.

Young Leon was nearly stunned.

But only nearly.

After recovering, Leon immediately activated his "Champion Time," sending his unreasonable Charizard to first defeat Flint's weather-setting Ninetales, then clash with Flint's "Blaze, Iron Fist" Infernape.

Finally, Leon won 4-6!

Flint's strength made Johan feel he was approaching Champion level...

Probably from following Johan through too many big scenes.

Though he lost, advancing from "Ultra Ball Tier" near 200th place to Master Tournament main stage top sixteen, Flint successfully... gained a name!

The fire-playing explosion-head was called... Flint! From Sinnoh!

Thus, the "Eight Masters" were officially determined!

Next came the intense eight-to-four competition!

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Powerstones?

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