Pokemon: The Legendary Trainer

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"Gyarados is unable to battle! The winner is Sato and his Bellossom!"

With the referee's announcement, the victor of the fifth round was finally determined.

After three grueling Pokémon battles, Sato emerged victorious in this match.

"Phew, that was tough. This is only the fifth round, and I've already pushed myself to the limit. There are still three more rounds before the finals. With my current strength, I might only make it into the top seven. The competition is fierce," Sato thought to himself.

Though he was naturally pleased with his victory, his heart grew heavy at the thought of the increasingly challenging battles ahead, which quickly dampened his joy.

Sato returned Bellossom to her PokéBall and left the arena. Since his match was the last of the fifth round, he needed to restore his Pokémon to peak condition before the sixth round began.

....

In Mary's room:

"Mary, you lost the bet. When the mission succeeds, I want 60% of the credit. I've got three people advancing to the top seven. With their strength, at least one of them will make it to the finals," Hector said, his tone laced with mockery as he looked at Mary, whose expression was sour.

"Hmph, what a bunch of useless trash," Mary retorted sharply, glaring at Hector. She then stood up and stormed into her bedroom.

Moments after she slammed the door shut, the sound of objects shattering could be faintly heard.

Meiko's defeat meant that all of Mary's team members were eliminated from this Pokémon tournament.

These were people she had personally trained, and their collective failure reflected poorly on her.

The humiliation of losing to Hector stung deeply.

"That guy's made Mary furious. On top of injuring my arm earlier, I'm definitely not going to go easy on him during the mission later," said a blonde-haired girl standing behind the sofa, her expression dark as she glared at the image of Sato on the screen.

In truth, Mary's team was already at a numerical disadvantage compared to Hector's. Additionally, bad luck in the fourth round pitted one of Mary's people against someone from Hector's group.

By the fifth round, only Meiko remained.

"No doubt about it, the guy who beat me is strong. Too bad his victory ends here," Heiji Kuroya said calmly as he stood next to the blonde girl, watching the screen display the results.

It showed the matchup for the sixth round—Sato's opponent would be none other than Shuuji Ikeda, who had previously defeated Anna.

Sato also saw the sixth-round matchups displayed on the large screen, informing him of his next opponent.

"Mr. Sato, your Pokémon have fully recovered. Good luck in your next match," Eileen said with a smile as she handed Sato three PokéBalls.

For Eileen, Sato's performance in making it into the top seven out of 100 competitors spoke volumes about his skill.

She deeply respected strong trainers, especially Sato, who was also skilled as a Pokémon medic.

To her, he was an inspiring role model.

"Thank you, Eileen. I appreciate your kind words. Making it to the fifth round has already taken everything I have. The sixth round will undoubtedly be another tough battle," Sato said with a smile as he secured the PokéBalls back onto his belt.

In the fifth round, Golbat and Nidoran had sustained severe injuries, and even Bellossom had taken a heavy toll during the fight against Gyarados.

If Sato had to rely solely on Bellossom to heal the others, the sixth round would have been out of the question.

Thankfully, with Eileen's Chansey assisting, all three Pokémon were now in peak condition.

As for his upcoming match, Sato couldn't help but feel uneasy.

The reason? Anna, a formidable rival in his eyes, had been defeated—and by none other than his next opponent, Shuuji Ikeda.

The opponent's terrifying achievement of using a single Ursaring to sweep all three of Anna's Pokémon weighed heavily on Sato's mind.

Interestingly, after being decisively defeated, Anna had seemingly vanished from the venue without a trace. Sato had hoped to gather some intel on his opponent through her, but she was nowhere to be found.

Due to time constraints, the sixth round began after only a 30-minute break. Sato and Shuuji Ikeda stepped onto Arena One, and with the referee's signal, the battle commenced.

This match did not last long—just under 23 minutes—and for the first time in the tournament, Sato tasted the bitterness of defeat.

Shuuji Ikeda had clearly identified Sato's weaknesses, and his Level 38 Charizard utterly crushed Sato's hopes of victory.

Against Charizard, Sato's two main Pokémon stood no chance.

In terms of speed and physical strength, Golbat was outclassed. As for Bellossom, the Fire-and-Flying-type Charizard was her absolute counter, rendering her techniques ineffective.

Charizard was nothing less than Bellossom's natural nemesis.

During the battle, Charizard's flames burned away all of Sato's chances of victory.

"I lost... and it was a crushing defeat at that. It's clear now—I need to train a capable Water-type Pokémon as soon as possible. Otherwise, if I face another Charizard, the outcome will always be the same," Sato thought, staring at the energetic Charizard still soaring in the sky.

Though he felt unwilling to accept the result, the fact of his defeat couldn't be denied.

Sato recalled the fainted Bellossom into her PokéBall and quietly stepped off the platform.

"What a pity. If you had a strong Water- or Electric-type Pokémon, this match wouldn't have been decided so easily. Your weakness to Fire and Flying-types was obvious. Sending out a Fire-and-Flying-type Pokémon like Charizard against you? You were bound to lose."

"Oh, by the way, I'm the one who told him about your weakness. So, technically, it's my victory too," a poorly dressed female trainer sneered at Sato as he descended the platform.

Her face showed a smug, gloating expression, as though she had personally defeated him.

"Thanks for the free advice. I look forward to the day we battle," Sato replied calmly, not even bothering to turn to look. He didn't feel the need to—he already knew the voice belonged to Anna.

Her obsession with seeing him defeated left Sato somewhat speechless. Without further acknowledgment, he walked past the crowd toward Eileen's temporary medical room.

Sato had a gut feeling: the battles on the ship were far from over. He needed to be fully prepared for whatever came next.

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