The Rhydon was still airborne, with no place to land or leverage itself.
Pangoro gave it no chance to resist, turning into a streak of emerald light as it darted around in midair!
"Moonwalk (Geppo)? No, this is a technique even stronger than Moonwalk!"
A slight smile tugged at the corner of Nathan's mouth as he silently thought to himself.
At that moment, for some reason, Nathan suddenly thought of a certain earthbound Groudon.
Watching Pangoro rapidly assault Rhydon midair with short bursts of hovering, Nathan almost laughed out loud.
But he held it back.
"Finish Rhydon off! No more playing around, Pangoro!"
Putting on a cold, emotionless expression, Nathan ordered in a chilling tone.
"Roar!"
With a low growl, Pangoro wrapped its arms around the nearly unconscious Rhydon and slammed downward!
Hidden Lotus—no, Seismic Toss!
"Oh my god! Compared to its performance at the Trial Tournament, Pangoro and Nathan have brought us an even bigger surprise this time!"
"What did we just witness? A Fighting-type Pokémon that's more airborne than most Flying-types!"
"And most importantly, Pangoro just pulled off a Seismic Toss!"
...
Watching Rhydon fall into a deep, unconscious state, the commentators went absolutely wild.
They were acting like crazed fanboys.
And it wasn't just the commentators.
Many in the audience couldn't hold back either, whipping out their phones to record the moment!
After all, this was an entry-level Elite-tier Pangoro—without pseudo-legendary blood—completely overpowering a tanky Rhydon!
If it weren't confirmed that Pangoro had just recently reached Elite-level,
everyone would probably think Pangoro was a late-stage or even peak Elite-tier monster!
"Still want to continue fighting?"
Ending the synchronization, Nathan casually glanced at Seth and asked lightly.
As if flattening Rhydon had been child's play for Pangoro.
Seth stared blankly at his unconscious Rhydon for a long while before speaking bitterly,
"Continue fighting? What, so I can humiliate myself?"
Only now did the somewhat slow-witted Seth finally realize—
he wasn't handpicked to step on Nathan and rise.
He was just a pawn used to test Nathan.
To see if this "gold" was solid through and through,
or merely had a thin layer of gold on the outside.
If it was the former—just like now—then the truly shrewd powerhouses had already seen through it.
They would just smile and bide their time.
But if it had been the latter,
countless people would have rushed to trample on Nathan and mercilessly drain him of all value.
"Trainer Seth Cole has surrendered! Trainer Nathan Vesper wins!"
Seeing Seth voluntarily step off the battlefield, the referee immediately shouted.
Meanwhile, Nathan simply shook his head and dragged his seemingly relaxed body back toward the rest area.
In truth, synchronization had drained far more stamina and mental energy than Nathan had anticipated.
It seemed mastering "Sage Mode" would be a long and difficult journey.
Thinking of this, Nathan glanced at Treecko's Pokéball.
The thought of one day evolving into "Hashirama Mode Treecko" still felt like a distant dream.
One step at a time, no rushing.
Musing to himself, Nathan pulled out an energy bar and began chewing.
He had another match in the afternoon—he couldn't afford to stay in this condition!
…
While Nathan was busy recovering,
footage of his battle against Seth spread online and quickly caused a stir.
Some people "came to their senses," realizing that the supposed "hard evidence" circulating online had merely been smear campaigns.
But many others, led by big and small influencers alike, continued to question or even mock the situation.
Some even boldly claimed the footage was fake, spouting utterly brainless comments.
Of course, those belonged to the Mist family's hired internet trolls—not that many in number for now.
The plan was for these idiotic comments to start small,
then gradually flood the discourse depending on how public opinion shifted.
At the same time, the Mist family secretly redirected public attention toward Pokéblocks and Nathan's workshop.
Now that they understood the kind of future profits Nathan represented,
they knew exactly how to play this advertising game—
in a way that would embed itself deep into public consciousness,
without tipping off everyone at once.
To make major Trainers willingly advertise for them,
the Mist Group even modified and disguised the Pokéblocks to hook them at the last moment.
And don't think this plan was far-fetched.
In reality, many big-name Trainers and even Elites were already hounding the Mist Group for more stock.
But the Mist Group kept things deliberately slow, stringing everyone along.
Of course, none of this had much to do with Nathan directly.
Time fast-forwarded to the afternoon.
If Nathan won this match, he would make it into the Top 32.
If he lost, he'd probably have to play a few more matches to qualify.
After all, this wasn't an elimination tournament—the rankings were based on each player's win-loss record.
"Huh, didn't expect today's opponent to be a bit timid."
Scratching his head, Nathan looked a little surprised.
Across the battlefield, a boy wearing a white hoodie stood there timidly, almost shy.
"It's your time to shine, Zeraora!"
Walking toward his side of the field, Nathan unhesitatingly chose Zeraora.
Not because he was playing favorites, but because Zeraora badly needed real combat experience to perfect its Chidori and Lightning Release.
And thanks to Zeraora's habit of ending battles in a single strike,
a lot of spectators had taken to betting on how many moves—or even how many seconds—the opponent could survive.
"Come out, please... Don't let me down... You said you would protect me..."
The timid boy across the field, named Moose, released his Pokémon.
And once Nathan got a good look at his face,
he realized Moose was probably a few years older than him, though his delicate appearance made him look younger.
But Moose's Pokémon shocked Nathan even more.
A Honchkrow?
In this world, Murkrow was relatively rare, requiring a Dusk Stone to evolve into Honchkrow.
Though sometimes, wild Murkrow flocks would naturally produce a Honchkrow without explanation—
something scientists had yet to figure out.
Still, it wasn't the species that surprised Nathan—it was the Honchkrow's level.
Level 48!
A veteran at the Gym tier!
"This guy... definitely isn't as simple as he looks,"
Nathan narrowed his eyes slightly, muttering under his breath.
He knew he wasn't the only one blessed with talent and diligence.
Across the nation, there were plenty of gifted individuals—
just not many who were quite as freakishly monstrous as him.
Besides, some geniuses were older than him,
meaning they'd had more time to train, better education, and more abundant resources.
Sure, Volcarona could guarantee he wouldn't suffer an upset.
But if Zeraora wanted to pull off another three-on-one sweep like before, it wouldn't be so easy this time!
"Zeraora, don't give the opponent a chance—Chidori!"
The referee's flag had barely fallen when Nathan's cold order rang out.
"Zoar!"
Without hesitation, Zeraora gathered a surge of fierce electricity around its right claw.
"Chi... chi..."
The piercing cry of thousands of birds echoed throughout the stadium,
stirring the audience's blood to a fever pitch.
Yes, this was it!
Whenever this sound rang out, it meant the battle would soon be over!
"It's here—Nathan's signature Electric-type move, developed independently with his Pokémon!"
"To this day, no opponent has been able to dodge or withstand it!"
Even the commentators stood up in excitement, their faces flushed.
Once the Chidori's electrical energy fully condensed,
Zeraora turned into a golden-blue spear, as if ready to pierce through everything!
But despite Moose's shy demeanor, he showed no panic.
Instead, he calmly ordered his Honchkrow:
"Use Tailwind. Then, trust in your luck."
At first glance, it sounded like he was giving up.
But after Tailwind boosted Honchkrow's speed—
it actually dodged?!
That's right—by just a hair's breadth, Honchkrow evaded the instant-kill Chidori strike!
It was as if Moose, like an experienced veteran, had perfectly read the trajectory and landing point of Nathan's attack!
"Interesting. Luck plus Tailwind combined together?"
"Now that's troublesome."
Nathan instantly grasped why Honchkrow had dodged and couldn't help but smirk.
After steamrolling so many weaklings, he had finally run into a slightly serious opponent.
To be honest, if he didn't have absolute confidence in Zeraora,
he would have had to swap in Pangoro—or even Volcarona—by now.