The next morning, after a quick wash, and a hearty breakfast, Natsui and Sabrina followed Clair to the first floor of the gym.
On the way, seeing Natsui still looking a bit sleepy, Sabrina asked in a low voice, "Why do you look so listless? Didn't you sleep well last night?"
"No, I did. Why do you ask?"
"You have dark circles under your eyes."
Dark circles?
Natsui was silent for a long ti but didn't explain anything. He subconsciously rubbed his eyes a few tis and gave her a wry smile, shaking his head.
He had chatted with Serena for a long ti last night, not saying goodnight until after one in the morning. With insufficient sleep, his complexion naturally wouldn't be very good.
But this was sothing he absolutely couldn't tell Sabrina.
Passing through a long corridor and descending a marble staircase, they finally arrived at a spacious hall, which was the Blackthorn Gym's battlefield.
Looking ahead, what appeared before him was a combined land and water battlefield.
Natsui first looked at the outer ring of the field. It was just ordinary ground, bare and unremarkable. But in the center, there was a square pool, about four or five ters deep, clear to the bottom. It was certainly sufficient to et the battle needs of most Water-type Pokémon.
He figured this design was probably because most of Clair's Dragon-type Pokémon were also Water-type and specialized in water combat.
Natsui and Clair walked to their respective trainer's boxes on either side. At the sa ti, Lance also appeared in the spectator stands on the second floor. However, he didn't find a place to sit but casually leaned against a railing.
It seed he was also very interested in Natsui and Clair's match.
Seeing that Natsui and Clair had noticed him, he nodded to them in greeting. But just as he finished, he suddenly heard footsteps behind him.
He turned to look and saw a middle-aged man climbing the stairs to the second floor, slowly walking towards him.
The man had a composed deanor, exuding the authority of soone in a high position. He also had the sa hair color as Lance, and their features were sowhat similar.
"Uncle?" Lance looked at him in surprise. "I heard Clair say you went to the Pokémon League. How did you co back so quickly?"
The man before Lance was the forr Blackthorn Gym Leader, the current head of the Dragon Tar clan, and also Lance's biological uncle.
"The matters there are resolved, so of course I ca back. I just entered and heard soone challenging the gym, so I specifically ca to see. I didn't expect to see you."
As he spoke, the middle-aged man walked up to Lance, looking him over. "Speaking of which, I haven't seen you in a long ti. You look just the sa as before, no change at all."
Lance laughed heartily. "At my age, my appearance is hard to change. I'll only get older."
The man smiled faintly. After a brief exchange between uncle and nephew, he changed the subject and asked, "I heard soone broke into the Holy Land yesterday?"
"It was Team Rocket. I rushed back specifically for this!" Lance nodded. "The leader was a top executive nad Vicious. But the matter has been resolved. Besides Vicious escaping, everyone else has been handed over to the police. And the Great Elder has given the order for the other Dragon Tars still in the Johto region to hunt Vicious down. We will not rest until he is caught!"
"Well done," the man praised. Then his face hardened, and he said seriously, "These audacious Team Rocket mbers, to dare to break into the Dragon's Holy Land, we must make them pay the price they deserve."
With that, he turned his head to look at the field and asked in surprise, "But… I didn't expect you to be interested in gym battles either. You actually have ti to co here to watch a match. Isn't your work as a Pokémon Investigator always very busy?"
"You're right, we are very busy," Lance smiled. "Originally, after dealing with the Holy Land matter, I had to rush back to Kanto imdiately. But this challenger is a friend of mine, and thanks to him yesterday, the Holy Land is safe. So I thought I'd watch this match before leaving."
"Oh?" The middle-aged man looked at Natsui. "A friend of yours? And he helped us a lot? So, he's very strong?"
"That's right," Lance said seriously. "He is indeed very strong. Clair is definitely no match for him. This match is a definite loss for her."
Clair is no match?
Hearing this, the middle-aged man was greatly surprised.
He knew Clair's strength better than anyone. Otherwise, he wouldn't have handed over the heavy responsibility of Gym Leader to her.
He never thought this young man would be even stronger than Clair.
"With your personality, I've never seen you praise soone so highly. That's not like you at all."
"Can't be helped," Lance shrugged. "He is indeed very strong, and what's most amazing is his growth rate. To be honest, I already thought he was very powerful when I last saw him. Now, I don't know what level of growth he has reached."
The man looked Natsui up and down. Although it was the first ti he had seen this face, he felt it was sowhat familiar, as if he had seen it sowhere before.
"After all that, then, who is stronger between you and him?"
"We haven't battled yet, so it's hard to say…" Lance shook his head and turned to look at the handso man on the field, muttering to himself, "But I think we'll know soon after the Silver Conference is over."
Natsui on the field, of course, had no idea that soone was talking about him.
At that mont, his attention was completely focused on Kabu, who was walking over from the side.
Kabu, acting as the referee, held up red and green flags and walked onto the field, loudly announcing the rules of the match.
"The Gym Challenge match will now begin, featuring Mr. Natsui, the Indigo Conference Champion from the green side, against Ms. Clair, the Blackthorn Gym Leader from the red side! The match will use a three-Pokémon elimination format. When all the Pokémon used by one side are unable to battle, the match will end!"
At this point, he paused, then continued to shout, "In this match, only the challenger may switch Pokémon. Now, Ms. Clair, please send out your first Pokémon!"
Unexpectedly, Natsui objected to this rule.
"Please wait a mont."
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Clair and Kabu both looking at him, Natsui smiled. "Ms. Clair, I'd like to make a small change to the rules of the match."
"Oh?" Clair raised her eyebrows in surprise. "How do you want to change it?"
"If possible, I don't want to battle with ordinary gym-defending Pokémon. So, please use your ace Pokémon. And both of us will send out our Pokémon at the sa ti. That would be fairer."
Clair pondered for a mont. Rembering the strength Natsui's Pokémon had displayed in the Dragon's Holy Land, and that he was the Indigo Conference Champion, it was indeed inappropriate to battle him with ordinary Pokémon.
"Alright, I agree. After all, I also want to confirm who is stronger, your Pokémon or mine!"
And in front of the spectator stands, hearing that Natsui was actually the current Indigo Conference Champion, the man finally realized.
So it was him!
No wonder he looked familiar!
A while ago, this young man had been extrely popular, and his news was often seen on TV. Even though he had retired from his Gym Leader position and rarely paid attention to Pokémon League matches, he still constantly heard Natsui's na.
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