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At dusk, in Pokémon Centers large and small throughout Goldenrod City, crowds of trainers were gathered in front of TVs, watching the broadcast images from a certain battle.
Those trainers who couldn't squeeze into the crowd clenched their teeth, paid the fee, and logged onto a Pokémon Center computer to watch the replay online instead.
As they watched the battle between the two trainers' Pokémon, their faces showed everything from solemn focus to awe to pure excitent. When the scene of the final clash between the last two Pokémon appeared, the room erupted in shouts and exclamations.
"Incredible! That Swampert's combo called Earth Ice Hamr must be at least a triple-technique combination—maybe even four moves chained together. Otherwise, there's no way a Shiny Kingdra using Aqua Dragon King as a sa-type dual-technique combo would have lost."
"Maybe. But rember, that Shiny Kingdra was frozen solid and only broke free at the very last second before using Aqua Dragon King. It's obvious the power suffered from being rushed—it could be that."
"Either way, Clair really lost badly this ti. That young trainer from Kanto is terrifyingly strong."
Indeed, the video being replayed in the Pokémon Centers was the recent battle between Sato and Clair. Trainers all across Goldenrod—and even at popular trainer hangouts—were in heated discussions about the spectacular fight.
Clair was undoubtedly one of the Johto League's leading young trainers. As the only daughter of the most powerful Gym Leader in Johto and the direct heir to a major clan, every move she made was closely watched by countless trainers.
Now, this dazzling rising star had been defeated—and not just defeated, but beaten even when using her ace Pokémon, and beaten by an unknown trainer from Kanto.
And the result was 2–0. A complete and crushing loss.
As soon as the result hit, the Johto trainer forums exploded. Many young Johto trainers refused to believe it, and under the prodding of so troublemakers, they began raising doubts, insults, and outright slander about the match.
But once they watched the full video—and especially after a well-known Elite trainer on the forums stated outright that Sato possessed top-tier pseudo Elite-Four level strength—those voices of doubt and insult vanished.
There had been no cheating at all. Any trainer who wasn't a fool could see that Clair hadn't lost because she was weak—she'd lost because her opponent was too strong.
When Johto's trainers finally cald down and admitted Sato's strength, their attention turned to the once-unknown trainer himself.
With so instigation from certain individuals, forum posts began appearing to sar Sato's reputation, with even wilder claims—such as him being a "Kanto assassin" sent specifically to target Clair, for the purpose of humiliating the Johto League and the Dragon Clan.
At that point, so Kanto trainers active in Johto had had enough. Why should their compatriot be attacked for winning? They began openly defending Sato and attacking the mindless sore losers.
Soon, the Johto trainer forums were ablaze with fla wars, both sides trading barbs in an atmosphere thick with gunpowder.
While this online brawl raged on, the man at the center of it—Sato—was leisurely enjoying a lavish al in a private room of a fancy restaurant, surrounded by his Pokémon. With him were Daisy and Whitney.
"These people online are disgusting," Daisy fud, glaring at her high-end communicator—worth a hundred thousand PokeDollars, basically a Pokémon world smartphone. "It was just a battle, and they use such vile words to slander you—calling you so sniper sent after Clair to make the Johto League and Dragon Clan look bad. What utter nonsense! Even simping has it's limit."
"Eat sothing and calm down, Daisy. Look, the man in question isn't even angry," Whitney said with a laugh.
"This is just the work of online trolls stirring the pot—it's baseless. The Johto League and Dragon Clan leadership would never bla Sato over sothing like this. If anything happened to him, they'd be the ones losing face."
As a public figure herself, Whitney had seen plenty of online mudslinging. She imdiately cut to the heart of the matter, trying to show Daisy it wasn't worth getting upset.
"Whitney's right. Don't worry, Daisy. I'm fine. Honestly, I haven't even paid attention to any of it. Enough about these annoying things—right now is for enjoying dinner," Sato said with a relaxed smile.
"You're right. I shouldn't let trolls ruin the al. Forget them—tell about the battle with Clair. What were you thinking at the ti?"
Daisy quickly ca around, shutting off her communicator and pestering Sato for battle details.
The truth was, even though he said he didn't care, Sato did mind—especially that one particularly malicious post Daisy had ntioned. He itched to track down the person who wrote it.
Still, Sato knew he was famous now—at least in Johto.
In fact, the mont he saw Clair was his opponent, he knew fa was inevitable. After all, he'd be stepping over the direct heir of the Dragon Clan. Staying unknown was impossible.
But instead of being pleased, Sato found the attention botherso.
As a Team Rocket mber and a future spy, he knew it was best to keep a low profile. That way, when he appeared under a different identity later, he could still use Pokémon like Swampert without arousing suspicion.
Fortunately, he'd been cautious—he'd battled Clair under a false na. So now, most people only knew that a Kanto trainer nad Kira Hayashi had beaten Clair, not Sato himself.
'In the matches ahead, I should avoid using new Pokémon unless absolutely necessary. The more Pokémon I reveal, the harder it'll be to use them safely under my other identity later. Fa isn't always a good thing,' Sato thought to himself while recounting the battle to Daisy and Whitney.
A sudden thought crossed his mind—maybe he should just drop out of the tournant entirely.
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