Houndoom attag in its sleep pletely caught their oppos off guard.

  Slowbro was already naturally slow to react, and without its trainer's immediate and, Thunder Fang nded perfectly!

  "Slowbro, use Water Pulse!"

  The cowboy trainer issued the and, and Slowbro, seemingly ued by pain, jured a water sphere ao at point-bnk range!

  Then—a miserable cry erupted from Slowbro—Its deyed pain response had finally kicked in!

  Only now did it feel the full force of Thunder Fang.

  Meanwhile, Houndoom, still asleep, had no way to dodge—the surging wave smashed into it head-on, sending it tumbling across the battlefield.

  But within seds, Houndoom was ba its feet, though slightly unsteady.

  Its Early Bird ability had drastically shortes sleep duration!

  "Tauros, NOW! Finish Houndoom with Take Down!!"

  The sed cowboy trainer shouted iement. Houndoom wasn't built for defehis full-power charge would knock it out for sure!

  "Xatu, Psychic!"

  "Guess Houndoom take a little nap now." Sated—the battle was already decided.

  At that moment, Xatu finally made its move.

  Having stayed hidden, steadily building its power, it suddeed with a powerful aura, and deep purple-blue psychiergy shot out from its eyes.

  Tauros, mid-charge, suddenly found itself weightless.

  "Moo?!"

  With its hooves no looug the ground, Tauros pahrashing wildly. Its three tails whipped through the air, snapping loudly—but it was useless!

  A sed ter, its body stiffened. Its eyes widened, its legs locked in pce, and it trembled untrolbly.

  Boom!

  The massive body of Tauros crashed to the ground—pletely motionless.

  A one-shot knockout!

  The audience froze for a sed—theed into cheers.

  A , instant KO at the Elite level was no joke—It was truly impressive!

  "Houndoom, Snore!"

  A thunderous roar drowned out even the cheers of the crowd.

  Part of that was thanks to the sound system, but it didn't ge the fact that Houndoom wao make its presenown.

  I let you nd that o KO—so you'd better appreciate it!

  "Xatu, another Psychic!"

  Wester's excitement was obvious—the moment the battle started, he had reized Sato's strategy.

  Amplification Knockout Style!

  A cssic open-strategy in double battles—one Pokémon aggressively attracts all attacks, while the other silently powers up in the background.

  It e because the oppo always knew what was happening—but whether they could stop it or not depended entirely oher the frontline Pokémon could hold the line.

  The sed Psychic attack struck Slowbro, pletely draining its remaining stamina.

  Another instant KO! The crowd exploded into cheers, with many spectators jumping to their feet iement.

  Wester, trying to act calm and posed, waved politely to the crowd.

  But Sato, sittio him, noticed something—the guy was actually shaking.

  "Tauros and Slowbro are uo battle! The winners are Trainers Sato aer!"

  The first round of the Elite Four Battle Tour had e to an end. With their victory, they successfully advao the stage.

  The matches that followed were exg, but none of them ma the entire crowd to its feet the way theirs had.

  That was because—instant KOs at the Elite level were extremely difficult.

  And after Xatu's explosive power-up, many trainers became highly cautious of setup moves.------As the preliminary rounds tinued, Sato aer's team gained popurity, and their strength was reized by everyone.

  After that, Ariados pyed the role of support, using its webs to "bind" the oppo's Pokémon, leaving them pletely open for Skarmory to attack.

  Skarmory effortlessly secured another double knockout! For a moment, Wester became the ter of attention.

  Although any experierainer could clearly see that Houndoom's interferend Ariados' support were far more crucial thaer's finishing blows, the headlines would always favor "Rich Kid Scores Another Double KO" over "Rich Kid's Teammates Carry Him to Victory".

  Sato didn't care about fame at all. He preferred pead quiet, and having all eyes oer worked perfectly for him.

  Ihird match, Houndoom and Xatu took the field again, fag a Heracross and Donphan duo.

  This time, there was no need for stat-boosting strategies.

  By strictly maintaining distand kiting the enemy, they secured another fwless victory, marking the end of the preliminaries.

  Sato aer had officially made it to the Top 16!

  With sixteen teams advang, that meant there had beewo hundred partits in this Elite Four Battle Tour.

  "We made it to the finals. From here on, we'll have only och per day, so roperly adjust and recover."

  Three matches in one day had been a tough challenge for both trainers and Pokémon.

  This was very different frur battles—with the crowd watg, emotions like excitement, nervousness, and adrenaline surged, making each fight far more exhausting.

  "Our match is tomorrow afternoon, so we—"

  After drawing lots for their match order, Sato aer walked side by side toward the exit.

  Wester, as always, kept talking non-stop, showing no signs of stopping.

  Suddenly, Sato froze in pce.

  Wester took several more steps before realizing Sato was no longer o him. Turning around, he saw Sato tilting his head slightly, eyes lowered, as if casually something.

  "What's wrong?" Wester asked, sounding unusually serious.

  "Nothing. I just ran into an old friend."

  "Old friend? You've been making friends behind my back?! Where'd you meet them?!"

  Sato ighe idiot behind him and quickly walked toward the exit.

  That person—was it really him?

  Excitement, nervousness, nostalgia, rese—a whirlwind of emotions surged within Sato.

  This so-called old friend—wasn't just an old acquaintance.

  He was Sato's master in Ghost Ship.

  …

  "An assassin must learn to embrace loneliness."

  In a dimly lit room, an eleven-year-old Sato curled up alone in a er.

  His Zorua had been taken away, and he was to remain in isotion for half a month, uo speak to anyone.

  "An assassin must not have emotions."

  Out in the wild, a cold-eyed young maly stroked a newly captured Furret.

  A moment ter—a knife plunged into its throat.

  "Useless things must be repced at any time."

  A twelve-year-old Sato stood nearby, his face pale.

  "An assassin must always be prepared to die."

  The young man shoved Sato backward—behind him, a bottomless abyss.

  As Sato plummeted, watg the jagged rocks rush toward him, his heart pounded in terror.

  Then, a Pidgeot swooped in, catg him at the st sed. He was fifteen at the time.

  When Sato was eighteen, he apanied his mentor on a mission, suffering severe injuries. The young man sacrificed two of his own Pokémon to buy time—and carried Sato back to base on his back.

  "An assassi need emotions."

  Sato had told him this coldly.

  Oer—Ghost Ship was ambushed by the Pokémon League, and Sato was captured, locked away in prison.

  Two months ter—A prison riot broke out.

  The young man appeared outside Sato's cell—"An assassin must learn to embrace loneliness."

  Eyes closed, Sato whispered those very same words.