I have added this story to my Patreon. You can support me and read the 50 latest and advanced chapters there. It also fed and motivate me to write more chapters!
Free Members will get 10 Chapters Ahead of the schedule on Patreon!!!
Link: Patreon.com/AVRKingsTL
—------------------—
It must be said that there are actually many excellent Trainers in the Galar region.
Although the Galar region is quite special because it doesn't have an Elite Four, it's actually not weak at all.
Leaving aside the Undefeated Champion Leon, there are also many Champion-level Trainers besides Leon.
For example, the strongest Gym Leader on the surface, Raihan, as well as the Gym Leader of the Dojo, Mustard, and the former Champion Peony, who turned against Rose.
And besides the three Trainers mentioned above who are clearly Champion-level,
There's also Mustard's rival, the Gym Leader of Ballonlea, Opal. This elderly Gym Leader, whom Bede calls an old hag, also possesses unfathomable strength.
And the Gym Leader of Spikemuth, Piers, in the original story, even without Gigantamax, he still relied on his own raw strength to make Raihan struggle, showing his excellent power.
So, in reality, if you say the Galar League doesn't have an Elite Four, that's correct, but if you say Galar is easy to challenge, that's absolutely a joke.
Due to Galar's unique Champion Cup mechanism, after obtaining all Gym Badges, one must participate in the Champion Cup battle to challenge the Champion.
The participants of the Champion Cup are the various Gym Leaders and other Trainers who have passed the Gym Challenges.
And these Gym Leaders will go all out in the Champion Cup, unlike during Gym Challenges where they might hold back.
So, strictly speaking, the opponents you face in the Champion Cup are, in a sense, equivalent to the Elite challenges in other regional Leagues.
And the difficulty is definitely higher than many Leagues, such as the Unova Elite Four, Kalos Elite Four, Alola Elite Four, etc. The Elite Four of these regions are certainly not as strong as Raihan, Piers, Opal, and the others.
As for the final Champion battle, there's no need to mention it; Leon's strength is absolutely beyond doubt.
And besides these veteran Gym Leaders in the Galar region, there are also many strong rivals among the newcomers.
The first is the Wooloo warrior, Hop. As Champion Leon's younger brother, he, as a rival, received his second Pokémon from Leon along with Gloria. Hop's starter Pokémon was a Wooloo.
Although he challenged Gloria every time they met during their journey and suffered crushing defeats, he was never affected because of his optimistic nature, and he kept fighting despite repeated losses.
But in reality, Hop wasn't truly completely optimistic.
Once, Gloria, Hop, and Bede met. Because Hop couldn't stand Bede's arrogance, Hop challenged Bede to a battle.
The result was a crushing defeat for Hop, and he was subjected to Bede's sarcastic taunts. Poor Hop was directly driven into self-isolation by Bede's words.
And because of this, he changed his style, began rigorous special training for his main Pokémon, and 'abandoned' the weak Wooloo because its strength was insufficient.
Later, after tempering his mindset, Hop reawakened. He found his correct path as a Trainer, and his strength grew rapidly, almost completely able to be called the strongest in the Galar region apart from Gloria and Leon!
Yes, besides Gloria and Leon, Hop never lost to anyone else afterward! In the Star Tournament, apart from Gloria, Hop would always win against other opponents, but would always lose if his opponent was Leon.
However, it's worth mentioning that Hop at that time had already gained the recognition of the Shield King, but he still couldn't defeat Leon. What does this indicate?
Additionally, in Hop's League Card, his impending 'Legendary Battle' with the new Champion Gloria is highly anticipated by the world.
But this is not an exaggeration, because Hop's strength can indeed be called legendary. A whole team of powerful Champion-level main Pokémon, only inferior to Gloria and Leon, plus the Shield King Zamazenta, makes his battle with Gloria being called a 'Legendary Battle' not unreasonable.
And besides Hop, Gloria's second rival is the unyielding girl Marnie.
Marnie comes from Spikemuth. Her brother is the Gym Leader of Spikemuth, Piers. Because Spikemuth has no energy spots, Gigantamax is impossible within the town's area.
This directly led to a sharp drop in Spikemuth's popularity, and the town gradually became desolate and unnoticed.
To change this situation, Marnie began her Gym Challenge.
Piers once publicly stated that he had a younger sister whose talent made him feel ashamed of himself.
This is enough to prove Marnie's excellent Trainer talent.
And the last one is the Bede right in front of him!
"Problem child, a problem child is good."
Mammon looked at the sweating Bede with interest.
Because Platinum's Pokémon was the newly caught Regieleki, and Bede's first Pokémon was Mawile.
However, facing the incredibly fast Regieleki, Mawile couldn't keep up with Regieleki's movements at all. It was completely played with and finally defeated by Regieleki's Thunder Cage.
Bede's second Pokémon was Gardevoir. Bede's battle intelligence was indeed very high. He had already fully determined that if he didn't find a way to limit Regieleki's speed, he would have no chance of winning.
So Bede decisively had Gardevoir use the Psychic-type Trick Room.
Trick Room can distort the speed within an area, making what was 'fast' become 'slow' and what was 'slow' become 'fast'.
This is the best way to deal with high-speed Pokémon.
Once Gardevoir successfully uses Trick Room, the tide of this battle will turn, and the worst outcome would be forcing Platinum to switch out Regieleki.
But first, Trick Room must be successfully used.
Platinum certainly wouldn't just watch, so she had Regieleki use Extreme Speed.
Regieleki's Extreme Speed was as fast as lightning; almost instantly, in less than a breath, it slammed heavily into Gardevoir's face.
This caused Gardevoir's entire delicate body to stumble. The next moment, before Gardevoir could regain its balance, it suffered another Extreme Speed attack from behind.
This almost made Gardevoir fall.
Then it was left, right, up, front...
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
Regieleki became a blur, attacking with Extreme Speed from all directions, wildly striking Gardevoir's entire body.
All that could be seen was a yellow blur moving in all directions—up, down, left, and right—and the whimpering Gardevoir in pain.
Forget Trick Room; Gardevoir couldn't even use Protect now!
Under Bede's extremely ugly expression, Gardevoir was continuously struck by Extreme Speed for a full five seconds. And in these five seconds, how many times did Gardevoir endure the impact of Extreme Speed?
No one knew.
All that was known was that when Regieleki's Extreme Speed attack ended, Gardevoir had fainted, covered in injuries.
Yes, from beginning to end, Gardevoir didn't even have time to use a single move before it collapsed.
Bede trembled slightly as he recalled Gardevoir with his left hand. Looking at Regieleki and Platinum opposite him, he was already drenched in sweat.
How could... it be so strong?!
Even Opal, that old hag, had never given him such immense psychological pressure, making him completely lose the desire to continue battling.
Because Bede simply couldn't figure out how to counter Regieleki's high-speed combat style.
He was originally a Trainer specializing in Psychic-type Pokémon. After Opal dragged him to Ballonlea, he switched to being a Fairy-type Trainer.
But logically speaking, Psychic-type Pokémon are actually quite good at dealing with such high-speed Pokémon. After all, no matter how fast you are, can you be faster than Psychic power?
A Psychic-type Pokémon can simply stare and use Psychic power to forcibly restrain you.
But what about an opponent that can't even be caught by the eye?
And unfortunately, Regieleki is precisely like that. In its Extreme Speed state, its speed is even faster than lightning!
But surrender? Bede couldn't do it!
Bede once said something like this, which might be controversial but perfectly fits his character.
'I often hear people say that you learn more from defeat, but I respectfully decline that notion, as it would only harm my reputation, Bede.'
'Rather than swallow the humiliation of defeat, I'd rather immerse myself in victory while striving towards being the strongest.'
That's right, Bede is someone who doesn't give up easily.
Because he always believed that losing a battle wasn't just embarrassing for the Trainer; low-level battles also wronged the Pokémon.
Bede's third Pokémon was Galar Rapidash.
However, it was useless. Against Regieleki, it was completely useless.
The fourth was Sylveon, and finally the ace, Hatterene, until Hatterene also fell under Regieleki's Thunder Cage.
Bede finally couldn't hold on. He was dizzy, light-headed, and weak all over. He almost fell to the ground, but thanks to him supporting himself with his left hand, he avoided the humiliation of direct contact with the ground.
Yet even so, dense beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his face was incredibly pale.
I lost, and was even swept...
This fact kept floating in Bede's mind, causing him immense embarrassment and humiliation.
"It seems you are not Platinum's opponent, Bede."
A familiar male voice came. Bede looked up and found that, at some point, the black-haired young man had walked in front of him.
Bede stubbornly stood up, unwilling to bow his head in front of these people.
"Yes."
After a short silence, Bede turned his head and replied stiffly.
He didn't want to taste the bitter fruit of failure, but when he truly failed, he wouldn't deny it.
"As per our agreement, you will join my organization."
...No problem, but if it's something detrimental to Rose... Galar, I won't do it."
Bede looked Mammon directly in the eyes. He would honor his bet, but he also had his own principles.
However, although Bede quickly corrected himself, Mammon knew what Bede was trying to say.
"Tsk~ Even in this situation, you're still thinking about Rose?"
Mammon clicked his tongue, scrutinizing the pink-clad Bede.
Bede actually grew up in an orphanage. His family experienced a change when he was young, so he was sent to the orphanage.
But due to his family background, his personality became extremely twisted and sharp, making it difficult for him to integrate into the group, and he would often get into arguments with people.
It was Rose, who came to visit the orphanage, who changed Bede's life from then on. He gave Bede a Pokémon and discovered Bede's Trainer talent, sending him to a Pokémon school.
It was precisely because of this that Bede greatly admired Rose.
But it was also because of this admiration that he wanted to help Rose achieve his ideals, so he unilaterally destroyed the ruins in Stow-on-Side to collect Wishing Stars.
However, such disrespectful behavior towards the Galar land instead made Rose extremely disappointed in him, and he even stripped Bede of his Gym Challenge qualification.
Subsequently, Bede met Opal and was forcibly taken to Ballonlea for 're-education' by her.
But now it seems that even after being punished by Rose, Bede still greatly admires Rose.
"That's none of your business."
Bede turned his head away again and replied coldly.
"Alright, that's indeed none of my business, but I can promise you that I won't make you do anything detrimental to Rose."
Mammon shrugged, taking out a document and a silver badge.
"I acknowledge your talent. This is the organization's senior executive badge. Although you lost a bit miserably today, that doesn't mean you have no strength."
Mammon's leisurely and comfortable voice made Bede grit his teeth again. Bede glared fiercely at Platinum, who had caused his crushing defeat.
Platinum blinked and returned a friendly smile.
This, instead, made Bede feel at a loss, and he could only withdraw his gaze.
"I will definitely not lose to this woman again next time!"
Bede declared stubbornly.
Then he directly signed the contract. He only now noticed that the organization he was joining was Team Rockets.
Team Rockets? Never heard of them. Probably an obscure small organization, but it doesn't matter.
As long as it can help him get rid of Opal, that old hag, from now on, the sky's the limit. One day, he'll come back and teach that old hag a good lesson.
And this woman!!!
He temporarily accepted this crushing humiliation, but one day, he would return it twofold.
He wanted to make them understand that he, Lord Bede, was the strongest!
As for now, he would endure for a while!
Mammon nodded with satisfaction. Team Rockets had gained another promising general.
Now, two of Galar's four talented newcomers had been acquired.
The remaining Hop and Marnie shouldn't be particularly difficult either.
With this, Galar's future would be in his hands. Not bad, not bad.
He believed Chairman Rose wouldn't mind knowing this, right?
After all, Chairman Rose is magnanimous, with a mind broad enough to sail a boat.
Hmm, though even if Rose got angry, Mammon wouldn't care anyway.
After all, Team Rockets' talents are all acquired through poaching.