"You're really something else, Aiden—"
After the battle ended, Lance and Bruno quickly got over it, actively stepping forward to congratulate the two young victors.
Lance took a step forward and lightly punched Aiden in the chest.
He didn't use much force, and his tone was more helpless than actually angry.
Even though he was a bit tilted from Aiden's plays during the match, he would leave the revenge for the next time they crossed swords on the battlefield.
Aiden still had a long road ahead of him; there would be plenty of opportunities.
"If I didn't pull out a few little tricks, taking down two seniors would have probably been a bit too difficult, wouldn't it?"
Aiden smiled and brushed it off.
However, even the battle maniac Bruno could hear the boundless confidence in his words.
The subtext was clearly that even without Perish Song, he could have still beaten them—
Although it was a bit hard on the ears, Bruno soon laughed heartily and copied Lance's movements, fiercely slapping Aiden on the shoulder a few times.
"No wonder Lance speaks so highly of you, Aiden. You really are just like him when he was young."
"That's right, young people should be sharp and show off their confidence!"
"When Lance was eighteen, he was way more arrogant than you!"
"—Not at all, I'm flattered."
Aiden felt his right shoulder going numb.
For the sake of his own body, he could only quietly take half a step back, swiftly dodging the rest of their "explosive finisher."
Mr. Bruno's slaps were probably even more absurd than his Machamp's. Even without using much force, it felt like he was going to get driven into the dirt—
Is this the formidable physical body of a bodybuilding Super Kanto man?
"However, defeating us might not necessarily be a good thing."
Watching their friendly exchange, Lance suddenly smiled again, reminding Aiden and Cynthia.
Under normal circumstances, he definitely wouldn't be able to smile after losing to someone.
But specifics mattered. In this case, winning actually might not be a good thing.
After all, by advancing to the semi-finals—
Their next two opponents would almost certainly be the two Legends, Master Mustard and Professor Oak.
Even though the second half of the bracket hadn't played out yet, Lance still dared to make this assertion.
Steven and Wallace might have had the strength to put up a fight against Professor Oak and Agatha, but their chances of winning were still minuscule.
Miracles might happen, but the odds of them happening were incredibly low.
Originally, they only entered this Doubles tournament for entertainment and to join in the fun. Thinking about it that way, losing was actually a good thing.
Now he could just sit in the audience and watch Aiden face the two seniors.
Thinking of this, Lance's mood instantly improved a lot, and his smile became visibly wider.
Even if this brat is a genius, there's no way he can sweep through two "Battle Legends" who specifically came to snipe him, right?
If there really was a mountain that huge, how could any other young person of the same era even play the game?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
The afternoon's matches went exactly as expected.
The Oak & Agatha "senior citizen" duo continued their rampage. So far, no one had managed to force them to reveal more of their cards.
Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Gengar alone had become a nearly unsolvable nightmare for all the contestants in the bottom half of the bracket.
Let alone the fact that after entering the Top 8, the two elders had become even more serious in their battles—
After yet another lightning-fast 4:0 match, where the opponents' Pokémon were easily blown away, the Oak & Agatha duo forcefully advanced to the Top 4.
As for the final match, Steven and Wallace's path to advancement could also be described as a clean sweep.
With this, the four semi-final spots for this Kalos Doubles Championship were completely locked in.
In the top half of the bracket, the Mustard & Honey duo would face Aiden and Cynthia; In the bottom half, it would be a clash of titans between the Oak & Agatha duo and Steven & Wallace.
Before the participant list was announced, the vast majority of people probably thought this was just an entertainment-oriented tournament.
But who could have predicted—
That out of the eight contestants in the Top 4, there would directly be three Champions, two top-tier Elite Four members, and even two Battle Legends?
As for the only one without a high reputation, Honey, she had also proven her skills as a trainer through her seamless coordination with Master Mustard over the past few days.
It was both a clash of heavyweights and a meaningful passing-of-the-torch battle between generations.
With these multiple factors combined, the hype for the semi-finals naturally exploded.
It got to the point where in a massive city like Lumiose, booking a hotel over the last two days had become an incredibly difficult task.
On the night before the matches began, another relatively minor event occurred—
Pokémon Legends: I am a Ogerpon Stan
On the night the matches concluded, a collaboratively uploaded video by Aiden and Professor Oak was released right on schedule.
[Damn, Teacher Azure is working this hard lately? Fighting tournaments during the day and working overtime to film videos at night!]
[That's absurd. I never thought I'd see the day Teacher Azure had a consistent daily upload schedule. Did the King of Asking for Leave finally use Ability Swap?—]
[Is there a possibility that Teacher Azure got hit with some IRL pressure?]
[That makes sense. Professor Oak has been a fan of Teacher Azure for a long time, so he might literally be blocking his door every day, not letting him leave until he finishes filming!]
[That's a good thing!]
[But besides that, aren't you guys curious about the title? So Ogerpon is actually a Legendary Pokémon—]
[I must watch this immediately!]
The concept that "If it's made by Aiden, it's a premium product" had long been deeply rooted in their minds. After a round of friendly banter in the comments at the start of the video, the vast audience prepared themselves to embark on today's learning journey.
Just from the title, you could tell this was another episode of the "Mythology" series.
However, the protagonist this time was a bit unexpected.
Ogerpon, the cute Pokémon that had served as Aiden's absolute ace ever since the trip to Kitakami.
Anyone who had seen it battle should know exactly how hard Ogerpon hit.
The image of it holding an Ivy Cudgel, wearing four different spooky masks, had literally become the nightmare of the students at the Naranja Academy.
But Teacher Azure never actually said it was a Legendary Pokémon, had he?
Especially the local Paldean students, who suddenly felt like "the clouds had parted and they were seeing the sun."
So we were fighting a Mythical Pokémon all this time?
No wonder.
Damn it, Teacher Azure is actually a Legendary simp. How dare he use such a broken unit to test us!
This is beyond just neglecting your duties; we need to bring out the heavy artillery!
So, many students from the Naranja Academy immediately flooded the backend, spam-clicking the "thumbs down" button on the "Sunshine Gym's" official website until it smoked.
Of course, complaining about Teacher Azure was one thing, but they still had to watch the video!
"Pon~"
After pressing play, the first thing to appear was Ogerpon making a funny face right at the camera.
(Like this)
"Great, that's it!"
Aiden's voice of encouragement came from off-camera. Hearing it, Ogerpon's smile grew even brighter.
[AHHH I'M DEAD, how can a Pokémon be this cute!]
[I feel like Ogerpon has more screen presence than Reshiram from before. Maybe we should just let the cute little Ogerpon sub the stream from now on~]
[Is shoving the camera in a Legendary's face considered Teacher Azure's guilty pleasure?]
[Wake up, this is Teacher Azure's own Pokémon. He can film it however he wants~]
After showing off its cuteness, the camera angle suddenly shifted.
Aiden, wearing a lab coat and holding an Ivy Cudgel and a mask, appeared in the center of the frame.
"I'm sure anyone who watches Teacher Azure's streams regularly is pretty familiar with Ogerpon~"
"And some of you might still have an impression of the video Teacher Azure recorded back in Kitakami."
Saying that, Aiden lightly coughed and got down to business.
"That's right, Ogerpon is actually a Legendary Pokémon too!"
"Although the legend is mostly circulated in Kitakami, and it's been misunderstood for many years—"
"However, Ogerpon's identity actually has some connections to Paldea as well."
After Aiden finished speaking, he suddenly vanished from the screen.
Then, a little animation that looked like it was coded by an overworked Porygon appeared.
"A long, long time ago, a man and a little ogre from a foreign land got lost and accidentally wandered into Kitakami."
"The villagers were afraid of their different appearances, so they forbade the man and the ogre from getting close to the village."
"So, they could only live a simple life in a cave in the back mountain."
With Aiden's guest voiceover finishing those three lines, the bullet comments instantly lost it:
[Why does it feel like this episode's theme is a fairy tale—]
[Wait, Kitakami is such a tiny place, could someone really get lost and end up there?]
[Tbh, that doesn't matter. I'm more curious why the villagers were afraid of Ogerpon. Doesn't it look pretty cute?]
[Look at it again after it raises its Ivy Cudgel—]
[Scared to tears. I feel like I'm about to get turned into mincemeat at any second!]
The video continued playing.
"Only the village's mask maker felt sorry for them. So, using the materials the man had brought, he forged several masks for them."
"Gems from a foreign land were embedded in the most prominent spots, sparkling brightly and incredibly gorgeous."
"The craftsman and the man both believed that if they just wore masks to cover their faces, they could get along peacefully with the villagers."
"So, after putting on the masks, the man and the ogre sneaked into the village and joined their Festival of Masks."
"The gorgeous and finely crafted masks quickly earned them the praise of many."
"The rumor of the gorgeous masks even crossed the ocean, reaching many distant lands."
Aiden's voice, paired with the interesting little animation, couldn't help but make the audience smile.
Unless something unexpected happened—
This was probably going to be a rare, heartwarming little story, right?
However, the next moment, Aiden's originally gentle voice suddenly turned serious.
"The good times didn't last. The existence of the 'gorgeous masks' soon attracted a few greedy Pokémon."
"They sneaked into the man and the ogre's home, attempting to steal the carefully guarded treasures."
"The man, who happened to be present, fought with all his might but could barely save one of the masks."
"When the ogre returned to the cave, it only found traces of a struggle and a green mask."
"Perhaps to find the man, the ogre put on the green mask, went down the mountain to the village, and used its Ivy Cudgel to completely wipe out those evil Pokémon."
"If the story ended there, it might have just been a somewhat sad tale."
Aiden, acting as the narrator again, sighed.
"The oblivious villagers witnessed the ogre's rampage after coming down the mountain. Its furious appearance terrified them, and they even mistook those three Pokémon for the heroes who had protected the village."
"And so, the legend of the 'Loyal Three' began to circulate in Kitakami, continuing for over a hundred years."
"As for the injured ogre, it drowned in its sorrow. Unable to let it go, it finally returned to the back mountain alone, rarely ever appearing before human eyes again."
The story came to an abrupt halt.
The bullet comments, which had disappeared, came back online at this moment.
[It started out as such a warm fairy tale, why did it suddenly get so tragic, hey!]
[Waaah, hug the cute little Ogerpon. So its backstory was this sad!]
[As a Kitakami local, all I can say is don't panic, there's definitely a plot twist coming!]
And the facts were exactly as the chat predicted.
Just as most of the audience was immersed in a faint sadness, seemingly empathizing with Ogerpon's tragic experience, a flash of white light suddenly swept across the screen. Aiden and Ogerpon appeared in the frame together.
"There's actually an epilogue to this story, but the time skip is a bit long."
"A year ago, the 'Hero of the Future' came to Kitakami and coincidentally encountered Pecharunt, the 'culprit' who had been disrupting the villagers' will."
"With his help, Ogerpon easily defeated the returning Loyal Three, sending them off to the afterlife alongside Pecharunt."
"And after that day's Festival of Masks, the villagers finally realized the truth of history. Filled with guilt, they tore down the statues of the Loyal Three and erected new statues to honor the two heroes."
"As for the name of the other hero—"
Aiden rubbed his nose, teased them a little bit, and then proudly patted his chest.
"Ta-da, it's me~"
[—]
[So is this how Teacher Azure catches Legendary Pokémon? Isn't that a bit too hardcore?]
[Aiden: Ogerpon, you care too much about what others think. You should've just taken your revenge~]
[Nice, very Aiden!]
[—Wait a minute, I get the logic, but what does Ogerpon have to do with Paldea?]
When this line of text floated across the screen, Aiden seemed to sense it and suddenly nodded.
"This student finally caught onto the main point!"
"If you've watched Teacher Azure's battles, I'm sure many of you have noticed one thing—when using the power of Terastallization, Ogerpon's mask seems to be its true body, absorbing all the Tera shards."
"And the reason this happens is naturally because the gems forged into the masks were actually Tera Ore of extreme purity."
"As for where Tera Ore is found—I probably don't need to spell it out for you, do I?"
Aiden smiled and asked rhetorically.
At the same time, Professor Oak's vigorous voice came from off-camera.
"Exactly! After our researchers took samples, we can confirm that the gems on the masks are indeed Tera Ore!"
"Which means the man who came to Kitakami alongside Ogerpon must have visited Area Zero!"
With Professor Oak's backing, Aiden's words were obviously highly credible.
But it didn't end there.
"Students, if we connect the dots a bit more—"
Aiden pointed to his head and spoke again.
"Ogerpon's legend took place about 200 years ago. So, what was happening in Paldea during this period?"
"That's right! It was the Heath expedition team to Area Zero!"
It just so happened that Aiden had recently delved deep into Area Zero, proving that Heath wasn't a fraud peddling fake tales, but a real explorer who accurately documented the inside of Area Zero.
Wasn't that basically proof?~
"So we can boldly deduce that the highly mysterious man was likely a member of the Heath expedition team—"
"The Crystal Pool at the peak of Kitakami's Ogre Mountain was probably also a special phenomenon formed by the Tera Ore the man threw into the lake naturally fusing with the environment over time."
"Heck, Ogerpon's exceptional compatibility with Terastallization might even mean it was originally picked up in Area Zero?"
"Teacher Azure bringing Ogerpon back to Paldea was basically bringing it home, right~"
"And this, is the choice of destiny!"
After letting out a dramatic sigh, Aiden affectionately nuzzled his cheek against Ogerpon, who had scooted closer to him.
The video ended right there, leaving behind an audience completely dumbfounded.
[Don't challenge the "shameless" attribute, you win!]
[When it comes to being shameless, I crown Teacher Azure as the strongest!]
[Guys, who gets it? Teacher Azure meets a wild Legendary Pokémon while traveling, calls it the "choice of destiny," and literally drags it back home!]
[Even though it probably wasn't that extreme and Ogerpon definitely went willingly, I still have to say: Teacher Azure, show some decorum!]
[No wonder he became the Hero of "Truth." Teacher Azure is definitely "real"!]
------------------------------------------------------
30+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)