"Mr. Natsui, I watched several of your matches during the Indigo Plateau Conference. Your Pokémon are genuinely very strong, and even after all this time, I still remember their performance vividly. If I get the chance, I really hope to face you in this cup!"
Trinity could talk and laugh easily with Misty, maintaining a calm demeanor because she felt confident she could defeat her.
But facing Natsui, she showed full respect. This was both courtesy and a mix of anticipation and anxiety toward a much stronger opponent.
"I'd like to battle you too, but your opponent right now is her!" Natsui chuckled softly, pointing to Misty beside him. "If you want to battle me, you need to defeat this young lady first! A word of advice: don't underestimate her—she is very strong!"
This was Natsui's response, and also him showing support for Misty, ensuring Trinity didn't overlook her.
Hearing Natsui's validation, Misty's face immediately lit up! Nothing made her happier than receiving praise from the person she admired.
As an adult, Trinity perfectly understood Natsui's meaning. She looked back at Misty and nodded solemnly.
"I will. If I am unfortunate enough to lose when that moment comes, please promise me a private battle, Mr. Natsui!"
It was clear that this woman genuinely wanted to battle him. She must be extremely confident in her own strength.
Naturally, Natsui had complete faith in his Pokémon. Faced with the challenge, he agreed immediately without hesitation.
"Of course. If you want to challenge me, I am ready whenever you are!"
Having received his answer, Trinity shook hands with the group and then turned and left.
Watching her leave, Misty's fighting spirit surged. She was determined to give her all in the afternoon match and not let Natsui down!
More than that, she felt a small thrill from the trust and support Natsui had just shown her.
Only... being called a "young lady" was a bit frustrating. When will Natsui-kun finally see me as a woman?
If she could choose, she wished Natsui would use a different term for her, perhaps "dear" or "sweetheart," or something similar.
Thinking this, her face flushed slightly. She turned to look at Natsui and saw that he was also looking at her.
Her cheeks reddened further, thinking Natsui had noticed her secret thoughts. Just as she was about to say something meaningful, Natsui spoke seriously: "Be careful. This woman is very confident, and her strength must be significant, or she wouldn't have sought us out herself!"
"Huh?" Misty paused, then her ears turned even redder as she nodded. "Oh, don't worry, I'll take it seriously!"
After Trinity left, the group decided not to stay in the restaurant and went to the lounge to check the pairings.
There were few people in the lounge by this time. Natsui and his friends stopped in front of the battle board and saw that, as Trinity had stated, Misty was indeed paired with her. Their match was the second one in the afternoon.
Natsui's match was right after Misty's, and his opponent was a mature-looking, seemingly successful middle-aged man.
Perhaps the recent encounter with Trinity had created pressure, or simply because the matches were drawing near, Misty dragged Ash and Brock to a nearby practice room to get their minds right.
After the trio left, only Natsui and Erika remained in the lounge, and the whole room became completely silent.
Erika looked around and was disappointed to see that, despite the large size of the lounge, there were only a few large screens, hundreds of chairs, and a few rows of sofas, with no greenery at all.
This was very different from what she had imagined. She had thought a competitor's lounge would be quiet, comfortable, and well-equipped, like the one at the Indigo Plateau Conference!
When she turned back, she saw Natsui lying back on the sofa and chuckled, "What's wrong? You have a match this afternoon, too. Don't you need to prepare?"
"Prepare?" Natsui stretched in a huge yawn. After eating well, sleepiness began to creep up on him, making his eyelids heavy. "How else can I prepare? I only have Blastoise as a starting Pokémon right now. Its skill is very consistent, its condition is excellent, and its fighting spirit is high. I simply don't know how to 'prepare' it any further."
Erika nodded. That made sense. Blastoise, maintaining such excellent form, truly didn't need any preparation. If it could perform as expected, a loss was unlikely.
"Even so, I think your opponents, seeing you only use one Pokémon, could easily figure out Blastoise's strengths and weaknesses and specifically try to counter it."
"That would be perfect," Natsui smiled. "If it comes to that and Blastoise is defeated, I'll switch to Gyarados, and I won't even need to give commands. I can just let it fight on its own."
This wasn't Natsui being arrogant; it was simply a statement of fact about his Red Gyarados's power. Losing would be extremely difficult for it.
Erika looked surprised. "I've heard you mention it many times before. Why? Is your Gyarados really that strong?"
Natsui thought for a moment, realizing that Erika had indeed never seen his evolved Gyarados and had no concept of its strength.
"Remember Dr. Zager, the Team Rocket scientist we caught earlier?" Natsui explained in detail. "I first met him while traveling past the Lake of Rage. At the time, my Gyarados was hit by a ray called Project R, which caused it to mutate. So now, Gyarados is not only exceptionally huge, but its color has also turned red, and its personality has become more violent. Of course, conversely, its strength has also increased significantly."
"So that's what happened."
"Honestly speaking," Natsui suddenly sighed, "if it weren't my own Pokémon, every time I look into its giant red eyes, I think even I would feel a chill run down my spine! And its fighting style is too brutal—it barely counts as a proper battle anymore..."
This surprised Erika. For Natsui, given his personality, to evaluate his own Pokémon this way suggested that the Gyarados was indeed very dangerous. If that was the case, she wanted even more to see it in action and witness the power of the Red Gyarados.
At that moment, Erika suddenly remembered something and pointed to the grouping board. "By the way, you should pay a little attention to this person."
Following the direction of her finger, Natsui saw a name: 'Tetsu'.
"What about him?"
"He's also very strong. He is arguably the second most popular contestant in this cup, apart from you," Erika mused for a moment. "I paid attention to his last match, and his Pokémon should not be underestimated. Speaking of which, Ms. Trinity should be ranked third. Excluding Misty, the rest of the players are relatively competent, but there are no standout dark horses."
Erika's judgment was quite accurate. If she found their level merely "competent," it meant that the remaining Trainers had a noticeable gap in skill compared to Trinity and Tetsu.
Natsui nodded and checked the pairings again. The person named Tetsu was in the same bracket as him, meaning if he advanced, he would be Natsui's next opponent.
The second most popular contestant, huh? He must be able to take a punch.
That is truly something to look forward to.
After waiting a long time in the lounge, and with no sign of Misty or the others returning, Natsui got bored. He released his smaller Pokémon to play nearby.
Listening to the joyful calls and running sounds nearby, his eyelids grew heavier, and he eventually fell asleep without realizing it.
After an unknown amount of time, he woke up to find his jacket draped over him and a faint floral scent clinging to his clothes—Erika had clearly left it there.
He slowly sat up and looked to the other side of the lounge. Erika had also released her Pokémon and was now holding a comb, carefully grooming the fur of her Pokémon and Natsui's.
Seen from the side, Erika was focused and serious. With her sleeves rolled up, her smooth, fair arms were visible.
Noticing Natsui was awake, Erika turned to him. "Awake already?"
Rubbing his eyes, Natsui sat up straight. "How long was I asleep?"
He didn't need to sniff to smell the faint perfume scent Erika had left on the jacket.
Aside from being a Gym Leader, Erika, as a perfume shop owner, had excellent taste in fragrances. She wore a different scent every day. The current scent on his jacket was a daisy-like fragrance, subtle and not overpowering, yet long-lasting.
"Not long, just about fifteen minutes. There's still some time before the match, don't you want to sleep a little more?"
Natsui patted his face to wake himself up. As he lowered his arm, the last trace of sleepiness completely vanished. "Haven't Misty and the others returned yet?"
"They probably went straight to the arena," Erika shook her head. "It's clear that Ms. Trinity put a lot of pressure on her, and your encouragement has certainly made her put her full focus on the match!"
The two chatted for a while. As the break time ended and the match approached, they saw other competitors returning to the lounge. They recalled their respective Pokémon, and Erika left, returning to the spectator stands alone.
Misty still hadn't returned to the lounge, and Natsui wondered how she had mentally prepared herself.
However, with Ash and Brock accompanying her, everything would surely be fine. He adjusted his position on the sofa to a more comfortable one and turned his attention back to the large screen.
On the screen, after the host's warm-up, the Top 8 to Top 4 matches had officially begun!
------------------------
Support my projects and get immediate access to hundreds of chapters of Bleach, Naruto, Pokémon, and more! ✨ Key Benefit: Your favorite novels, with my quality, and always up-to-date.
Featured Novels (with hundreds of chapters available NOW!):
The Heroine Wants to Join My Harem (1050 caps)
Goddess Training Manual (800 caps)
I Have Caught a Pokémon (700 caps)
Bleach Getting Stronger (330 caps)
Naruto: Saving the Uchiha (300 caps)
And many more!
Why subscribe?
🔥 Immediate Access: Read my new chapters before anyone else.
📚 Huge Library: Access my complete catalog instantly.
⭐️ High Quality: Enjoy the novels with a professional and well-crafted text written by me.