"Roar!!!"
The roar of a Pokémon drew everyone's attention.
Within everyone's line of sight, Charizard, carrying Sato and Tetsu, flew toward the forest entrance.
Upon landing, the two jumped off Charizard's back. The Pokémon stood on the ground, panting incessantly. The previous continuous battles had already left it exhausted, and now it had flown such a long distance carrying two people.
If it weren't for its sturdy physique and strong willpower, it would have fainted long ago.
Miss Lin walked over to meet them. When Tetsu saw her, he smiled and said, "Miss Lin, we're back."
Miss Lin looked at Charizard and smiled, saying, "You've worked hard."
Sato recalled Charizard into its Poké Ball to rest and then handed all of his Poké Balls to Miss Lin.
Seeing this, Tetsu also handed over all of his Pokémon.
Miss Lin smiled as she took their Poké Balls and said, "Go rest for a bit. I'll take your Pokémon for treatment."
After Miss Lin left, another teacher led the two of them to an open area where dozens of chairs were set up. Sato and Tetsu found random seats and sat down.
At this time, Teacher Rondo walked over and sat down beside them, asking, "How was the harvest this time?"
Tetsu proudly patted his waist bag, which made a clanking sound. From the noise alone, it was clear the number of badges inside was not small.
Rondo smiled with satisfaction and said, "I believe you two will definitely win this time. After all, you're both students I've taught."
His words were accurate; indeed, of the ten students from Silver Academy, everyone except Matsumoto and Ishida had taken his physical education classes.
Under a tent, Director Yanagi also watched the entrance, waiting for the students to return.
He still had great confidence in his students. He then glanced sideways at Director Kimura, who had barely spoken a word until now, which was quite strange.
Could it be that he has no confidence in his own academy's students?
In truth, the reason Director Kimura remained silent was that he had been "face-slapped" too many times before.
He had learned his lesson; this time, Director Kimura would not speak until the very last moment.
Not long after, someone else returned. It was Konan, looking travel-worn as she rode her Skarmory.
As soon as she landed, she handed her Pokémon to the medical staff and walked to the rest area. She sat down without saying a word, clearly exhausted.
Shortly after Konan's return, Mizuki from Indigo Academy arrived.
Upon his return, he handed his Pokémon to the medical staff and sat down not far from Sato and the others.
Director Kimura finally took action, walking over to Mizuki's side and sitting down to ask, "Mizuki, how is it? What's the harvest?"
Mizuki said with full confidence, "No problem. I think this time might give everyone a big surprise."
Director Kimura's eyes lit up as he asked, "Really?"
"Yes," Mizuki replied.
How could he not be confident? In his eyes, among all the participants this time, very few had managed to obtain a Gold Badge.
Seeing Mizuki so self-assured, Director Kimura's heart began to race with excitement. He thought to himself that they might actually win this time.
Later, Asen also returned. Like the others, he handed his Poké Balls to the medical staff.
Except for Gengar, who was hidden in his shadow.
Following that, everyone else returned one after another. Everyone looked very tired, but they all seemed to have had a bountiful harvest.
Director Yanagi checked the time; there were three minutes left, and only one person had not returned: Eichi.
It was already afternoon, and the first hints of the evening glow were beginning to appear.
After a while, a figure appeared at the forest entrance. This person was, naturally, Eichi.
He arrived riding on Heracross. The entrance was crowded with people, and they only breathed a sigh of relief once Eichi returned.
After Eichi dismounted, a group of staff members immediately drove patrol carts into the forest.
One vehicle followed another; in addition to those on the ground, several helicopters in the air also began to move.
They needed to process the Pokémon inside, such as recovering the collars from the Pokémon and any badges that hadn't been taken.
Eichi recalled Heracross into its Poké Ball and handed it, along with the other two, to the medical staff.
He then walked to the rest area and sat down to rest.
When Tetsu and the others saw Eichi return, they got up to greet him.
"Eichi, why did you just get back?" Tetsu asked.
Eichi calmly replied, "I was delayed for a bit by two Pokémon."
When he said this, the reactions from Sato, Konan, and the others were different.
With Eichi's strength, the only things that could delay him were Gym Leader rank Pokémon.
Has Eichi already reached the point where he can take on two Gym Leaders at once?
Eichi didn't know his words had made them think so much. He just sat in his seat and rested.
For seven hours, he hadn't really rested, and he was indeed quite tired.
Director Yanagi checked the time on his electronic watch as the countdown began.
As the tournament ended, Director Yanagi stood up, followed by several staff members, and approached the rest area.
Seeing Director Yanagi approaching, everyone straightened their posture.
The countdown on the electronic watch finally ended.
The tournament was now officially over, and next came the settlement phase.
After returning, everyone had consciously refrained from announcing their badge counts or asking others about theirs, waiting for Director Yanagi to arrive.
Director Yanagi walked to the center and said, "The tournament has officially ended. Next is the badge calculation phase."
"Hand over your waist bags to the staff. We will tally everyone's badge numbers and finally calculate the total for both academies."
"It will take about half an hour. Please wait patiently."
As soon as he finished speaking, a staff member carrying a box walked over to Eichi's side. Eichi removed his waist bag and placed it into the box.
There was no need to worry about not recognizing which bag was theirs because he had noticed when receiving them that every waist bag had a name on it.
Aside from their side, the same was happening at Indigo Academy.
After all the waist bags were collected, another staff member came by to collect the electronic watches from their wrists.
Then Director Yanagi added, "I want to tell everyone that when we tally the badges this time, both academies will do it together, so there will be no 'behind-the-scenes' manipulation. Rest assured."
"We will definitely ensure fairness and justice."
After saying that, he left with the staff.