The battle between Mega Venusaur and Honchkrow lasted a full half an hour.
Throughout it, aside from occasionally switching moves to interrupt Venusaur's recovery, Honchkrow kept using Air Slash, cutting and cutting and cutting, cutting and cutting, until the end of time...
"Venusaur is incapacitated. Honchkrow wins!"
"Since all six of Elite Four Sen's Pokemon have lost the ability to battle, the winner of this Elite Four Ranking Match is... Sato!"
With the referee's solemn announcement, this unusually long battle, which had lasted nearly four hours, finally came to an end.
Although many people had realized that Sato would likely win when Venusaur was forced onto the field first, they still felt differently when the result was truly decided.
When the dust settled, everyone felt a twinge of melancholy—the old heroes had reached their twilight, and a new generation was replacing the old.
Even if it was the Elite Four, there would always come a day when they were surpassed.
Yet as they looked at Sato, who had become a regional Elite Four member at such a young age and was not even ranked last, they could not help but hold even greater expectations for him.
Someone like him... should have a shot at that position, right?
"Phew... it's finally over!"
When Sato returned backstage at the arena and suddenly escaped the surrounding deafening cheers, he felt as though an age had passed.
Four consecutive hours of Frequency Resonance, continuously commanding six Pokemon in battle, against a Grass-type Elite Four known for endurance...
Sato had not felt this tired in a long time. Even while training under Teacher Shiping's guidance, he always balanced work with rest, focusing on insight and comprehension.
And there were still two more matches like this.
Dragon-type Elite Four, Lance!
Ice-type Elite Four, Ryu!
Shaking