First Battle Victory!

At the opening ceremony, President Damalanchi delivered a brief yet stirring speech, instantly raising the atmosphere to a fever pitch.

With the venue properly warmed up, Damalanchi immediately announced the start of the matches and revealed the preliminary round groupings.

"Group E, Sub-venue 3?"

"Pika!"

"Mm, let's go!"

Sato gave the excited Pikachu a pat, then turned and headed toward Sub-venue 3.

He did not pay much attention to the others. If they could not advance, knowing everyone's groups would be meaningless anyway.

Although they had agreed to meet again in the Ranking Match, faced with so many Veteran Pseudo-Elite Four trainers, even Sato did not have one hundred percent confidence.

Soon, Sato arrived at Sub-venue 3. Unlike the main venue, this place was somewhat quiet, and the spectator stands were not full. Still, Sato quickly spotted Tsubaki.

A few minutes later, all the Group E participants had arrived at Sub-venue 3 and began sizing each other up.

Sato quietly observed his preliminary round opponents as well and soon noticed someone he found very familiar.

"Her?" A trace of surprise flashed through Sato's eyes. He had not expected her to come.

Caitlin, the genius Psychic Type user from the Sinnoh Region! Perhaps Sato had stared at her for a little too long, or perhaps psychics simply had exceptionally sharp senses, but Caitlin soon turned and met his gaze.

Sato instinctively wanted to nod in greeting, but Caitlin openly showed a look of disgust before quickly turning away and ignored him.

"Pika!"

Before Sato could react, Pikachu made a ghost face at Caitlin in dissatisfaction. Its puffed-up expression made Sato chuckle.

"Be good, don't make trouble."

"Pika~chu~"

"From now on, the Pokemon League Pseudo-Elite Four Tournament, Group E round-robin Points Match, first match, will begin! Contestants Sato and Ganhe, please enter