After finishing the matches at the Whirl Islands, Sato and Tajiri Ii went their separate ways due to their different itineraries.
Tajiri Ii was headed to Olivine City, just across a gorge, where another Elite Four level Trainer was stationed.
As for Sato, following the organizers' arrangements, he successively visited the Wetland Nature Preserve south of Violet City, the Abyss Sinkhole west of Blackthorn City, and Explosion Canyon east of Goldenrod City...
None of these places were near cities, yet all of them were important strongholds under the League's control.
Needless to say, the nature preserves were publicly described as pure lands returned to Wild Pokemon, but internally, they were the finest sources of high-quality Pokemon.
Meanwhile, places like the Abyss Sinkhole and Explosion Canyon relied on their unique landforms and natural environments that came infinitely close to a Top-tier Mimicry Space, allowing them to produce large numbers of distinctive Pokemon with exceptional talent.
These were the foundations that had allowed the Pokemon League to stand tall for hundreds of years!
After completing the trip, Sato suddenly realized that the matches themselves were not the most important part.
What mattered most was that the League had displayed its strength and foundations to everyone in an extremely subtle yet confident manner.
After finishing all his away matches, Sato returned to Mt. Silver.
By then, the first round of points matches in the Elite Four Ranking Match had gradually entered its later stage.
Most of the participating Trainers had also become quite clear on whether they could make it into the finals.
As a result, many Trainers stopped caring about winning or losing, and no longer fussed over points. With self-improvement as their sole goal, they fought many thrilling matches that had not been seen in the early stages.
However, after confirming