He steadied his ragged breathing slightly after using a Z-Move.
Under Cynthia's gaze, Xia Yan recalled his Pokémon and slowly pushed open the final door leading to the highest hall of Champion's Path.
If this were a game,
then waiting for him beyond this door should have been Professor Rowan or Professor Oak, who would register the Pokémon he had used and signify that he had successfully cleared the first playthrough.
Of course,
that was only in a game.
In reality,
if the region currently had no active Champion, then opening this door meant successfully ascending to become that region's Champion.
But if the region already had a Champion, then after challenging the Elite Four, one still had to challenge the sitting Champion.
Just like Blue and Red.
Blue had been the first to clear the Elite Four and take the throne representing the Champion.
But less than five minutes later, Red also cleared the Elite Four. He had needed to defeat Blue before he could become the Champion of the Kanto Region.
And people only remembered Red, who became Champion after defeating Blue, and Blue, who had served as Champion for five minutes.
Yet they overlooked the fact that
the dignified Elite Four
had been cleared twice by two people within five minutes.
Ahem.
That was getting off track.
As the great doors slowly opened,
the hall's spotlights did not all flare to life as they had before. Instead, only a gentle beam of light shone upon one person.
That person
sat in a wheelchair.
He was the current chairman of the Sinnoh League and the Champion of the Sinnoh Region, Igor Alexander!
Xia Yan, one hand resting on the door, looked back at Cynthia standing behind him.
Cynthia gave Xia Yan a slight nod.
Taking a deep breath,