A Past Shrouded in Mystery: Ogerpon

In the blink of an eye, Lillie's battle with Brassius had reached its final stretch. After Terastalizing, Clodsire relied on its formidable defenses to withstand Ninetales's attacks, but its Ground Tera type had become a serious weakness.

"Now, Blizzard!"

Lillie seized the moment Clodsire was frozen by Ice Beam and immediately ordered Ninetales to use Blizzard. The attack was super effective, finally taking Clodsire down.

With that, she had passed the first round. This was only an assessment, after all, so the difficulty was not too high. Each member of the Elite Four used only five Pokémon, while challengers could choose six.

In fact, Sylveon was Lillie's only Pokémon unable to battle afterward. Of course, Brassius might not have been in top form, either. He had so much to deal with lately that all the overtime had left him numb.

After a brief exchange of compliments, Brassius brushed back his hair and slipped his hands into his pockets. Looking a little weary, he said, "Go ahead and heal up. You have up to five minutes to rest. Once you're ready, I'll call Poppy out."

"Got it!"

Lillie immediately took out an Energy Root and a Full Restore to heal the Pokémon that had fought. As she did, she noticed Brassius's expression. After a moment's thought, she asked, "Brassius, has work at the Pokémon League been busy lately?"

"Mm... a little."

Discussing this in the middle of an assessment was against the rules, but Lillie was different, so Brassius let it slide. "Something's happened in Area Zero. It's nothing serious, though, and it won't affect your assessment."

"Oh... I see."

Lillie nodded lightly. For some reason, she suddenly thought of Xingye, who was still in Kitakami and had yet to return. She had a strange feeling the two things might be