Facing the Champion

"The Gym battle with Elesa was much harder than I expected."

Looking at the yellow, lightning bolt-shaped Badge in his hand, Bai Shi could not help sighing.

He had originally thought that with Golurk anchoring his team, it would easily defeat the last two opponents.

Instead, his Golurk, which had swept through Don George's Battle Tournament, had been locked in a stalemate with Joltik for quite some time before finding an opening to defeat it.

That was quite a departure from what Bai Shi had expected.

As for his other two Pokémon, their performance had been about what he had anticipated.

Working together to defeat one of Elesa's Pokémon was already a respectable result.

Before the match, Bai Shi had even been prepared to have Golurk defeat all three opponents.

Golurk isn't as invincible as I thought.

At the very least, it can't overwhelm fast Pokémon.

Ever since I caught Golurk, I seem to have gotten a little full of myself.

That's not a good sign. I need to watch out for that.

Bai Shi silently reminded himself to stay grounded.

There were still plenty of Pokémon Trainers in this world who were stronger than him.

Although his current strength was fairly impressive, he was nowhere near the top of the pyramid.

Only by continuing to work hard would he have a chance to reach the summit.

I remember that Alder, the Unova League Champion, seems to be in Nimbasa City around this time.

Why not take this opportunity to challenge him?

I can use the battle to see how far I am from the top Pokémon Trainers.

At that thought, Bai Shi's eyes lit up, and he immediately sprang into action.

Bai Shi was not the only one with that idea. Trip had it too.

As soon as Trip