Mingyou's battle with Carmine was over, but many spectators were still struggling to process the result. This wasn't like the qualifying round, when he had advanced without doing a thing.
Lucario's strength had surprised plenty of people, but Morpeko was clearly stronger than Servine. For Mingyou to force a double knockout at the end showed he wasn't nearly as useless as they had thought.
They didn't like admitting it, but they had to...
"That kid really does have some skill. No wonder Cynthia thinks so highly of him."
Alder folded his arms and glanced sideways with a smile. Cynthia kept smiling and shook her head gently.
"He's not the only one I have high hopes for. These young Trainers are all strong. It's hard to say who'll win in the end."
"True. It's just a shame that brat from Drayden's family deliberately lost. Drayden's blood pressure must have gone through the roof."
Alder thought back to Drayton's loss to Iris yesterday and couldn't help laughing. But it also reminded him of something else.
"After tomorrow's Round of 16, there'll be a day off. The Museum is going to display a gem Clay found in the Ruins. As an archaeologist, I thought you might be interested. Care to go see it together?"
"A gem?"
"That's right. There's an interesting story behind it. The day before the Junior Cup began, a fire broke out in the Museum's Basement, where the gem was stored. They still haven't found the cause, but apparently the staff saw the gem fall off its display stand for no reason."
"Oh? That does sound interesting."
Cynthia smiled, intrigued. Shali had told her about the Light Stone, but given her position, she couldn't investigate it herself or tell Alder the truth.
After all, if it was connected to Reshiram,