I tried to walk past as though it had nothing to do with me, but he called out to me. Actually, why did he know my name?
"Yeah, who are you?"
Even as I said that, I felt as if I had seen him somewhere before.
"My name is Shinji. I'm from Veilstone City."
The boy who called himself Shinji had a vicious look in his eyes.
Oh, now I get it.
I remembered. He was the character who served as Ash's rival in the anime's DP series, wasn't he? Online, people called him a hardcore player. Apparently, he caught Pokémon with high stats and released the ones with low stats. Yeah, he really was a hardcore Pokémon player.
"Okay. Shinji, what do you want with me?"
"I'm going to face you in the fifth round-the preliminary finals."
"Shinji, there's no guarantee I'll win that many matches, you know?"
"That's impossible. Not for you, the Champion of Hoenn, Johto, and the Sevii Islands, and the runner-up in Kanto."
Oh, you knew about that?
"I traveled far away, then went to the capital."
So that was it...? From what you just said, did that mean you hadn't traveled through Kanto yet?
"Everywhere I went, I heard the same thing.
"'Strong Pokémon, weak Pokémon-that's a matter of personal choice. A Trainer should strive to win with the Pokémon they love.'
"I can't accept that. Pokémon you love? No! Only strong Pokémon can win battles! So I'm going to beat you and prove it!"
Ah, I see. I had been through plenty of confrontations like this before.
"Is that so? I'm looking forward to it."
Insisting on Individual Values and natures-since Effort Values were a measure of strategy-was actually the right approach in a game. To maintain high Individual Values, you needed a