Pokémon: My Titles Know No Limits! [602]

Overall, the battle between Caitlin and Pryce didn't offer any real surprises.

Though Caitlin possessed astonishing psychic powers, facing Pryce’s absolute strength, she simply wasn’t his match.

Blizzard mercilessly battered Reuniclus, freezing its body solid in a relentless surge of cold.

“Reuniclus is unable to battle. Swinub wins!” declared the referee.

“An unfavorable start for Caitlin! Pryce’s Swinub has demonstrated tremendous strength, firmly taking the lead... Things look grim for Caitlin,” commented Ball Guy.

“But this result is understandable—after all, even Unova’s Champion Alder lost to Pryce. As one of Unova’s Elite Four, Caitlin losing to Pryce is quite normal.”

While Ball Guy was busy excusing Caitlin’s defeat, he casually dragged Alder in as an example.

It was a perfect example, indeed—Alder, who’d gotten injured just from watching the match, felt thoroughly stabbed.

Entering the second round, Pryce continued using his Swinub, while Caitlin switched her Pokémon to Gothitelle.

Having learned from the previous battle, Gothitelle unleashed Psychic energy immediately after appearing on the field, striking Swinub from every possible angle without hesitation.

Though dispersing psychic energy would lower its power, Caitlin’s only goal was to score at least one point, so she executed this tactic without hesitation or shame.

Faced with such an attack, even Pryce had limited room to maneuver.

He could temporarily block it with Protect, but using Protect right from the start was extremely risky. Drawing from his vast experience, Pryce quickly made his decision.

He lightly tapped the ground with his cane.

Swinub immediately snuffled its nose with a soft grunt, took the brunt of Gothitelle’s Psychic head-on, then retaliated with Ice Beam.

The icy beam struck Gothitelle directly, rapidly freezing it solid from the point of impact.

“Gothitelle is unable to battle! Pryce wins again!”

With another instant knockout, Pryce's overwhelming strength became vividly clear.

Watching this scene unfold, the audience finally realized something:

When Alder had been swept 3-0 by Pryce earlier, it wasn’t because Alder was weak—it was simply that Pryce was overwhelmingly strong!

Alder: moved to tears…

In the arena, Caitlin struggled to calm her emotions, doing her best to steady herself.

Pryce, however, simply watched with narrowed eyes, looking every bit the kindly old grandpa.

“I’m counting on you—Metagross!” Caitlin called out her Metagross, the Pokémon bearing all her hopes.

Metagross’s matte-blue, metallic, flying-saucer-like body glinted with a high-quality sheen in the sunlight.

Immediately after sending it out, Caitlin didn’t hesitate: “[Mega Evolve]!”

Metagross’s body quickly transformed, its four claws rearranging themselves forward along its sides. Psychic energy surrounded Mega Metagross, enhancing its mind and rapidly analyzing the battlefield, allowing it to adapt swiftly to any changes.

Seeing Mega Metagross, Pryce finally became serious.

This Mega Metagross…wasn’t weak!

“Metagross, [Meteor Mash]!”

Mega Metagross soared high into the sky. In the next instant, with a roaring sound, it dove toward Swinub, its fist tearing through the air and igniting from the friction caused by its intense speed.

“[Protect],” Pryce commanded.

Just as he spoke, a dull crash echoed through the arena, the ground instantly caving in as a shockwave rippled outward.

“Did it hold?” The crowd stared nervously.

A moment later, a beam of icy blue shot from within the smoke, hitting Metagross squarely on one claw, and the audience burst into cheers!

It held!

“Swinub successfully blocked Metagross’s Meteor Mash with Protect and landed a counterattack with Ice Beam!”

“However, Ice Beam doesn't seem to affect Metagross much.”

Indeed, Metagross’s Steel-type gave it a significant advantage against Ice-type attacks!

Perhaps Caitlin could really win this one?

Yet, as Caitlin began daring to hope, she saw Swinub inhale sharply before unleashing an intensely frigid gust of wind. Frost immediately coated Metagross’s body, stiffening its movements in an instant.

Caitlin’s expression also stiffened in disbelief.

“Huh?”

How could this happen?!

Seeing her Metagross covered in frost, Caitlin even began doubting whether it really was Steel-type at all.

But no matter what she thought, the reality was that Mega Metagross’s movements had grown agonizingly slow.

Pryce effortlessly took control of the match's rhythm once again.

After a series of seemingly intense exchanges—whose outcome had been predetermined long ago—Mega Metagross crashed heavily to the ground, utterly defeated.

“Metagross is unable to battle. Swinub wins!”

“All three of Caitlin’s Pokémon have been defeated! Pryce is the victor!”

The stadium erupted in cheers, the audience now eagerly anticipating Pryce’s future matches in the Masters Eight.

…

With the battle concluded—

Pryce secured a spot in the Masters Eight, officially advancing.

Giovanni was ranked right behind Pryce. If nobody challenged Giovanni now, he could select an opponent from among the Masters Eight to challenge, and if he won, he’d join their ranks.

“What do you think—wanna challenge me?” August grinned at Giovanni. “Haven’t you always believed I’d be helpless without Legendary Pokémon?”

Though August was the reigning World Champion, he was still part of the Masters Eight, so Giovanni theoretically had the right to challenge him.

Giovanni snorted coldly at August’s words—he wouldn’t fall for such an obvious trap.

Seeing Giovanni wouldn’t take the bait, August looked openly disappointed.

Such a pity.

August then turned to Cyrus, who’d just defeated Raihan. “Cyrus, how about you challenge Giovanni? Beat him, and you’ll replace him to challenge someone from the Masters Eight.”

Cyrus’s expression was as unreadable as always. After briefly glancing at Giovanni, he shook his head.

Like Lysandre, Cyrus wasn’t particularly interested in August’s promise of sentence reductions. Setting aside whether he could beat Giovanni, even if he succeeded, he’d never win against Pryce anyway.

Seeing Cyrus refuse, August turned next toward Archie.

While he didn’t expect Archie to beat Giovanni, giving it a shot couldn’t hurt. Who knows? Maybe something unexpected would happen.

Noticing August looking his way, Archie quickly shook his head.

Challenge Giovanni? No way!

He’d already felt extremely satisfied beating Maxie. He wasn’t about to ruin his good mood by losing to Giovanni now.

“Such a shame.” August looked visibly disappointed.

Why is everyone being so polite?

Gary waited impatiently for August to ask him. Finally, unable to hold back any longer, he said, “August, aren’t you going to ask me?”

“Could you even beat Giovanni?”

“…Well, probably not.”

“If you can’t beat him, why would I ask you?” August replied frankly.

Gary: “…”

Even though what you said is true, can’t you at least put it a little more delicately?

Gary felt deeply wounded.

At this moment, Giovanni had already submitted his challenge application.

"So? Giovanni, who’d you pick?"

August leaned over Giovanni’s shoulder to take a peek.

—[Your application to challenge Lance has been approved. Please arrive promptly at Hammerlocke Stadium at 9:00 tomorrow morning!]

“Holy shit!”

August blurted out in astonishment.

Going straight for the Flying-type Elite Four—no, the Flying-type Champion now? Giovanni, are you serious?

With Diantha and Wallace clearly being the weaker choices, Giovanni deliberately picking Lance made August seriously wonder if there were some personal grudges involved.

Honestly, he really wanted to know what exactly went through Giovanni’s mind when he chose Lance.

But he didn’t even need to think about it—Giovanni would definitely never tell him.

Just moments after Giovanni’s application was accepted, August received a call from Lance.

Through the video call, August could clearly see Lance’s bewildered face.

After all, according to common sense, challengers always followed the rankings and picked the weakest among the Masters Eight.

No matter how you looked at it, Lance shouldn’t have been picked.

“What exactly is going on over there?” Lance asked.

August spread his hands innocently. "I have no idea either. You should ask Giovanni."

As he spoke, he turned the camera toward Giovanni, thoroughly clearing himself of responsibility.

Giovanni stood silently, hands stuffed into his pockets, not saying a word. His expression was three parts mockery, three parts provocation, three parts disdain, and one part revenge.

If August was most responsible for Team Rocket’s collapse and Giovanni’s current predicament…

Then Lance, who'd transferred August from the Rangers into the International Police, definitely came second.

His battle against Lance was simply part of his revenge.

Seeing Giovanni’s look, Lance: “…”

But now that things had reached this point, all he could do was seriously prepare. Fighting Giovanni? Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

…

Time passed quickly, and soon it was the next day—the day of the battle.

August arrived early at Hammerlocke Stadium, not to grab good seats, but to pick up his prize.

That’s right! Yesterday, he’d won the lottery from guessing the winner of Giovanni versus Lysandre!

There were only one hundred limited prizes, but nearly ten million people had participated in the guess. One-in-a-hundred-thousand odds…

Now that’s what you call being the chosen one! (Looks up proudly)

Following the signs, he quickly arrived at the prize redemption counter. It was still early, so there weren’t many people around. But the three people responsible for handing out the prizes…

"Why do I see you three everywhere…?" August stared speechlessly at the stiffened Team Rocket trio.

The trio: "……"

As if we want to keep running into you.

Weren’t they here precisely because a certain popcorn-stealing bully named Mew had forced them to change careers?

They even cautiously glanced around, nervously scanning for signs of Mew.

Seeing the trio’s jumpiness, August laughed: "Relax, Mew didn't come today. Just hurry up and give me my prize."

Hearing that, the trio instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

Quickly, they pulled a gift box out from under the counter and handed it to August.

"What’s inside?" August asked curiously.

He shook the box gently, and something inside rolled with a soft thud.

The trio were about to explain when August impatiently opened the box himself.

Inside, a Pokémon Egg lay quietly nestled within.

Only then did the trio explain, "The prize is an Egg of a Pokémon unique to the Galar region…"

August looked at the trio, then back at the Pokémon Egg in his hands. His expression was extremely complicated.

Who came up with this brilliant idea—to let Team Rocket hand out prizes?

Isn’t this basically throwing a Rattata directly into a rice warehouse?

But what amazed August even more was that these three hadn’t run off with the Egg. They were actually standing here, dutifully handing out prizes.

Had these guys actually turned over a new leaf?

August seriously doubted it.

Noticing August’s suspicious look, the trio hastily squeezed out awkward, stiff smiles.

The truth was, they’d considered running off with the Egg, but Meowth had snapped them awake with one sentence:

What’s their goal for catching Pokémon? To achieve success!

What’s their goal for achieving success? Promotion and a pay raise!

What’s the purpose of promotion and a pay raise? To gain Boss Giovanni’s recognition!

Now Boss Giovanni was here, right in Hammerlocke City, about to have an important match. If they ran off with Pokémon Eggs now instead of cheering him on, wouldn’t that be missing the entire point?

And that’s exactly why August saw the Rocket trio obediently handing out prizes here.

At this moment, the trio felt extremely fortunate about their decision.

They hadn’t known August had won the prize. If they’d actually taken August’s Egg and run away…

Given August’s incredibly petty personality, they’d definitely have suffered an extremely miserable fate.

Watching the trio’s faces shift erratically between laughter and tears, August felt a bit puzzled.

I haven’t done anything to them yet, have I?

Deciding to ignore the three weirdos, August took the Pokémon Egg and left under the trio’s anxious gaze, as though they were sending off a plague god.

When he finally arrived at the stands, everyone else had long since found seats.

Because it was Giovanni versus Lance, nearly everyone from the Kanto Branch had shown up this time.

Not only had Blue and Sabrina arrived, even Lillie, White, and Rosa were here…

"What prize did you get?" Sabrina asked curiously.

She’d participated in the lottery too—but hadn’t won.

She'd loudly claimed it was rigged, certain it was Rose’s conspiracy. She thought he might be using the prize giveaway as a pretext to target August.

"A Pokémon Egg," August said, showing it off to Sabrina.

Blue leaned over. "What Pokémon is it?"

August reached out to swat Mew’s paw away—This isn't a toy!—and said, "They only said it’s a Pokémon from the Galar region."

Honestly, as long as it didn’t hatch into an Impidimp, August would be satisfied.

Beside him, the swatted-away Mew puffed up its cheeks indignantly. Its eyes darted around cunningly, and then, when August wasn’t looking, quickly turned invisible…

---

This is a fan translation of 我，宝可梦称号大师！ by 落唯 白良. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!