Pokémon: My Titles Know No Limits! [580]

“How about it? Want my help?” Malva whispered mysteriously next to August’s ear. “My friends in the media are eager and ready—leave it to them, and Rose will learn firsthand the price of offending The Great August!”

August: “......”

She had to be a journalism major—constantly craving some explosive news to blow up the internet.

How many times have I said it? I'm not abusing my power to settle a private grudge.

Besides, we’re supposed to be the good guys here. Rose is the villain!

“Shoo, shoo, get lost…” August waved dismissively, shooing Malva away. “We’re all righteous allies here. You villains have wandered into the wrong meeting.”

“Righteous allies?” Malva turned and scanned the room behind her.

Giovanni, Pryce, Lysandre, Cyrus…

But when she caught sight of Maxie and Archie awkwardly forcing smiles, clearly trying to appear as “reformed good guys,” she finally couldn’t hold back.

“Pfft—cough, please continue. I’m off to find Blue and Sabrina.” Malva turned quickly, striding out the door.

As soon as the door shut behind her, a muffled burst of laughter escaped from the other side.

August’s face darkened as he pulled his gaze back. “Anyway, let’s continue… For this World Championship, our sole goal is to become Champion!”

“Oh? Becoming Champion…does that include beating you as well?” Giovanni asked smoothly. “Just don’t become angry from embarrassment when you lose.”

August felt an inexplicable sense of irritation from Giovanni’s words. “What do you mean, angry from embarrassment? Am I that kind of person?”

Giovanni: “You’re not?”

The room immediately fell dead silent.

Everyone stared at Giovanni in awe-filled admiration.

Such courage!

Though it was a widely known fact, actually saying it aloud to August’s face… Giovanni truly lived up to his legendary reputation!

“It’s over now…” Gary quietly muttered to Gold beside him.

Due to the sudden silence, Gary’s originally hushed whisper sounded extraordinarily clear.

Realizing what he’d just done, Gary’s body instantly stiffened.

When August’s gaze landed directly on him, Gary desperately tried to sit upright and appear perfectly innocent—as if nothing had happened.

But even Gary himself knew it was useless self-deception.

Especially with a certain person eager to twist the knife even further.

Gold immediately raised his hand. “Boss, I’d like to report! Gary-senpai just mocked you.”

Gary: “…!!!”

Gold, you traitor!

Gold also felt helpless. He wasn’t intentionally selling Gary out—he was just trying to save himself! Making snide comments right under August’s nose—did Gary really think August was deaf?

August nodded approvingly toward Gold, then addressed Gary, who was now glaring murderously at Gold. “Meet me in the training room tonight. I want to see exactly what you've learned from Giovanni.”

Instantly, Gary wilted completely.

Turning away from Gary, August clarified seriously, “Let me say this one more time: I never retaliate against people who defeat me…”

Everyone in the room nodded emphatically: Yes, yes, of course you don’t.

August glanced around.

Among all these people, only Silver seemed genuinely willing to believe him.

Morality really has declined! August sighed inwardly.

After August finally wrapped up the pre-Championship meeting, Blue walked in.

“August, the World Championship opening ceremony is about to start. Should we get going now?”

The World Championship opening ceremony was held at Hammerlocke Stadium.

Unlike the previous tournament organized by Scott, this Championship’s opening ceremony took place immediately before the start of the Ultra Ball tier official matches.

Clearly, in Chairman Rose’s eyes, any matches below Ultra Ball tier were mere preliminaries.

Upon entering Hammerlocke Stadium, August noticed the stands were already more than half-full.

Most eye-catching was the large section of seats occupied entirely by a sea of black.

“Is that…Team Yell?” Blue pointed curiously.

Primarily because the banner August had personally made for them was simply too conspicuous, too impossible to mistake.

After closely scrutinizing for a moment, Sabrina confirmed, “Yes. I can see Marnie…”

She pointed towards the center of Team Yell’s seating area.

“Marnie’s competing too?” Blue asked, surprised.

If she remembered correctly, the last time they met, Marnie had been decent—not weak but certainly not extremely strong. Who knew that after only a short while, she would appear here, participating in the World Championship?

Zinnia eagerly joined in, taking out her binoculars and peering toward the stands, before suddenly looking puzzled.

“Marnie doesn’t seem very happy…”

“If your name was written on a banner like that, you’d probably look exactly the same,” Sabrina remarked dryly, shooting a pointed glance at August—the culprit behind the banner.

August, meanwhile, was occupied teaching Lillie how to properly instruct Vulpix to carefully freeze juice into popsicles.

After wasting several bottles of juice, Lillie finally succeeded once.

Before she could celebrate, Mew swooped down out of nowhere, swallowed the popsicle—and Lillie’s entire hand—in one gulp.

When Mew finally released Lillie’s hand, only the wooden popsicle stick remained.

Mew proudly puffed out her chest.

Did you see that? Swallowed it whole—I’m awesome, right?

Looking at Lillie’s petrified expression, August “sternly” knocked on Mew’s forehead.

Stop showing off such completely useless skills!

At that exact moment, lively music suddenly played throughout the stadium, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.

Under the expectant gazes of thousands, Galar’s Gym Leaders entered the arena one after another.

Thanks to Rose’s aggressive commercialization, each of Galar’s Gym Leaders had become widely known celebrities, and every appearance triggered waves of cheering from the crowd.

Especially when the exceptionally popular Nessa appeared—the entire stadium practically exploded in excitement.

“As expected of a star whose fanbase trails only Iono and Diantha,” Malva commented casually.

Hearing this, Iono blushed furiously, visibly embarrassed.

“Hm?” August asked curiously, “What about Elesa?”

Last time he’d met Elesa, she’d confidently declared herself the third most popular celebrity, chasing hard after Iono.

“Due to the hype surrounding the Galar Championship, Elesa just recently dropped behind Nessa,” Malva replied.

Well, it seemed Elesa’s dream of overtaking Iono had drifted further out of reach again.

Before August had time to feel sorry for Elesa, another eruption of cheers filled the stadium—

Leon had arrived!

As Galar’s undisputed superstar, Leon’s appearance instantly lit up Hammerlocke Stadium with countless camera flashes.

Every time Leon waved toward a certain section, deafening screams and flashes erupted there in response.

“Now that's what you call a superstar,” August remarked in admiration.

“August, if you agreed to appear on TV and attend events, you'd easily surpass Leon in popularity!” Malva eagerly prodded.

August’s popularity wasn’t any lower than Leon’s, yet he practically never participated in public events. Fans could only occasionally catch glimpses of him on Iono’s livestream.

Malva saw August as a massive, untapped goldmine. If she could persuade him onto her own show, becoming the world’s number one host would just be a matter of time!

August glanced sideways at Malva and immediately guessed her intentions. Feigning hesitation, he replied, “Would that really be okay? Last time I went on your show, you ended up in prison. If I appeared again…”

“Forget I ever said anything,” Malva hastily interrupted, afraid to let him continue.

I’ve learned my lesson, alright?

After Leon’s grand finale entrance, the stadium’s spectators collectively held their breath in anticipation.

Under everyone’s gaze, a Corviknight Taxi descended gracefully from the sky.

Chairman Rose, dressed impeccably in a grey suit, stepped out of the taxi, giving a polite wave to both the driver and Corviknight.

Turning to face the cheering crowd, Rose opened his arms wide and announced loudly:

“I hereby declare—the Galar World Championship officially open!”

“Woooaahhhh—!”

The stadium erupted in thunderous applause and cheers.

August didn’t join in. Instead, his eyes focused sharply on Rose and Leon standing on the stage.

When Rose spoke, August noticed a fleeting, unnatural flicker cross Leon’s face.

“Interesting… It seems Leon might have noticed something,” August murmured thoughtfully.

“Hm? Leon noticed what exactly?” Zinnia asked curiously.

“Oh, nothing important. Just watch—the next event is an exhibition match between Leon and Raihan.”

“Ohhh!” Zinnia accepted that instantly without further question.

“Too easy to fool…” Sabrina muttered under her breath.

Having dispatched Zinnia’s curiosity, August was just settling back into watching the match when he felt someone tugging insistently at his sleeve.

“Mew!”

Mew urgently tugged his sleeve, pointing excitedly toward the distant stands.

Following Mew’s gesture, August spotted Team Rocket’s trio—Jessie, James, and Meowth—fully disguised as vendors, busily peddling buckets of popcorn to the crowd.

August instantly broke into a grin.

These three never change, huh? Back to their old hustle once again!

“Hey Giovanni, your former subordinates are selling popcorn,” August called over teasingly.

Giovanni, who’d been observing Leon and Raihan’s match with a researcher’s intense focus, instinctively glanced over at August’s words.

He immediately spotted Jessie, James, and Meowth joyfully counting their profits after a recent popcorn sale.

August could have sworn Giovanni’s face turned darker than a Torkoal’s shell.

“One popcorn bucket, please!” August waved cheerfully at the trio.

“Coming right up, Meow~!” Meowth automatically responded, turning to see who’d called—only to meet eyes with August and Giovanni’s darkening expression.

Meowth froze instantly.

“Meowth, hurry up with the change!” Jessie shouted, annoyed when Meowth failed to respond. Turning around, she too froze in horror at seeing Giovanni’s stormy glare.

Confused by Jessie’s sudden silence, James turned around as well, only to leap backward in fright upon seeing their former boss.

“B-Boss Giovanni?!”

The trio’s spirits plummeted straight to rock bottom.

Question: What do you do when Boss Giovanni catches you selling popcorn?

Will we get fired from Team Rocket…?

Yet, none of them noticed that while they stood frozen in terror, Mew had quietly floated behind them to their popcorn cart, filled a giant bucket of popcorn for herself, and carried it back to the stands.

She placed the bucket down, opened her mouth wide, took careful aim—and dove headfirst into the popcorn.

The Team Rocket trio’s appearance was just a minor sideshow in the opening ceremony.

After all, according to Giovanni, he was merely a common prisoner now, no longer the boss of Team Rocket.

Of course, Giovanni himself didn’t believe that nonsense, nor did he expect August to. Instead, Giovanni’s real worry was that those three idiots might actually believe it—and run off with the organization’s funds intended for rebuilding Team Rocket.

It wasn’t baseless paranoia. Those three were really that stupid.

“Giovanni, you look troubled. Missing your days as Team Rocket’s boss?” August asked cheerfully, eyes twinkling with amusement.

Giovanni snapped out of his reverie, gave a cold grunt, and ignored August completely.

Unbothered, August returned his attention to the ongoing exhibition match between Leon and Raihan.

With the official start of the World Championship, many familiar faces arrived in the Galar region.

Some, like Norman, arrived with his son Ruby—while treating August suspiciously, as if watching out for a thief.

Others, like Diantha, entered gracefully under countless camera flashes, turning even simple strolls into impromptu press conferences.

Steven Stone, on the other hand, had completely given up after handing over his Champion duties to Wallace, openly deciding not to register for this year’s World Championship.

“It seems competition for the Masters Eight will be especially fierce this year…” Gold rubbed his chin thoughtfully before turning to Gary. “You better work extra hard, Gary-senpai!”

“Why do I feel like you’re mocking me?”

Though Gold’s words sounded encouraging, to Gary’s ears they felt more like sarcastic teasing—reminding him vividly of Gold’s earlier betrayal.

“Remove the ‘feel’ part. He’s definitely mocking you,” August chimed in helpfully from the side.

“You little…” Gary immediately reached to grab Gold, intending to drag him to a training arena for a 3v3 match to demonstrate the techniques he’d recently learned from Giovanni.

However, Gold slipped away faster than an Aipom, ducking behind August in the blink of an eye.

“Come out here!” Gary demanded, hesitating only because August was now in the way.

“Gary-senpai, you’ve gotta trust me!”

“You guys act like children…” August sighed helplessly.

Everyone envied his position as the Chief of the Kanto Branch, but only August knew how exhausting it was dealing with such unreliable subordinates.

But what could he do? He’d personally chosen each of them, so he could only swallow his frustration and accept it.

Grabbing Eevee into his arms, August thoroughly ruffled her freshly groomed fur in petty revenge. By the time Eevee stared back with an aggrieved expression, August’s mood had greatly improved.

Under Eevee’s reproachful gaze, August turned to Silver. “Who has matches today?”

Yesterday, all members from the Kanto Branch had submitted match requests. By now, their opponents should have been confirmed.

Staying here was growing boring, so August decided to watch some matches instead.

“We have Archie against Wallace, and Giovanni against Larry,” Silver promptly reported.

“Huh?”

Archie versus Wallace, two longtime rivals from Hoenn, was already an interesting enough pairing.

But Giovanni against Larry?

Instantly, August’s interest was fully piqued.

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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!