Feeling the tremor from the ground, the referee twitched his lips, debating whether to just disqualify Seren on the spot.
'You don't understand human language or what? Don't you know how heavy Aggron is as a Trainer?'
Sato stared blankly at the smoke billowing on the field and at the excitement on Seren's face, then spoke in a low voice: "Zoroark… Nasty Plot."
"Zoro!"
Zoroark's voice came from behind Aggron. Seren jumped in shock and looked around, but Zoroark was nowhere to be seen.
"AGGRON, UPROAR!" Seren shouted, trying to force Zoroark out of hiding.
"Focus Blast."
Before Uproar could even begin, a basketball-sized white energy sphere suddenly appeared right against Aggron's relatively softer abdomen.
Duang~
Focus Blast struck Aggron's stomach. The impact wasn't loud, but its thick, hard armor instantly caved in by a large chunk.
Aggron's eyes widened in shock. Feeling the intense pain in its gut, it couldn't even muster a cry. It just collapsed to the ground, trembling slightly.
["Aggron has lost the ability to battle. Zoroark wins!"]
The referee's voice echoed through the speakers across the entire arena, yet not a single person applauded for a long while.
Aggron hadn't fainted, but it couldn't even stand. Sato's expression was blank, and Zoroark slowly emerged. The entire arena fell into silence.
Gulp…
Seren swallowed hard as sweat formed on his forehead. Trembling, he pulled out his Poké Ball and recalled Aggron.
At that moment, Seren only wanted to rush to the university's medical wing and get Aggron treated as quickly as possible.
Watching the panicked student leave, Sato said nothing more.
The referee had already warned them not to use moves that could damage the field, yet Seren still ordered Heavy Slam.
Was he trying to morally corner Zoroark into taking the hit head-on and win that way?
If that was the case, then Zoroark's Focus Blast wasn't unjustified at all.
But seeing how concerned Seren was about Aggron, Sato gave up on further "lecturing" him.
'I'll call Steven later. As his older cousin, he should take responsibility for educating his younger one.'
Only then did the students start whispering again… and it hit them all just how far the gap between them and Sato truly was.
When he got serious, he could one-shot opponents of the same level without fail!
Of course, some still argued that Aggron had a 4x weakness to Fighting-type moves and low Special Defense, which is why Focus Blast was so effective.
But… did that really matter?
Sato's strength had already been displayed in full; with just a single move!
["Next up: Mei from the Breeder Academy, Flying-type major, Class 1 of Year 4. Please come to the stage!"]
---
The Gymnasium's construction turned out to be better than expected. Even that one Heavy Slam hadn't done much structural damage.
And since all following matches were set to Elite level, Sato's public lecture could continue.
Throughout the entire morning, Sato didn't take a single break from battling. Drapion, Pikachu, and Zweilous all got solid training from it.
Hardly any students left during the lecture. Except for Seren's special case, Sato held back in most of the other matches.
Moreover, the advice he gave after each match left many students with more than a few moments of sudden clarity.
You could say: it was flawless from start to finish!
The second public lecture was a complete success.
That afternoon, a news article titled [A Public Lecture Worth Ten Million] shot to the top of the campus forums' trending board and was quickly picked up and reposted by media outlets outside the school.
Before long, most people in Kanto and Johto knew one thing.
Sato, who had recently become the Champion of the Ace Tournament, was now giving lectures at Celadon University.
Because he rarely accepted media interviews, Sato's appearance fees kept rising, and yet his popularity stayed sky-high.
At one point, even a large corporation publicly announced their intent to sign Sato to a multi-million endorsement deal!
But nothing came of it in the end.
All things considered, this was Sato's first time appearing on the "battlefield" again since the tournament. Even though it was just a guidance match, a battle's still a battle, right?
And that's how the clickbait title [Worth Ten Million] was born.
Sato could only smile wryly at the whole thing. All he wanted was to quietly recharge at Celadon University…
But his strength wouldn't let him!
---
Celadon University had tens of thousands of students, but only two thousand attended that public lecture at the Gymnasium.
So the whole "Sato being mobbed during class" phenomenon happened again. Every time he showed up on campus, there was always a group of students watching him with curiosity and admiration in their eyes.
After one, two, three… seven or eight times, not only had Sato gotten used to it, even Absol, normally so wary of humans, had become completely unfazed.
'All onlookers… are just little paper cutouts.' Absol followed behind Sato, thinking seriously.
After two weeks of auditing, Sato had gradually found a few professors whose teaching styles really matched his preferences and had slowly picked out the lectures he actually wanted to attend.
Naturally, that left him with some irregular free time during the day. So, Sato visited Celadon University's famously vast library, ready to dive into the "sea of knowledge" for a while.
"Am I seeing things…? Is that 'the' Sato, Teacher Sato, sleeping on the table?" one student whispered in disbelief, hand over mouth.
"I didn't believe it either. Teacher Sato actually came to the library to nap… cough, I mean, read… But look at that majestic Absol!"
"Whoa, for real! That Absol is so cool!"
Absol lay lazily under the table, letting the setting sunlight shine across its pure white fur. The light filtered through, shimmering like golden brilliance.
Faintly, Absol seemed to hear someone praising how cool it was…
It cracked one eye open and saw, blurry and indistinct, a crowd once again surrounding them.
Startled, Absol quickly jolted upright and glanced toward Sato, still slumped over the table.
His steady breathing proved he was sound asleep.
Absol relaxed, then stretched out comfortably again, choosing to ignore the people around it and return to basking in the sunlight.
The kind of warmth that reached its heart.
Time flowed like sand slipping through fingers. When the sunlight could no longer reach Sato, a sudden chill woke him from his sleep.
Sato opened his eyes… and the first thing he saw was a bunch of students silently watching him sleep.
'…?'
There were a lot of people, but they hadn't made a sound. Clearly, they were "respectful" enough not to disturb him.
And honestly, the atmosphere in the library was just… way too perfect for napping.
Sato licked his lips and, finding no drool, thought with relief, 'At least I didn't embarrass myself.'