The battle had nearly come to an end.
At this moment, the sound of speedboat sirens echoed across the sea as Officer Jenny approached with the maritime Investigators.
"Hand over our company's materials now. You have no other choice!" Steven shouted.
Matt gritted his teeth, suddenly took something out, and said, "Here… take it back!"
With that, he threw the object toward Steven.
"Quick, recall your Pokémon!" Tetsuya shouted. Steven did not dare hesitate in the slightest, and both of them recalled all their Pokémon.
Suddenly, the object Matt had thrown exploded, releasing billowing clouds of thick smoke. In an instant, visibility over the sea dropped to less than five meters.
Tetsuya and Steven had no choice but to ascend into the air to escape the area covered by the thick smoke. Only after rising more than ten meters into the sky did they finally leave the smoke behind. That smoke bomb had truly been powerful…
Team Aqua was clearly planning to use the thick smoke to escape. By now, the Investigators led by Officer Jenny had also arrived. Working together, everyone dispersed the smoke, but Team Aqua had already vanished without a trace. Fortunately, they had recalled their Pokémon in time.
---◓---
Now that Team Aqua had escaped, catching up with them again was already impossible. Although the Investigators continued searching, Steven and Tetsuya both returned to shore.
By the time they reached shore, night had completely fallen.
"We fought side by side today, but I still don't even know your name. How about we find somewhere to have dinner and become friends?" Steven invited him.
Tetsuya nodded. Even if he had not been isekai'd, it would still have been perfectly normal to know someone as famous as Steven in Hoenn.
Even the Stone Family's private restaurant was as luxurious as a palace. The lifestyle of high society was something commoners like us could never truly experience…
Steven's identity naturally needed little introduction, though he still told Tetsuya everything about himself. Tetsuya likewise told Steven all of his publicly known identities.
He had quite a few titles attached to his name, a pupil of Ecruteak Gym, a "student" of former-Elite Four Pryce, a bachelor's degree as a Pokémon Researcher, and an "Honorary Trainer" of Kanto, even though he had yet to participate in a single Pokémon League tournament…
"From what I saw, you're not much weaker than me, Tetsuya. I'd like us to hold a friendly match here in Hoenn and I could invite the major Media outlets to watch. It would also give you more exposure! How does that sound, huh? It would be very beneficial to your path as a Trainer," Steven said.
Tetsuya was quite tempted after hearing this. After all, even if he suffered a crushing defeat, he would still be someone personally invited by "Steven Stone" and would undoubtedly attract a great deal of attention.
His future path as a Pokémon Trainer would certainly become much smoother. However, he did not want this much exposure in the Media just yet. Life would become troublesome if paparazzi started following him…
"I'll accept the friendly match, but let's leave the Media out of it. I don't have that much time either," Tetsuya said. An opportunity like this was really hard to come by.
Although the current Steven had not yet reached Champion level, he was only a year or two away, and once he did, he would reach a level where he stood unrivaled. Even Hoenn's veteran aces would wholeheartedly acknowledge him.
"Ok. Then we'll do it your way. Meet me at the entrance of Devon Corporation at eight in the morning the day after tomorrow. A six-on-six. Oh! By the way, I specialize in Steel-type, so your Poison-type Pokémon will be at quite a disadvantage…"
"…I'll just do my best." Tetsuya nodded.
---◓---
After the two parted ways, Tetsuya went to the Pokémon Center and handed all his Pokémon over to Nurse Joy for treatment and recovery.
As for his arrangement with Norman on Dewford Island, arriving a day late would not matter at all. They had only discovered traces of Team Magma so far, and whether they would actually make a move was still unknown.
Moreover, traveling to Dewford Island by ship would take a full day and night, while borrowing Golurk's shoulder would get him there in half a day. All things considered, this would not waste much time at all.
After returning to his room, Tetsuya began considering his upcoming battle with Steven the day after tomorrow. He did not hold much hope of winning, but this battle would be a step on the path for growth. Ideally, every one of his Pokémon would be there to experience a battle environment like this firsthand.
That meant he still had to choose the six Pokémon that would battle. Steven specialized in Steel-type Pokémon, and aside from Golurk having a favorable type matchup, none of his other Pokémon had a type advantage, Mamoswine's situation was also obvious.
There was no doubt that this would be a difficult battle…
After careful consideration, Tetsuya ultimately decided on the six Pokémon he would use against Steven: Ditto, Mamoswine, Golurk, Weezing, Drapion, and Zangoose.
That left only Ariados. Ariados was a Pokémon specialized in field control, and its poison had no effect on Steel-type Pokémon, so he could only let Ariados rest.
Next came the matter of deciding the battle order.
Ditto would lead, mainly to test the waters, since Ditto could adapt to the situation as needed.
Mamoswine would go out next, mainly because Mamoswine could be affected by the battlefield, so it had to be sent out early.
Of course, the most important thing was still catching Steven off guard.
Steven knew about his Poison-type Pokémon and would undoubtedly have prepared countermeasures against them. If his second Pokémon was still not a Poison-type, Steven would inevitably begin to waver. If that could disrupt his rhythm, all the better.
Drapion and Zangoose would follow. The main purpose was for Drapion to set up Toxic Spikes so that Zangoose could become poisoned and make use of its Toxic Boost Ability.
Weezing would be sent out fifth. At that point, he could catch Steven off guard by mixing the acidic gas from Belch into Poison Gas to poison Steel-type Pokémon. This was also something Steven would never expect!
Finally, he could only rely on Golurk to finish the battle. Golurk's strength was second only to Mamoswine's, and it had a type advantage against Steel-type Pokémon. Its body also did not need to touch the ground, so it would not be affected by the Toxic Spikes field.
It was very possible that Golurk would face Steven's Metagross…
Tetsuya naturally hoped that Golurk could encounter the strongest opponent possible. After all, ever since Golurk's seventh layer of energy erupted last time, it had once again been slowly extending. Even after training under Pryce for quite some time, there had not been much improvement.
Its current progress rate was simply far too slow compared with Mamoswine's. Hopefully, battling more powerful Pokémon would lead to something. Tetsuya himself also longed to reach an even higher level.
The next day, Tetsuya carried out his usual training in the outskirts, once again working on the coordination of their moves. Naturally, he also informed his Pokémon of tomorrow's battle order and his plan.
Not a single part could go wrong!
The moment he lost control of his own rhythm, defeat would come like an avalanche…