The chat feed kept scrolling with lively chatter:
"The person asking why he's so happy is clearly new to the scene. Fetter was just chasing exposure. The Grand Celebration is being streamed across the entire galaxy. With Pokémon's current reach, even a sliver of that spotlight generates absurd visibility."
"Wait, didn't all the internet stars trying to boost their clout get wiped out during the qualifiers? How did this guy slip through the cracks?"
"Just check the brackets for his week. Pure luck. It was a race to the bottom in that bracket. If the deputy station master hadn't taken time off to train, she would have taken first place that week."
"Wait, who is this 'deputy station master'?"
"Asta, obviously! The runner-up queen of the Herta Space Station, haha!"
"Using Pokémon purely as a stepping stone to build personal clout leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I won't support him."
"That's a bit narrow-minded. His brand is tied directly to Pokémon now, which still ends up promoting the game. Besides, a few people tuning out won't change anything. The commercial wheels are already turning."
"Honestly, I'm just envious. When the wind is blowing hard enough, even a pig can fly, and we're looking right at him."
"It all comes down to timing. Forget the top eight finalists—even the notable performers from the qualifiers are already launching livestreams and landing endorsements. As long as they keep their heads on straight, they're set for life."
While many viewers griped about Angel Fetter's self-serving approach, they understood that any publicity brought traffic, and the sponsors would pay out regardless. Outside of playful venting and a little envy, the audience quickly moved on.
On the main stage, the third quarterfinal match was already underway.
Argenti fielded Roselia and Milotic against Asta's duo of Latias and Latios.
After enduring Welt's rigorous coaching, Asta's combat execution had sharpened dramatically, particularly when piloting Latias and Latios. Sparring against Arlan back on the space station, she had consistently come out on top.
However, that mastery applied strictly to the twin dragons. Such focused specialization worked well enough in a Contest setting, but in the deeper, multi-layered battles of a Masters Tournament, a one-trick roster would quickly run into counters.
Argenti was nothing like Rappa. He had studied Pokémon mechanics extensively.
Beyond his knightly vow to approach every challenge with utmost devotion, there was a personal reason: across the cold, vast cosmos, before crossing paths with the Astral Express crew, only Pokémon had truly mirrored his ideals and spirit.
Having wandered alone for so long, he spent nearly all of his spare hours diving into the Pokémon world alongside his partners. His command of their moves and battlefield timing far surpassed that of casual players.
More impressively, he had seamlessly woven his personal combat habits into his Pokémon's behavior.
His partners had picked up his natural flair for graceful, dramatic postures. He rarely needed to issue elaborate choreographic orders; a simple command was enough for Roselia and Milotic to shape the technique into something visually striking on their own.
That natural flair created a massive tactical advantage.
In a standard tournament match, a Trainer simply looked for the best type advantage or counter-move. But on the Contest stage, a coordinator had to process an extra step: how to answer the opponent's strike in a way that looked dazzling and controlled the stage.
That brief pause to adjust the choreography could cause a split-second hesitation in the Trainer's orders. Against an experienced battler, that tiny gap was an open invitation to seize the tempo.
Switching to a pure, aggressive style had its own pitfalls. Guinaifen had demonstrated this during the earlier stages: while brute-force attacks still yielded basic points, the score fell far short of coordinated stage combos.
If a Trainer relied solely on blunt force, their opponent could focus entirely on defensive positioning, racking up Charm points with ease while the clock ran down. Even securing a late knockout might not bridge the resulting score deficit.
Argenti and his Pokémon, by contrast, had integrated poise and visual elegance into their very muscle memory. They never had to second-guess their presentation. When the clash intensified, Argenti naturally held the upper hand without sacrificing scoring momentum.
Furthermore, Latias and Latios relied heavily on Dragon and Psychic moves. These intangible, transparent energy currents were inherently difficult to shape into high-impact visuals. Crafting a spectacle out of invisible kinetic force placed an immense burden on the Trainer's creativity.
Combined with the dragons' sleek, non-humanoid forms, which offered fewer intuitive cues for traditional stage postures, Asta was forced to invent her routines from scratch.
The duel raged for the full five minutes.
When the timer expired, Argenti claimed a clean victory.
Though slightly disappointed by the outcome, Asta accepted the result without reservations.
Her opponent had operated with effortless poise from start to finish, leaving her wondering if he had even needed to tap into his full reserves. She, on the other hand, had spent every trick in her arsenal just to survive to the final bell, dodging several razor-thin knockouts along the way.
Stepping off the stage, she felt genuine mental exhaustion set in. Part of it was the sheer pressure of the moment, but the gap in raw battlefield execution was undeniable.
Watching Argenti wrap up his match, the remaining competitors grew noticeably more cautious.
During the regional qualifiers, Argenti's synergy with his partners had not looked this seamless. Now that his true comfort level was on display, everyone could see the distinct advantage his intuitive style gave him on the Contest stage.
March 7th felt the pressure keenly.
During their training sessions aboard the Express, her baseline combat mechanics were roughly on par with Asta's. On a performance stage, the bright, elemental pairing of Articuno and Beautifly naturally generated flashy points more easily than abstract Psychic techniques, giving her a slight edge over Asta.
Yet that minor advantage would hardly be enough to topple Argenti.
No, focus! March shook her head, snapping herself out of it.
Worrying about Argenti was putting the cart before the horse. Her immediate semifinal opponent was Guinaifen, one of the reigning Elite Four.
The fourth quarterfinal followed shortly after, pitting Sushang of the Xianzhou Luofu against Pasha of Penacony.
Sushang secured a decisive victory.
The result surprised no one. Based on their qualifier runs and exhibition scores, Sushang was clearly the more polished combatant.
More importantly, Sushang displayed the exact same instinctive synergy that made Argenti so dangerous: her Pokémon had absorbed the fluid discipline of Xianzhou swordplay into their natural reflexes, ensuring that every strike, parry, and turn carried an effortless martial grace.
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