Pokémon: My Titles Know No Limits! [353]

But come on—this was August.

Did anyone really think Sabrina could get the better of him that easily?

With a calm smile, August countered, “Where’s your proof?”

Sabrina blinked, caught off guard.

Seeing her hesitate, August pressed the advantage. He spread his hands in mock regret. “See? No evidence. What are you going to do, just say it’s true and expect people to believe you?”

Her momentum faltered visibly.

Then August pulled out his phone, screen lit to show that it was recording.

“I recorded everything you just said—including the part where you threatened your superior.” He leaned in, smiling at her ear. “Sabrina, you wouldn’t want that getting out, would you?”

Sabrina: “!”

Reversal achieved.

August gave a soft, victorious chuckle.

Heh. You want to play games with me? Sabrina, you’re still too green for that.

Feeling his breath tickle her ear, Sabrina flushed a deep red.

Nearby, Gardevoir had completely forgotten her book, staring silently at the two of them with sharp, narrowed eyes.

And then—

Someone burst into the room.

Zinnia crashed in like a hurricane. “August! You’ll never believe what I—”

She stopped dead in her tracks, eyes going wide as she took in the scene before her.

Was… was this something she was supposed to be seeing?

Throwing one hand over her eyes and waving the other wildly in front of her, Zinnia panicked. “I SAW NOTHING! Please don’t kill me! I SWEAR I SAW NOTHING!”

Sabrina: “……”

August: “It’s not what it looks like, just calm down—”

But Zinnia wasn’t listening. She kept shouting in a panic.

...

Eventually, August managed to calm her down—before her yelling attracted even more attention.

How, exactly, he calmed her down was another story.

“Mm-mmf…!”

Tied down by psychic energy, Zinnia squirmed on the couch like a helpless Caterpie, trying and failing to wriggle free.

“We can’t keep her bound like this forever…” August muttered.

Sabrina, thoughtfully poking her chin with one finger, offered a suggestion. “Should we just toss her into the ocean while no one’s watching?”

Zinnia’s body froze. She stared at Sabrina in horror.

Sabrina, weren’t we supposed to be besties?

“That’s a bit much…” August replied.

Zinnia felt a warm surge of gratitude—only to hear what came next:

“If you ask me, it’d be more convenient to just feed her to Gengar… or drop her off in Hisui?”

Excuse me?!

Zinnia screamed internally. Too much? You just think it’s too much trouble!

Then, unexpectedly, the psychic bindings vanished.

She blinked, confused—they were letting her go?

“You won’t tell anyone… right?” August asked sweetly.

Zinnia stiffened. “N-not a word! I swear!”

And with that, she bolted back to her room like her tail was on fire.

Watching her retreat, Sabrina asked, “Weren’t we a little too harsh?”

“Nah. With how her brain works, she’ll probably forget the whole thing after a nap.”

Sabrina thought about Zinnia’s usual behavior and nodded. “True.”

Someone like Zinnia wouldn’t hold a grudge.

Then August turned to her. “Hey, do you know Caitlin?”

Caitlin—the Unova Elite Four Psychic-type member, and former 8th-ranked Master. She was August’s next opponent in the Master Promotion Tournament.

Sabrina raised a brow. “Why would I?”

“Well, you’re both psychics. I figured there’d be some kind of psychic-only group chat or something. Y’know, where you trade tips about not accidentally blowing up buildings.”

Sabrina gave him a deadpan look. “That’s a pretty stereotypical view of psychics.”

“I mean… you’ve got a power. Wouldn’t you want to learn how to manage it?”

Sabrina sighed. “People like Caitlin and I are exceptions. Most psychics barely bend a spoon or use telepathy to talk to their Pokémon.”

“As for a group chat… it’s like how you have aura powers but you’re not in some secret Aura Guardian Discord. You don’t even have a Lucario.”

…She had a point.

Sorry, world. I’ve disgraced the title of Aura Guardian by not having a Lucario.

Still, she had a point. Maybe he really should catch one.

A Lucario-less Aura Guardian… something about that did feel wrong.

As for Caitlin—oh well.

He had just asked out of idle curiosity. Even though he knew she was close with Cynthia, he hadn’t wanted to bother Cynthia while she was busy fending off a horde of media hailing her as the Quartz League’s top contender.

Just as he snagged Eevee—who was currently chasing Togepi around the room—August was about to turn on the TV and see what was on when—

Thump thump thump…

Blue came downstairs, rubbing her eyes. “What happened? Zinnia just told me you and Sabrina tried to kill her.”

August looked up—and behind Blue, he saw Zinnia, hands on hips and acting like she was holding the moral high ground.

“……”

Should’ve thrown her in Hisui when I had the chance.

He shot her a glare, then smiled at Blue. “Nah, just messing around.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Blue nodded and went back to her room with a yawn, clearly buying it.

Zinnia: “???”

Blue, you trust him that easily?!

Watching Blue disappear, Zinnia flinched.

Then tried to sneak away.

But—

“Zinnia,” came August’s low, ominous voice, “I heard you told Blue I was going to kill you?”

“H-hahaha…”

Zinnia turned back slowly, her laugh painfully forced. “I must’ve been mistaken. You’re way too nice to do something like that!”

“No, no. You got it right.”

“BLUE! SAVE ME! AUGUST IS ACTUALLY GONNA KILL ME THIS TIME!”

“Heh… scream all you want—no one can hear you!” August turned toward Eevee. “Eevee, hold her down!”

“Bui!”

Watching the chaos unfold, Sabrina sighed, So childish…

Then quietly amplified her Psychic field to soundproof the entire room.

Gardevoir, satisfied the noise was contained, returned to her book.

...

The wait for the Master Promotion Tournament was taking longer than August expected.

From what he’d heard, the organizers wanted to capitalize on the buzz and were pushing a media campaign before the matches began. They also needed to coordinate Caitlin’s schedule and plan the global livestream.

So all August could do… was wait.

Thankfully, some of the other division members were still competing, so at least there were matches to watch.

Sitting in the stands with Lance, August munched on popcorn while waiting for Gary’s match to begin.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” August said.

“Why not? Gary’s a Kanto Trainer. I’m just supporting my own.”

“But you didn’t show up for my match.”

“That one was a guaranteed win. What’s there to watch?”

“…Fair point.”

Just then, the announcement came.

“Now entering the field—Gary Oak and Bea!”

Gary appeared, striking his signature pose the moment he stepped into view.

Only this time—

[Wait a sec—that’s August’s pose?!]

[Is Gary… a fanboy?]

Gary froze.

“???”

That’s MY signature pose! When did it become August’s?!

He looked toward August in disbelief—only to see him grinning and shoveling popcorn into his mouth.

This bastard…!

As Gary ground his teeth in frustration, a new presence entered the arena—a dark-skinned girl in a karate gi, her eyes sharp and focused.

[Now entering the arena—Bea, Fighting-type Gym Leader from Galar’s Stow-on-Side!]

Though she only gave a modest wave, her stoic entrance earned loud cheers from the crowd.

“Who do you think’ll win?” Lance asked.

“Gary,” August said without hesitation.

“Oh? I heard Bea’s no pushover. That confident in him?”

“Sure. After all, Gary’s kind of Giovanni’s… half-disciple.”

“…Huh?”

Lance leaned in, intrigued.

August explained how Gary had once gotten ahold of Giovanni’s book The Secret of Earth, the collector’s edition, and had studied it religiously.

“He picked up a lot from that. So yeah—he’s practically Giovanni’s apprentice.”

Thinking back to Gary’s performance in the Quartz League, Lance realized his tactics with Ground-types did bear a faint resemblance to Giovanni’s.

“I’m actually looking forward to this now,” he said.

August smiled, reaching into his popcorn bucket—

And stopped.

Something felt… off.

Why is it… soft?

He looked down.

Mew was curled up inside the popcorn, half-buried in kernels, stuffing her face with utter bliss.

“Mew~?”

Noticing him, Mew blinked and gave him her cutest innocent face.

“…That’s not what the popcorn’s for.”

He grabbed her by the scruff and hoisted her out.

Lance chuckled. “Let her have it.”

Amused, he waved to the vendors. “Another bucket over here.”

“Thank you for your purchase, meowth~ That’ll be 1,000 yen!”

Lance paid, and August reached out to take the popcorn—then paused.

That voice was way too familiar.

He glanced around—but the vendor trio had already vanished.

Still, there was no mistaking it.

There was only one Meowth in the world who could speak human language.

What the hell are Team Rocket doing here?

And according to the Quantum Entanglement Law of Rocket Shenanigans, wherever they go…

Ash can’t be far behind.

As August pondered, deep in one of the arena’s side corridors, the Rocket trio were plastered to the wall, holding their breath.

Only after a long pause did they exhale in relief.

Jessie shuddered. “Why was he here?”

“And Lance too…” James added.

“Scary as hell, nya~”

They just wanted to earn some cash—how did they end up crossing paths with that devil?!

“Should we just… run?” James asked.

It wasn’t cowardice—August really was terrifying.

Even Giovanni had packed up and disappeared.

To August, they were nothing more than finger-flick fodder.

“Idiot,” Jessie said, whacking him. “We haven’t sold all our stock yet. If we run now, it’s a total loss.”

“…Then what?”

“We’ll move somewhere else. What’re the odds we run into him again?”

Her voice wavered slightly at the end.

James and Meowth shared a glance—clearly not thrilled.

But Jessie had decided.

And running now really would mean losing money.

So they had no choice but to keep working, praying August wouldn’t notice them again.

...

August had no idea he’d just scared off the Rocket trio. His attention was back on the field.

Gary and Bea had sent out their Pokémon.

Gary led with his Nidoking—now a powerful, battle-hardened partner after months of training and sparring alongside August.

Just standing there, Nidoking exuded an imposing, almost suffocating pressure.

But Bea wasn’t fazed.

Raised with strict discipline, Bea took in Nidoking’s presence without panic—only mild seriousness.

Before her stood a Hitmontop.

Its twitchy, rhythmic movements were hypnotic—strange, unpredictable.

A clash of archetypes: heavy, brutal power vs agile, calculated chaos.

Gary, having bled and sweat through countless battles with August, had distilled his experiences into what he called The Battle Code.

Rule One: Strike first.

If you waited, August would never give you a second chance.

So the moment Rotom signaled the start of battle, Gary didn’t hesitate.

“Nidoking—[Earthquake]!”

Nidoking roared and slammed its foot into the ground.

Shockwaves rippled outward.

Even Bea blinked in surprise at the bold opening.

But she wasn’t raised in a greenhouse.

Training with her Pokémon had honed her body and mind alike.

“Hitmontop—jump!”

Hitmontop pushed off with both legs, leaping high into the air, narrowly dodging the trembling earth.

Gary’s eyes gleamed.

Battle Code, Rule Two: Always control the pace.

---

T/N: august fanboy tsk

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!