He knows Pokémon better than me.

"Haha, that happened a long time ago~"

Seeing Ash talking to himself, Mastedt also temporarily put down the controller and turned his gaze towards him.

He stroked his mustache, a proud smile of reminiscence on his face. Back then, he was truly invincible!
"Back then, wasn't Mr. Aldak the champion in the Unova region?"

Ash spoke up, referring to the previous generation, or rather, the champions of the previous two generations. He only knew Alder.

"Adek? Come to think of it, he and the old man are quite alike, but he's much luckier than me~"

At this point, Ma Shide narrowed his eyes, a hint of sadness appearing on his face.

"Lucky?"

Xiao Zhi paused for a moment, then became interested.

Back then, the Pokémon League and such were not yet fully developed, and he was still very interested in the history of that time. He quickly sat back on the sofa and listened to Ma Shide recount the story.

Ma Shide chuckled dryly, then paused the game and began to speak:
"Actually, it's not a secret. More than 20 years ago, my partner Pokémon passed away, and my strength was greatly reduced, so at that time I had no intention of continuing to be the League Champion."

"died?"

Ash realized that this was no wonder they said they were similar; Alder's ace Volcarona from back then seemed to be similar as well.

Masde's expression darkened.

At that time, he planned to find a successor, train him to reach the level of a champion, and then officially retire.

As a result, the Galar League leadership demanded that he throw the next match, losing to a pre-selected "new champion" so that the latter could rightfully claim the title.

He was furious at the time, so he crushed his opponent in the next match, making the latter lose face.

Of course, he couldn't stay in the Galar League anymore either, and the idea of ​​him becoming the champion's successor was no longer relevant to him.
After the match, Mastedt announced his retirement on the spot, bought the Isle of Armor, and lived there ever since.

"Anyway, some unpleasant things happened around that time."

Masted didn't tell Xiao Zhiming, glossing over it, after all, it was a dark chapter in the Galar Alliance's history that wasn't exactly something to be proud of.

"The old man who succeeded me as the Galar Champion was indeed very strong, but it seems he only served for a few months before stepping down."

Masde squinted, a burly figure with brown skin and thick eyebrows appearing in his mind. Back when he was the Galar champion, the opponent had challenged him many times and was quite strong.

However, he was skilled in fighting-type attacks, while his opponent was skilled in steel-type attacks, making the fight too counter-effective; his opponent was no match for him at all.

"You know that person too, he's Pionni from the United States World Championships."

"Oh, it's Uncle Peoni!"

Xiao Zhi suddenly realized that they had a brief encounter at the World Championships.

Masted could somewhat understand Pione's rapid retirement; it was probably related to his brother, Loz, the current chairman of the Galar Alliance.

Of course, his match-fixing incident has nothing to do with Loz; that goes back to the previous league president.

"After that, there was a gap of about 10 years, during which the Galar region did elect several champions."

Mastedt frowned, his expression showing some displeasure.

Although he had never fought in person, just by watching the live broadcast on TV, he could tell that these newly selected "champions" were largely unqualified.

In other regions, he would probably be considered a beginner-level star.

The difference in strength is too great! Not to mention compared to regional champions from other places, even if they were to face the league's top players from other places, they would most likely lose.

"However, President Loz's marketing skills are indeed impressive, managing to stabilize the situation. But there is some exaggeration involved, and he can't compete with experts from other regions. So for the past ten years, the influence of the Galar Alliance has been limited to the local area."

Masdeh didn't like these marketing tactics, but he had to admit that the new chairman was a marketing and business genius.

"Until now, Dan Di has taken the throne, and his championship title is absolutely right, even exceeding expectations."

Although he disliked the current Galar Alliance, Mash's expression brightened up immediately when he mentioned Leon.

Upon hearing the mention of Leon, Ash immediately straightened his back and couldn't help but ask curiously:

"So, Master Ma, have you ever fought against Mr. Dan Di?"

He had always been curious about who was stronger between the two.

"Me, the old man, and Dan Di? Well, when he first came to the martial arts school, he was no match for me~"

Ma Shide tilted his head back, smiling as he stroked his beard:

"However, we haven't officially fought each other since then. To be honest, I don't know the full strength of the Pill Emperor now."

Hearing the ambiguous answer, Xiaozhi couldn't help but frown.

But soon, he abruptly turned his head:

"Wait a minute? Mr. Dan is also a student at this martial arts school?!"

Masde had an expression that seemed perfectly natural:
"Of course, he's one of our martial arts school's star students. By the way, let me see where Honey Leaf put this photo?"

He got up and rummaged through the cabinet next to him, then pulled out a photo frame—

Inside is a photo of Mastedt and Dante.

(picture)

Xiao Zhi curiously approached, and on the left in the photo was Master Ma in casual clothes.

The man on the right, Dan, looks very young, with short, bluish-purple hair, probably around ten years old. He's wearing a flat-brimmed hat and a classic yellow and black martial arts uniform.
He's more like Hop than Dan.

"Yes, they are indeed biological brothers."

Xiao Zhi sighed.

"Leon's trainer has extraordinary potential. While training at the gym, he was also challenging the Galar League and quickly won the League Tournament, thus becoming the new champion."

It seems they also reached some kind of agreement with Lóz.

After that, Dan left the martial arts school and focused on building his career on the Galar continent.

Although Mash did not like the Galar Alliance's excessive commercialization, he expressed understanding for Dante's choice.
Indeed, the Galar region has become better because of Loz.

If the previous chairman's business tactics were despicable and shameful, it made him feel angry and disgusted.
While he didn't like Loz's business tactics, there was nothing inherently wrong with them; it was simply that he personally disliked excessive marketing.

"It's a pity that Dan Di left early and did not participate in the Twin Fist Tower trial."

Speaking of this, Mastedt felt a little regretful.

However, neither the combo-style nor the one-hit-kill technique really suits Dan Tai's fighting style.
Therefore, the Pill Emperor's strength was indeed formidable, but he was not summoned back to force him to subdue the bear disciple and undergo the Twin Fist Tower trial. (End of Chapter)