Who needs a girlfriend when you have Pokémon?

As mentioned before, Manchong also decided to embark on a journey to challenge the gyms, and Rowe naturally offered his blessings. The two parted ways here, agreeing to wait until Manchong had collected enough badges before returning to Rowe for a proper and serious competition.

Meanwhile, Luo Wei and Lillie naturally headed north towards Autumn Leaf Town...

Chapter 130 There's no problem that petting a cat can't solve!

Having completed the Super Tournament in Verdant Town and obtained the Super Ribbon, Rowe's next step is to head to the location of the fourth gym...

The fourth gym is located in Lava Town, a hot spring town at the foot of Mt. Chimney. You can reach Lava Town by taking the cable car up Route 112 and then going down the scrambled mountain path.

"Ugh, that sounds so complicated..."

Lillie watched as Rowe pulled out the Navigator and brought up the map. She couldn't help but sigh at the route planned on the map, to which Rowe simply smiled and replied.

"Indeed, because of the unique location of Fuyan Town, which is surrounded by mountains on three sides with only one road leading to Chimney Mountain... it is quite remote. Fortunately, it has a specialty hot spring, so it is somewhat famous..."

The situation in this town is quite inspiring. Mt. Chimney is an active volcano, but it is currently dormant. Naturally, a large number of powerful Fire-type Pokémon inhabit the area within the volcano's range.

Because of the town's awkward geographical location, it was quite difficult to develop, so the town's residents had always lived a very difficult life. Many young people in the town were unwilling to stay and chose to leave, so that almost all the people left in the town were elderly.

After several generations, the entire town is now on the verge of collapse... and could disappear at any moment...

In such a difficult environment, a young man from Fuyan Town is determined to transform his hometown and make it a better place.

Due to its geographical location, Fuyan Town doesn't have many revenue-generating projects that can be developed. However, because it is located at the foot of a volcano, it has excellent hot spring resources that can be utilized. Therefore, the young man decided to use this as the core selling point and develop Fuyan Town into a hot spring tourist town.

The first problem is to solve the inconvenient transportation between Fuyan Town and the outside world; otherwise, no tourists would be willing to come here...

He ventured deep into the Concave Mountain Path and Chimney Mountain several times to explore the terrain and find a way to open a path. During this process, he also had many encounters with the Fire-type Pokémon that lived in Chimney Mountain...

If we want to build roads on a large scale, we will have to change the terrain of Mt. Chimney, which will inevitably affect the Pokémon ecosystem in Mt. Chimney.

This caused the young man a great deal of distress. He loved Pokémon, but at the time he lacked funds and influence, and his development of LavaCity almost entirely depended on the power of Pokémon.

Under such circumstances, it was impossible to do something like discarding a donkey after it has served its purpose. After carefully weighing the pros and cons, the young man finally came up with a way to open up a road to the greatest extent possible without damaging the mountain structure and the natural environment.

...That's the large cable car on Chimney Mountain right now!

Naturally, this was a very large project, and it was impossible for him to complete it by himself alone.

So he actively began his activities, spending many years in dangerous places like Mt. Chimney, and his long-term interactions with Pokémon made him an excellent trainer. With this skill and talent, he tried to get assistance through the League.

He succeeded; his talent and hard work impressed the Alliance, leading them to collaborate with him on the construction of the Chimney Mountain cable car.

The young man devoted most of his life to this project, growing from a young man to a middle-aged man, and then from a middle-aged man to an old man in his twilight years.

With the cable car built and the hot springs in Fuyan Town developed, this once-neglected town finally began to come alive.

Meanwhile, this young man also gained the appreciation of the league...

...He was the first Gym Leader of LavaCity, giving this once remote village a place in the Pokémon League of the Hoenn region.

...He is one of the previous generation of the Hoenn Elite Four, and a powerful trainer who stands in the top tier of strength in the Hoenn region, apart from the champion!

This is the story of LavaCity. The current Gym Leader of LavaCity is the old man's granddaughter, a newly appointed Gym Leader. Although it is a bit impolite to say this, she is indeed theoretically the weakest in terms of raw strength among the eight Gym Leaders in the Hoenn region.

Compared to Senri, who was also a newly appointed gym leader, their strength was worlds apart...

However, as the saying goes, every organization has a first place and a last place. Being able to become a Gym Leader already puts you in the top tier of combat power in the Hoenn region. Even if you're the last Gym Leader, you're still only compared to the other seven Gym Leaders.

Compared to ordinary trainers, she is already an extremely powerful and excellent trainer...

In short, as Rowe headed to the mountain cable car, he told Lillie the story of Furnace Town. It was indeed a very inspiring story, and Lillie was quite impressed.

"...I always felt that everyone here was a very capable person!"

Whether it was the old man Tie Xuan who developed Zijin City, or the former Heavenly King who dedicated most of his life to his hometown, just to revitalize his precarious hometown.

They are all very admirable people, both for their skills as Pokémon trainers and for their character.

This reminded Lillie of herself and her mother.

Her mother should have been an equally admirable person, or even more so in some ways, given that the Ether Foundation is already a large international corporation spanning multiple regions.

but……

...The thought of the chaos caused by her mother gave her a headache. If a capable person puts all their effort into doing good, it is a blessing for the whole world. But if the initial intention is wrong, the stronger the ability, the more trouble it will cause.

Just like the Rockets' boss, Giovanni, no one questions his abilities, but to be honest, if his abilities were even slightly lacking, he wouldn't be such a headache.

It is precisely because this man's abilities are so powerful that Team Rocket has become the number one villain in the entire Pokémon world.

Lillie doesn't believe she possesses the same abilities as her mother, so... what can she do? And how can she stop her mother from continuing down the wrong path?

Seeing that she was lost in thought, Rowe turned around and looked at Gardevoir behind him.

Gardevoir nodded to Rowe, and through telepathy, she could sense Lillie's confusion and share those emotions with Rowe.

Of course, reading minds directly is a very impolite thing to do, so Gardevoir simply told Loewon about Lillie's confused feelings.

Luo Wei didn't intend to say much about this for the time being. Some things she could only figure out herself. Luo Wei could provide the necessary material assistance, but he wasn't very good at providing emotional support.

After all, it's really not convenient for Lowe to teach others the methods he uses to manage his emotions.

Thinking of this, Luo Wei pulled Sylveon, who was dozing on his head, down off, then buried his face in its soft little belly and took two deep breaths...

Hey, if there's a problem that can't be solved by one sip of cat-sniffing, then take two sips!

Chapter 131 This Road Is Blocked

If there's a problem that can't be solved by one sip of cat pee, then take two sips!

Sylveon, who was sleeping soundly, was suddenly pulled down by Lowell and sucked on twice. Although she was a little confused at first, she immediately smiled. She wrapped her ribbon around Lowell's wrist twice, stabilizing herself in mid-air, and then gently rubbed her head against Lowell's neck.

"Haha, it's quite itchy~"

As soon as he finished speaking, Luo Wei felt a weight on his back. He didn't even need to turn around; the familiar furry touch had already revealed his identity.

"Uh, Masked Cat?"

Although Lowei didn't miss his daily routine of grooming Masked Cat, perhaps because he was getting closer to other cats, Masked Cat felt neglected.

Furthermore, Rukia's actions—seemingly knowing full well what was going on, yet deliberately stirring things up—made Masked Cat feel a sense of crisis.

Especially now that she and Gardevoir have both evolved, their forms have already transcended the category of "pet" size, while Eevee is cheating.

Although it has also evolved, its size has hardly changed; it is still the same size that can be easily plucked.

This leads to Lovi's hands getting restless; when he wants to pet something to relieve stress, his first reaction is always to pet Eevee. There's no way around it; its size and feel are simply perfect for holding and cuddling...

Can anyone resist a kitten that you can pet as much as you want?

...No! There is! No! Person!

So much so that Sylveon's fur is visibly shiny and smooth from being groomed by Loew, and even though Meowth uses a whole bottle of Loew's conditioner every week, its fur is still so tempting to touch.

However, in most cases, Luo Wei will only let Masked Cat come up and rub against him when he stops to rest. When he is walking on the street, it is a bit of a challenge for Luo Wei's wrist strength to hug and pet him.

Humans clearly have two hands, but now they're using them all to pet Sylveon. How can this not make Meowth angry?

So, Masked Cat's current approach is to occasionally jump up and ask Rowe to carry her for a while. Fortunately, although she has the body shape of a young girl, her weight is at the standard loli level.

Therefore, Lowe could easily carry her on his back and walk briskly, but this magical way of getting along made Lillie quite amused.

A laugh helped to ease a lot of my worries.

The atmosphere eased a bit, and the cable car entrance to Chimney Mountain was right in front of them. Just as Luo Wei was about to go up the mountain to buy a ticket, he saw a row of roadblocks at the entrance with a sign that read "Construction ahead, no passage".

"What happened? Has something happened here?"

Seeing this, Luo Wei stepped forward to ask, and Officer Jenny, who was guarding the intersection, immediately replied politely, "Yes, the cable car on Chimney Mountain has experienced some malfunctions and is currently under repair. It will be unusable until the repairs are completed. Please check the official website for updates..."

After all, it's a modern, internet-connected society, so things are quite convenient in this regard. Fuyan Town even has its own official website to introduce the town's various specialties and anecdotes.

When Luo Wei took out the Navigator app and checked it, sure enough, the official website clearly stated that the cable car was temporarily unavailable due to a sudden malfunction, and that the town of Fuyan had arranged for manpower to work hard to repair it, and it was expected to be repaired within a week.

"...So, does that mean we can't go up the mountain now?"

In response, Officer Jenny replied with a troubled expression, "It's not that there's absolutely no way up the mountain, but for non-trainers, I wouldn't recommend taking that route..."

"……I see"

The road Miss Officer Jenny mentioned was naturally the road that connected Flamebringer Town to the outside world before the mountain cable car was built.

However, that path is less of a road and more of a "wild animal trail" trodden out of the mountains by humans and Pokémon. Because it runs directly through the mountains, it is inevitable that there will be contact with wild Pokémon.

Therefore, unless you are a trainer, it is not recommended to go down this path.

Moreover, with the completion of the mountain cable car, this path is now rarely visited. It wasn't originally a specially constructed road, and the unmaintained animal trail has naturally become increasingly desolate, making it quite unsuitable for ordinary people to walk on.

Every year, a number of hiking enthusiasts come to challenge Chimney Mountain...

However, those mountaineers with complete equipment and Pokémon partners are naturally incomparable to ordinary people. As for Rowe, taking this route should not be too much of a problem.

After all, in terms of strength, Rowe is definitely not afraid of wild Pokémon. If it were just Rowe alone, he would definitely have gone up.

However, Lillie was still by his side. Although she had been out on her own for a while, she had been a pampered young lady not long ago and didn't have much similar experience.

"What should we do, Rowe?"

Lillie sought Rowe's opinion, but Rowe had already planned to change course. However, before he could answer, his navigator suddenly spoke up.

"..."

The names displayed on the screen were quite remarkable...

...Dawu

"...Mr. Daigo?"

Luo Wei immediately contacted the navigator, and a familiar voice came from the other end, "Luo Wei? Where are you right now?"

"Hmm, I'm planning to go to LavaCity to challenge the Flame Gym, but the cable car at Mt. Chimney is out of service. I'm at the crossroads now, wondering if I should take the mountain path up..."

"I see. That's perfect. If it's not too urgent, could you ask Rowe to take a slightly detour and go to Autumnleaf Town first?"

"There's no rush, so is there a problem in Qiuye Town?"

"The Alliance captured that Marine Team executive, and the interrogation results are in. They've determined that the Marine Team's next target is Meteor Falls near Autumnleaf Town. So, if possible, I'd like to ask Rowe to take a look..."