Bottom-tier trainers in the Pokémon world

Du's raised hand looked incredibly awkward.

creak-

Cynthia's door slowly opened.

Cynthia, whose blush had not yet completely faded, also came out.

Everyone greeted her, and she responded to each of them.

However, when she saw the intentional or unintentional smile on Xia Yan's face, Cynthia turned her back on him.

Du nudged Xia Yan with his elbow and whispered, "What's wrong with them?"

Xia Yan rolled his eyes in annoyance.

How would I know?

Du couldn't help but smack his lips.

Women are truly amazing creatures.

"Everyone's up so early."

The last person to appear at the door was Daigo, who was twisting his sleeves.

Judging from his energetic appearance, he probably slept well last night.

indeed.

The housing conditions at Sakuragi's newly built research institute are quite good.

Seeing how early they all got up, Xia Yan couldn't help but sigh.

I'm not afraid of geniuses, I'm afraid of geniuses who work hard.

These are all exceptionally talented individuals, and they all work so hard; there's a reason they've achieved success.

Wataru's rich combat experience, Kona's solid knowledge base, and Daigo's financial resources.

Although Cynthia is not the strongest among them in terms of experience, knowledge, or financial resources, she is the most well-rounded, with no weakness in any of them.

The reason it doesn't stand out is simply because the objects it's comparing itself to are all too outstanding.

Since he was already up, Xia Yan gave up the idea of ​​catching up on sleep.

The group went to have breakfast together.

Then they went to the lawn in the backyard of the research institute to prepare breakfast for their respective Pokémon.

At this point, Du suggested that everyone have a match as a form of morning exercise.

For Du, morning exercise is a great way to inspire the spirit's enthusiasm for the new day.

He rarely returned to Yanmo City to live.

So he spends most of his time at the Kanto Alliance headquarters.

And there was only one person who instilled this habit in him.

That's Shiba.

Only someone like Shiba, who is also a training fanatic, can get along with someone like Watari, who is a mission fanatic.

Even sometimes.

Shiba's enthusiasm is so overwhelming that it's hard to resist.

Du's suggestion was approved by several people.

After all, for them, fighting is just an everyday occurrence.

Only Xia Yan.

Seeing their gazes fixed on him, he couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth.

Especially the meaningful smiles on their faces.

He had every reason to suspect that this group had planned this in private.

I always have this feeling that some treacherous subject is trying to harm me.

Xia Yan silently let out a breath; his answer was beyond the expectations of the others.

"Okay."

"Huh?" Kona adjusted her glasses and looked at the other three. "Senior Xia Yan... you agreed?"

Xia Yan smiled but didn't explain.

He is no longer the ordinary trainer who could only look up to a few others.

After Lie Kong's journey through space, Xia Yan also wanted to see how much the gap between his strength and theirs was now.

In terms of main Pokémon alone, there is definitely a gap in overall strength.

After all, his Infernape and Latios are only elite-level.

However, when it comes to the top-tier main Pokémon, Xia Yan feels he still has a chance.

His reaction surprised everyone.

But since he agreed, that's all the better.

"Let's keep it simple, one-on-one cycle?" Du said.

This means that each person must fight at least one other person.

Since Xia Yan didn't refuse, things became much easier.

The five people drew lots to determine their numbers.

Xia Yan caught number five, and the remaining numbers one through four are Lance, Lorelei, Cynthia, and Steven.

In other words.

Wataru will first take turns battling Lorelei, Cynthia, Goku, and Natsuhiko.

Then it was Kona's turn to battle the three players ranked after her.

And so on.

Xia Yan, who was captured as number five, only needed to deal with the challenges.

The Sakuragi Research Institute is newly built, and the backyard has a large open space. The institute's Pokémon haven't moved in yet, giving them enough space to battle.

and so.

Natsuhiko, Daigo, and Cynthia, sitting under a tree nearby, looked at Lance and Lorelei standing on either side not far away.

When he learned that the two of them would be the first to face off, Lance looked conflicted and lost all of his previous excitement, while Kona was very excited and looked impatient.

Xia Yan and the other two, who knew about the relationship between the two, couldn't help but smile.

In Xia Yan's words.

This is a classic case of shooting oneself in the foot.

Since it was just a private sparring match, there was naturally no need for a referee.

After standing still, the two looked at each other, nodded, and then summoned their respective spirits.

"Roar--!!"

With a roar, an ancient-looking elf with a brownish-gray body and huge phoenix wings appeared in mid-air.

Each flap of its wings was accompanied by the undulation of the grass on the ground.

Fossilized pterosaur!

"Oh? Lance actually summoned Aerodactyl. I thought he would summon Gyarados," Daigo said with a smile.

Xia Yan glanced at him, pursed his lips, and said, "Gyarados, being a Water/Flying type, only has its Ice-type weakness eliminated when facing Lorelei's Pokémon; it loses its Water-type advantage. But if it encounters you and Cynthia, Gyarados's type might have the upper hand."

"Ah, this..." Daigo's expression froze.

He then broke into an even bigger smile.

They don't seem worried about it.

Xia Yan continued to focus his attention on the field.

A fossil pterosaur of near-King level.

Watari is progressing so fast...

On Kona's side, the commotion wasn't as big as that of the pterosaurs.

Amidst the red light, a spiky clam appeared before her.

Although the commotion was not large, this spiny clam was no less imposing than the fossil pterosaur.

Cynthia frowned slightly.

"This isn't the same Clamshell that Kona had before; it's a newly bred one. So fast?"

Xia Yan raised an eyebrow.

Is he also at the near-King level?

It hasn't been long since he told Kona about the "Dragon Slayer Shell".

In less than six months.

How can you raise a Shellder to near-Elite Four level?

Although Kona is highly talented and has the full support of the Silver Academy.

However, Xia Yan did not believe that Kona could cultivate a giant tongue shell from scratch to near-elite level in such a short period of time.

The only explanation is that when Kona started raising this Clam, it was already quite strong.

In fact, it does.

After learning about the "Dragon Slayer" from Xia Yan, Lorelei began searching for a Shellder with good potential and the corresponding ability.

Knowing Kona's intentions, the Silver Academy immediately opened its entire training base to her.

Among them are many large tongue clams of varying quality.