"The nursery next to Wutong Town?"
Victor Feng blurted it out without thinking.
"Heh, looks like that place really left an impression on you."
Jason Ji raised an eyebrow. "You should know the owner of that nursery too, right?"
"Mmm…"
"Victor, didn't you notice the special effects on the items sold by that outstanding breeder?" Jason continued.
"With effects that good, you actually let him stay in a small town with zero protection?"
"He's still very young, a trainer even promoting his own youth training camp online. What if someone with bad intentions targets him?"
Jason spoke with visible frustration.
"…You do have a point."
Victor nodded. "But I have my reasons."
"Then why didn't you assign someone to protect him?" Jason widened his eyes.
"See? You're getting impatient again."
Victor looked at him calmly and beckoned.
A Rotom immediately floated over.
"Roto."
"Show the final stage of that young man's Sky Challenge from the nursery next to the Lin family."
"Roto, got it!"
Rotom projected an image into the air.
In an instant, violent winds swept across the screen.
Jason froze.
The scene felt familiar. He himself had challenged the Sky Challenge here before.
On the screen, more than a dozen Pidgeot beat their wings as a tornado shaped like a spiraling dragon surged up from the ground and pierced straight into the clouds.
At first glance, the tornado did not seem especially large.
But next to the main projection, a smaller window appeared.
Inside it was the sky directly above the tornado.
As the funnel stretched upward, the heavens twisted into chaos.
The height read one thousand meters above ground.
This was still a Sky Challenge?
"Is this the true strength of those Pidgeot?"
Jason muttered in shock.
"Don't rush. Watch it through, then we'll talk," Victor said.
Only then did Jason notice the challenger.
It was a Gardevoir. A shiny Gardevoir.
It had been standing in the storm the whole time, but the winds were so violent and its attention so focused on the storm and the Pidgeot that Jason had completely missed it earlier.
"So the challenger is a Gardevoir?"
Jason raised an eyebrow.
Then, led by a massive Pidgeot, all the Pidgeot surged forward at a speed two or three times faster than when his Charizard had challenged them earlier that day, charging straight at the Gardevoir.
"You're kidding me. They were holding back?"
Jason stared, disbelief written all over his face.
When he had challenged them, judging by the Pidgeot's energy levels, he had thought that even if they were holding back, it would not be by much.
What he was seeing now completely overturned that assumption.
The Pidgeot accelerated again.
Yet under such dense, relentless attacks, the Gardevoir at the center did not retreat at all.
Its figure flickered again and again, never once leaving the heart of the storm.
In the end, it raised a single hand and stopped the storm itself, then caught the Pidgeot one after another.
"…This…"
Jason stood there, dumbfounded, as the projection ended.
"That's the challenger?" he asked weakly.
"What challenger?" Victor snapped. "That's his Pokémon. He was demonstrating how to clear the final stage."
Victor glared at him.
"Do you think your Charizard could beat that Gardevoir? Or your Blaziken?"
"I really don't understand why you're so anxious. Do you take me for an idiot?"
Jason stood there in a daze.
That was his Gardevoir?
He replayed the scene in his mind.
If his Charizard really fought that Gardevoir…
The chances were slim. Very slim.
Based on the Pidgeot's performance just now, even if his Charizard could defeat them, it would never be that effortless.
If that was the case…
Was there really any need to send people to protect him?
Still, Jason quickly found another counterargument.
"No… that's just one Gardevoir. Now that people know about it, what if they send Pokémon with type advantages to attack him?"
"Hmph."
Victor looked at him as if he were looking at a fool.
"Still arguing?"
"What I showed you isn't even his strongest Pokémon. He has a legendary Pokémon with him, and several Dragon-type Pokémon as well."
"…What?"
Jason's eyes widened again.
Victor nodded. "Yes. Honestly, you really should calm down. The League genuinely lacks a mainstream Fire-type Gym."
…
The garden.
It was close to noon. The sun shone brighter and brighter, warmly bathing everything beneath it.
Under this sunlight, some Pokémon that were usually very active had grown calm.
They lay obediently on the tables.
Dragonite and Blaziken descended from the sky.
It was a rare clear day, so Blaziken needed to focus on sharpening its combat skills.
Mewtwo hovered in the air nearby.
Salamence also emerged from its Poké Ball and chose to lie down at the entrance of the cowshed to sleep.
It always seemed a bit out of place.
"All right, lunch is ready!"
With that shout, Lin Feng walked over, holding a storage ball.
In an instant, the eyes of a whole group of Pokémon lit up.
Even Salamence, which had been lying with its eyes closed at the cowshed entrance, got up and strode over.
"Eevee!"
What are we eating? What are we eating?
Alolan Ninetales could not help standing up from beside the table.
It was in its mini form now and could stand right on the tabletop.
"Blaze!"
Blaziken was just as eager.
"Rice balls, rice balls… I made six hundred rice balls today…"
Lin Feng said cheerfully as he hugged the storage ball.
"And today, we've got a big guy joining us for lunch."
With that, he took out a Charizard's Poké Ball.
A light tap.
A Charizard not much shorter than Dragonite landed on the ground.
"Roa?"
Is it mealtime already?
Before it even opened its eyes, the Charizard seemed to be grumbling.
"Ugh… I already said I don't like that female Charizard. I really don't want to go… huh?"
Mid-complaint, it froze.
Only then did it realize this was not its home.
Strange Pokémon were everywhere.
And the person in front of it was not its own trainer.
"Roa?"
Charizard looked around, utterly confused.
"Charizard, your trainer has temporarily entrusted you to my care," Lin Feng said.
"He probably sent you here to freeload on food."
"Roa?"
Charizard finally recognized Lin Feng.
This was the guy who had fed it rice balls before.
"Grr?"
Sticky?
Dragonite scooted even closer to Goodra.
Female Charizard?
Was there gossip?