Lokomoko glanced at his phone out of the corner of his eye, unable to see it clearly, and asked.
The sous-chef walked past him directly, somewhat doubting life as he said, "Are you a top Coordinator Trainer?"
"Yes, I just became one four days ago," Baimu answered honestly.
"Are you planning to win the Ever Grande Conference? Weren't you a participant in the Lumiose Conference before?"
"Yes, once I finish this meal, I will focus entirely on preparing for the tournament."
"..."
The sous-chef's face twisted like a bitter melon.
In the page handed over by his colleague, the media in Hoenn compared Baimu to the next generation Mikoli.
He might not have known who Mikoli was in the past, but when he came here last year to taste the luminous cuisine, the fans almost blocked Winter Avenue.
He knew then.
The next generation Mikoli.
The sous-chef didn't say anything, but simply gave Baimu a thumbs-up to mask his small sense of shame.
He wasn't the type to insist others reach the top before admitting their talent—becoming a top Coordinator Trainer already proved the other's capability.
Moreover, Baimu could also make luminous cuisine.
"Hahaha! So you weren't competing in the Lumiose Conference, but came from another region?" Lokomoko was delighted and said, "Rest assured, I will definitely offer you a meal you will remember for a lifetime!"
After fiddling around for half an hour.
Lokomoko finally kicked off the celebration banquet.
First was a familiar appetizer—the Rainbow Egg Roll.
The blinding golden light was extremely dazzling, far exceeding the one Baimu made.
"happy~"
Blissey couldn't help but lift a small hand to shield its eyes.
It's too shiny!
Enough to make one exclaim that there was definitely a pound of phosphorescent powder in it.
Lokomoko nodded with satisfaction and specially handed the portions meant for Baimu and Blissey directly over. "Try it out, and see how it differs from yours."
"Thank you."
The latter picked up the egg roll, glanced at Blissey who also picked up a piece, and together they put it into their mouths and chewed lightly.
In the next moment.
He covered his face.
Meanwhile, Blissey couldn't resist the joy spreading from the inside out, its little wings on its shoulders moving as if it were about to take off.
Of course, it definitely couldn't fly.
But it was enough to show how delicious the egg roll was.
Baimu was completely immersed in the shock brought by the egg roll, an experience he had once felt before.
This time, even clearer!
"Hmph."
Lokomoko chuckled proudly, thinking how could he face Baimu's respect from beginning to end without showing a couple of tricks?
Moreover.
He also hoped that Baimu could really win the Ever Grande Conference, unlike his own past where he stalled at the final step.
As a chef, Lokomoko hoped to infuse today's dishes with his encouragement towards him.
The chefs and Pokémon in the kitchen exchanged glances.
"The head chef is really serious today."
"After all, it's the first person to learn luminous cuisine."
"I think it's probably not just that."
"Never mind those things, since someone has learned luminous cuisine, it perhaps proves our chance isn't zero, let's focus!"
"Got it! Sous-chef!"
The chorus of voices made the chefs totally focused.
On the day the Lumiose Conference ended.
Winter Avenue, Golduck's Smile flagship store.
Younger boys and girls tasted the delicacies into which the head chef and all the chefs of this restaurant poured their efforts, considered their best creation of the year.
The most touched customer was Blissey, who ate from start to finish and cried from start to finish in the kitchen.
As for its trainer, he merely stayed silent, integrating all the feelings he tasted deep within his heart, his consciousness riding his taste buds to a brand-new culinary world.
As if spreading his wings in flight.
——
With their hunger and thirst quenched.
Everyone was about to part ways at the store entrance.
Ash Ketchum excitedly expressed that he wanted to watch his match, but Baimu refused.
Because compared to watching his match, it was more important for him to cherish the limited remaining time he had with Hitron, Youx Lijia, and Sarina.
It was a wake-up call for a dreaming person.
The Alliance Conference and the higher-level Master Satellite Matches had already ended.
A temporary travel team consisting of Ash Ketchum and three others was about to disband, each returning to their usual places.
The sadness of parting suddenly enveloped them.
Xiaoguang and Xiaogang were already used to the cycle of traveling, parting, and reuniting sporadically with Ash Ketchum, but Hitron and the others were clearly not accustomed.
"Besides, having just become a tournament victor, you have many things to do."
Baimu patted Ash Ketchum on the shoulder and said, "Let's meet next time if we're fated to, I believe it won't be long."
With that.
Hoopa very considerately opened the Light Wheel leading to Larus City.
"Xiaobai opened the door for you~"
He stepped in, and Xiaoguang and Xiaogang bid farewell one by one to everyone before following in, leaving the young boys and girls behind standing there, inexplicably sad.
The genuine interaction with the chef fulfilled a little wish in Baimu's heart.
This made him start imagining whether he could also meet people like calligraphers and musicians in the future. Unlike the long-gone Sister Xiangfen, many simulated objects still existed in the world.
"Let's prepare for the contest first."
Baimu put aside distracting thoughts.
There's still about a week left until the Ever Grande Conference, and in theory, participating in this competition is almost like fishing in a barrel. But the question is, is he the only one fishing in this "pond"?
The lesson from Divine Beast Man Tobias taught him that this might not be the case.
In the animated world, even second-level gods like the Regi Trio, the Three Divine Birds, Three Sacred Beasts, and even the Red and Blue Water Cities were types that could be controlled by trainers and brought out to compete.
He's very curious whether he would also encounter opponents who pulled out divine beasts to fight.
For this reason, Baimu had been spending the past two days with Porygon II browsing the internet for information on outstanding trainers in the Hoenn Region over the past year.
To avoid encountering a "Heavenly Generation" who came to fish just like him.
As a result of this search, he did find quite a few trainers who seemed familiar.
Among them was a girl likely to be the Dragon-cancer Maiden he once battled—
Alice.
Someone who claimed to be a gym janitor joked online about how her movements were as agile as a Vigoroth.
Plus, the familiar description of her appearance, like the dark and thick hair, and brown skin, etc.
It can almost be confirmed.
So she went to take a walk in Meteor Falls and suddenly decided to sign up for the League Conference?
Managing to grow to Regional Champion Level within just three years, Baimu is very interested in how much Alice had improved recently, especially since last time they battled, her deficiencies were quite obvious.
Coupled with some other people who also seem quite familiar, it made him even more eager for the upcoming conference.
On the day after returning from Carlos.
Baimu redeemed all his points and left Larus City with Xiaoguang and Xiaogang.
No choice.
Before heading to Ever Grande City, he had to drop by the Glazed Gym first.
After all, he hadn't reported his trophy win to Adam and Mikoli yet, and the celebratory party invitation via Hoopa had been refused by them—
Mikoli seemed to want to come at the time, but was stopped by a light cough from Adam.
The reason being not to get involved in young people's gatherings, so as not to steal the spotlight.
To be honest, Baimu felt that Mikoli still seemed young, and stealing the spotlight... that might actually be possible. Everyone in the Gorgeous Competition world knows Mikoli's significance.
He's indifferent, but Adam cares a lot, and even Liuqia agreed later.
So he had no choice but to give up on continuing to invite the disappointed Mikoli.
Speaking of which, it was quite interesting how the three generations of the Glazed Gym could accurately be considered his "teachers," making him seem like the youngest both overtly and covertly.
Could it be that he's classified as the fourth generation?
Probably not.
As Baimu was pondering this on the ferry across the sea, Mawile clung to the railing looking down, where Piplup was dive-jumping to entertain it.
A warm sunny afternoon.
They arrived in Glazed City.
Xiaogang felt a bit sentimental stepping onto familiar ground, "It went so smoothly, taking the car from Larus City to Shuijing City and then boarding a ship, and nothing happened in between. If it were a journey with Ash Ketchum, either we'd get lost on another island or face a storm forcing the ship to stop at sea."
"Now that you mention it, it seems true..."
Xiaoguang nodded earnestly.
Not sure whether to call it misfortune or luck, but traveling with Ash Ketchum always brought all sorts of strange happenings, while solo travel surprisingly lacked such unexpected incidents.
Baimu shrugged, he too once thought that traveling with Xiaoguang and Xiaogang might bring some different experiences.
But alas, in the end, Ash Ketchum was the genuine, all-encompassing side-quest trigger.