Return to the Pokémon Center in Suiyi Town.
The main purpose of this action was to restore the Pokémon's condition and competitiveness, which made Natsuhiko very satisfied in the end.
After a period of rest, the Pokémon showed no decline in condition and were even better than expected.
Meanwhile, Yujira completed its final transformation and evolved into Alakazam, becoming the second Pokémon among Natsuhiko's team to reach its final form.
With the enhancement brought about by evolution, it successfully stepped into the Gym Leader Level, becoming the first to officially reach this level among his main Pokémon, surpassing Beedrill.
Beedrill, although congratulating it, also felt some pressure in its heart.
After all, it was the first Pokémon to follow Natsuhiko and had always been the strongest force in the team. Now being surpassed by Alakazam, it felt a bit of urgency.
Feeling Beedrill's mindset, Natsuhiko promptly offered it some guidance.
Actually, Beedrill is only one step away from the Gym Leader Level. Its advantage over other Pokémon is that, even at Elite Level, it had already felt the situations of Gym Leader Level Pokémon through Mega Evolution.
What it lacks is just an opportunity.
Opportunities are not something that can be rushed. They come when they do naturally. The more you search for them when they haven't come, the more you get stuck in a quagmire of struggle.
Natsuhiko understood Beedrill's mindset.
So, to put Beedrill at ease and according to its own requests, Natsuhiko increased its training intensity.
Current accumulation is for better eruptions in the future.
In fact, aside from Beedrill, Natsuhiko was more concerned with and considering Togetic.
The Stone of Light needed for Togetic to evolve into Togekiss had been prepared well in advance, and it was of top-notch quality from Regigigas.
Such an Evolution Stone is among the top tier of all Evolution Stones.
If Natsuhiko wanted, Togetic could evolve at any time.
What he considered was the timing of Togetic's evolution.
Or more accurately, whether Togetic has fully tapped into its potential in this form.
Only when Togetic fully realizes its current potential, will evolving leave no regrets and not affect its future growth limit.
But Natsuhiko concluded that Togetic had not yet met this requirement.
In fact, Togetic didn't even feel the need to evolve; its desire to evolve was not strong, even with the pressure from Alakazam's appearance.
However, Natsuhiko was not in a hurry.
Togetic's mindset is inherently light and joyous. Its pursuit of power is not as intense as that of Beedrill or Alakazam.
As a Trainer, Natsuhiko hoped for Togetic to evolve soon to fully present the envisioned "Poke Plane."
Once Togetic evolves into Togekiss, the control over energy will undergo a qualitative leap, greatly enhancing Natsuhiko's overall strength.
But as a Trainer, he was also reluctant to forcefully change Togetic's mindset using his status, to make significant alterations.
Otherwise, would Togetic still be the present "Teacher Poke," "Social Butterfly," or "Happy Pill"?
So he chose to follow the Pokémon's own wishes.
When Togetic truly desires to evolve, Natsuhiko will not refuse.
Then there's Doublade.
Doublade's evolution into Aegislash also requires the assistance of an Evolution Stone, namely the Dark Stone.
But currently, Natsuhiko doesn't have a suitable Dark Stone.
He isn't interested in ordinary Dark Stones.
Given that he already possesses a top-tier Stone of Light, if the quality of the Dark Stone is too poor, he won't let Doublade use it lightly.
He has a minimum standard in mind.
At least.
It must be a Special Level Dark Stone.
But such quality Dark Stones are hard to come by.
Natsuhiko even specially asked Flint for help, but so far has received no news.
Fortunately, like Togetic, Doublade has plenty of potential to explore in this form.
As for Chimchar,
it's still early. It has just begun adapting to Natsuhiko's battle rhythm recently, entering a high-speed synchronization period, and is quite some distance from evolving.
After ending a day of actual combat, Natsuhiko planned to continue heading to Celestial Crown Mountain the next day to train against some strong wild Pokémon. However, plans couldn't keep up with changes.
The sudden visit of one person changed Natsuhiko's plan.
Naturally, it was a change for the better.
"Senior Natsuhiko."
Watching the tall, delicate-featured girl in front of him with round glasses sweetly addressing him as senior, Natsuhiko felt slightly charmed.
Who could refuse a pretty underclassman?
The relationship between a senior and junior,
is always so subtle.
Ahem.
"Kona, why are you here? Weren't you having your last special training sessions with your teachers before the competition?" Natsuhiko was a bit surprised to see Kona.
Originally, he thought Lance would be the first to arrive, but it turned out to be Kona.
Upon hearing this, Kona adjusted her glasses resting on her nose and slightly shyly said,
"The special training is almost done, and the teacher let me go find some evenly matched classmates for practical training, but..."
"But no one at your school is your match?" Natsuhiko raised an eyebrow and interjected.
"Mm..."
Kona quietly responded, "Considering the competition is going to be held in Sinnoh anyway, I came over first. Am I disrupting your plans?"
See?
What does it mean to be a top student?
This is it.
Looking at Kona's modest demeanor, Natsuhiko found it hard to associate her with the cold and aloof future Ice-type Elite.
It seems,
to familiar people, she's much friendlier.
"It's not a bother, but seeking practical training with me..." Natsuhiko pressed his temples.
In his heart, he was averse to it.
What if Kona beats him now and he loses his confidence?
Natsuhiko wouldn't naively think that the Kona during Pokémon battles is on the same level as the Kona outdoors.
Moreover, he didn't want his strength to be fully gauged so early.
But on second thought,
it seemed that since coming to the Pokémon Realm, he had been in countless battles, yet had never participated in a formal competition.
This is a classic case of seeming formidable, but lacking competition experience.
Having someone like Kona, with abundant competition experience, as a sparring partner is indeed a good choice.
Noticing Natsuhiko deep in thought, Kona hesitated and said, "Senior Natsuhiko, there's one more thing... I've found a Shellder with the 'Continuous Attack' trait, but this is an entirely new training direction, so I have... some questions."
Natsuhiko glanced down at the time on his phone.
"Well, it's still early. Let's first solve your questions and then have practical training this afternoon as a prelude to the competition," Natsuhiko suggested after thinking for a moment.
"Okay~~"
As they say, plans can't keep up with changes. Natsuhiko's plan for today was destined to be broken time and again.
Because before the afternoon even arrived, two more "unexpected visitors" arrived in the small Suiyi Town.
And they flew in together.