"So the tournament starts in two days?"
Cynthia, on the screen, asked.
"Yeah, it officially starts in two days. What surprised me is that while a lot of people have come, not many have actually signed up to participate."
Cynthia was sitting by her desk and stretched, a movement that left Lucas staring blankly.
Lucas: !
"Actually, it's normal. First, because this is the first time you've hosted a competition like this, you have no name recognition, and many people think it's just a small event. Second, you don't have any investment or a good venue. You know, large-scale competitions need good venues to be enjoyable for spectators. Third, and most importantly, your poster says you're inviting top martial artists from around the world for exchanges and sparring. Many people will think you're just grandstanding, because many competitions use that title."
Seeing Lucas's dazed expression, Cynthia had a sudden mischievous thought and lightly lifted it with her hand.
Lucas: !!!
"Also, most importantly, Mustard and Elite Bruno posted on the world forum saying they would come to participate. From the moment they posted, your competition became a truly world-class fighting event—the Martial Arts Tournament."
After saying that, Cynthia asked curiously, "Why did you choose to call it the Martial Arts Tournament?"
Because when I was a kid, I watched Dragon Ball, and the tournament in there seemed to be called the Martial Arts Tournament—wait—was it called the World Martial Arts Tournament? Damn it! I remembered it wrong!
"Because I feel that every top martial artist has their own style. Whether they learned it from someone else or created it themselves, it's worth watching, learning from, and respecting. Plus, this competition was originally held to let Vex battle with various powerful martial artists. Since it's a battle exclusive to martial artists, I named it the Martial Arts Tournament in my heart. Actually, it should probably be the World Martial Arts Tournament."
Lucas explained.
"I see."
Cynthia nodded. "Once Mustard and Elite Bruno chose to participate, the other Gym Leaders and Elites couldn't resist joining the competition. After all, opportunities for such exchanges and sparring are rare."
"And Lucas, don't ignore your own influence."
"Me? What influence do I have? I'm just an ordinary person running a Breeding House."
Hearing Lucas's words, Cynthia seemed to have expected him to say that. She shook her head at the camera and laughed helplessly. "I knew you'd say that, but you have to understand, you are friends with almost all the League Champions, and you are also a Champion yourself. Although this news only circulates among Champions, Elites, and Gym Leaders, that's enough..."
"A top-tier martial arts competition hosted by a Champion, with recommendations from other Champions, plus the participation of world-class martial artists like Mustard and Bruno—no one can refuse such a competition."
"When other ordinary contestants see the names of Mustard and Bruno on the list, they know it will be a top-tier competition. Most of them will be too afraid to participate; they don't think they've become top-tier martial artists in the world yet."
After listening to Cynthia's analysis, Lucas could only say that she was worthy of being a long-famed Champion; her analysis was simple and straightforward.
"So that's it. I thought they weren't participating because there were no prizes."
Cynthia: ?
"No prizes? You mean the winner of the Martial Arts Tournament gets no prize?"
Hearing Cynthia's question, Lucas shook his head. "Yeah, no prizes. What's wrong?"
Cynthia: ————
Garchomp, who was by her side, mercilessly retorted.
"kao!"
Stingy to death.
Lucas: ————
"Hehehe—"
Exactly, Lucas is so stingy.
"How am I stingy? I was thinking that they are all long-famed top Trainers and martial artists. Money might just be a number to them. Plus, I'm just an ordinary person running a Breeding House. I can't exactly give them a pokémon egg, right? And it's even less likely that I'd help them raise their Pokémon, right?"
Lucas defended himself.
"Kao?"
Do you think there are many martial artists who aren't poor?
"I—"
Now that I think about it, that actually seems to be true, right?
The most typical example is our Gym Leader Maylene.
She's incredibly poor.
"Lucas, no one ever complains about having too much money—"
Cynthia felt physically and mentally exhausted.
Looking at the screen, seeing Lucas looking guilty, she rubbed her temples. "How about this, next time you host an event, tell me? I'll provide the funding?"
How can a Champion host a competition where the first place winner gets no substantial reward! Especially when the contestants include former Champions, Elites, and Gym Leaders—
You have to know that as the Champion of the Sinnoh region, every time I attend an event, I get an appearance fee or performance fee.
Even I wouldn't dare to think about inviting so many Elites and Gym Leaders to participate in a competition without setting up any prizes.
"!"
Lucas was tempted, but he didn't agree.
What would that turn into? Wouldn't that mean I'm being kept?
"No! I'll pay for it! It's not like the Breeding House can't afford this expense!"
Lucas said loudly, enduring the heartache, while grabbing his tablet to call the Mayor Qinn.
"Um—Cynthia, how much money is appropriate? Is eight million enough?"
"Actually, it doesn't need that much. For a competition of this scale, three million is enough. Especially since many participants are coming just to enjoy the competition and show their fighting skills to more people, they don't care that much about money. Even one million is enough."
"If they're all coming to enjoy the competition, wouldn't it be better to just not give any money?"
"Lucas—"
Cynthia called Lucas's name, her voice full of helplessness.
"Don't worry, I was just saying. I'm prepared to put up 3.5 million."
"Okay, I'll sponsor 1.5 million, making it 5 million. After all, it's the first competition you've hosted, and it's such an important one."
Cynthia showed a beautiful smile. "Don't think about refusing. I'm sponsoring my boyfriend, not you, Lucas."
"Sigh, sometimes I really just want to retire and live off you, and just let you keep me."
"You don't look like much, but you sure have beautiful dreams. Or, you could come and be my secretary."
Lucas wanted to say more, but the call to the Mayor Qinn connected.
"Hello, Lucas, what's up?"
"Mayor Qinn, I thought about it and suddenly realized that our tournament's top three don't have any prizes. I've prepared a prize pool; can we use it as a reward for the top three? Can it still be added now?"
"Oh, Lucas, about that, you don't need to worry. I already prepared it when I received the notice. We in Twinleaf Town are paying: 5 million for first place, 3 million for second, and 1 million for third, totaling 8 million."
As expected, the Mayor Qinn is reliable!
"What's wrong? Is it too little? Should I add more? To be honest, Lucas, this is the most funding our town can come up with."
"No, no, no. I mean, this arrangement is quite good, but you and Twinleaf Town shouldn't have to pay for it all. How about this, the Breeding House and Twinleaf Town will split it in half. After all, the Breeding House and Twinleaf Town are best friends, right?"
"I see—alright then. I'll use the remaining money as funds to renovate Twinleaf Town."
After hanging up, Lucas asked with a puzzled look: "Renovate Twinleaf Town? What does that mean? Has it been destroyed too much recently? Does it need to be renovated?"
"Actually, Lucario and I wanted to sign up to participate, but there have been too many things lately, and we couldn't find the time."
Cynthia sighed and said puzzledly.
"What about Lucian?"
Wait, why did I think of Lucian first for this matter?
As expected, excellent people are always the first to be thought of.
"Lucian just finished overtime not long ago; I can't make him work overtime again, although I'm actually quite tempted to."
"Indeed, sometimes he should be allowed to rest properly, otherwise it would be bad if he worked until he resigned."
On a large, spacious bed, the purple-haired handsome man, hugging a life-sized Bronzong doll, was sleeping soundly with his eyes closed.
Two sneezes startled him awake.
He opened his eyes, looked at the ceiling, and realized he was lying on the bed, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Scared the life out of me. I thought I was still working overtime. It turns out it was just a dream—"
After saying that, Lucian turned over and went back to sleep.
"By the way, has the League's support arrived? Although the number of participants isn't large, the number of spectators is quite high. I was even wondering if I charged too little for tickets; otherwise, there wouldn't be so many people coming to watch—the hotels are already full."
"You actually charged for tickets? How much?"
"No wonder the price is so low; it would be strange if few people came. Don't worry, the League has already dispatched personnel: one Elite and two Gym Leaders."
"An Elite?"
Lucas had an ominous premonition.
"Let me check the notification. Found it. Since Aaron is dealing with a mission assigned by the League, Flint is also away on a mission, and Grandma Bertha needs to guard Mt. Coronet, that only leaves Lucian. Then the Gym Leaders are Byron and Roark, plus Gym Leader Maylene who is participating, so a total of one Elite and three Gym Leaders are going."
Lucas pursed his lips, forcing himself not to laugh.
"Lucian! I knew my premonition was right!"
"You still couldn't escape, huh..."
"Oh~ my poor Lucian~ you have to work overtime again~ I feel for you for three seconds."
On a comfortable large bed: "Achoo..."
After chatting with Cynthia for a while longer, Lucas got up and went to the backyard. He found Machamp and Charizard sparring with each other, exchanging blows, with no moves, just pure hand-to-hand combat.
Leon and his Pokémon, along with a group of Pokémon from the Breeding House that were trained day and night by Machamp, as well as some Pokémon just cheering on the sidelines, were surrounding Machamp and Charizard, cheering continuously.
"What's going on here?"
Lucas walked to the pavilion in the garden and asked Sonia, who was sitting inside drinking tea.
"Yesterday, ever since you mentioned that this is a unique activity of the Breeding House, he woke up early this morning, brought Charizard over, and asked Machamp if they could join in. And then it ended up like this."
"I'm surprisingly not surprised..."
Lucas laughed and shook his head, looking around Leon: Dragapult, Mr. Rime, Inteleon, Cinderace...
"Huh? Where is Rillaboom? I remember Leon also had a Rillaboom, right?"
Lucas turned to look at Sonia, "I remember Leon had a Rillaboom, right? Didn't he bring it?"
"He brought it."
"Where is it? Why don't I see it?"
Sonia pointed behind her, and Lucas turned his head to look. Rillaboom was lying on the grass.
"Is it sleeping?"
Lucas asked doubtfully.
Hearing Lucas discussing it, Rillaboom sat up straight and flashed a gorilla smile at Lucas.
"Hehe."
"My god, how did it get like that?"
Lucas looked at its face, which was bruised, purple, and swollen, with one eye smaller than the other and a purple hue—it was hard to look at.
"Boom."
"Couldn't beat Machamp, got some 'guidance'."
Lucas felt a bit sorry for Rillaboom, "Logically speaking, Machamp wouldn't hit that hard, right?"
"Boom..."
"Because I told it not to hold back. Every time it knocked me to the ground, I refused to admit defeat, so I ended up like this."
"It was only when I dragged it off that it stopped; otherwise, it would have been beaten even worse."
Sonia said, biting her straw.
"This won't do. Come here, let me check your injuries."
Rillaboom sat obediently beside Lucas, letting him check its injuries.
"Nothing major. I'll brew some herbal medicine for you, and you'll be fine after drinking it."
Rillaboom nodded obediently.
"Next time, if you can't beat it, don't just take it head-on. Machamp's fists are no joke."
Rillaboom nodded obediently again.
Lucas went to the kitchen to brew the herbal medicine, brought it out, and handed it to Rillaboom. Rillaboom sniffed the foul-smelling concoction and was a bit resistant, but after seeing Lucas's gaze, it had no choice but to drink it obediently.
"Whew, what a pleasant day."
--
Leon's voice came back. Lucas turned around and found Leon walking over with Charizard, who also had bruises and purple marks on its face.
"Lost?"
"Lost. Charizard still can't beat Machamp."
Leon shook his arms, "Without using moves, just relying on fighting techniques, Charizard and Rillaboom are still far behind Machamp."
"After all, they aren't Fighting-type Pokémon."
"That's true. But this training method of yours is very useful. I've also discovered some shortcomings in Charizard and Rillaboom to a certain extent, and I'll need to make improvements when I go back."
Leon said to himself.
Lucas looked at Charizard, who had a pained expression on its face.
"Roar..."
"It hurts so much... What on earth did it eat growing up to be so strong..."
Lucas handed the herbal medicine to it, "Drink this, it's very useful for facial wounds. If you want to continue next time, my advice is to pick Rhyperior, Machoke, or Vex to spar with first."
"Looking at the extent of the injuries on their faces, I estimate their fighting level is around the same category as Golem, about the same rank as Gogoat, a bit worse than Miltank, let alone Rhyperior, or even Machoke and Vex."
"Alright, we'll try that this afternoon."
Leon nodded, then picked up Sonia's cup and took a few big gulps through the straw.
Sonia: "That is my..."
"What's wrong? Today's water is quite sweet."
Leon looked at the cup in his hand, "Is it honey water?"
Sonia blushed, "Mm... mm."
Lucas: rolled his eyes.
If I had known, I would have prepared a bowl of herbal medicine for you too, to see if you'd still find it sweet.
"Shameless!"
At this time, Mustard and Honey walked over, Honey carrying a basket in her hand.
"Good morning, Lucas."
Honey greeted Lucas.
"Mustard, Mistress Honey, did you sleep well last night?"
Mustard nodded, "Very comfortable. I got up before dawn and felt extra energetic. So, I was dragged by little Honey to stroll around the forest, and we picked a bunch of mushrooms. But, are the mushrooms in the forest edible?"
"Of course, as long as you didn't pick poisonous mushrooms."
Lucas nodded.
"I don't know if there are any poisonous ones; little Honey picked them all..."
"Can't I even tell if a mushroom is poisonous?"
Honey glared at Mustard, then handed the basket in her hand to Lucas.
"This morning, seeing that you hadn't woken up yet, I asked Misdreavus and Dusclops to take us for a stroll in the forest. I hope that didn't cause you any trouble?"
"Of course not. As long as you don't enter the beehive area of the Forest Area, you can go to most parts of the Breeding House."
Honey nodded, "I also picked a lot of mushrooms. There were mushrooms everywhere this morning, so many that I couldn't pick them all."
Lucas glanced at the basket, which was full of common mushrooms. He handed the basket to Lilligant nearby. Due to the surge in the number of people in Twinleaf Town recently, Gothitelle had been staying in the Cottage to entertain guests.
"The Pokémon in the forest often pick these mushrooms and bring them to me as gifts. That box over there is what I built for them to store the little gifts they bring, though most of the time the food inside gets eaten by them anyway."
Sonia stood up and stood on her tiptoes to take a look, and sure enough, she found several wooden boxes under the swing tree.
"Oh, right, Lucas, I also saw a forest hot spring in the forest, and it was steaming. I wanted to ask if that hot spring can be used?"
Honey remembered the hot spring she and Mustard saw in the forest. Having not soaked in a hot spring for a long time, she suddenly wanted to.
"Of course. In the winter, Gengar and I often go there to soak in the hot spring."
Lucas said with a smile: "We even went there last week, it was very comfortable."
"Then can I go over..."
"No problem. I'll have Gengar go over later to tell the Pokémon in the forest to clear the hot spring tonight and tomorrow. Then you, Mustard, Sonia, and Leon can go soak in the hot spring. However, you'll have to go in batches."
Lucas said.
"Do you still need to tell the Pokémon in the forest?"
Sonia asked in confusion.
Lucas nodded, "Because the hot spring is in the forest, it belongs to the forest's gift, and it was discovered by the Pokémon of the forest earlier. We are just borrowing it, so every time we go, I let Gengar go and communicate with them to let them clear the hot spring for us to use for a while."
"So that's how it is. This is the first time I've seen a human being able to live so—friendly and harmoniously—with so many wild Pokémon."
Sonia spoke her true feelings.
Lucas just smiled upon hearing this, "Because I have always treated them as friends of our Breeding House. There is no such thing as a relationship between the strong and the weak between us; there is only the affection and relationship between friends. They bring gifts to play at the Breeding House, and we also protect the entire forest whenever we can."
"As expected of you, kid Lucas."
Mustard patted Lucas on the shoulder, everything left unspoken.
"Then at noon, we'll eat the mushrooms that Mistress Honey picked, how about some mushroom soup?"
"I'll help you."
Honey was eager to try.
"Then I'll trouble you."
***************************
Thoughts on where the plot is heading? Let me know in the comments! If you're enjoying the ride, please leave a quick review and toss a few Power Stones my way. Every bit of support means the world! 🙌