Late May · The Capital
Notices for the National High School Trainer Tournament were plastered everywhere across the capital.
Kick a Rattata in the sewer, and it'd probably already know the tournament was being held here.
Crowds flooded the streets.
All kinds of Pokémon wandered beside their Trainers.
"Everyone's Pokémon look so tough!"
As the safest city in the country, the capital had relaxed its rules for the tournament — with top youth Trainers gathering from all over the nation,
Lord-tier and lower Pokémon were allowed outside in public, as long as they weren't oversized.
A Pokémon like Onix, for example, would block half the street just by showing up and disrupting passersby.
But Emboar, Serperior, Pidgeot, Cinderace…
Nearly all of them were fully evolved, third-stage Pokémon.
Their strength spoke for itself.
"Good thing my Gyarados and Lapras are nothing to scoff at either!"
Misty chirped proudly.
Seeing so many strong Trainers at once filled her with sudden bravado.
"Just watch big sis Misty carry us through the qualifiers!"
Lin Yu, however, was stuck on a much more down-to-earth problem.
The National Tournament drew a constant flood of people, all converging on the capital.
Which meant one thing: they'd arrived too late.
Every single hotel in the city was fully booked.
During the qualifier stage, the tournament organizers provided no accommodation at all.
"Do I really have to ask her for help…"
"C'mon, let's go find Sister Dira! She lives in the capital, right?!"
Lin Yu's expression stiffened.
"I can't go there. It's not appropriate."
"Huh?" Misty blinked in confusion. "Then where are we gonna stay? All the hotels are full!"
"Guess we'll sleep on the street then." Lin Yu sighed.
He did have other options. Besides Ye Qingxue, he could also reach out to Teacher Luo Qingfeng in the capital.
Finding a place to crash wouldn't be impossible.
"Actually, let's just head to—"
Lin Yu's words died in his throat.
Spreading his Wave Aura, he spotted a slender, striking figure in the crowd.
"Gee hee hee…"
At the same time, a familiar, mischievous cackle echoed nearby.
The Ye family was one of the main organizers of national-level tournaments.
Their signature Pokémon was Dragonite, and the family also owned a Metagross.
Metagross had a bizarre method of reproduction.
It had no gender; instead, the species continued through self-division.
A Beldum could split off from a Metagross, carrying on the lineage.
The catch was:
not every Metagross could perform this division.
Generally, only those that had stored energy to their limit — when they felt they could grow no stronger — would choose to split.
Because of this method of inheritance, every Beldum born from division had potential nearly equal to its parent Metagross.
If a Metagross had Champion-tier potential, its Beldum offspring would fall between Elite Four-tier and Champion-tier.
Many major competitions relied on Metagross to calculate battle data, maintain energy barriers, and even project holographic Pokémon.
It could do it all.
So the second Lin Yu arrived in the capital and registered for the qualifiers, Ye Qingxue knew about it immediately.
Misty watched Lin Yu freeze up, followed his gaze, and studied his expression.
In an instant, she understood.
"Big brother~"
Ye Qingxue hurried over to Lin Yu, her lips gently pressed together as she looked at him.
They were both fifteen or sixteen, young and unpolished.
No fancy makeup, no blush, no foundation.
Yet to Lin Yu, she was still as pure and graceful as a snow lotus on a high mountain.
Bright eyes, white teeth, hair like a cascading waterfall — even a simple white short-sleeve shirt brought out her natural beauty perfectly.
Strange, he thought.
When they were little, she'd just been a sniveling little kid.
"How did you find me?"
Lin Yu glanced at her light figure. The giggling voice in his head a moment ago had come from her Gengar.
"Hehe~ My family's one of the tournament organizers!"
Nice.
Lin Yu gave her a silent thumbs-up.
He'd overcomplicated things.
"Mm!"
Her Dragonair flew over, circling Lin Yu with a curious, inspecting gaze.
Dragonair was already a rare sight.
With two pretty girls beside Lin Yu, plenty of onlookers were already staring their way.
"C'mon, let's go, big brother~"
Ye Qingxue could tell Lin Yu was a little awkward.
"Alright."
He nodded naturally.
He'd been about to ask his teacher for a place to stay — now it wasn't necessary.
"Huh? Misty, what are you doing?"
Lin Yu frowned when he saw her standing there frozen.
"Uh… I think I'll head off on my own. Thanks for everything these days, Lin Yu."
Misty forced a calm smile, her hands clenched tightly behind her back.
Lin Yu was confused.
Ever since they'd grown close, he'd barely seen her this serious.
"There are no hotels left in the capital. And you don't have any money."
"Don't worry about me! I have relatives in the capital! I can't keep bothering you nonstop, y'know?!"
Misty punched the air playfully, putting on a brave front.
"I'll pay you back every cent I owe you once I get through the qualifiers, I promise!"
With that, she turned and melted into the crowd before Lin Yu could reply.
"Is she a friend you met on your journey?"
Ye Qingxue asked, watching the girl disappear.
As another girl, she could tell at a glance that this Misty had more than just friendly feelings for Lin Yu.
Lin Yu scratched his nose.
He planned to message his teacher later for her address — just in case Misty really couldn't find a place to stay.
He gave a quick explanation. "Yeah, I met her halfway. She…"
"I see."
"Gee hee hee! Kid, I heard you caught Latias in the Eon Islands? And ran into Kyogre out at sea?!"
Gengar suddenly floated right up to Lin Yu.
Ye Qingxue chided it softly. "Don't pop up so suddenly next time. You'll scare him."
Gengar fell silent.
Dusk.
Somewhere in the capital.
"Ugh… I shouldn't have acted so tough. I'm still gonna end up needing his help anyway…"
Misty knocked on a door.
A voice answered quickly: "Coming, coming!"
Luo Qingfeng opened the door and looked at the young girl outside. "You must be Misty, right?"