Before Terrance left Saffron Gym, three figures were sneaking around in a certain corner.
James, Jessie, and Meowth, sent by Giovanni to get in touch with Terrance, were trembling all over. They never expected to end up following Terrance to such a creepy place.
"Hey, Jessie... Did he go into Saffron Gym with that sinister doll?" Meowth shivered. Sabrina had left a deep shadow on the trio, and after hearing the rumors about her, they were even more terrified of Saffron Gym.
"I... think so?" Jessie was frustrated. She hadn't expected Terrance to come to such an ominous place either. She couldn't help but turn to James and ask, "So what's your plan?"
"Don't worry... Terrance can't stay in Saffron Gym forever. Hey, look, isn't he coming out right now?!" James's eyes suddenly lit up. "I say, let's follow Plan A and go talk to Terrance first!"
"Great! It's finally starting. We've studied this contact plan for so long, it's got to be flawless!!" Meowth said confidently.
At this time, Terrance still had no idea that Team Rocket, who were supposed to be following Ash and his friends... had set their sights on him. Otherwise, he'd probably be at a loss for words.
Meanwhile, having left Saffron Gym and heading for the Pokémon Center, Terrance was thinking about Kirlia and the others.
After this battle, Terrance had an even clearer understanding of the gap between Kirlia, Gallade, and the rest.
Carbink, Kirlia, Ninetales, Pupitar... At the moment, Ninetales had the strongest overall strength, followed by Kirlia, then Carbink and Pupitar were about equal. However, Pupitar was currently limited by its form and was in the accumulation stage, so Carbink had more wins in simulated battles, but the difference wasn't very big.
Even the strongest Ninetales still has a long way to go to reach the level of Beautifly and Arcanine, but Terrance has already obtained the Hundred-Year-Old Never-Melt Ice. With the Hundred-Year-Old Never-Melt Ice and the Snowy Weather secret technique to enhance its Ice-type abilities, Ninetales should be able to improve rapidly.
Terrance wasn't worried about Kirlia's Psychic-type abilities at all. With continued meditation, it would grow stronger, and its evolution would surely surprise him. It definitely had the potential to become Terrance's next top-tier strength.
As for training their Fairy-type abilities, Terrance planned to combine that with Carbink's mutation plan.
In other words, he intended to develop Fairy Aura further to boost their strength. As for Carbink, the top priority was to induce its mutation. This had become a shared goal for Carbink and Terrance. If it mutated, it would be a dramatic transformation, like a carp leaping over the dragon gate.
The power increase after mutation would far surpass ordinary evolution. Surpassing Ninetales and the others wouldn't be just a dream.
"With the Float Stones, Pupitar's training speed during this stage can be accelerated. As long as it's within its capacity, I'll focus on having it absorb as many nutrient-rich minerals as possible. Once it evolves into Tyranitar, its power will undergo a complete transformation. Not only will its control over Sandstorm rival Ninetales's mastery of ice, but it'll also have special light and heavy modes as support, shifting between lightness and power in a mere instant!"!"
After going over the future training plans for these Pokémon in his mind, Terrance had a general direction. It probably wouldn't even take a year before they could become Terrance's new main Pokemon.
The kind of main Pokemon that could battle Top Trainers head-to-head.
By then, Terrance would not just be a Top Trainer with only one team; with ten Pokémon at Elite Four level or above, it would be enough for Terrance to handle all kinds of situations. This would also put him at the average level needed to challenge for the Elite Four. Generally speaking, powerful Trainers usually have more than two teams. Although Terrance started late and was at a disadvantage, he's finally managed to catch up.
Inside the Pokémon Center, Terrance handed Gallade and Kirlia's Poké Balls to Nurse Joy, asking her to heal them, and then went alone to a secluded place to wake up the Rotom Pokédex, who was still wandering the world of data.
"Mmm... Roto..." Rotom Pokédex looked at Terrance in annoyance after waking up, as if blaming him for disturbing its sweet dreams.
"You've been getting lazier lately. That battle just now was so intense, and you still managed to fall asleep." Terrance said with a grin.
"I wasn't sleeping, I was learning, Roto!" Rotom Pokédex broke free from Terrance's hand and said seriously, "There's an important difference between laziness and learning. I must correct my behavior, Roto."
"OK," Terrance said helplessly. "Then, diligent Teacher Rotom, have you learned anything useful?"
"Of course," Rotom Pokédex said earnestly. "You've been paying attention to the Elite Four positions recently, right? I've got new information, Roto."
"What?" Terrance was taken aback.
So there really was something.
"Even though you haven't decided whether to challenge yet, as your assistant, it's my job to find out all the info in advance." Rotom Pokédex put on a look of utter concern for Terrance and said solemnly, "If you want to challenge the Hoenn League, Roto..."
"You'll have to face the Dark-type Master Sidney, Ghost-type Master Phoebe, Ice-type Master Glacia, and Dragon-type Master Drake. You'll battle the four of them, and depending on the results, you'll get points that determine whether you can replace one of the Elite Four you defeated and become a new Elite Four master, Roto!"
"Of course, before that, you need to outscore all other competitors of the Champion League, Roto," Rotom Pokédex said.
Champion League competitors were almost all previous regional Champions, one Champion per year, and after decades, there were a lot of experienced Trainers wanting to challenge for the Elite Four positions. Breaking out from among them is the basic requirement for challenging the Elite Four.
Because most of the Champion League competitors were regional Champions, it's also called the Champion Conference or Champion League. [TN: Author uses Masters Tournament in Chinese for the champion league here, but I've been using Champion League from the start.]
However, since Terrance is a Gym Leader, he can skip the regional conferences and go straight to the Champion League to compete for an Elite Four spot. This is one of the perks for Gym Leaders in every region.
"But if you want to challenge the Indigo League, that's where it gets interesting, Roto." Rotom Pokédex chuckled. It had found some inside information online, and it seemed pretty credible, since very few people would dare spread fake news about the Elite Four.
"It seems that two of the Indigo League's Elite Four, Lorelei and Agatha, have both announced they'll be stepping down. If they retire, it'll be much easier to become an Elite Four in the Indigo League. There have even been cases in the past where people filled in the Elite Four position without having to battle the others, Roto."
"Master Lorelei and Master Agatha plan to resign from the Elite Four?!" Terrance was shocked. He could understand Master Agatha wanting to retire. She was getting on in years, but wasn't Master Lorelei still in her prime?
Rotom Pokédex naturally didn't know the details, and Terrance couldn't guess either. But if both retired, wouldn't the Indigo League be left with only Champion Lance, Elite Four Bruno, and... the new Elite Four, Karen?!]
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