As the opening ceremony was about to begin, Mai finally returned with drinks. However, her expression seemed a bit unpleasant.
Hakuya and Junna noticed that something was off with her. They signaled to the staff to leave first, then entered the venue themselves.
"What's wrong?" Luther couldn't help but ask.
Mai clicked her tongue, hesitated for a moment, and then gritted her teeth and said, "Some weird person confessed to me."
????
Luther, Hakuya, and Junna all had question marks above their heads as they exchanged glances. What kind of situation was this?
"Someone you know?" Junna asked curiously.
"Not at all." Mai handed Luther the orange juice and yogurt and sighed. "I had just finished buying my things when he came over suddenly and started saying all sorts of strange things." Then he asked if we could date. I refused, but he kept following me, trying to get my contact information. Luckily, there were so many people around that I managed to shake him off."
Is that a thing?
It's one thing to approach someone you're attracted to, but to confess immediately and then follow them after being rejected shows a lack of understanding of social cues.
The staff came over again to hurry things along, so everyone dropped the topic and entered the venue.
The hall, which could seat over 10,000 people, was packed. As the biggest event of the New Year, tickets for this Whitewind Town event were extremely hard to get.
As usual, the opening speech was skipped to accommodate Hakuya. Hakuya and Luther simply went on stage to wave at the Rookies participating in the upcoming matches.
According to Hakuya, Luther wasn't much weaker than he was, and he had invited him specifically to help out.
This "not much weaker than Hakuya" remark made everyone curious about Luther.
Over sixty Pokémon trainers had registered. They would now take turns in one-on-one matches across the venue's four sections.
Honestly, there wasn't much to see. At his current level, watching these matches was pretty unexciting for Luther.
Joy, Junna, and the local sponsors acting as judges seemed to be focusing intently, something Luther didn't understand.
Hakuya secretly showed Luther a booklet.
"I also find it boring. But if you look at it from the perspective of evaluating rookies, you'll notice that some of them are doing quite well at this stage. Lowering your expectations might give you a different perspective."
That made sense. Luther sat in the judge's seat and observed for a long time. Even from the rookie perspective, the matches he saw were like weaklings pecking at each other.
Hakuya's encouragement changed to: "Compared to last year, this year really isn't great. Hardly anyone is worth watching."
Was this the worst batch Hakuya had ever seen?
Luther, judging for the first time, resisted the urge to lower his head and play with his phone. He briefly closed his eyes to rest, avoiding rudeness by using one hand to play with the Kirlia and Espurr beside him. He forced himself to keep watching.
Even Jumpluff and Marill, who had wanted to learn from the matches, gave up and started eating snacks at the table.
Just as everyone was about to yawn, Luther and Hakuya's attention was suddenly caught.
In the last four rounds, two Rookies had simultaneously baited the opposing Pokémon Trainer into using moves, countered them, and gained an advantage.
"The Trainer with Ninjask in Section 4 looks pretty good," Luther said, tugging at Hakuya's sleeve.
"The Magneton of the Trainer in Section 1 is also well-used, and they seem to have good coordination," Hakuya added.
Luther and Hakuya's reactions drew the attention of the other judges. Both trainers were efficiently defeating their opponents and seemed likely to advance further.
Hakuya received information on the Ninjask user, Hiroshi, and the Magneton trainer, Naoto.
As Hakuya flipped through the pages, he suddenly noticed Mai leaning next to him. He flipped the page back to the one he had just seen.
"This Hiroshi seems to be the same guy from earlier..."
Originally uncertain, Mai leaned forward to look at Hiroshi, who had finished his battle and was waving toward the stands. She confirmed that it was indeed him.
Luther, who had been yawning with his back turned, was suddenly wide awake. He stood up, came over to Hakuya, and looked down at the information.
Eighteen years old, graduate of the local Pokémon Academy in Whitewind Town, solid fundamentals as an academy-trained Trainer turned traveling Trainer, scheduled to start traveling this spring, complete Gym Battles quickly, and participate in this year's Lily of the Valley Conference.
"Mai, cover your ears for now, and go play cards with Junna. I have a matter to discuss with Hakuya."
Mai responded with an "Oh" and covered her ears as she sat back down.
Hakuya quickly sketched something and held it up for Luther to see.
"Calm down, calm down. We're here to evaluate the rookies."
Luther nodded. "Do I look angry? I just think that talented people deserve a battle where everyone gives their all."
"Didn't I say that before? These rookie-evaluation battles are the perfect place to temper a rookie's pride. I'm faithfully performing the duty you assigned me."
"He's still young!"
Perhaps thinking a single exclamation point wasn't enough, Hakuya added a few more.
"Academy-trained, studied all these years, already eighteen, older than Mai...and still 'young'? That's a joke! If he becomes the Rookie King, then I'll act as if nothing happened. Just give it your all. But if he's the Rookie with the most potential...hehe..."
"I suddenly feel like he's incredibly unlucky to run into your outrage."
"What do you mean? Did I turn into a Dragon-type Pokémon?" If he had approached me normally, I wouldn't have cared. I still believe in the idea that a lady should seek out a gentleman. But he kept following me and trying to block me. If it were Junna, would you just let it happen?"
Hakuya shook his head. "Whitewind Gym is responsible for ensuring the personal safety of its staff. As the gym leader, I naturally have to ensure Junna's safety, so I wouldn't allow it. By the way, where does the phrase 'a fair lady seeks a gentleman' come from? Sounds very poetic."
"Can I claim I made it up myself? Also, why didn't I know you could speak so beautifully?" Luther decided he needed to reevaluate Hakuya.
The way Hakuya and Luther communicated—one writing, the other speaking—attracted the attention of those around them. Seeing the smiles on their faces, people assumed they were showing special admiration for someone. Coupled with the two sets of data they had just taken...
News that Hakuya and Luther favored Hiroshi and Naoto spread quickly.
Hiroshi only learned of this while sitting in the lounge after reaching the semifinals.
He felt nothing in particular about the news. In his view, being favored by Hakuya meant simply being appreciated by a Gym Leader. His goal was to face Sinnoh's Elite Four and the Champion directly. The admiration of an ordinary Gym Leader didn't matter.
How strong could a regional Gym Leader really be?
According to the new classification system used by the Pokémon League, Whitewind Gym was just a second-tier gym, not even a core gym.
Cynthia traveled for two years and became a Champion. Why couldn't he? If he gave himself two years, he could do it too.
He hadn't left on his journey yet, but he already had six fully trained Pokémon. Each was carefully prepared to cover the team's weaknesses, and their strategies were coordinated accordingly.
By the time he reached this Gym, he had already cleared three Gyms effortlessly. The reason he waited until now to start traveling was only to obtain this easily achievable victory.
This win would allow his reputation to grow quickly. Otherwise, he could have started his training journey anytime.
(End of Chapter)
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