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July 23rd.
Far East, Japan.
The summer heat caused waves of shimmering air to rise from the ground.
It wasn't even the hottest part of the season yet, but the temperature outside had already reached thirty degrees Celsius. Not just people, but even some Ice-type and Water-type Pokémon appeared sluggish and reluctant to venture outdoors.
Summer's only redeeming qualities were probably short sleeves, skirts, and sandals. As a result, girls would reveal the fine perspiration glistening on their smooth arms, thighs, toes, and the backs of their necks...
During this summer vacation when there was hardly any reason to go outside, one man was conducting rigorous training in the wilderness.
Like water being wrung from a soaked cloth, the man's sweat dripped steadily, moistening the soil beneath him.
Anyone who had watched the "European Youth Championship" a few months ago would definitely be able to recognize this man's identity.
Takeshi Aihara.
The adopted son of a Fighting-type Elite, and one of Japan's strongest new generation talents.
Takeshi Aihara, who was performing one-handed push-ups, suddenly spoke: "Emboar, you've returned."
As his voice faded, Emboar's figure slowly emerged from the forest. The flames surrounding it burned more intensely than they had a few months prior.
"Emboar," it rumbled, extending its hand forward.
In its palm, a flame materialized.
Unlike normal fire, although this flame was burning, it produced continuous roaring sounds, as if explosions were constantly occurring within it. The color was dark, and this flame appeared almost blood-red.
"Excellent work. You've mastered it..." Takeshi Aihara took a deep breath and suddenly retracted four fingers, using only his index finger to complete the push-up exercise.
Using five fingers was insufficient—the training efficiency was too low.
Gritting his teeth and persisting with the one-finger push-ups for three minutes, the intense pain in his index finger forced Takeshi Aihara to end that day's training session.
"Let me examine your condition."
At his trainer's request, Emboar had no objections and obediently turned around.
Please don't misunderstand.
Its body was quite large, and only in this position could Takeshi Aihara climb onto its back and get close to the burning ring of fire around its neck.
Emboar's ring of fire was the feature that best reflected its life condition.
Most trainers used vital signs to assess their Pokémon's status.
Scanning with aura power, like Roy did, was a technique exclusive to those with psychic abilities.
After careful inspection, Takeshi Aihara displayed a joyful expression.
Three months ago, when battling Roy, Emboar had only reached the S2 stage, while Toxicroak and Heracross were merely at the S1 stage. The rest of his main team Pokémon had failed to break through their limit values.
After returning to Japan, when his teacher—the Japanese Fighting-type Elite—learned that he had lost to a non-professional trainer, the Elite was furious and severely reprimanded him.
Furthermore, his teacher made him swear an oath.
"You must seek revenge! Reclaim the dignity and honor you lost as a trainer."
"Otherwise, you will never reach the highest realm in your lifetime."
Takeshi Aihara felt exactly the same way.
During those days, he dreamed repeatedly of himself and Emboar failing in battle.
That young man had become an inner demon on his path as both a martial artist and a trainer.
After returning to Japan, Takeshi Aihara began intensive training in seclusion.
Over the past two years, his experience and knowledge gained from traveling to various countries around the world, along with different breeding philosophies—he brought out all of his accumulated foundation.
Combined with the Fighting-type Elite's teachings and the infusion of top-tier resources, Takeshi Aihara, who was already a premier talent, underwent a complete transformation.
Just yesterday, Takeshi Aihara had passed the professional trainer assessment.
Indeed, all six of his main Pokémon had reached professional level.
Not only that, but all his Pokémon had grown to the S2 stage through this explosive development of his accumulated training.
Toxicroak and Heracross had reached the S3 stage.
His strongest Pokémon, Emboar, had not only reached the S3 stage with maxed-out ability values, but had also mastered a form of advanced energy.
Burst Flames.
This unique flame was only one step away from the standard line of "high energy."
A quasi-master level Pokémon.
Although there were only differences in ability values between the S1, S2, and S3 stages without any bottleneck periods, being able to improve so many statistics in such a short time meant that Takeshi Aihara and all his Pokémon had obviously undergone extremely intense training.
"With this strength, I can win..." Takeshi Aihara clenched his fists tightly, the flame of revenge burning in his heart.
The accumulation period was the first magnificent wall that trainers and Pokémon faced together.
Even geniuses could only overcome this barrier through the accumulation of time.
Whether it was him, Henry, or Caroline, they had all been stuck at this stage for two years.
The time when the "Twin Kings" of China truly surpassed their peers was also during their junior summer—which was Takeshi Aihara's current age.
With his present strength, even if Roy still possessed Z-Moves and high-level energy, it would be absolutely impossible for him to defeat someone now standing atop this wall.
"Roy, don't blame me for targeting you during your bottleneck period..." Takeshi Aihara murmured.
"I must defeat you and reclaim my dignity as a trainer."
"I will take back the honor of being Japan's strongest new generation talent."
Listening to his trainer's resolute words, Emboar nodded firmly.
Just then, footsteps approached.
Emboar sniffed the air and confirmed it was a disciple from the dojo, so it paid no further attention.
"Senior Brother Aihara," the disciple bowed respectfully and spoke softly. "Master asked me to tell you something..."
"The other side has agreed. Please prepare your luggage for the flight the day after tomorrow."
Takeshi Aihara's eyes lit up, his fighting spirit blazing.
"I understand."
The flight the day after tomorrow would take him to China.
As an "exchange student," he would join a school team that was about to compete in the national tournament.
In order to secure recognition from that school, his master, the Fighting-type Elite, had paid a considerable price.
All of this was to allow his disciple to overcome the inner demons plaguing his heart.
His teacher's kindness was immense.
France, Paris.
The disaster that had befallen the Tree of Beginning's spiritual domain extended from Paris all the way to neighboring Berlin, causing extremely serious damage.
However, in today's world where technology had developed along unique paths, only three months had passed before the disaster region had returned to its previous appearance.
Except for the strictly controlled "space node" that led to the Tree of Beginning's spiritual domain, everything appeared the same as before.
Paris was also in the northern hemisphere, and its climate wasn't much different from China's or Japan's.
In the scorching summer heat, even Zenia, who loved dresses so much, would never wear them during the day.
Wearing a dress in the middle of summer? That would be crazy.
In the villa's garden, Zenia sat beneath a parasol, sipping frozen juice.
She wore a white dress with long, golden wavy hair cascading down. The most eye-catching feature was her smooth, slender legs beneath the skirt.
Alone at home, she was in a relaxed mood, displaying a dull expression completely different from her usual noble and glamorous demeanor.
Unfortunately, with no one else in the villa, no one could appreciate this scene.
Zenia casually logged into her YouTube account, clicked on her favorites, and looked at the top video.
The video's title read: "Miss Zenia's first defeat in competition—she actually cried!"
Seeing that the video had gained 500,000 more views compared to yesterday, Zenia gritted her teeth angrily, causing her straw to emit distressed sounds.
Especially after seeing comments like "Welcome back," "I'm watching a beautiful girl cry again!" "Third viewing," and "Once a day, happiness returns!" in the comment section, she became increasingly frustrated.
"Don't these people ever get tired of watching the same video every day?"
This video had already reached one billion views.
These repeat viewers had contributed significantly to that number.
This feeling of social death in front of hundreds of millions of people had made Zenia consider never leaving her home again during the first few days.
Even after three months, every time she saw this video, she couldn't help but feel ashamed and indignant.
But people were like this—as long as they didn't pay attention to it, it would be fine, yet she had chosen to bookmark this video and kept watching it.
Zenia displayed a tired expression as if saying "Please, just end my suffering!" and collapsed onto the table.
After lying there for three minutes, ending her daily mental torture, Zenia sat up calmly and clicked on an app icon that resembled a penguin on her desktop.
She entered a group chat with movements more practiced than watching her own social death video.
Seeing the Chinese text on the screen, Zenia frowned in distress and activated the one-click translation function.
She had tried to learn Chinese.
However, the usually intelligent young lady was shocked to discover that this language was more difficult to learn than trainer knowledge.
She had to rely on technology for now.
After the one-click translation, the group chat's name became visible.
"Chirp~~ Roy Fan Club~~"
Zenia typed quickly with her fingers and sent a message.
Zenia Reginald: "Wah, Roy has disappeared for almost four months. Without any news from him, I'm going to die."
Call Daily: "Miss, could you change your username?"
Zenia Reginald: "Why should I change it?"
Call Daily: "I know you're a foreigner and your family is wealthy, but using that crying Miss Zenia as your screen name is too inappropriate. She must hate Roy to the core."
Must Raise Alolan Ninetales in College: "That's right. Aren't you afraid of being held accountable for name rights by that person? I remember you foreigners also pay attention to that."
Zenia Reginald: "Don't worry, there won't be any accountability."
Zenia Reginald: "I want to know when there will be news about Roy more than anything else."
Must Raise Alolan Ninetales in College: "Who knows, but there will be a national competition in August."
Zenia put down her phone, showing a thoughtful expression.
It seemed she had nothing else to do.
July 30th.
At the end of July, a piece of news suddenly hit the headlines of major media outlets in China, causing widespread shock.
Henry had grasped the final opportunity of his four university years and passed the master certification.
This set a new historical record for China.
He had become a master trainer before graduating from university.
Even Caroline, who had become a Psychic-type Elite, hadn't been able to achieve this feat. She had officially passed the master certification only shortly after graduation.
Originally, because Roy had demonstrated professional-level strength in the European Junior Championships, audiences who felt there was still suspense in the upcoming national competition were suddenly stunned.
A master trainer appearing in a college student competition...
This was a complete dimensional advantage.