After leaving Silph Co., Gu Yuan began preparing supplies for his next journey.
The things he told Michael earlier were not just polite words.
In Saffron City, Gu Yuan had found many shops selling industrialized food, mass-produced meals like instant noodles.
He hadn't stocked up before because there wasn't much variety available in those locations. He thought he'd get bored eating the same thing too often, so he gave up the idea.
But in Saffron City, not only were there many options, each had multiple flavors. That was enough for Gu Yuan to eat comfortably for a long time.
Feeling indulgent, Gu Yuan experienced the joy of being rich and bought out several shelves at once.
Fortunately, he had his space backpack. Otherwise, he would have been traveling with a mountain of packages.
With food settled, everything else had already been prepared before arriving in Saffron City.
Back at his hotel, Gu Yuan had Charizard learn Swords Dance, and Kadabra learn Nasty Plot. Then he patiently trained both of them.
The reason for his calm attitude was simple. He was giving Reima Mizutani enough time to plan his move.
Unlike other trainers, Gu Yuan's way of becoming stronger was straightforward: defeat or hunt powerful opponents.
With the points he had accumulated from the elimination tournament, Gu Yuan had already raised Charizard's Swords Dance and Kadabra's Nasty Plot to Intermediate level.
If he wanted to go further, he would need to see how many people Reima could gather.
***
At the Mizutani estate, when Reima heard from his spies that Gu Yuan was still leisurely staying in Saffron City, his rage burned hotter.
The reason was simple. He thought that Gu Yuan, a lowborn commoner, was looking down on him, the heir of the Mizutani family.
Enraged, Reima no longer hesitated. He began mobilizing his funds and connections to arrange Gu Yuan's assassination.
He believed he was being discreet. But his father, Takashi Mizutani, already knew everything.
Yet Takashi did not stop him.
In truth, Takashi wanted to use this incident to see how far his son could go, to test if he had the qualities of an heir.
As for Gu Yuan's life or death, Takashi didn't care at all.
Like his son, he despised Gu Yuan's kind, trainers with no background.
Even though Gu Yuan was a League-affiliated trainer, Takashi saw him as no different from the rest.
***
Three days after the tournament ended, Gu Yuan finally left Saffron City with Sylveon.
As he stepped out of the city limits, he wondered what Reima had managed to prepare in all this time.
Not long after leaving Saffron City, he noticed several people secretly tailing him. Their tracking skills, however, were clumsy.
This made Gu Yuan smile.
He wasn't mocking them. He was mocking Reima's crude plan.
Hire a few people to follow him openly, hoping to put pressure on him, forcing him to make a mistake, whether he chose to fight or flee, then use that opening to launch a hidden strike.
That might work on an ordinary trainer. After all, even if you saw through a plan, you might not have the strength to resist.
But Gu Yuan was not an ordinary trainer. Using such tactics on him would only backfire.
After confirming their positions, Gu Yuan didn't act right away. Instead, he led them into a forest.
To avoid being ambushed by wild Pokémon, those men released their Pokémon to stand guard, making it even easier for Gu Yuan to locate them.
"Charizard, use Swords Dance."
"Kadabra, use Nasty Plot."
To better handle the fight ahead, Gu Yuan first had them boost their power.
The pursuers soon realized they'd been discovered and charged forward openly.
The distance between them closed quickly, but by then, Charizard and Kadabra had already used their moves twice.
"Kadabra, use Teleport!"
Just as the enemies were about to reach them, Kadabra used Teleport, taking Gu Yuan with it.
"What happened?"
Seeing his Houndoom suddenly stop, Willy turned to ask its trainer.
"I don't know what the enemy did, but Houndoom can't pick up any scent."
The moment he finished speaking, he vanished, replaced by Kadabra, who immediately used Psychic!
At such close range, only the Pokémon had time to react.
But there wasn't much they could do except block Kadabra's attack with their bodies.
Then Gu Yuan used another Teleport, swapping Charizard into position.
Taking advantage of the brief window where the enemy Pokémon couldn't strike, Charizard unleashed Dragon Rush.
Enhanced by two Swords Dance, it looked like a real dragon descending from the sky. The resulting explosion consumed the entire area.
In a flash, three of the five attackers were down, leaving only Willy and a man named Yota, who had stayed further back.
Willy struggled to stand and instinctively tried to release all his Pokémon, but Kadabra's psychic power restrained him. Yota was trapped too.
After two boosts from Nasty Plot, Kadabra's power was terrifying. The two couldn't break free at all.
Charizard wasn't idle either. Its claws glowed white as it used Dragon Claw, slamming into the Pokémon that had survived Dragon Rush, ensuring they couldn't fight back.
Gu Yuan stepped out from hiding, collected their Poké Balls, and took all the valuable items from their bodies.
After glancing at Willy and Yota, he decided not to bother questioning them and simply gestured for Kadabra to finish them off.
At that moment, the system detected several Senior Rank Pokémon approaching.
"Kadabra, use Teleport!"
In an instant, Kadabra teleported them away.
Not far away, Gu Yuan had Charizard and Kadabra use Swords Dance and Nasty Plot again while he used the system to locate the others.
"It's only been a few minutes since Willy sent his message," a man named Seiji muttered, staring at the corpses.
As another member of the Mizutani family, Seiji knew Willy's strength well.
That made Gu Yuan's power all the more terrifying.
And worse, his instincts told him that Gu Yuan hadn't gone far. He was still nearby, waiting for the perfect moment to strike again.