"How is it, Class Monitor? Is Grovyle doing okay?"
Soon, everyone arrived at the temporary medical center and found Willow waiting outside the treatment room.
"It's fine. The doctor said the injury has been stabilized, and treatment is currently underway. They told me there's no need to worry too much."
Despite her reassuring words, Willow's expression still looked rather grim, clearly showing she was worried about Grovyle's condition.
The chubby boy beside her looked very displeased and muttered angrily, "Those guys from other schools hit way too hard! Damn it, they're not even from Imperial City, yet they all come here to compete. Isn't that just pure mercenary work? Do results achieved by hiring outside help even count? Doesn't the League do anything about this?"
"Alright, Miles, that's enough. They didn't actually break any rules. A Trainer's disputes should be settled on the battlefield."
David shook his head, stopping Miles from venting further, and turned to comfort Willow.
"Class Monitor, you and Grovyle performed really well in that match. Your opponent only had the advantage because of their level and type matchup. They probably came to Imperial City for the high school league anyway, so we'll have plenty of chances to face them again!"
"It's okay to lose this time. Once Grovyle breaks through to Veteran Rank, we'll just defeat them properly."
"Exactly! That's right. All these schools are bringing in outside help this year. When school starts, the administration will definitely put serious resources into supporting our own students for the league. Didn't they say there's a new principal coming? Let's make sure the school invests properly then."
Emma also joined in to comfort her. From her words, it was clear that, like David, she knew quite a bit of inside information.
"Mm!"
After repeated reassurances from David and Emma, Willow finally perked up. In truth, she wasn't a fragile person—it was just her first time seeing her Pokémon suffer such a severe injury, and she had panicked momentarily.
"Since they actively sought us out, they shouldn't blame me for what happens next!"
Seeing Willow recover her spirits, David breathed a sigh of relief. However, he wasn't as calm as he appeared on the surface. At this moment, he had secretly resolved that no matter who he faced in the subsequent matches, he would teach those guys a proper lesson.
Since his Zorua was already exposed, there was no need to hold back anymore. He would let them see just how terrifying his partner could be when fighting at full strength!
Perhaps it was within the rules for those trainers to participate in the Novice Cup, but David didn't particularly care about that. He was naturally protective of his own people, so whether it was reasonable or not didn't matter to him.
Since he had already decided to send them a warning, he would simply fight back directly. They shouldn't blame him for being too aggressive when the time came.
Just as he had told Miles earlier—what was the use of complaining? A Trainer's matters, in the end, still had to be resolved on the battlefield.
Just after David and his group left, the trainer named Josiah who had battled Willow also met up with his own group of people.
"Brother Josiah, have you heard? The outside help invited by Second High—that Layla from the Ice-type Yu Family—was completely defeated in the Top 16! Her opponent used a Pokémon no one had ever seen before, and apparently, it didn't even take much damage."
One of them spoke up first.
"Really? Layla lost?"
"No way! Isn't she Second High's ace player?"
Hearing this news, everyone started discussing excitedly. From their conversation, it was clear these people were all familiar with Layla.
Josiah frowned upon hearing this. He naturally knew who Layla was. Like him, she was also outside help recruited by these Imperial City schools, though her sponsoring school was different. One had to understand that these schools went to such great lengths not just to bring down First High.
To defeat the leader naturally means to become the leader yourself. So when they weren't facing First High, they were each other's biggest rivals. As early as when he came to Imperial City, his school had already provided him with profiles of players he needed to pay special attention to.
That Layla's strength was quite formidable. No—rather, because of type advantage, he probably wouldn't gain any edge against Layla, who came from an Ice-type specialist family. How could a player of this caliber fall in the Top 16?
"What happened exactly? Do you know who her opponent was?"
"The specific details aren't clear yet, but rumor has it that those two might have some kind of grudge. Someone heard audience members at the scene mention that at the start of the match, Layla was the one who actively approached her opponent and spoke provocatively."
That person was clearly well-prepared, having anticipated that Josiah would ask about this and had inquired beforehand.
"Oh, right."
Suddenly remembering something, Josiah pulled out his phone. Since the Top 8 roster had already been announced at the Trainer Camp, he could simply check who the qualified player from District D was.
Qualified Player from District A — Josiah, Pokémon Partner: Jangmo-o
Qualified Player from District B — Alice, Pokémon Partner: Abra
Qualified Player from District C — Christopher, Pokémon Partner: Elekid
Qualified Player from District D — David, Pokémon Partner: Zorua (Special Form from Unknown Region)
Qualified Player from District E — Walker, Pokémon Partner: Scyther
Qualified Player from District F — Leonardo, Pokémon Partner: Gastly
Qualified Player from District G — Josephine, Pokémon Partner: Umbreon
Qualified Player from District H — Emma, Pokémon Partner: Togepi
At that moment, the complete list of eight qualified players in the Trainer Camp had been announced. His gaze swept across it, and when he saw the name of the qualified player from District D, Josiah's eyes narrowed.
"David..."
He quietly spoke the name.
He had naturally heard this name before—it was on the list of key individuals to monitor from various schools.
Because ever since David caught his Pokémon, except for a period spent training in a Secret Realm and participating in the Novice Cup, he had always trained at his family's Gym and rarely battled publicly. No matter how powerful or well-connected these schools were, they couldn't extend their intelligence networks into his family's private Gym. So the information about him on the list was quite minimal.
Besides the note about catching a starter Pokémon, Zorua, there were only two brief lines: The eldest young master of the Dragon-specialized Chu Family, and the younger brother of the Dragon Queen, Aria.
And even that small amount of information—even the detail about Zorua—turned out to be inaccurate.
David himself would probably be extremely annoyed if he saw how he was described on that list. What kind of introduction was this? Just from reading it, anyone unfamiliar with him would think he was some idle, spoiled young master villain!
Although the description was very brief, Josiah found it impossible to dismiss. The Dragon-specialized Chu Family could be said to be one of the longest-standing Trainer families in the Cloudspire Alliance—and it was even debatable whether they needed the qualifier "one of." They were far beyond comparable to the Yu Family mentioned earlier.
Moreover, there had never been any talk of weak trainers among the Chu Family members throughout history. Combined with Aria's excellent reputation, it was genuinely difficult for anyone to overlook David's existence.
This was also why, even without detailed information about David, he was still placed on the schools' list of key individuals to monitor.
In fact, if it weren't for David's parents also being alumni of First High, other schools might not have given up on trying to recruit him. They probably estimated their chances were slim, and coupled with David's elusive behavior in recent days—not giving them many opportunities to approach him—they finally gave up.