Yesterday, after comforting Willow, David belatedly realized that he, as the Trainer of an unknown Pokémon, was still in the middle of a whirlpool.
When he remembered this, and was about to make a quick escape, the area outside the arena was already swarming with media looking for a hot story.
It was a tearful situation; David, with no other choice, called his mother, who sent Gallade to Teleport him away, allowing him to successfully return home.
The Novice Cup matches were now temporarily on hold, giving the contestants a few days to rest and prepare.
The next round of matches would be moved to the main arena, and it wouldn't be the small-scale affair it was before; there would be no shortage of reporters, media, commentators, and guests, and the official channels would even livestream the upcoming matches online.
These few days would allow the hype to die down a bit, and his mother told him that the Imperial Capital Research Institute would hold a small press conference in these few days before the matches began, to disclose simple information about the little fox, such as its type.
While it would still attract attention, it wouldn't be as chaotic as it was now.
However, it must be said that even though it was only a competition between rookie Trainers, the Alliance still placed great importance on these future stars of Cloudspire.
The specifications for the quarterfinals and beyond, apart from some attention, were already being handled according to the standards of top-tier events.
After all, it was only the Novice Cup of Imperial City; other places would have similar competitions, so naturally, the attention it received could not compare to those large-scale national events.
Inside the training room, David lay on the sofa, with battle replays of the advanced contestants playing on the TV on the wall.
On the table in front of him were some documents, which contained detailed information about the contestants who had reached the quarterfinals.
Since opponents would be chosen by live lottery, he had to roughly look through all of them first.
The two little ones were there; the little fox curled up on his lap, watching the replays with him, while Riolu was exercising with two small dumbbells David had specially customized for it, grunting with effort.
However, judging by its perked-up ears and the glances it occasionally cast, the dog was quite envious of the Pokémon that could go on stage to compete, which was why it was training so diligently.
After roughly watching the replays of the other seven advanced contestants, it could be said that they posed little threat to the current little fox.
That guy who defeated the class monitor, Josiah, right? He seemed to be highly regarded by the outside world.
After all, he had a Dragon-type pseudo-legendary! Although it was almost relegated to competing with Goodra's regular form for the title of weakest Dragon-type pseudo-legendary, he prayed that the little fox wouldn't encounter him.
Although the current Jangmo-o was purely Dragon-type, its move pool already showed signs of being primarily Fighting-type.
Jangmo-o encountering the little fox, tsk tsk~, and this Christopher should be that chuunibyou guy he encountered during the preliminaries, right?
As for Gastly and Abra, they were nothing to fear.
Speaking of which, if he were to encounter the last remaining Umbreon, it might be a bit more troublesome.
It's worth noting that Umbreon evolves through friendship, and rookie Trainers have only been registered for about a month.
The friendship between Josephine and her Eevee must be quite exaggerated for it to evolve in such a short time.
Moreover, the Dark-type is indeed the little fox's only weakness.
A fully evolved Pokémon of a type that counters it can certainly be considered an opponent.
As for that...
"Gallade~"
Just as David was looking at the contestant list, strategizing in his mind, a familiar voice pulled his thoughts back to reality.
"Gallade, you're here!"
Hearing the familiar voice, David quickly turned his head to look, only to see the familiar green and white figure appear out of nowhere behind the sofa.
"Gallade Gallade~"
"Then I'll leave it to you today."
"Gallade!"
It turned out that after the little fox's identity was exposed yesterday, simply using Zorua's illusionary talent for disguise or creating simple illusions seemed like a waste.
A new idea suddenly came to him.
He remembered watching the Pokémon movie series, and that Phantom Master Zoroark had left a deep impression on him.
Manipulating incredibly realistic illusions and single-handedly fighting against The Three Legendary Beasts was incredibly cool!
It even made him believe Zoroark was a Legendary Pokémon when he was a child, before he ever played the games.
Moreover, Hisuian Form Zorua's abilities were not just simple illusions!
Hisuian Form Zorua could create incredible illusions and also absorb others' fear to convert into its own power.
This gave David an idea: if the little fox could learn Hypnosis, with its unimaginable mental strength, combined with its inherently realistic illusions, could it create an environment that would deeply trap enemies?
Furthermore, by manipulating environmental illusions to stimulate and torment the opponent's mind, causing them to feel fear, it could not only exhaust the opponent's stamina but also provide a meal for the little fox, killing two birds with one stone.
To be honest, absorbing fear to increase power, while seemingly a bit evil, didn't seem like a big deal among Ghost-type Pokémon, who generally liked to absorb life energy.
After all, Misdreavus, also a Ghost-type Pokémon, seemed to have a similar ability.
This idea came to David from two famous illusionary techniques in anime from his previous life—Tsukuyomi and Kyoka Suigetsu.
These few days would be perfect for experimentation, and Gallade was the Hypnosis teacher he had hired for the little fox.
Although known as a noble Psychic warrior, among his mother's Pokémon, Gallade was more adept at using status moves like Hypnosis, with a more subtle tactical style.
Gardevoir, on the other hand, was more straightforward, a super cannon mage focused on firepower suppression, which was why he had invited Gallade to be the teacher.
Actually, the simplest way to utilize the unique characteristics of a Pokémon like Zorua is to have Zorua transform into another Pokémon and be the first to enter battle, creating an initial surprise attack, much like Gladion did against Ash in the Sun and Moon anime.
This can be quite deceptive in battle.
Of course, if you encounter a reverse-type master like Ash, who sends out Pikachu even when facing Lycanroc, then he wouldn't have said anything.
Unfortunately, David only had Zorua available for battle at this stage (Riolu had just started training), and the Novice Cup only used a 1-on-1 battle format.
If he wanted to try this, he would probably have to wait until the High School League.