Because there were quite a lot of participants, and none of them were weak, the tournant progressed much slower than your typical League competition.
After his first match, Johan had the rest of the day off, so he went to watch others compete.
On the battlefield, Cynthia stood with one hand on her hip, cool and confident. She made a gentle sweep of her hand and declared:
"Roserade, Solar Beam!"
Roserade raised its red and purple blooms, gathering blazing golden sunlight into a brilliant beam.
BOOM!!
The sun-like blast tore through the opponent's defenses, engulfing the Feraligatr and ending the match in a flash.
"Winner: Cynthia!"
The referee waved the flag.
Cheers erupted across the stadium as Cynthia gave a smile in response.
"Cynthia!!"
"I'll always love Lady Shirona!!"
"Cabbage Queen, you're my queen!"
The roars ca not just from the guys—there were plenty of fangirls, too. Johan was once again reminded of Cynthia's terrifyingly universal appeal.
Just like him, Cynthia swept her match without losing a single Pokémon.
Even among masters, there were levels.
Then Johan and Cynthia went to watch Steven's match, Lance's match—no surprises there either.
Later, at the contestant village, in Johan's lodgings—
"Darn it, I want to battle too!!" Flint shouted with frustration, his afro bouncing.
Because of the number of contestants, so had a bye round—and Flint was one of them.
Johan could only respond, "So fools have all the luck."
He wouldn't have minded a bye himself. One less match ant less risk and more prize money.
"looo~ looo~~"
In the corner, loetta was playing with Yoji, laughter like chis filling the room.
The shy loetta had gotten much braver after spending ti with everyone. Even with a room full of people and Pokémon, she wasn't as withdrawn anymore.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
On the sofa, Cynthia glanced up from reading Iris' new novel and smiled.
"Gengar, get the door."
"Ka-kaah~∠(°ゝ°)"
Gengar really listened to Cynthia now.
While Johan was brushing Ninetales' fur, he glanced over to see—
"Garrr!!"
Garchomp shot him a glare.
You lookin' at ? Wanna boss around?
Johan quickly looked away, not ssing with that queen shark.
As expected, Gengar didn't just open the door. It first phased halfway through it, peeking out to make sure it wasn't soone shady—just like Johan taught it.
"Aahh! A ghost!!"
Ca a startled cry from outside.
The visitor was a young man with short blue hair, wearing a traditional gray and white outfit—none other than Lary, guardian of loetta, and nearly the one who had started a battle with Gengar back when they first t.
The Lary Clan was a remote tribe in Unova, dedicated for generations to guarding loetta and the Seaside Ruins.
When loetta disappeared, the whole tribe was alard.
As one of her closest protectors, Lary had been sent to find her, worrying she'd been kidnapped—especially since loetta was tied to the ruins and Unova's security.
His Golurk could detect air vibrations to sense loetta's direction, and so he'd chased her trail from Undella Town all the way to Castelia City.
Golurk's legs even shot flas like boosters—despite being Ground/Ghost-type, it could fly.
Johan and his team had seen this back in the ancient city.
And now Lary was seeing Johan. Cynthia. Steven. And then—
"looo~"
loetta fluttered around Johan lovingly, perching on his shoulder and swinging her legs.
Clearly, she was close to him.
Lary was stunned.
Even he, loetta's guardian, didn't share that kind of bond. Why did she trust Johan so much?
"loo~ loo~~"
loetta tilted her head thoughtfully, recognizing Lary.
"Looks like he's here for you, loetta."
At first, Johan didn't rember who the guy was, but loetta's reaction jogged his mory.
Right—he was from that "Hurricane Plan" arc in the source material.
A so-called "guardian," sworn to protect loetta.
"Teacher Johan, I am Lary, guardian of loetta," he introduced himself.
He hesitated, then added, "I hope you understand, loetta is tied to ancient legends and Unova's safety. I'm here to bring her back."
"Hold on." Johan raised a hand.
"You should ask loetta that. Not ."
He always let his Pokémon choose for themselves.
So loved battling, so didn't—and that was fine either way.
Asking him was pointless—loetta's choice was hers alone.
He turned to the little one on his shoulder.
"lo! lo!"
loetta instantly hugged Johan's neck, shaking her head like a rattle.
No! She absolutely did not want to go back.
If she had, she wouldn't have run off in the first place.
Lary looked troubled but tried again.
"Please, loetta—return with . We're worried about you. We even prepared a feast of Berries!"
He played his trump card.
Normally, that might've worked, but now?
"lo!"
Flat-out rejection.
Lary was stunned—his ultimate move had failed?
Johan understood, though.
If berries were the trump card, then his arsenal of Pokéblocks, macarons, poffins, ice cream, cotton candy, and cream cakes must be... forbidden techniques?
"Lary, since she doesn't want to go, why not let her stay a while longer?" Johan cradled loetta.
Maybe back in the day, the tribe truly existed to protect her.
But now? It felt more like they were confining her.
She could leave if she wanted—but they insisted on dragging her back?
That wasn't okay.
"But... it concerns Unova's safety—"
"Oh, relax already," Flint jumped in. "This is Teacher Johan we're talking about!"
Johan facepald.
Why did everything sound ridiculous when Flint said it?
Was he about to start the rumor that Johan solo'd Kyurem?
Still... it worked.
Lary stared at Johan in disbelief.
Solo Kyurem?!
"Ahem." Johan quickly coughed to cut off Flint's boasting.
"Lary, in the end, we must respect the will of the Pokémon. Right?"
Lary opened his mouth, then finally said, "Yes."
"And besides," Flint added, "if anything really threatens Unova, we've got it covered!"
Johan glared.
Was he seriously jinxing them like that?
"Ka-kaah!" Gengar imdiately dragged Flint away.
Poison that mouth shut already!
"lo~" loetta clung tightly to Johan.
Lary looked from her to Johan, then to Cynthia and Steven.
Yeah... these people were way stronger than anyone in his tribe.
And Flint said he'd take responsibility.
That settled it.
Lary bowed slightly. "Then I'll return and inform the elders. Please, take care of Lady loetta for now."
Johan looked to loetta—again, the choice was hers.
She bead, floating behind him with a determined nod.
"looo!"
"I understand," Lary said. "Then I leave her in your care. But if anything happens—"
"He's got it," Johan pointed at Flint.
"Hah?!"
Lary left on his Golurk.
And loetta stayed.
Johan didn't mind—whenever she wanted to leave, she could, just like w or Marsha.
A Pokémon's will can be influenced, but never overridden.
Though... if loetta leaves Unova, would the three Forces of Nature act up?
Let's hope not.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Out in the yard, Tinkaton was hamring away diligently.
Even after a full match, she was brimming with energy, addicted to blacksmithing.
Johan raised an eyebrow.
"Tinkaton, where are you getting all that tal from?"
She'd been hamring nonstop since Undella Town.
Johan had stocked a fair amount of tal, but not that much.
Was he gonna need to order more? That'd cost a fortune...
Yet sohow, she never ran out.
"Cha..."
Tinkaton wiped sweat from her brow, glancing sheepishly at Gengar.
"Ka-kaah?"
Gengar flinched, then grinned nervously.
Under Johan's scrutinizing gaze, Gengar reluctantly reached into its mouth—and pulled out a weirdly-shaped chunk of tal.
Huh?
Johan squinted.
"Where did you steal that from?"
That was clearly from sothing—not raw ore.
"Ka-kaah~ Ka-kaah~~"
Gengar explained via dramatic charades, and Johan got it.
"You're saying... this is from the Plasma Frigate?!"
Wasn't that thing tossed into the Distortion World? It was supposed to explode.
Johan hadn't figured out how to explain that to Giratina yet.
"You got this from Giratina?!"
"Ka-kaah!" Gengar bead, arms akimbo.
Yep! Praise !
Apparently, the Plasma Frigate didn't explode—Giratina snuffed the fire out.
Then Gengar had approached Giratina, asking if they could salvage it.
That giant ship? Could be worth big bucks!
Too bad it was trashed beyond repair—huge gaping holes, unusable.
Scrap tal.
So Gengar and Tinkaton struck a deal: in exchange for one box of Pokéblocks, they got the rights to scavenge it.
And now, Tinkaton had an endless supply of tal.
Wait.
One box of Pokéblocks for daily deliveries of Plasma Frigate scrap?
Johan's face turned strange.
owth's hamr may have fused a star inside. Tinkaton's hamr wasn't that extre... but if she was seriously forging the Frigate into it—
That was insane.
The Frigate wasn't even fully tal—part wood, other materials—but still.
Stuffing all that into her hamr? That was absurd.
Could she even do that?
tal can be compressed, but...
An entire battleship into one hamr?
According to Gengar and Tinkaton, they'd barely even started.
"Well... not bad."
At least he wouldn't have to worry about ordinary tal costs anymore.
Rare stuff, yes. Common stuff? Solved.
Johan opened his mouth, then settled on:
"Keep it up."
"Cha!!" Tinkaton pumped her fist.
"Ka-kaah~~" Gengar cheered her on.
Why was Gengar so invested?
Partly to help—but also because Tinkaton had promised to forge him a custom armor set from the leftovers!
"One more thing... if the Frigate wasn't fully destroyed, maybe... so of its internal data still remains?"
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Powerstones?
For 20 advance Chapters: /michaeltranslates
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