Recaps

Roy and Sheng Hai University learned that their opening National University League match would be against rival Jinling University, then prepared to compete before a huge audience. As the tournament began, Roy’s team headed for the arena, where Fang Hang asked who would enter the first individual match.

• Fang Hang told Roy that Sheng Hai University’s first match was against Jinling University, prompting the team to complain that organizers had paired them as opening-match bait again.
• Fang Hang distributed intelligence reports on Jinling University after the team checked into its hotel, and Roy prepared for the televised tournament with his Pokémon.
• Roy Hao arrived at Sheng Hai Arena with Lin Liming, Dragon Country’s retired second-generation Champion, and praised Roy as a promising young Trainer.
• Chen Xudong announced the start of the National University League Winter Tournament before a packed arena.
• Fang Hang brought the roster to the contestants’ room and asked who would take the first individual match under the tournament’s sudden-death rules.

Roy opened Sheng Hai University’s deathmatch against Jinling University with Electabuzz, facing Chang Hui’s ace Quilava. The battle left both Pokémon badly injured as they repeatedly clashed head-on, with neither backing down.

• Roy volunteered to start for Sheng Hai University, and the roster listed him third, followed by Yang Bowen, Fang Hang, and the remaining teammates.
• Roy and Chang Hui were announced as the opening competitors, and both sent out their Pokémon: Electabuzz and Quilava.
• Chang Hui ordered Quilava to use Flame Charge, but Roy’s Electabuzz met it with Lightning Armor and Brick Break, producing a powerful explosion that injured both Pokémon.
• Quilava charged again, and Electabuzz met it with Brick Break before Quilava bit its right arm with Fire Fang.
• Electabuzz countered with Mega Punch and sent Quilava flying, but Quilava charged back into another head-on clash.

Roy’s Electabuzz survived Quilava’s self-sacrificial attack and defeated Chang Hui’s Rapidash without being recalled. It remained on the field, badly injured but still ready to fight.

• Mo Xuexin and Fang Hang noticed that Electabuzz’s lightning grew stronger as it clashed with Quilava’s flames, while Chang Hui struggled to understand the power.
• Chang Hui ordered Quilava to use Burn Out for a mutual-destruction attack, and Roy commanded Electabuzz to endure the resulting explosion.
• Electabuzz survived the blast, prompting the crowd to cheer as Chang Hui recalled Quilava and sent out Rapidash.
• Roy kept Electabuzz in the battle, and it endured Rapidash’s Flame Wheel before grabbing it and striking it down with enhanced lightning.
• The referee declared Rapidash unable to battle, and Chang Hui’s hand trembled as he prepared to send out his next Pokémon.

Roy’s exhausted Electabuzz defeated Chang Hui’s Kingler with Bolt Strike, completing an astonishing one-versus-three before being sent for treatment. Roy continued the match with Mimikyu, whose appearance startled Yang Shuo and the crowd.

• Chang Hui’s Kingler froze Electabuzz with Ice Beam, but Electabuzz rose again as its injuries began to heal.
• Roy ordered Bolt Strike, and Electabuzz defeated Kingler in a simultaneous collapse before Roy sent it to the treatment chamber.
• Roy chose to continue, and Yang Shuo took Chang Hui’s place after his teammates joked with him.
• Yang Shuo sent out Snorlax, while Roy introduced the unfamiliar Mimikyu to the astonished crowd.
• Mimikyu panicked under the audience’s attention, but Roy’s Aura reassured it.

Roy’s Mimikyu defeated Yang Shuo’s Snorlax by exploiting its Ghost-type immunity and concealing its true attributes behind layers of misdirection. The chapter ended with Yang Shuo frustrated by the information gap and Roy praised for his deceptive strategy.

• Mimikyu’s Overlord aura surged after Roy warned that losing would mean her disguise was peeled off.
• Snorlax’s Mega Punch and repeated Thrash attacks failed to harm Mimikyu, while her Draining Kiss drained its life force.
• Yang Shuo ordered Snorlax to use Hyper Beam, but Mimikyu emerged unharmed from the blast.
• Roy commanded Play Rough before Snorlax could use Crunch, and Mimikyu knocked Snorlax out.
• The spectators realized Mimikyu was a Ghost-type Pokémon, and Roy Hao and Elder Lin discussed Roy’s layers of misdirection.
• Yang Shuo recalled Snorlax, frustrated that Roy’s concealed information had made his strategy ineffective.

Roy’s Mimikyu defeated Yang Shuo’s Aggron by controlling it with Shadow Claw and Curse, then letting Aggron’s ultimate attack destroy only its Disguise. Yang Shuo sent out Nidoking next, while Roy kept Mimikyu on the field.

• Yang Shuo sent out his A+ rank Aggron, and Roy’s Mimikyu turned aside its Heavy Slam with Shadow Claw.
• Mimikyu restrained Aggron with ghostly claws and used three Substitutes to inflict Curse, prompting Yang Shuo to command Outrage.
• Aggron broke the Substitutes and charged Mimikyu with Double-Edge, but its attack struck only Mimikyu’s Disguise.
• Mimikyu emerged uninjured and shattered Aggron’s skull with Shadow Claw, leaving it in a Near-Death State.
• Yang Shuo sent out Nidoking, while Roy chose to keep Mimikyu in the battle.

Roy's Mimikyu used Destiny Bond to knock out Yang Shuo's Nidoking, leaving Roy one opponent away from sweeping Jinling University. Yue Lun sent out a Lucario that turned out to be Roy's Lucario's older brother, and their battle began with Yue Lun revealing that he had chosen the third position specifically to face Roy.

• Yang Shuo ordered Nidoking to use Sludge Wave, but Roy had Mimikyu endure the attack and use Destiny Bond, causing both Pokémon to faint.
• Fang Hang praised Roy's decisive move as spectators realized he was attempting a three-for-one sweep, while Jinling University's teammates worried about becoming a notorious example.
• Yue Lun took the third position under pressure, and Roy Hao recognized him as the descendant of an old friend who had received one of Bedrock's Pokémon.
• Yue Lun and Roy each sent out a Lucario, and Roy's Lucario recognized Yue Lun's as its older brother.
• The two Lucario exchanged fast, evenly matched martial arts attacks, while Yue Lun told Roy that he had chosen the third position to target him.

Roy and Lucario crushed Yue Lun’s team in their debut match, with Lucario defeating Panshi using Aura Fist and an enormous Aura Sphere. Roy left the field after the victory, and his performance made him the focus of the tournament and strengthened the belief that he was a once-in-a-generation talent.

• Yue Lun bragged that Panshi had more talent and training experience than Lucario, but Roy asked whether that was all they had.
• Lucario used Aura Fist to strike Panshi and send him flying, leaving Panshi stunned that his younger brother had mastered their father’s ultimate technique.
• Roy fused his Aura with Lucario’s, and Lucario unleashed a massive Aura Sphere that knocked Panshi unconscious.
• Lucario defeated Yue Lun’s Machamp and Medicham as well, completing a one-versus-three victory for Roy.
• Roy recalled Lucario while he still had strength left, and footage of the match spread rapidly across the internet.
• Roy returned to a jubilant welcome from Yang Bowen, the chubby brothers, and Mo Xuexin, while observers compared his debut to those of Lin Xingchen and Xiao Muyi.

After his victory over Jinling University, Roy collected the Popularity Points earned by his Pokémon and investigated the power Electabuzz had displayed in battle. Electabuzz revealed a new state that converted mental energy into life energy, while Chen Haitian renewed his efforts to help the experimental Pokémon.

• Roy watched Yang Bowen lose to Jinling University's captain, then Mo Xuexin narrowly won her match and secured Sheng Hai University's individual victory.
• Chen Haitian watched Electabuzz's battle on television, felt grateful that Roy had taken it in, and resolved to keep trying to extend the lives of the experimental Pokémon.
• Roy checked the System panel and found that his Pokémon had gained 18 million Popularity Points, with Electabuzz earning the most.
• Roy summoned Electabuzz and asked about the new state it had entered during battle, but Electabuzz said it did not know how it had gained the power.
• Roy asked Electabuzz to enter the state again and used Aura Power to scan it as its wound rapidly healed, detecting that its mental energy had transformed into life energy.

Roy named Electabuzz’s willpower-driven fighting state Battle Continuation, then used a Perfect Ice Stone to evolve Vulpix into Alolan Ninetales. Her evolution greatly enhanced her Ice-type abilities, and Roy prepared to test his Aura team with Ninetales at its core in the evening battle.

• Roy concluded that Electabuzz could keep fighting by converting Inner Focus into vitality and named the state Battle Continuation.
• Roy exchanged ten million points for a Perfect Ice Stone and used it to evolve Vulpix into Alolan Ninetales.
• Ninetales’s striking evolution drew a crowd, and Roy brought her back to the lounge to check her new abilities.
• Roy saw that Ninetales’s Ice-type moves and overall evaluation had risen, and chose her to lead his Aura team alongside Lucario and Squirtle.
• At six in the evening, Sheng Hai Arena lit up as Roy’s team prepared for its battle.

Roy led Sheng Hai University against Jinling University’s Amanla, whose Burning Forest tactic trapped Lucario and threatened Ninetales. Roy’s team used the Aura system to empower Squirtle and redirect an Aura Sphere toward Talonflame.

• The match lineup revealed Roy as Sheng Hai University’s lead and Amanla as Jinling University’s lead, and Roy recognized her Blaziken, Talonflame, and Trevenant.
• Amanla’s Trevenant and Blaziken created the Burning Forest while Talonflame kept Lucario from reaching them.
• The Burning Forest threatened Ninetales, but Roy ordered Squirtle to use Torrent, and Aura boosted its Hydro Pump enough to push back the burning tendrils.
• Roy called for Fusion Aura Sphere, and Ninetales lent Aura to Squirtle’s attack as it launched toward Talonflame.
• When Amanla redirected the burning tendrils to intercept the Aura Sphere, Lucario took control through the Aura Network and guided it around them toward Talonflame.

Roy’s Ninetales created an Ice Field that froze Amanla’s team and overwhelmed it with a devastating Aurora Beam. Roy then continued against Chang Hui, whose fire-heavy team struggled under the field’s effects and was rapidly defeated through Lucario and Squirtle’s coordination.

• Lucario defeated Amanla’s Talonflame after an Aura Sphere left it vulnerable to a barrage of Thunder Punches.
• Ninetales formed an Ice Field and froze Trevenant and Blaziken with an amplified Aurora Beam, defeating Amanla’s team.
• Fang Hang explained that Ninetales’s Ice Field fused Snow Warning with Blizzard and Hail, while Roy chose to continue battling.
• Chang Hui sent out Quilava, Rapidash, and Kingler, whose movement and firepower were weakened by the Ice Field.
• Squirtle struck Quilava with Hydro Pump, allowing Lucario to follow up with Power-Up Punches and defeat it.
• Lucario took down Rapidash with Close Combat, while Ninetales froze Kingler’s claw, leaving Chang Hui’s team badly beaten.

Sheng Hai University crushed several major rivals as Roy and his Pokémon became nationally famous, earning Roy the nickname Demon King. With his Popularity Points nearly at 118 million, Roy asked to be placed in the final slot for upcoming matches so he could focus on training.

• Sheng Hai University eliminated Jinling University while losing only one player, and Roy’s performance sparked widespread attention for him and his Pokémon.
• Roy swept four opponents in the individual battle against Pingjiang University of Technology, then used Ice Field to wipe out its entire team, earning the nickname Demon King.
• Sheng Hai University defeated Tongji University in both events, prompting fans and rival regions to discuss the team’s championship potential and Roy’s future.
• Roy asked Fang Hang to place him in the final slot for upcoming matches, explaining that he found his victories too easy; Fang Hang agreed but warned him to stay ready for strong rivals.
• Roy checked his System panel and saw that his total Popularity Points had reached 117.89 million.

Roy exchanged 50 million points for a Z-Ring and began preparing to learn Z-Moves, keeping Mega Evolution concealed until he became strong enough to reveal it. After releasing his Pokémon, he discovered Squirtle had secretly evolved into Blastoise, whose new strength and defensive role reshaped the team's training plans.

• Roy decided that Mega Evolution was too conspicuous to reveal yet and exchanged 50 million points for a Z-Ring, embedding a Psychic Z-Crystal in it.
• Roy released his Pokémon and was shocked to find that Squirtle had secretly evolved into Blastoise.
• Roy learned that Blastoise had used Aura Power to activate its Torrent state and assessed how its evolution had greatly strengthened its defenses.
• Roy told Blastoise to protect Ninetales and bought Master Level Move Disks for Iron Defense and Light Screen.
• Lucario, Ninetales, and Electabuzz sensed power in the Z-Ring, so Roy explained Z-Moves to the team, exciting Lucario with the prospect of a powerful attack.

Roy prepared to test a new Psychic-type Z-Move with Ninetales and arranged for a Professional-level Clefable to visit. Dragonite arrived with Clefable at Roy’s villa, where Roy welcomed them with food.

• Roy told Lucario that Ninetales would test the Z-Move because her Inner Focus was strongest, and he arranged to borrow Clefable as a suitable opponent.
• Roy Hao confirmed that Clefable agreed to visit Roy’s villa at seven that evening.
• Roy practiced the Z-Move’s full-power pose, then figured out how to use Psychic power instead of dancing in public.
• Roy withheld Electabuzz’s dinner as extra-training motivation, but relented and let it eat after seeing its disappointment.
• Clefable and Dragonite arrived at Roy’s villa, and Roy served them Energy Cubes suited to their tastes.

Roy arranged for Dragonite to take Electabuzz to Dragon’s Lair, where it could face genuine danger and push toward evolution while Dragonite secretly protected it. After Electabuzz departed for the agreed twenty-day training period, Roy checked on Blastoise’s progress and reunited with Su Yan at the Shenghai Pokémon Center.

• Roy persuaded Dragonite with Energy Cubes to take Electabuzz to Dragon’s Lair and secretly ensure its safety while it believed its life was at risk.
• Roy warned Electabuzz about Dragon’s Lair, and Electabuzz eagerly chose to go so it could grow stronger and protect its new family.
• Electabuzz took Vitality Blocks and Advanced Healing Medicine, then left with Dragonite after Roy reminded it to return by March 2.
• Roy comforted Blastoise about Electabuzz’s absence and asked how its Iron Defense and Light Screen training was progressing.
• Roy visited the Shenghai Pokémon Center the next day and reunited with Su Yan, who marveled at how much he had changed in half a year.

Roy rented a Special Training Room to test Ninetales’s Z-Move, Supreme Psychic Destruction Wave, and discovered its overwhelming power and heavy cost. After the attack knocked out Clefable and exhausted both Roy and Ninetales, Clefable pointed out that the move took too long to activate.

• Roy rented the Pokémon Center’s Special Training Room and asked Clefable to defend against Ninetales’s Z-Move.
• Roy activated the Z-Ring, and Ninetales transformed her Psychic into Supreme Psychic Destruction Wave.
• Ninetales’s attack overwhelmed Clefable’s defenses and left her unconscious, while its backlash knocked Roy and the watching Pokémon down.
• Roy woke five hours later and learned from Clefable that Professional-level Pokémon had greatly increased vitality.
• Roy concluded that the Z-Move was far more powerful than he had expected but placed a severe burden on its users.
• Clefable warned Roy that the Z-Move’s thirty-second activation time gave opponents ample opportunity to interrupt it.

Roy trained with Ninetales to improve their Z-Move proficiency while researching whether Mimikyu could help the team master Nature Power. After Mimikyu successfully granted Overlord aura to Lucario and Blastoise, Roy focused on a longer-term plan to develop Z-Moves and Overlord abilities across the team.

• Roy questioned Mimikyu about the energy she sensed during his and Ninetales's Z-Move and learned that she consumed similar energy when producing Overlord aura.
• Roy asked Mimikyu to make a Psychic Z-Crystal, but she could not do so without further instruction, so he planned to let her experience a Ghost-type Z-Move first.
• Roy arranged twenty days of intensive training, including daily Z-Move practice for himself and Ninetales, Electabuzz's training in the Dragon's Lair, and Mimikyu's attempts to grant Overlord aura to Lucario and Blastoise.
• On the tenth day, Mimikyu successfully gave Overlord aura to Lucario and Blastoise, raising both to A+ Rank, though they could not replenish the aura on their own.
• At lunch, Blastoise, Lucario, and Ninetales shared their Energy Cubes with Mimikyu, who felt accepted by the team, while Roy privately suspected Blastoise saw her as a transformation device.
• Roy decided Mimikyu was central to his plans for the team to master Overlord State and Z-Moves, including the possibility that she could eventually use Z-Moves without help.

Roy continued cultivating Nature Power and agreed to help USTC publish research on Mimikyu, then learned that the Pokémon League had placed him on its priority training list. Xiao Rong told Roy that Elder Lin had recommended him and arranged for him to visit the secret Nirvana Spirit Realm, whose history Xiao Rong began to explain.

• Roy named his developing Nature Power technique Sage Art and resolved to buy a Ghost Z for Mimikyu.
• Roy defeated USTC without revealing his trump cards, then agreed to let Su Xiaoyu collect Mimikyu's data for a paper.
• Roy's cultivation advanced as his Z-Move activation time fell to seven seconds, Blastoise mastered Iron Defense and Light Screen, and Lucario mastered Aura Sphere.
• Xiao Rong called Roy and told him that Elder Lin had recommended him for the Pokémon League's internal priority training list.
• Xiao Rong said he would send someone to take Roy to the little-known Nirvana Spirit Realm and began explaining its place in history.

Roy learned that Ho-Oh and Nirvana Spirit Realm had helped shape peace between humans and Pokémon, then traveled there with Xiao Muyi and met Lin Xingchen. He learned that the cultivation list had only three slots for Dragon Country, held by the three of them.

• Roy read that Nirvana Spirit Realm was the first safe zone and that Ho-Oh had supported peace and the rise of Trainers, helping establish the order behind the Pokémon League.
• Xiao Muyi arrived to escort Roy and offered him her starter Pokémon, Gardevoir, but he refused.
• Xiao Muyi used Ho-Oh’s Rainbow Feather to open a rainbow bridge, and she and Roy traveled into Nirvana Spirit Realm.
• Roy arrived in a vast forest beneath a mountain and bell tower, where he met Lin Xingchen.
• Lin Xingchen told Roy that only the five permanent members had cultivation-list slots and that Dragon Country had three, belonging to him, Xiao Muyi, and Lin Xingchen.

Roy, Lin Xingchen, and Xiao Muyi traveled with Suicune to the Bell Tower, where Ho-Oh summoned them and asked them to present their strongest Pokémon. Ho-Oh began examining the Pokémon, leaving the purpose of the gathering and the meaning of the “chosen ones” unexplained.

• Lin Xingchen explained that the Bell Tower was Ho-Oh’s residence in the untouched Nirvana Spirit Realm, and Suicune arrived to guide the three Trainers there.
• Roy offered Xiao Muyi a hand on the steep trail, and she accepted, stunning Lin Xingchen, who had believed she refused all physical contact.
• Suicune led them to the Bell Tower, where a purple Sacred Fire appeared and Ho-Oh spoke through it.
• Ho-Oh called the three Trainers “chosen ones” but said they would learn what the title meant only after reaching sufficient strength.
• Roy summoned Lucario, Xiao Muyi summoned Gardevoir, and Lin Xingchen summoned Garchomp; Ho-Oh examined them and praised Gardevoir’s training.

Ho-Oh explained the Bell Tower’s floors, its sleeping true body, and the wishes it could grant, while Roy learned that Ho-Oh had resurrected the dead after the Monster Beast War. The Sacred Fire reacted to something Roy carried, but Ho-Oh returned to the discussion without explaining what it had sensed.

• Xiao Muyi announced that she would challenge for a Heavenly King seat after the New Year, and Ho-Oh said success would qualify her to ascend to the second floor.
• Ho-Oh explained that its true body had fallen asleep after resurrecting the war dead and that each floor contained a stronger will capable of granting greater wishes.
• Ho-Oh told Lin Xingchen that no one had reached the tower’s top in a hundred years and described its seals as protection for its sleeping true body.
• Roy questioned why intruders could not destroy the Bell Tower from outside, and Ho-Oh admitted that the design had a flaw if someone could withstand all the Sacred Fires at once.
• Ho-Oh noticed Roy’s unusual powers, Shining Stone, and a familiar aura in his Poké Ball, causing the Sacred Fire to flare before it calmed and Ho-Oh resumed the discussion.

Roy and Lin Xingchen waited while Xiao Muyi and then Lin made wishes to Ho-Oh. When Roy presented Cosmog, Ho-Oh explained its origins and the limits on its evolution, leaving Roy to consider what wish to make.

• Ho-Oh sent Roy into the Bell Tower first, and Lin Xingchen asked whether Roy and Xiao Muyi were romantically involved; Roy said they had only met three times.
• Xiao Muyi came out and told Lin Xingchen it was his turn, while Roy wondered whether she had developed feelings for him.
• Roy entered the Bell Tower and released Cosmog for Ho-Oh to inspect.
• Ho-Oh explained that Cosmog came from another spacetime and could evolve into either Solgaleo or Lunala, but only two gods of those forms could exist at once.
• Roy asked Ho-Oh to evolve Cosmog, but Ho-Oh said its power was insufficient; Roy then began considering what wish to make.

Roy searched Ho-Oh’s Spirit Realm for a talented sixth Pokémon and focused on the pseudo-legendary tribes after learning the Dragonite had already been claimed. He spotted a clever, cautious Shiny Metagross helping its tribe in battle, but the chapter ended before he chose it.

• Roy asked Ho-Oh to show him exceptionally talented Pokémon, and Ho-Oh presented scenes of Dragonite, Tyranitar, Metagross, and Garchomp tribes.
• Roy ruled out the laid-back Dragonite tribe, then learned that the American side had already claimed its most outstanding offspring under its championship priority.
• Roy focused on the Garchomp, Metagross, and Tyranitar tribes and noticed a grayish-white Shiny Metagross on the battlefield.
• Roy watched the Shiny Metagross hide among pale rocks and rush in to help its allies defeat opponents before retreating again.
• Roy admired the Metagross’s intelligence and caution, but an unexpected change occurred before he made his choice.

Roy chose a cautious Shiny Metagross from Ho-Oh’s Spirit Realm and tried to earn its trust rather than force it to obey. After learning Metagross wanted to protect its clan, Roy revealed that Ho-Oh controlled the realm and urged Metagross to grow strong enough to win its clan’s freedom, while proposing a bargain to Ho-Oh.

• Roy selected the Shiny Metagross, and Ho-Oh brought it from the battlefield to Bell Tower.
• Metagross resisted being assigned to Roy, but Roy used Aura Power and Pokémon Affinity to calm it and asked what it wanted most.
• Metagross said it wanted to protect its clan and make its territory safe from invaders.
• Roy told Metagross that Ho-Oh controlled the Spirit Realm and its conflicts, leaving Metagross shaken by the revelation.
• Roy urged Metagross to surpass Ho-Oh so it could secure true freedom for its clan, and suggested that Ho-Oh could gain a powerful Pokémon in return.