On the way back to the hotel, Steven mentioned that a mysterious person was waiting for Roy.
"Wait for me?"
No matter how Roy asked, Steven wouldn't tell him who this mysterious person was, until Roy arrived at the hotel room door:
"Teacher! What brings you here?"
It turns out that the mysterious person Steven was talking about was his teacher, Agatha, who had also come to Ever Grande City today.
"What? Can't I come?"
Agatha's tone remained as cold as ever, not because she was dissatisfied with Roy or anything, but simply because she had always been like this.
"No, teacher, that's not what I meant..."
"Aunt Agatha, I brought Roy to you. He's gone crazy lately, he actually dared to date! You'd better keep an eye on him."
After saying that, Steven ignored Roy's betrayed expression, said goodbye to Agatha, and left Roy's room.
"Teacher, I haven't caused any trouble lately. Don't listen to Steven's nonsense. He's just... just jealous that I'm better looking than him! That must be it."
Agatha glanced speechlessly at her unruly apprentice. Sometimes she really wondered whether the word "diligent" that Mu Jin had used to describe Roy before taking him on as an apprentice was a compliment or an insult.
"I don't want to interfere in your personal affairs, but your training can't be neglected. After this Edge Cup ends, you'll still need to go to the Advanced Division at the Rustboro City Arena to complete the training that's been arranged for you."
Agatha herself couldn't handle her own emotional problems, so she simply didn't care about her apprentice's romantic relationships.
Anyway, it's just my own apprentice messing around with someone else's precious Cabbage.
In spite of?
Gengar darted out from Agatha's shadow and greeted Roy.
"Ghost."
"Long time no see, Gengar."
The big, purple-clad guy originally wanted to slip into Roy's shadow, but after sensing the mysterious aura surrounding Roy, he gave Roy a hug and a Lick.
One lick wasn't enough for Gengar; the more it licked, the more addicted it became, treating Roy like a giant lollipop.
Seeing Gengar's appearance, Roy realized that the aura around him might be unusual, but Misdreavus and Lampent didn't react as strongly as Gengar.
So, does this mean I'm more attractive to Ghost type Pokémon of higher levels?
Soon, Agatha also noticed Gengar's unusual behavior. Normally, even if Gengar liked Roy, it wouldn't hug and lick him. What was going on today?
Finally, it was only after Agatha gave the order that Gengar stopped Lick. Gengar said that it didn't know why it had felt so addicted.
Knowing the reason, Agatha asked Roy:
"Has the energy within you improved again?"
"Well, I guess so."
Hearing Roy say this, Agatha didn't know whether the power within Roy that was different from that of the Mt. Pyre was good or bad.
But seeing Roy standing there obediently, waiting for criticism, Agatha had a bad feeling.
"You haven't been doing anything behind my back lately, have you?"
Getting things done?
Um, evolving Misdreavus into Flutter Mane shouldn't be a big deal... right?
Hmm! It shouldn't count.
"No!"
Seeing Roy's confident demeanor, Agatha believed him to some extent, but she would soon realize just how absurd it was to believe that Roy wouldn't cause trouble.
Seeing that Agatha wasn't angry or anything, Roy tentatively asked:
"Teacher, what brings you to Ever Grande City this time...?"
"As a reviewer."
Agatha wouldn't say a single extra word.
The main tournament starts the day after tomorrow. Agatha is one of the judges for this year's Edge Cup. However, Roy won't be able to see Kikuko during the preliminary rounds of the main tournament. Roy will only be able to see Kikuko when he advances to the semifinals.
Roy didn't understand why Agatha, one of the Elite Four of the Kanto Region, always came to the Hoenn's competitions as a guest.
Why did I come?
Isn't that all because of you?
Agatha looked at Roy, whom she had always left to his own devices. Her main concern was that she didn't trust her apprentice. Although she was his teacher, she only answered his questions about training.
She often has her own things to do and can't personally teach Roy, otherwise she wouldn't need Gengar and Arbok to accompany Roy in training.
But Roy's talent as Pokémon Trainer, breeder, or Fighting type is top-notch.
However, his talent for causing trouble is no less than that of the three mentioned above. Even before he reached the Gym Leader level, he dared to take Steven to explore the Meteor Cave, a forbidden area of Meteor People.
Follow Giratina to fight another unknown legendary Legendary Pokémon...
She was really worried that if something else happened... Having her as a teacher to back her up was better than having nothing at all.
Therefore, Agatha volunteered for this review.
The organizers of the Edge Cup are eager to have another regional Elite Four judge. Originally, there was only one heavyweight guest, Drake, but now that Elite Four from two regions are participating in the judging, it has directly raised the Edge Cup to a higher level.
As Agatha recounted her past one by one, Roy could sense her concern in Agatha cold tone.
Ever since Agatha took Gengar and Arbok back Roy has been following the tournaments in the Kanto and Johto regions on IQ.
He also saw Agatha's previous exhibition match in the video, which was against Lance, the newly Dragon type of Elite Four Johto Dragon Clan.
In Agatha's words, it's remarkable that Lance has reached this level at his age; he has the potential to be a champion in the future.
Of course, the strength of the veteran Elite Four is still beyond Lance's current capabilities. After being defeated by Gengar in a three-on-one battle, the subsequent outcome was predictable: Agatha suffered a crushing defeat against Lance.
Lance may need to hone his skills for a few more years before he can become a champion in both regions.
"Teacher, do you think I have the potential to be a champion?"
Roy asked, his face contorted with embarrassment.
"You?"
Agatha had thought about this before. Of course, she wanted to train Roy to be a regional champion specializing in Ghost type Pokémon, but seeing Roy, who hadn't been behaving himself for long, acting up again, she said in an annoyed tone:
"You've had a hard time even as a Gym apprentice; at least Gym apprentice knows not to cause trouble for the dojo master."
Roy, undeterred by Agatha's teasing, then posed another question:
"Teacher, do you think Lance is stronger, or Leon just ascended to the Galar region championship two months ago?"
"Leon."
This time, Agatha gave the answer almost without thinking.
She watched the championship match between Leon and Mustard. Although Mustard "might" have thrown the game, Leon was a truly Champion level team.
At the same time, Leon was the youngest regional champion she had ever seen.
The opponent currently has a Champion level Charizard, which is beyond Lance's current capabilities to compete with, not to mention that Leon has five more Pokémon like that.
At present, Lance is no match for the opponent, but if Lance is given more time to develop, he might actually be able to give it a try.
Is it really possible?
If Roy hadn't witnessed the duel between the Masters Eight, he might have believed it too.
Furthermore, the current Gigantamax hasn't appeared yet, and Leon's Gigantamax Charizard hasn't made its debut. Only then will Leon be the true Leon.
When Agatha saw the Snorunt in Roy's arms, she realized it was his newly captured Snorunt Pokémon checked on Roy condition.
She knew that Snorunt could evolve into Froslass through the Dawn Stone, and that it was a decent Ghost type Pokémon.
She had initially suspected that Roy, with only five Pokémon, had no intention of participating in the finals.
However, with this Snorunt Roy, Pokémon. It's just that Snorunt's level is still too low, so it's practically the same as having 5 Pokémon.
"You're planning to bring her to the main competition?"
"Teacher, I have a new Pokémon caught. Let's go outside and see it."
Go outside?