Seeing Aaron with his green hair, black tank top, single cowlick, and the way he kept rubbing his nose, Xia Yan was momentarily stunned.
Seemingly noticing Xia Yan's surprise, Aaron said with a smile,
"Elite Four Bertha suggested that I come. She said this would test my strength and also measure my progress. Don't worry, I only came here for two things."
Xia Yan gently pressed at his temple.
Earlier, he had secretly been thanking Igor and Bertha for arranging such a group of young people with both potential and considerable strength to form his foundation.
And that was how he had run into Aaron.
Originally,
he had thought that to walk the Champion's Path, he only needed to defeat the current three Elite Four members: Gardenia, Bertha, and Cynthia.
He had not expected Aaron to be waiting for him too.
One had to know,
that without Xia Yan's appearance, following Sinnoh Region's normal course of development, Aaron would definitely have become one of Sinnoh Region's Elite Four.
Moreover,
he would have been one of the very, very few Bug-type Elite Four members in the entire Pokémon League.
In the original story,
Aaron had even challenged the Champion, battling the then-Champion Cynthia in the Champion Defense Battle.
Though he ultimately failed and lost,
he still earned the recognition of Cynthia and the wider audience.
Though Aaron was not yet one of the Elite Four, he already possessed strength roughly equal to theirs.
It was just that whether he competed against Fire-type Gardenia or the previous Flying-type Kelvin, the type disadvantages were simply too great for him.
But Xia Yan could almost foresee that if he successfully advanced to become Champion, the person most likely to take over his position would be Aaron.
Didn't that mean he still had to defeat