Has it come?!
Xia Yan's expression darkened as he glanced around. At the same time, his Psychic-type power spread out immediately.
Very quickly.
He Lock-On to the other party's location.
The other party did not seem to have any intention of hiding. He simply walked slowly out of the shadows, holding the very Prison Bottle Xia Yan remembered.
When Xia Yan saw who it was, he could not help but freeze slightly.
He did not look particularly old. A warm, harmless-looking smile hung on his face, and he wore a somewhat disheveled white lab coat.
On the chest of that white coat, stained with some unidentified grease, were the words "Suzuki"!
"Master Suzuki?"
This man really was someone he knew.
This was not the first time they had met.
The first time.
Had been outside the Goldenrod City Trainer Guild, where Xia Yan had bumped straight into Suzuki.
As one of the Pokémon World's foremost Breeders, Master Suzuki was renowned for his unique breeding techniques and exquisite Energy Cube craftsmanship.
Even.
When Xia Yan had first arrived in the Pokémon World and tried learning to make Energy Cubes himself, he had used Master Suzuki's notes as his introduction.
Because his Energy Cube crafting techniques were not bound by convention and pursued only higher quality.
That special production method also yielded higher-quality Energy Cubes.
But Xia Yan had never expected.
That Master Suzuki, a former teacher he had nearly forgotten, would appear here.
In a daze.
Xia Yan seemed to recall that when he had bumped into Master Suzuki, the string of Ho-Oh Phoenix Tree Wood prayer beads given to him by the little monk Anci—beads capable of sensing Life Energy—had reacted! (Volume Two, Chapter 97)
So.
"Champion Xia Yan."
Having his name called out directly did not surprise Suzuki much.