Fallarbor Town and the Pokémon Contest

The next day, the snow fell even harder.

The streets were completely covered in thick snow.

Unable to go outside, Hu Yang could only stay in his room with his Pokémon, drinking tea around the little stove and admiring the snow.

Since Fallarbor Town would be hosting a Pokémon Contest in three days, many Coordinators had gradually begun arriving over the past two days.

Coordinators carrying Pokédexes could stay at the Pokémon Center, while those without one could only choose an inn in town.

That evening, after lying around for two days, Hu Yang felt that he had to go out and get some exercise.

Taking advantage of the heavy snow easing into a light snowfall, he brought Roserade and Cramorant to the inn's backyard to build a snowman.

Gengar floated in the snow and wanted to play too, but it could not touch anything.

Hu Yang made a chubby Gengar out of snow and said to it, "Look, doesn't it look like you?"

Gengar lowered its head to inspect it, then floated closer to compare itself. "I'm not that fat!"

Hu Yang beckoned to it. "Come stand here."

Gengar did not understand, but it floated over anyway. "What are you doing?"

Its position perfectly overlapped with the snowman, but its limbs and body clearly extended far beyond the snowman's outline.

Hu Yang tried hard not to laugh.

Gengar was confused at first, then looked down and immediately understood. It was so furious that it nearly had steam rising from its head. "I'm never talking to you again!"

Hu Yang said, "Not talking to who?"

"You!" Gengar blurted out.

Hu Yang asked, "Then who are you talking to right now?"

"You—" Gengar turned around, folded its arms, and refused to look at Hu Yang. "You're not allowed to talk anymore!"

Hu Yang fought back his laughter and nodded repeatedly. "Alright, alright, alright. I won't talk anymore."

Gengar huffed and floated away from the snow Gengar, gloomily drawing circles in the snow.

Sure enough, Hu Yang did not say another word.

After hearing no movement for a long time, Gengar could not help turning back for a look.

It saw a "tall, handsome, and cool" snow Gengar rising from the ground.

Hu Yang waved at it. "Come here. That fat Gengar just now was the one from the manor. This one is the real you."

Gengar said, "..."

It muttered quietly, "I'm not an idiot. This one isn't me either." It still had some self-awareness.

Hu Yang said, "...Then come over and hold still. I'll build one according to your outline."

Only then did Gengar float back and stand on the ground, watching as the snow filled in around its body.

This scene attracted the attention of the other Trainers staying at the inn.

Before long, people began bringing their Pokémon over to play in the snow.

On the third day, the snowstorm that had lasted two days finally stopped.

As the temperature warmed up slightly, Hu Yang took his Pokémon outside to take care of some business.

Fallarbor Town was located in the northwest of Hoenn and was a well-known agricultural town.

As a result, its architecture was unlike Rustboro City, with towering buildings everywhere. Instead, it was filled with distinctive pastoral charm.

The town was not large, and from the streets, one could easily see the neat terraced farmland stretching across the distant plains.

In the games, there were several important locations here.

For example, the home of the Fossil Maniac, who was as obsessed with stones as Steven; the home of Professor Cozmo, who enjoyed studying meteorites; and the Pokémon Contest venue.

The storylines related to those places flashed through Hu Yang's mind, but they had little to do with him right now.

He had mainly come out today to visit an internet café and find out what Professor Oak's grandson was called.

As for Ho-Oh's feather, Hoenn had native Legendary Pokémon and might not understand its value, so Hu Yang did not intend to sell it here.

However, after searching for quite some time, he failed to find a single internet café in Fallarbor Town.

"I remember there being internet cafés in Petalburg City..." With no other choice, Hu Yang could only visit a bookstore to see whether it sold biographies.

The bookstore owner was a mature woman wearing an apron. Seeing Hu Yang wandering around like a headless fly, she could not help asking,

"Hello, could you tell me what kind of book you're looking for?"

Hu Yang said, "Do you have any books about Professor Oak?"

"Professor Oak from Kanto?" The owner paused in surprise.

Hu Yang nodded. "Yes."

"Let me check—" The woman walked to the bookshelf, searched through it for a while, then picked up two books. "Sorry, we don't have any books about Professor Oak, but we do have books about Professor Birch."

Professor Birch... The image of him being chased by a Zigzagoon in the game surfaced in Hu Yang's mind.

After thinking it over, Hu Yang nodded. "That works too."

Five minutes later, he let out a breath of relief.

The information in the book revealed that Professor Birch did not have a daughter named Sapphire or a son named Ruby.

And May, Sapphire's original counterpart, was just like in the anime: Norman's daughter, the Petalburg Gym Leader.

That meant this world was not based on the dangerous games or Pokémon Adventures, but leaned more toward the anime.

Hu Yang finally put his mind at ease. He casually stuffed Professor Birch's biography into his backpack, intending to use it to prop up a table leg after returning to school.

After all, he was really poor right now. He could not afford to waste anything.

If this was an anime-based world, then there was a good chance he would get to meet Ash, Jessie, Meowth, James, Misty, and the others.

It might even include a certain one-ball wonder.

But at this point in time, Ash probably had not set out on his journey yet, right?

Hu Yang tried to recall the plot of the original series. Too much time had passed, and some memories had grown hazy.

But he still remembered the important events.

For example, Ash's abandoned Charmander, the Giant Dragonite at Bill's Lighthouse, the three ancient Pokémon, and so on.

After leaving the bookstore, Hu Yang headed to the Pokémon Contest venue.

A huge electronic screen hung outside the venue, playing exciting footage from past contests.

Hu Yang saw Wallace and his signature Milotic on it.

The venue was bustling, with Coordinators everywhere who had come to register.

But unlike him, these people were all accompanied by one or two fellow Trainers or Breeders traveling with them.

His purpose in coming to Fallarbor Town was to battle these people and test the results of Roserade's training over this period.

So Hu Yang headed straight toward the people who looked like Trainers.

"You mean you want to have a Pokémon battle with me?" A girl named Saori pointed at herself and asked.

Hu Yang nodded. "Is that alright?"

Saori smiled. "Of course!"

For Trainers on a journey, this sort of thing happened all the time. It was nothing unusual.

However, Saori said, "But I've already collected three Gym Badges. Looking at you, you probably only just started traveling, right?"

Hu Yang did not deny it. "Something like that!"

After all, this was his first time traveling far from home since coming to this world.

Saori said, "In that case, I choose you!"

With a crisp motion, she threw a Poké Ball. A flash of white light appeared, and a Combusken nearly a meter tall appeared in front of Hu Yang.

Some plot points in this chapter and later chapters were revised. If things do not connect properly, please refresh the chapter.