Zheng Qi's arrival was only a minor interlude, but it reminded Heiduo of Will and Karen.
"They're attending Goldenrod Cultural School for a basic education. Those two kids are practically illiterate; they can barely stumble through a book."
Yujian shook his head helplessly. They did not even recognize all the most basic characters, which showed just how pitiful their education had been.
"Huh? What about their parents?"
Heiduo was slightly taken aback. Hadn't Will and Karen joined the Masked Man's camp of their own accord? What had Pryce been teaching them all this time?
Could those two have ended up under the Masked Man because they did not want to go to school and ran away?
"They died. Both of them had the same background—they were originally registered at the Goldenrod City orphanage, then secretly ran away, taking Pokémon and money from the orphanage with them." Teng Jun was the one who answered.
Speaking of Will and Karen, he felt somewhat vexed as well. One was a grown young woman, the other a grown young man, yet neither acted like someone about to reach adulthood. Their way of thinking was more like that of thirteen- or fourteen-year-olds going through puberty.
So Teng Jun had simply sent them off to cultural school. It would be best for them to spend more time around people their own age, lest they became Elite Four members only to still act like clueless idiots.
Before becoming Trainers, they first had to learn how to be decent people.
Heiduo curiously pressed on. "Why did they run away? Were they abused?"
Novels and dramas often used that sort of trope. The protagonists suffered abuse in an orphanage, then escaped from it.
"How could that be? My father, Yunsheng and Longxing's father, and your master's father were the