"Based on this battle, the Pokémon World Championships rankings will change!"
Bzz~
After announcing the result, the Rotom Drone flew smoothly away.
Shiny Gengar bounced back, as delighted as a schoolkid let out for the day.
"Geng~ gar!"
"Not bad. Excellent work."
Baimu grabbed Gengar's broad face and gave it a rub, then turned to the floating Porygon Phone. His updated ranking was on the screen.
2742 → 2001
Whoa!
Ilima had been ranked pretty high!
The bonus points from beating him had sent Baimu up more than seven hundred places.
After his last battle with Ryuki, Baimu had sought out several passersby to battle. The outcomes went without saying, and his ranking had risen steadily, but all those gains together only matched this one victory.
"You'll reach Great Ball Class before long," said the Porygon Phone.
"Yeah."
Baimu nodded. Four or five more battles should put him in the top thousand and promote him to Great Ball Class.
Above that level, powerful Trainers like Gym Leaders should become more common. If he wandered around like Ash had in Pokémon Journeys, he would probably battle plenty of familiar faces.
That was one benefit of entering the World Championships.
Unfortunately, many of the powerful Elite Four members and Champions might not have competed in the first season. Ash, the protagonist of the animated world, had not entered until the second season.
During the first season, Ash had been busy saving another world in the Alola Region and competing for its inaugural championship.
Baimu looked down for Baby Kangaskhan, only to find that it had already woken up and returned to the warmth of its Trainer's arms. It was tugging at Ilima's clothes and wailing.
Ilima and his Eevee spoke softly to comfort it. Kangaskhan wanted to soothe it too, but could