The night the round of sixteen ended, at the hotel.
"Gabi~"
Gabite and the others gathered around Lucario, curious about the power he had used to defeat the Z-Move. Last time, the Controller had knocked them all offline, so none of them had seen it.
Meloetta joined them. All the attention left Lucario a little embarrassed. He still dreamed of becoming an adult, but he was a child who had yet to grow up.
"Gabi~"
Gabite was envious.
He suddenly realized his companions had been surpassing him one by one. He was Mingyou's fourth Pokémon; only Ogerpon, Snorlax, and Uncle Bear had joined before him.
He wasn't jealous, nor did he think he hadn't worked hard enough. He was happy to see his companions grow stronger. But he didn't want to keep falling behind until he was no use at all.
He didn't know whether he'd get a chance to battle in the remaining matches. Lucario's opponent today had excited him, but he wasn't sure he could have won. Their next opponent would be even stronger. Even Servine could only sit on the bench and watch...
Mingyou and Ogerpon emerged from the Network World. They had checked on N. His injuries were healing well, but he still hadn't woken up.
"Hope he wakes up before the Junior Cup ends this weekend..."
Mingyou shook his head and looked toward Akari, who sat on the sofa studying the Z-Ring and Z-Crystals. He hadn't hidden the fact that Selene had given them to him; he'd explained it.
Even so, when he came out, Akari glanced his way and teased him in a deliberately affected voice.
"A girl gave you a Z-Ring, huh... If I remember right, another girl gave you that Dynamax Band. Must be nice being popular with cute girls~ Hmm... Was