Less than a minute after the season began, someone had already accepted his challenge. Mingyou was quite surprised, though it could simply have been because so many people were competing right now.
What surprised him even more was that his first opponent in the Pokémon World Championships was the young master of the Aether Foundation. After all, the Manor worked with them, and Latias and Gladion's younger sister, Lillie, were very close friends.
Akari, standing beside him, didn't know Gladion. Instead, she felt disappointed that she wouldn't have time to cheer Mingyou on in person. The person accepting the challenge chose the battlefield, after all, and his opponent would surely choose his home turf—the Alola Region.
"I get the feeling you know him?" Akari noticed Mingyou's expression and murmured to herself before asking, "What's his ranking?"
"Hmm... pretty high. Number 193."
"Huh? That's so far above you!"
Akari was surprised. Number 193 could actually be matched with number 999? Wasn't that too big a gap in rank?
Mingyou smiled calmly. "There are only 900 people in the Great Ball tier worldwide, after all. And the rules say anyone in the same tier can receive your challenge, so I could even run into number 100. But it looks like you can only see your opponent's ranking and name after the match is confirmed."
"So until someone accepts and the match is confirmed, everything is random? That's fine in its own way, but it feels awfully easy to tamper with..."
Akari was attentive and worried a great deal about certain details. The way the Pokémon World Championships officials had indirectly targeted Mingyou today had already upset her. Thinking of that unprecedented invitation, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was singling him out.
Still, it was too early to say. The opponents