To deal with the Ultra Beasts, most of the Island Challenge trials had been changed to battles against Ultra Beasts.
Perhaps the power of the Hour of Shine was taking effect, for the Island Challenge really did exert a degree of suppression over the Ultra Beasts.
Pokémon Trainers who participated in the Island Challenge and mastered Z-Moves could generally use the power of their Z-Rings to face an Ultra Beast of the same level on their own.
This discovery sent the Federation Empire and the Pokémon League into raptures.
The strength of the Ultra Beasts had always forced them to deploy overwhelmingly powerful forces to fight them.
Even against a single peak Gym Leader Class Ultra Beast, they had to send out at least a mid-stage Elite Four Class Pokémon to stand a chance of victory.
But now, they could send Gym Leader Class Pokémon Trainers against Gym Leader Class Ultra Beasts, and Elite Four Class Pokémon Trainers against Elite Four Class Ultra Beasts.
This effectively freed up a vast amount of fighting strength, immediately easing the pressure on the Hawaiian Islands.
However, Xiao Ran and the senior leadership all knew that this situation was only temporary.
Both Z-Rings and Z-Crystals were limited in number. They could not keep supplying them indefinitely.
Meanwhile, the number of Ultra Wormholes and Ultra Beasts continued to grow. Once that balance broke, the crisis would return.
Not long after his second academic year began, Xiao Ran was summoned to the Imperial Capital. This time, Qiu Yuxuan had asked him personally. She would never have called him unless things had truly reached a point where his presence was necessary.
Xiao Ran was not the only one going this time. Aside from Ye Ling, who was still breastfeeding, both Xuan Yuan Nian and Veranica would be