It would happen! A surprised Blue

Dayou's house, living room.

He glanced at Blue's phone, which displayed the Eevee Video Network account [Jubilife Breeding Center].

Dayou nodded. "Oh, that one? That's Li Wei's account. What, are you a fan of his too?"

"..."

Blue didn't know where to begin.

"Someone asked me to check."

Clue spotted!

Dayou adjusted a completely nonexistent pair of glasses, looking utterly confident that he had found the culprit.

"Someone? Don't tell me it's Red, the guy who beat you?!"

"You can leave out that first part, thanks."

Dayou waved it off without a care. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with losing.

"Think of it this way: those other guys never even got the chance to lose to Red. People even call me 'five-eight classifieds'!"

Blue couldn't help laughing. "You're pretty optimistic."

Dayou smiled. "I'm just used to it."

Over dinner that evening, Blue learned that Dayou had won the Pokémon World Martial Arts Tournament three years in a row.

Though he had then finished in the top eight for five consecutive years.

Despite being a champion, Dayou was only famous within certain circles, since he wasn't a Pokémon League tournament champion.

People who knew him knew what he had achieved.

Those outside that circle, like Blue and Li Wei, hadn't even known Dayou's name at first.

Blue looked up Dayou's background.

"You retired with a leg injury. What happened to your leg?"

Blue hadn't noticed anything wrong with Dayou's legs. Everything seemed normal.

Dayou answered casually, "Deep vein thrombosis in my right leg. The doctor advised me to retire back then. Otherwise, my life could've been at risk."

"Now that I'm not competing professionally, it doesn't affect my everyday life."

Blue and Dayou didn't linger on the subject. It wasn't exactly a pleasant topic.

Blue wasn't a doctor and didn't know what deep vein thrombosis was. All he could do was suggest:

"If you find Celebi in Ilex Forest, or Xerneas in Kalos, they might be able to help you."

Dayou waved his hand. "No need. My leg was treated ages ago. I'd rather become a breeder. That's always been my dream."

Blue smiled in understanding. "That's a great dream."

Li Wei was in his room, digesting what he had learned that day.

The old man hadn't sent a message asking how his studies had gone, but Li Wei gave him an update anyway.

The old man replied with only, "Understood."

"Where did you two go this afternoon?"

Li Wei looked at Arcanine and Lucario, who had disappeared for the entire afternoon.

Arcanine had gone to play at Belle's house. Lucario, on the other hand, had been more ambitious.

Lucario pointed toward the Back Mountain behind the Breeding Center.

(I went into the mountains.)

Li Wei asked in confusion, "The mountains?"

(To look for opponents.)

"Be careful. Take some Potions and things with you. It'd be best to go together."

(Understood.)

"Come on, let's go chat with Feebas."

That afternoon, Li Wei had already told Feebas that its trainer-the poacher-had been arrested.

He had told Feebas it was free.

Li Wei hadn't known how Feebas felt at the time, so he had given it some time to process the news.

To Li Wei's surprise,

a woman was sitting beside the fish pond.

In the faint moonlight, Li Wei made out her features. "Xiao Rou?"

Xiao Rou rose from her seat beside the pond.

"Boss, Lucario."

"Luca."

Li Wei asked, puzzled, "What are you doing here?"

"Mizuki told me about Feebas, so I wanted to chat with it."

As she spoke, Xiao Rou began to lose confidence. "Sorry. I shouldn't have taken it upon myself..."

"No, you did well. Thank you. I hope you'll chat with Feebas more whenever you have time."

Xiao Rou lifted her bowed head.

"Can I really?"

Her eyes shone in the moonlight.

Looking at the water, Li Wei said softly, "Feebas may have been hurt by humans before. What we need to do is help it trust humans again and make sure it doesn't get hurt anymore."

Xiao Rou pressed her lips together, still lacking confidence.

"Can we really do that?"

Li Wei answered firmly, "Absolutely."

Xiao Rou clenched her fists and smiled brightly.

"Okay, I'll do my best!"

It would happen!

Xiao Rou was suddenly filled with determination.

Resting both hands on her knees, she spoke softly toward the pond. "Feebas, we'll wait for you to get through this. You can do it!"

"Luca."

(You can do it!)

Lucario conveyed those feelings and well wishes through aura.

The next day.

At Red's strong recommendation, Blue had watched the first four episodes of Li Wei's Trainer Career Guidance series the night before.

How should he put it?

It had been quite unexpected.

Episode 01, Sweet and Sour Pork, and episode 02, Fur Care, had both been within Blue's expectations, since he had already seen them firsthand the previous afternoon.

But the Smoked Apricorn Juice in episode 03

had caught his interest.

In that glass of Smoked Apricorn Juice,

Blue had seen something different.

Although he hadn't tasted it, Blue believed that glass of Smoked Apricorn Juice seemed to have a better restorative effect.

"I saw you've tried the Smoked Apricorn Juice. What did you think?"

"It tasted pretty good. Definitely had a smoky flavor."

Dayou hadn't done particularly well in school and really couldn't come up with any more words of praise.

"I meant whether it had any other effects, like making you more energetic or helping your stamina recover faster."

Dayou's eyes lit up. "Now that you mention it, it did! One glass felt like it swept away a whole day's exhaustion!"

Blue nodded slightly. That matched what he had sensed from the glass of Smoked Apricorn Juice.

Episode 04, Pokéblocks, had surprised Blue even more with that nearly perfect Tamato Berry Pokéblock.

Li Wei already made excellent Pokémon food, but his skill at making Pokéblocks amazed Blue even more.

Blue reckoned the Pokéblocks he usually made were only about that good himself.

Of course, that was because Blue mainly made Pokémon food. He had only taken up Pokéblock-making later.

"Good morning."

Belle, out on her usual walk with Growlithe, nodded in greeting to Blue and Dayou.

"Good morning."

Remembering his conversation with Belle yesterday, Blue smiled. "You were right. He's very interesting."

Belle covered her mouth with a soft laugh. "Is he? That's wonderful."

The Breeding Center.

Blue packed the schedule as tightly as possible.

"Eight to twelve in the morning, then one to five in the afternoon. Any problems?"

"No problems."

Li Wei, Mizuki, and Dayou had no objections at all.

"We won't be going indoors today. We'll have our lessons right here."

Blue chose the edge of the pond where Feebas was temporarily staying as their teaching spot.

Shiyin stood on tiptoe and raised her right hand high, trying to get Blue's attention. "Can we sit in?"

Blue nodded. "But you have to pay attention."

"No problem!"

"Today, we'll start with caring for Water-type Pokémon."

Ripples spread across the pond's calm surface.

Beneath the pond's artificial rock formation, a faint glimmer appeared in Feebas's previously lifeless eyes.