The days that followed returned to calm. During the day, Cheng Tian and Su Han trained at China's exclusive training grounds. This was to avoid Miyamoto Sanya's relentless pestering.
Florges carefully replanted the Gracidea they had retrieved last time in a flowerpot and tended it with great care.
China's main team members were busy every day, both serving as roving Gym Leaders and challenging other countries. Cheng Tian shamelessly went to challenge them every day.
There was no helping it. He certainly couldn't beat other countries' Gyms. Surely he could spar with his own people?
Everyone on the first and second teams knew he was a youngster from the Reserve Team, so they gave Cheng Tian plenty of advice on battling, offering pointers wherever they could.
Among them, Cheng Tian became particularly close with Han Yu.
Over their many days together, Cheng Tian learned that Han Yu was a Trainer who specialized in Normal types. His strength was quite respectable. Within the second team, even if he couldn't fight Long Weixi and Wen Xu to a standstill, he could at least lock horns with Liang Pingfeng. However, he wasn't the Normal-type Elite Four member yet.
"My master hasn't retired yet," Han Yu said rather helplessly. "He keeps saying I'm too impetuous and not strong enough. He refuses to pass the position on to me."
"Han Yu, my Pokémon seem to have hit a bottleneck in their improvement lately," Cheng Tian said worriedly. "My main battler hasn't made a breakthrough in almost a month."
"Hmm... that's normal." Han Yu reassured him. "Your main battler is a Frogadier, right? It should be approaching its final evolution. Around level 30, Pokémon's rate of improvement drops sharply. That's to lay a better foundation for themselves. You can't rush it."
Although there was a considerable