That afternoon.
After welcoming Cynthia and her Pokémon with Teacher Yu's secret-recipe Sandwiches, Qingyu and Cynthia soon got down to business.
Cynthia's main reason for coming to Paldea this time was to compete in the Dragon-type Masters Tournament.
As the first Great Ball-tier event she had entered since becoming Champion, it should have been crucial to her, and might even affect how people around the world viewed Sinnoh.
For that very reason, Qingyu felt he ought to lend a hand with training her second Dragon-type Pokémon, the Fighting Dragon.
But...
Staring at the imposing, majestic Kommo-o before him, Qingyu suddenly began questioning everything he knew.
"How long has it even been since you caught Jangmo-o? How has she already evolved???"
Counting from the last time she had messaged him, it had been ten days at most!
How had she already evolved?
This was beyond his understanding.
Normally, the Fighting Dragon needed to reach at least level 45 in the games to reach the last of her three evolutionary stages.
Even for Cynthia, who was already at Champion level, making a Pokémon's strength skyrocket so quickly was absurd.
"This Jangmo-o had outstanding potential. After a few days of training under Garchomp, she evolved into what you see now all on her own."
Cynthia smiled slightly, then seemed to look a little wistful.
"She was so adorable before she evolved, but now that she's grown up, she isn't cute at all anymore."
?
Kommo-o raised her head, slowly producing a question mark.
But Garchomp immediately glared her back into submission. She instantly lowered her head again, standing there like a lackey.
The team hierarchy was plain to see.
That explanation did make it a lot more reasonable.
After all, wild Pokémon varied widely in strength. Some were already on the verge of