The next day, at the Sunshine Gym.
"Paw!"
"That's it! Looking fierce!"
Now officially a gym apprentice, Nemona had arrived at the training grounds bright and early. She was directing Pawmi as the Pokémon threw punch after punch into a heavy sandbag.
Following Qingyu's advice, she and Pawmi had focused their training on making the most of the Iron Fist Ability.
Qingyu sat on a bench, watching Nemona's training and occasionally glancing at Eevee, who was watching a move demonstration video over and over on the other side.
Eevee was such a dedicated Pokémon that Qingyu had no concerns whatsoever about its self-discipline.
Even though it had yet to learn Snarl, if it kept working at this pace, all it might need was a moment of insight.
Speaking of which, after Iono's pointers, his livestream yesterday had indeed gone much better. The gym's popularity had earned him over 200 growth points in one go.
Eevee had gone to bed early last night, and with Nemona here now, it wasn't a good time to use the travel feature.
Otherwise, he really wanted to send Eevee on another trip to a different region. Maybe it would find an opportunity to learn another move.
There was no rush, anyway. He could wait until tonight.
Looking away, Qingyu instinctively glanced at the phone resting on his thigh.
[Qingyu: About what time? Want me to come get you?]
[Cynthia: Not sure. Just send me your location. I'll fly over on Garchomp.]
[Qingyu: Okay.]
The last message had been sent two hours ago.
The fact that Garchomp could fly was already amazing in itself. Qingyu had no idea how fast it actually was.
Still, judging by the Pokédex's claim that Dragonite could circle the globe in sixteen hours, traveling from Sinnoh to Paldea would take half a day at the very least, right?
She probably wouldn't arrive until the afternoon.
And only two hours had passed so far...
Qingyu put down his phone. For some reason, time seemed to be moving rather slowly today.
Eevee was studying on its own, and Nemona and Pawmi didn't need his guidance for their training.
Why did it feel like I was the unnecessary one here?
Qingyu scratched his head helplessly and quietly picked up the notes lying at the end of the bench.
Naturally, the system-provided copy of Blue's training notes wouldn't include Pokémon exclusive to Paldea, such as Pawmi.
Still, the fundamentals of raising Pokémon were universal.
Pokémon that excelled at close combat, especially Fighting-types, needed to begin stamina training early in their development, gradually adapting to their own attacking rhythm.
So Pawmi's current training routine was an improved version Qingyu had put together based on those notes.
It was better suited to the constitutions of Paldea's little ones.
After that flurry of punches, Qingyu couldn't tell whether Pawmi had gotten a thorough workout. Nemona, on the other hand, was already panting a little despite only standing to the side and giving instructions.
Her stamina really was poor.
"Paw..."
After pushing through an entire set of boxing exercises, Pawmi was exhausted, but its cry sounded especially cheerful.
Feeling the aching muscles all over its body, perhaps it thought this was the road it had to take to grow stronger.
Attack Effort Values +1 +1 +1 +1...
Qingyu almost felt as though he could see numbers frantically popping up above its head.
It looked like this training method really was effective.
"All right, that's enough for today."
Qingyu smiled and waved a hand.
"If you push too hard, you'll only hurt the quality of your training over the next few days."
"Okay!"
Nemona nodded, then noticed Qingyu glancing at the phone beside him for what had to be the umpteenth time.
Mr. Qingyu seemed to have something on his mind today.
It must be my imagination!
Off the coast of Paldea.
A purple meteor raced low across the sky, trailing a silvery-white streak.
"We should be almost there, right?"
The fierce wind whipped her black coat, making it flap noisily.
Sitting on Garchomp's back, Cynthia instinctively reached up to keep the hair she had styled just before leaving from blowing everywhere.
"Is this my first time leaving the Sinnoh Region?"
Although she sounded somewhat uncertain, Cynthia knew the exact answer without having to think.
Before becoming Champion, she had worked as a mythology researcher on Professor Carolina's team, constantly traveling around Sinnoh. She had never had time to visit other regions.
"Cabo Poco isn't far from the coast. We should find it soon, right?"
As they approached the coastline, Cynthia patted Garchomp's shoulder, signaling for it to slow down.
Qingyu's expression should be pretty interesting when he sees me, shouldn't it?
That afternoon.
"Mr. Qingyu, I'm looking forward to another lesson today!"
On the gym's battlefield, Nemona and Pawmi stood opposite him, brimming with fighting spirit.
Although the gym had already gained some popularity, there were still no challengers today, perhaps because its location was so remote.
Nemona wasn't the sort to sit around doing nothing. With no challengers showing up, she had simply decided to challenge Qingyu again.
"..."
How did I end up becoming a free sparring partner?
Qingyu waved a hand helplessly and gave Eevee a look.
You. Go take Pawmi down!
Although Eevee didn't have many attacking options right now, it really was fast.
As long as Eevee was on guard, even Pawmi's Quick Attack was almost impossible to land directly.
Qingyu even suspected that it wasn't reacting quickly at all, but simply predicting the attacks.
Well, Pokémon take after their trainers. Makes perfect sense!
After battling Eevee for a few minutes, Pawmi collapsed on the ground, utterly winded from being run in circles.
It was still a recently hatched baby, after all. Its stamina couldn't keep up with the demands of an intense battle. Perhaps it would need to evolve once before it could qualify as a reliable core team member.
"Mr. Qingyu, your Eevee is amazing!"
Pawmi had lost decisively, but Nemona wasn't upset in the slightest. Instead, she readily praised Eevee.
"Vee!"
Eevee held its head high, looking very proud.
If he slowly built up Eevee's confidence through battles, it would become strong sooner or later, wouldn't it?
Qingyu looked at it fondly and was just about to reach out and pet it.
Just then, someone suddenly knocked on the gym's front door.
"Knock, knock, knock-"
His heart instantly clenched.
For a moment, he couldn't even tell whether what he had just heard was knocking or his own heartbeat.
"Coming!"
While Qingyu stood frozen, Nemona had already jogged enthusiastically toward the door.
Click-
The door swung open. Expecting a challenger at last, Nemona stared at the blonde young woman before her, and her brain briefly shut down.
Then she let out a piercing shriek.
That signature black coat and long, silky golden hair cascading like a waterfall;
those fierce eyes hidden beneath a gentle smile;
that imposing purple shark Pokémon behind her, radiating an overwhelming presence without even trying to look angry.
There was no doubt about it. This was Miss Cynthia, the New Sinnoh Champion, the sole star of the countless posters plastered all over her bedroom!!!
Faced with her idol without any warning, Nemona suddenly found herself at a complete loss.
Huh?
Seeing an athletic girl at the door, Cynthia instinctively tilted her head and looked into the gym through the half-open doorway.
Her eyes met Qingyu's. He was watching her silently, looking just as stunned.
"Long time no see, Qingyu."
Cynthia smiled and waved in his direction.
Then she walked confidently into the gym.
Huh?
What was going on?
Utterly bewildered, Nemona immediately put the few brain cells she had left functioning to work and soon reached an astonishing conclusion-
Mr. Qingyu actually knew Champion Cynthia???
Mr. Qingyu's connections were terrifying...
A struggling writer's diary, April 29.
Rounding up, I wrote 7k today. Pretty hardworking, right?
After taking half a month off, I've honestly felt like I still haven't gotten back into the writing groove. Today has completely burned me out...
I'll have to unleash my inner power before the novel goes premium qwq
Before you continue