"Poni~"
The Poké Ball's trigger clicked. A beam of red light shot toward the ground, and a humanoid Pokémon made a dazzling entrance, wearing a fiery red Hearthflame Mask and drawing a thick, long Ivy Cudgel from behind its back.
There it was!
Finally seeing the rumored "ogre" from Kitakami take the field, Rika immediately perked up and focused her attention on it.
She had never visited Kitakami herself, so she actually knew little about the rumors surrounding the "ogre."
But Geeta had mentioned several times recently that Qingyu had successfully caught this Pokémon, called Ogerpon, in Kitakami and commanded it to defeat four Legendary Pokémon in one go, including the resurrected Loyal Three and the mastermind behind them, Pecharunt.
Not only had he resolved a major potential problem for Kitakami, but he had also corrected the false history passed down by its residents.
Apparently, after replacing the images of the Loyal Three with Qingyu and Ogerpon, Kitakami's tourism industry had reached new heights lately.
The villagers, who had behaved themselves since Qingyu taught them a lesson, had also contributed quite a bit of funding to the League.
Of course, none of that was the point. The Paldea League hardly needed that pocket change.
The important part of the Kitakami incident was the strength Qingyu and Ogerpon had demonstrated.
Defeating four Legendary Pokémon of unknown strength in a one-against-four battle proved that this Ogerpon certainly could not be weak.
That was why Rika had put it on her priority watch list from the start.
After all, if it was too powerful, what would happen if it wiped out every student with a single swing while serving as a gatekeeper...?
At that thought, Rika could not help sighing.
But even without this Ogerpon, Qingyu could apparently sweep the other rookies