Shen Qi took the damp towel off his face and sat up.
The Service Bay was empty, with all the Pokémon staying inside their Poké Balls.
Now that they had upgraded to Luxury Balls, staying inside was certainly more comfortable in this heat. There was no need to make them shuttle between the air-conditioned room and the blazing sun outside.
The only exception was Lilligant, who had gone sunbathing with a cup of water in her arms. Only when Shen Qi called did she reluctantly return.
"Lilligant, time to go."
Hmph!
Lilligant was still sulking over Shen Qi looking into the Lurantis Sisters' schedule. That said, she knew what mattered most and cooperated with his preparations even as she huffed.
Under the blazing sun, Lilligant provided tremendous help.
And with the sun beating down overhead, few other drivers would have their Pokémon use large-scale weather moves to fight the natural environment.
Rainy weather, Hail, and Snowscape were practically out of the question. Only using Ground-type Infinity Energy to create a Sandstorm was reasonably viable, but even that could not compare with the natural advantage enjoyed by Sunny Day users.
At the starting line, eighteen race cars stood ready.
Only then did Shen Qi discover that a T3 driver had withdrawn because his engine had overheated and malfunctioned. Another had suffered heatstroke...
Racing in such hot weather really did invite problems.
Both drivers who withdrew had starting positions below tenth, so they had little effect on Shen Qi.
He needed to watch the two T2 drivers ahead, as well as the drivers behind him through seventh position.
The Rainbow Flying Sword was in fourth. Compared with Ayaka, Feiyue was indeed a little less skilled, but he still had to guard against her.
Shen Qi had already Packaged "Helping Hand" from Chansey.