The Indigo Plateau Conference's preliminary rules required competitors to battle at all four subsidiary venues.
Before the championship tournament, the more than two hundred Pokémon Trainers who had qualified would be whittled down to sixteen.
The format was undeniably brutal...
After a year of hard work, only sixteen people would ultimately qualify to show their skills at Indigo Stadium's main venue.
The preliminaries lasted a week in total, so Trainers still had gaps between matches to make adjustments and train.
Gary's second match was in the fourth round on the Grass Field, scheduled for the morning of the third day.
So, with some time on his hands, Young Master Mao decided to go have some fun at the training grounds at Pokémon League Headquarters.
With Eevee-chan perched on his shoulder and Togepi cradled in his arms, Young Master Mao strolled along the festival plaza's food street in a white hoodie.
Gary first bought himself some rice cakes stir-fried with crab meat and roe, then headed toward the training area, holding the paper box.
Togepi? He could just tuck Togepi into his hood. Why did you think Gary was wearing a hoodie~?
"Hoo, hoo~ aah~" Gary swallowed a big mouthful of stir-fried rice cakes and made a satisfied rumbling sound.
"Eevee-chan, want some?" Gary asked with a smile.
"Vee~" Eevee turned her head away. I'm trying to lose weight!
"Aww~ but little gas cylinders are cute too~ and really nice to pet," Gary said regretfully.
"Vee! (◦`~´◦)!" You're the gas cylinder! I need to watch my figure! Eevee-chan raised her head proudly, the rainbow colors on her tail particularly dazzling.
Ring, ring~
"Moshi moshi~" Gary calmly swiped to answer his phone.
"Professor Gary?" the person on the other end asked tentatively.
"Yeah, Erika~ right?" Gary asked curiously.
"Yes! I asked the