At Dewford Island's harbor, Brawly and Xiao Ren saw Young Master Mao and Brendan off.
"Senior! We'll be back!" Gary waved and called out affectionately.
"Don't come back." Brawly wished he could jump up and shove the boat away...
As the sun set, Young Master Mao leaned against the yacht's railing and waved gently in farewell, bathed in the warm orange light.
The yacht left a string of circular ripples across the sea as it sailed into the distance.
Brendan and Kimarō hid in the cabin, playing with the Pokémon. Those two were thin-skinned and simply too embarrassed to say goodbye to Brawly.
Looking at the two gleaming Badges inside his collar, Kimarō was speechless.
As a Pokémon Coordinator, his battle record was practically catching up with a battle Trainer's...
Since Young Master Mao had issued his stern warning, neither of the boys had dared let his guard down.
They had been utterly shameless in their Gym battles, relentlessly attacking the weaknesses of Brawly's Fighting-types...
The Double Team and Aerial Ace strategy, Dusclops's immobilization strategy, Substitute-Protect-Toxic! Brawly had nearly lost all composure and rushed in to pummel those two boys to death.
The two of them had been helpless, too. How could they not step things up? Young Master Mao really would have made them swim to Slateport City...
Once they were far from Dewford Island, Gary returned to the cabin. The two boys were dozing out of sheer boredom.
"Vee~" Eevee-chan darted straight into Gary's arms, narrowed her eyes, and yawned.
"Eevee really is attached to you, Teacher," Brendan said enviously.
"Yes. Even I can tell that Eevee's bond with you is incredibly deep," Kimarō agreed with a nod.
"Well~ we did grow up together, after all." Young Master Mao stroked Eevee's little head and sat down on the