He shared a simple meal with Bertha and Professor Rowan, taking the opportunity to strengthen their friendship.
During the meal, Bertha made it clear that if Gary wanted to challenge the Sinnoh Champions Pokémon League, she would not battle him.
"I'm old, and I don't have Agatha's fighting spirit." Bertha smiled. "If you reach the top, I'll give my position to Cynthia. She's still young; she can't retire so early.
"As for me, I could consider opening a kindergarten and enjoying the company of children."
Young Master Mao also made his position clear: he wanted the honor of being Sinnoh Champion, but as for the work... sorry, he wasn't interested...
After all, Young Master Mao was now a company boss, a wealthy man! He really didn't care much about the pittance the Pokémon League paid.
Most importantly, with Cynthia's hands-off attitude, if she became one of the Elite Four, Lucian would probably work himself to death...
Think about it-the Champion's work would fall to Lucian. When the time came, could he really refuse to do Elite Four member Cynthia's work too?
So, for the sake of Lucian's career longevity, Young Master Mao felt he couldn't cling to the position of Sinnoh Champion.
If he really wanted to be a Champion, weren't Unova and Kalos short of people too?
Professor Rowan, meanwhile, discussed his overall research direction and topics with Gary.
Previously, Young Master Mao's papers had mainly concerned the diversification of Pokémon evolution.
However, that topic covered evolution, Mega Evolution, and regional forms, directly overlapping with the work of Professor Rowan's, Professor Sycamore's, and Professor Juniper's three laboratories.
So Professor Rowan suggested that Gary choose a subject no one else had as his laboratory's long-term research topic.
Young Master Mao glanced at his system inventory. Wow, what a mess~ Didn't