November 10, Monday. Weather: sunny with cloudy spells.
As Veilstone City gradually settled into a wintry atmosphere, the weather grew a little chilly.
Young Master Mao, however, found the temperature just right as he sat by a charcoal stove, sipping hot tea.
Seated in a wicker chair with a blanket draped over him, Young Master Mao studied the basic rules of Sinnoh's Pokémon Contests.
Wallace had mailed him this book.
Unlike Hoenn, Sinnoh's Pokémon Contests placed greater emphasis on the appearance and coordinated outfits of Pokémon Trainers and their Pokémon, as well as dazzling entrances that combined sticker effects with moves.
In short, the scoring criteria were also vastly different.
Although Wallace had acknowledged Young Master Mao's skills as those of a Pokémon Master.
He still had to follow the rules when it came to competition procedures.
"Interesting. The Coordinator's own flair counts toward the judging criteria too.
"Doesn't that mean I get ten extra points right from the start?" Young Master Mao joked, rubbing his chin.
Golduck walked past Young Master Mao and raised his chin haughtily.
When it comes to flair, you've still got to hand it to yours truly~!
With Young Master Mao home for the past few days, his Pokémon had begun another round of endless intensive training.
Young Master Mao barely needed to worry about them. With a battle maniac like Eevee leading the charge, who dared slack off...
The most obvious result was that Cottonee had already evolved into Whimsicott.
Golduck and Gengar took turns stepping in, their assortment of bizarre moves quickly teaching the little one to be devious...
Although Monferno hadn't had many chances to take the field recently, with the care of the veterans, Monferno had also successfully advanced.
Now Infernape truly was the Golden-Armored Great Sage.
At opposite ends of