The video of Will and Gongping's battle sparked lively discussion online, but everyone's attention soon shifted to the latest Kanto Region tournament. After all, the coming week was Kanto's competition week, and broadcasts on all the television stations revolved around it.
Even as the Regional Conference continued in full swing, Sandstorm King Gongping had no interest in watching the matches. Instead, he hid alone in the lounge, carrying out tedious improvements to the Dream System.
Will ranked among the strongest Trainers he had encountered, especially with that Mega Gardevoir's terrifying Confusion, which had completely exceeded his data calculations. He therefore had to speed up his improvements and upgrades to the Dream System.
Setting a vast number of parameters, Gongping kept tapping away at the keyboard, finalizing countless lines of colorful code one after another.
Whenever he was alone, apart from caring for his Pokémon, Gongping mostly holed up here, constantly improving his Dream System. Not all his Pokémon liked the Dream System, though. Lileep, at least, thoroughly hated this virtual world.
Having finished today's work, Gongping breathed a sigh of relief. As he removed his VR headset, he accidentally bumped a photo frame.
In the frame, a grinning Gongping, a gentle Rosa, and a thoroughly reluctant Trip stood shoulder to shoulder for a group photo. Besides the three Trainers, there were Tepig, Oshawott, and Snivy, each held in their arms.
"Trip, we're about to set off together. Don't be so shy. How about a group photo?"
The blue-haired boy looked utterly resigned as Gongping pushed him forward. The Oshawott in his arms curiously surveyed everything around them, while Tepig lay on Gongping's head, snickering.
"What a pain."
Stroking his Tepig, Gongping stepped forward and coaxed Trip. "Don't be like that. When Rosa and I aren't around in the future, remember to take good care of yourself. You'll have to cook and do your own laundry."
Once he reached his spot for the photo, Trip finally couldn't help complaining. "Could you two move a little farther away? Looking at you annoys me. Besides, I'm not a pampered young master like you, Gongping, who needs Rosa to wait on him for everything."
True to his homebody nature from his previous life, Gongping never cooked and had barely even done laundry. Rosa handled most of his everyday needs for him.
Trip's disgusted look, telling them not to flaunt their relationship in front of him, made Rosa blush slightly. "Stop arguing, you two. Get ready for the photo."
After he put the photo back in place, he found that a Piloswine had appeared at some point and was lying on the table, looking utterly done with life.
"Are you hungry?"
The yawning Piloswine nodded, then rolled over in front of Gongping, putting on a cute face as he begged for food.
"I really don't know what to do with you. I'll make something to eat."
There were dedicated keepers feeding the Pokémon in the Breeding Area, but this Piloswine simply liked eating the same things as Gongping. Such clinginess left Gongping a little helpless, and he could only shake off his laziness, open the refrigerator, and make something to eat.
There were over a hundred flavors of synthetic meat on the market. After choosing a few foods, Gongping skillfully gathered the ingredients together, his knife chopping rapidly with a series of thuds. A short while later, several hot stir-fried dishes were set before Piloswine.
After finishing dinner with Piloswine, Gongping washed the dishes and cleaned the entire kitchen, looking every bit like a second Brock.
Since parting with Rosa, Gongping had gradually learned to take care of himself. He had originally possessed no life skills whatsoever, but now he had mastered them one by one.
The only painful thing was that sometimes, when he wanted to watch a movie, he realized there was no one to keep him company. Or, with that series of movies, the person who could watch them and complain about them with him had now already
Collecting himself, Gongping dressed properly and attended the Elite Four's weekly meeting in a conference room next to the Indigo League venue.
As he entered the conference room, the other members of the Elite Four greeted Gongping with warm smiles. Their fellow member had recently done Kanto's Elite Four proud, sending Pryce back thoroughly frustrated.
"Ahem, everyone has done excellent work this week, whether on the Gym assessments, the trial operation of the new Pokémon Centers, or the King Tournament. The Pokémon League's senior officials are very pleased with us, so they've awarded us a substantial performance bonus."
At this point, Lance gave Gongping a particularly friendly look. The fellow worked very efficiently. At the very least, he had handled the Gym assessments beautifully. He had also defeated Will, leaving the Johto faction's Elite Four members thoroughly humbled.
The Johto and Kanto factions were competitors to begin with, vying for resources from the Pokémon League's higher ranks. Although Lance was an Elite Four member for the greater Kanto area, as someone from Kanto himself, his position naturally leaned toward the Kanto faction.
Besides the money going into the Elite Four members' own pockets, another enormous sum had been allocated. This was also an important reason Lance had called them together for this meeting.
"Three years ago, we proposed to the Pokémon League that a branch of the International Police Academy be established in the Kanto Region. Following this round of council discussions, the Pokémon League has finally approved it and allocated the funds."
The International Police Academy was an important training institution that trained various investigators, International Police officers, forest rangers, and conservation personnel. Its headquarters had always been in the Sinnoh Region. With all sorts of incidents occurring frequently in the greater Kanto area over the past few years, Lance had been applying to establish a branch.
"The school is finally being established. At last, we won't have to request personnel from Sinnoh every year. But this means another addition to our workload. Who's going to be responsible for it?"
At this point, Lorelei was the first to indicate that she was already stretched thin. "The new Pokémon Center project has only just started. I don't have that much energy to deal with this."
Bruno laughed heartily at Lorelei's complaints. "If I go to the school, they might develop some pretty good muscles."
Having ruled out Lorelei and Bruno long ago, Lance had already made his decision. "According to the Pokémon League's arrangements, Agatha will be responsible for this, with Gongping assisting her as the school's vice principal and director of discipline."
Director of discipline?
Gongping froze for a moment. Wasn't I only fifteen?
As though he had seen through Gongping's thoughts, Lance, the Dragon-type Elite Four member, spoke with a smile. "Don't worry. The first batch of students will all be around ten years old. They'll have to study here for five years before they can graduate. This is a long-term assignment."
Put plainly, Agatha was old and only had the energy to oversee the overall situation, while the young and vigorous Gongping would be the one actually implementing everything. Sandstorm King Gongping and the Ghost-type Elite Four member Agatha would presumably become Kanto's famous old-and-young Elite Four duo in the future.
None of the jobs Lance assigned to the Elite Four were particularly easy. Bruno was responsible for an enormous number of organizations of all sizes, while Lorelei's promotion of the new Pokémon Centers and management of online public opinion were even more vast and tedious tasks.
As for Gongping and Agatha, once the Regional Conference ended, they would have to organize the next round of the Regional Tournament and conduct another round of Gym assessments. Agatha had been responsible for these matters already, but now that the school had been added, Lance stated that all future Gym assessments would be handed over to Gongping.
"Thirty-four new Gyms were established in the Kanto Region this season. Even excluding those previously demoted, the total number of ordinary Gyms is staggering. In the coming season, I want Gongping to follow the Cerulean Gym model and conduct strict inspections."
The Kanto Region was not large, yet Gyms clustered practically everywhere. Anyone with connections could set one up, leaving things rather sordid. Lance therefore felt it necessary to have Gongping put those Gyms through a thorough cleansing.
Thus, in the next stage, Gongping would have two main jobs: serve properly as the academy's director of discipline and complete the Gym assessments for the next season.
Both were jobs that would offend people. In any case, the fellow wasn't afraid of offending anyone.
PS: Things have gotten busy since I started work, so my writing time is limited.
Before you continue