Pokémon Court

Inside the cave.

Terrance and his Pokémon were resting against the wall, eyes closed.

Unwilling to give it up, a group of Sneasel had attacked not long ago to reclaim their habitat, but Terrance successfully fended them off.

He suspected it wouldn’t be the last time. During his stay on the island, the Sneasel would likely attack again.

Altaria had already briefed Terrance on the entire island’s general terrain and situation. If the island was divided into four regions—north, south, east, and west—then Terrance was currently at the center.

According to Altaria’s observations, there were four large Pokémon groups occupying the four regions of the island. Compared to the Sneasel and Venomoth groups Terrance had encountered earlier, these groups were significantly larger.

“These four Pokémon groups are probably the true rulers of this island. The Pokémon we’ve encountered so far must just be parts of the ecosystem….” Terrance shook his head, deciding not to provoke the four possibly most powerful groups on this island.

Whether he could take them on was one thing, but there was no reason to waste the effort. For regular combat practice, the nearby adorable Pokémon along with the fearless Sneasels who are determined to reclaim their habitat are enough.

With limited supplies on hand, Terrance had no interest in provoking major trouble.

“That means the four Pokémon groups are the key elements of this D-Level Lost Region island…” Terrance found it quite interesting. One of the groups was a Beedrill colony. He didn’t know how the Beedrill on this island managed to stand out among Bug-types and became so fearless like bird Pokémon, but the fact that they can rule a region spoke volumes. Terrance guessed their status might have been achieved through sheer numbers.

Another group consisted of Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀, with a few powerful Nidoking and Nidoqueen protecting them.

……

……

Hoenn League.

Inside the roundtable conference room.

The members of the review team responsible for ‘Hoenn Gym Trainers’ were gathered together.

Among them, the middle-level personnel of the League, led by Elite Four Glacia, were discussing the Gym qualification review for the upcoming year.

A rookie, newly assigned to the review team, nervously swallowed. As he sat beside Glacia, his whole body felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave. She seemed like a snow maiden exuding a frosty aura, giving off a vibe that seemed to warn others to stay away.

A few of the review members chuckled inwardly on seeing the rookie being so stiff, but as Glacia spoke, the atmosphere immediately became serious.

Glacia was the only one not wearing the designated uniform. As a member of the management team, she had the privilege. Her pale lavender dress made her look a bit cold.

“Here is last year’s performance evaluation of Hoenn Region’s twelve Gyms. One Gym failed to meet the standards, and two barely passed.”

As Glacia’s words landed, some members shrugged; it seemed another Gym was about to lose its qualification.

“Shawn, go over the details of these three Gyms,” As Glacia finished speaking, a young man stood up and began, “Rogge City’s Rogge Gym issued over 400 Gym Badges last year. However, less than 40% of the Trainers who won went on to participate in the Ever Grande Conference. Furthermore, Rogge Gym’s Trainer Shin has been repeatedly reported for negligence and misconduct, failing to take challengers seriously.”

“It appears Gym Trainer Shin is transitioning to a different role. He currently holds a prominent position at Rogge Pharmaceuticals, which likely explains the poor performance of the Gym last year.”

Glacia showed little emotion about Rogge Gym’s conduct. Nor did she mention how it would be handled, leaving others surprised.

Shawn continued, “The two Gyms that barely met the standards are Fortree Gym and Wave Gym.”

“Fortree Gym’s situation should be familiar to everyone. The current Gym Trainer is new to the role and still struggling to determine the appropriate standard for awarding badges to challengers. However, the former Gym Trainer is guiding them, so this rookie Gym Leader just needs more time to grow.” R̃

“Still, I recommend assigning an inspector for regular evaluations.”

“Wave Gym’s performance evaluation has consistently been low due to decrease in challengers. However, its Gym Leader is experienced.”

The decline in Wave Gym’s challengers was partly due to its remote location on a desolate island. Yet everyone present knew the real reason—Sootopolis Gym was thriving, and as a fellow Water-type Gym, Wave Gym had naturally fallen into decline.

Glacia delegated the inspection tasks for these two Gyms before adding, “Shawn, Senior Moore has expressed interest in transferring his Gym to his granddaughter. However, he feels she isn’t ready yet. You will oversee this evaluation and find an opportunity to tell Senior Moore’s granddaughter to travel for two years before taking over the Gym.”

“Me?” Shawn was taken aback but quickly thought of something…..

“Senior Moore? As in the Lavaridge Gym’s…” Shawn’s initial surprise turned into seriousness as he nodded. Moore wasn’t just the Gym Leader of Lavaridge Gym; he was also a former Elite Four member of Hoenn, specializing in Fire-type.

“Aida.”

“Present!” The newly appointed inspector responded nervously.

Though a seasoned Trainer himself, Aida was like a harmless bunny under Glacia’s intimidating presence.

“Glacia isn’t even from Hoenn, right?” Aida thought to himself. He’d heard rumors that Glacia once believed Ice-type Pokémon could grow stronger in a hot climate, so she traveled a long distance to the hot region of Hoenn to train her Pokémon. However, after repeatedly encountering weak Trainers, she became disappointed and decided to challenge for a position on Hoenn’s Elite Four!

Standing at attention and nervously looking at the beautiful woman before him, Aida couldn’t help but feel admiration.

“Someone has applied to establish a Gym in Fallarbor Town. He is currently undergoing ‘real combat’ assessment. You will be supervising his upcoming ‘internship’ as your first assignment.”

Supervise?!

Aida was stunned. Gym Trainer assessment already had designated “examiners”. Why was he being given a supervisory assignment on top of that?

Nonetheless, Aida promptly accepted the task.

Lucy Joy, the assigned examiner, was not a Hoenn League inspector. Although she obtained the authority to assess Terrance through connections, the assessment process for Terrance cannot completely lack the influence of the Hoenn League; otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense.

The Joy Family had deep influence across the leagues—be it the Indigo League, Hoenn League, Sinnoh League, or even the Unova and Kalos League. As one of Hoenn’s Elite Four, even Glacia couldn’t entirely change some political decisions.

“The person who applied to establish the Gym is called Terrance. His next assessment will take place at Rogge Gym. He will temporarily serve as Rogge Gym’s intern Gym Leader for two months. During this period, Rogge Gym’s Trainer Shin will be suspended from duty.”

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