Although Lu Ye had confirmed he would join the P1 Grand Prix, his top priority at the moment was still preparing for the upcoming Academy Exchange Tournament.

After nearly blowing up the school several times before, even Lu Ye was starting to feel a little guilty.
But Principal Initial seemed unbothered and simply reminded Lu Ye to focus on education.

After receiving such a big favor, it was only right to take things more seriously...

Monday, November 30

Standing on the balcony of his villa, Lu Ye looked complicatedly toward the Togepi in the yard.

“Chagi~ Togi~!”

Togepi wiggled its tiny fingers, and a multitude of rocks began to float midair all around it, before crashing down with a loud rumble.

Boom!

The rocks slammed into the ground, leaving a series of large craters.

“Togi~!” Togepi clapped its tiny hands in delight.
I did it! I finally did it!

“Geng~” Gengar clutched a handkerchief with teary eyes, even blowing its nose with it.

Togepi’s strength had grown again.
Surely its Trainer must be just as happy as I am!

Lu Ye leaned on the railing, propping his chin with one hand, and let out a long sigh.

Togepi had just learned a Rock-type move all on its own—Ancient Power.

Ancient Power: Attacks with primeval stone energy. Has a small chance of raising all stats.

Looking at the pitted and scarred yard, Lu Ye couldn’t help but feel emotional.
Considering how small Togepi was… that power was actually pretty intense!

In the hands of lucky Trainers, Ancient Power could boost all stats.
With Togepi’s Serene Grace ability, that chance was effectively doubled.

Lu Ye wasn’t too confident in triggering bonus effects…
But he knew Togepi’s luck well—definitely worthy of the “Serene Grace” name.

It was just that his own bad luck sometimes drowned it out...

“Togi~!” Togepi looked up with a big smile at Lu Ye on the balcony.

Lu Ye gave a helpless smile.
“You’ve worked hard… Take a break before training more, okay?”

Togepi wiped the sweat from its forehead with a little hand and waved cheerfully.

Still gotta keep grinding! ヾ(◍°∇°◍)ﾉﾞ

Lu Ye felt a bit conflicted.
Right now, Togepi still didn’t have much battle power compared to its older teammates.

But this little one was working hard to catch up step by step.
Even though he felt a little moved… why did it also feel so draining?

“Cute is all that matters!”
Lu Ye nodded firmly.
“I don’t expect Togepi to become super strong… As long as it grows up safe and sound!”

Just as he said that, Togepi once again used Ancient Power.
Rocks floated around it and then crashed down with another loud rumble.

Thud!

This time, the entire villa trembled.
A red glow of boosted stats flared up from Togepi’s body!

“Togi~!” Togepi’s eyes suddenly turned sharp!

A drop of cold sweat slid down Lu Ye’s temple.
He almost forgot—

Just like Gold’s Tokitaro, his own Togepi was also a 6V Togepi!

“Chagi~ Togi~(❁´◡`❁)✲ﾟ”

Thankfully, once the training was over, Togepi went back to its usual adorable self.
Gengar’s eyes glowed blue as it lifted Togepi with psychic power and gently floated it up to the balcony.

“Togi~” Togepi bounced happily along the railing, clearly wanting to play “up high” again.

Looking down at the wrecked yard, Lu Ye silently pulled out his phone.

“Yes, it’s me. Yeah, ASAP.”

The head of the Kanto renovation crew once again shook Lu Ye’s hand with deep gratitude.

“You’ve really been keeping us in business!”

Lu Ye looked a little awkward.
You think I wanted this?!

Still, Lu Ye stroked his chin as he surveyed the perfectly restored yard and couldn’t help but admire the Pokémon world’s advanced tech.

Turns out… beyond communication and transfer systems, their infrastructure tech was also insanely fast!

With chores out of the way, Lu Ye focused entirely on preparing for the upcoming inter-academy exchange battle.

That afternoon, he rode Arcanine to the Trainer Academy.

This trip was mainly to supervise student training—
including the regimens designed for Yutō Sundae and Gladion.

“Wait… you want my Lycanroc to get beat up?”
Gladion stared at the paper in his hands, a bit stunned.

Is that… even a legit training method?

Lu Ye noticed Gladion’s doubt and said seriously:
“Your Lycanroc is very well-suited for the move Counter.”

“The specific training—Gengar will explain. Take Lycanroc and go see him.”

Gladion was a little surprised and looked up.
Arcanine stood nearby with a fierce grin.

“Geng~!” Gengar bared its teeth in a grin beside Arcanine.

Teacher Lu even sent Arcanine as a sparring partner for me…

I can’t let him down!

Gladion took a deep breath, his eyes sharp.
“Let’s go, Lycanroc—time to train Counter!”

As the sun began to set in the west, the training ground was filled with fading golden light.

The massive Arcanine yawned as it pinned Lycanroc beneath it.
“Grooow…” Lycanroc whimpered softly.

“That’s enough for today.”
Lu Ye gave a sympathetic cough. “We’ll continue tomorrow.”

Once again, Gladion realized his own shortcomings.
Sweat soaked his golden hair, and he nodded firmly. “Understood!”

Meanwhile, Yutō Sundae quietly asked:
“Teacher Lu… how many more times do I have to throw this boomerang…”

“Don’t slack off,” Lu Ye shot him a glance. “Your Marowak’s Bonemerang is as strong as Earthquake… Just keep grinding that move.”

“Got it~”

The sun had now fully set.
Although Arcanine had served as a sparring partner all day, it hadn’t been without reward.

After its passionate training sessions with Lycanroc, Arcanine had deepened its understanding of Fighting-type moves.

While it still had a ways to go before mastering Close Combat,
it had now learned Reversal—a move that gets stronger the closer the user is to fainting.

In high-stakes matches with limits, hiding Reversal as a trump card might just catch opponents off guard.

This was typically a setup for physically offensive Arcanine.
There were also turret-style and support-style builds.

But in real life, things like effort values were much less rigid.
Might as well max out everything… and swap movesets on the fly depending on the battle.

That was exactly the kind of nonsense Champion Leon—the “Man of Ads”—loved to pull.
His dual-sword Charizard could run Brick Break and Thunder Punch one minute, then go full special with Flamethrower and Air Slash the next.

Basically a fellow chaotic battler, just like Lu Ye.

After letting the two students head back to rest,
Lu Ye also planned to return to Saffron City.

Just then, a call came in from Lijia.

“Teacher Lu, can you come to the principal’s office?”

“What’s up?”

“There’s a transfer student from the Hoenn Region—personally arranged by Professor Oak.”

“A transfer student from Hoenn?” Lu Ye blinked.

“Professor Oak will explain it to you himself.”
Lijia said, “If you’re free, you can call him back. He’s been trying to reach you via your special Pokédex, but couldn’t get through.”

The special-edition Pokédex also worked like a smartphone.

Lu Ye coughed awkwardly.
The reason Oak couldn’t get through… was because Lu Ye had handed the Pokédex to Gengar, and it was probably still chilling in its stomach...

He dialed back, and on-screen appeared an elderly man with gray-streaked hair and a sprightly spirit.

The old man was leaning over a Bunsen burner, staring thoughtfully at a Kingler nearby.

“Oh, Lu Ye!”
Professor Oak came back to himself, returned Kingler to its Poké Ball, and greeted warmly, “Long time no see!”

Lu Ye’s expression was complicated.
If I’d called later, would you have grilled that Kingler for dinner?

“How many badges have you collected?” Oak asked first.

“Th-Three…”

“Whoa! Less than a month and you’ve got three—impressive!”
Lu Ye winced.

Please… stop stabbing me with praise!

“That’s not the point.” Lu Ye coughed.

“I wanted to ask—what’s the deal with this transfer student from Hoenn?”

“Ah…”

At that, Oak’s expression turned a little complicated.
After pausing to choose his words, he spoke softly:

“Do you… know someone named Manatsu?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read