Pokémon: Trail of Ultimate Champion

Early the next morning, after saying goodbye to Satou Kenji, Toshi set off back to the Academy. Likewise, the task issued by Satou Kenji had already been marked as [Completed].

"Today I'll first check in at the Academy, and then see how Ponyta's Pokémon egg is doing. Also, I need to start preparing nutrition products for Ponyta after it hatches."

Sitting on the morning bus, Toshi admired the scenery outside while thinking about what he needed to do today.

About half an hour later, he had returned to the Academy.

When Toshi left yesterday, he hadn't taken Ponyta's Pokémon egg with him but had left it in the dormitory just in case.

It wasn't that he didn't want to witness the moment Ponyta hatched; it was just that his dad told him that Ponyta would hatch within the next three days, so it was fine to do it this way.

Upon returning to the dormitory, Toshi found it still empty. He didn't mind, as he was well aware of the personalities of his three roommates.

Shoji, that hot-blooded youth, was certainly out training with his Taillow early in the morning.

At this hour, Youki was probably out helping a teacher with some tasks, earning a little living expense and Academy points.

As for the last roommate, Seita, he was undoubtedly still at the Academy and didn't need further mention.

After giving Ponyta's Pokémon egg a brief inspection, Toshi felt that the hatching time should be near, so to be safe, he decided to head to the Pokémon Center for a comprehensive inspection of Ponyta's Pokémon egg.

Taking the egg incubator, Toshi was just about to push open the door to set off when he saw Shoji and Youki returning.

"Toshi!" Shoji greeted happily. "You're back?"

Youki also chimed in, "Toshi."

Toshi smiled and greeted the two. "Good morning to both of you."

Shoji stepped forward, wrapping his arm around Toshi's shoulder. "How did your task go yesterday? I heard from others that it has been posted many times without being completed. A lot of people think that the employer is just trying to make things difficult!"

Toshi laughed. "Shoji, you're mistaken this time; I have already completed the task. If you don't believe me, I can log into my account and show you."

"You really completed it?" Shoji looked shocked.

Youki then walked up as well. "As expected of Toshi, managing to complete a task that so many couldn't. That's impressive!"

Toshi waved his hand. "It was just good luck, nothing special." He then asked, "By the way, what were you two doing so early in the morning?"

Shoji said, "Toshi, don't play coy with me. You know something is happening in the next couple of days, right?"

"The next couple of days?" Toshi pondered for a moment. "You're talking about the Newcomer Trainer Competition, right?"

"Exactly!" Shoji replied excitedly. "This is my chance to make a name for myself and show everyone who I am! How can I not prepare properly? By the way, Toshi, are you going to participate too?"

The Newcomer Trainer Competition that Toshi referred to wasn't an official event but rather a competition spontaneously organized every year for Trainers in Petalburg City who had just received their starter Pokémon.

The participants are generally Trainers, breeders, and students from the Ranger Academy.

The Trainer and Breeder Academies, like the Ranger Academy, have a six-year curriculum, but the former two typically require students to bring their own Pokémon by their second year.

Thus, the participants in this competition are second-year students from those two academies and third-year students from the Ranger Academy.

However, compared to the first two, Ranger Academy students, who are mostly civilians, usually do not have high-quality Pokémon, so they often find themselves overshadowed by the other two academies each year.

"This... Shoji, you know my Ponyta hasn't hatched yet, so even if I wanted to participate, I can't."

Shoji awkwardly patted his head. "Oh right, I almost forgot! Your starter Pokémon hasn't hatched yet; I nearly mistook Butterfree for your starter Pokémon, haha!"

Toshi turned to Youki beside him and asked, "By the way, Youki, I don't even know what your starter Pokémon is."

"This," Youki said, scratching his head shyly, "is a Weedle, which I asked a teacher at the Academy to help me catch."

"Weedle isn't bad. Its final evolution, Beedrill, can be quite strong with proper cultivation," Toshi said.

Upon hearing this, Youki just smiled awkwardly and said nothing.

Toshi wasn't joking with Youki; Beedrill does have a mega evolution, but most people outside of the Kalos region are still unaware of it.

Toshi had specifically asked his dad about it before, so he knew that the Pokémon League currently included only six regions: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos.

Although Toshi had heard online that the Alola region would be opened up before he crossed over, he hadn't reached that moment before arriving in this world, so he was completely clueless about Alola. Fortunately, in this world, Alola has not yet been integrated into the League's map.

Since Kalos is quite far from Hoenn, it was normal for people not to understand, so it wasn't surprising that they didn't know about mega evolution.

Toshi asked, "How's the quality?"

Ultimately, the type of Pokémon isn't the key; the quality is what matters most, as it determines the strength ceiling.

Youki said somewhat dejectedly, "It's just average."

Toshi smiled and said, "No worries, just cultivate it well, and later you can capture other high-quality Pokémon. Don't get discouraged."

Youki nodded. "Yeah."

Shoji said, "Toshi, let's not talk about this anymore. How about we go training together later? Even if your Butterfree can't battle, training should be fine, right?"

Toshi shook his head. "Sorry, Shoji, my Ponyta is going to hatch in the next couple of days, so I plan to take it to the Pokémon Center for an inspection first."

"I see, that's too bad, but it's okay," Shoji then turned his attention to Youki. "Youki, why don't we go together?"

Youki also declined. "I have to help a teacher with some tasks later. The students have been coming back to check in, and with the new students arriving, it's really busy, so I'm sorry, Shoji, but I can't go training with you either."

Seeing that everyone had things to do, Shoji didn't push further and decided to go training alone. "That's fine, if that's the case, I'll just go by myself."

After parting ways with the two, Toshi first checked in at the Academy, then set off toward the Pokémon Center.

As a hallmark building of every city, the Pokémon Center is usually located in the city center. Although Toshi hadn't had a Pokémon before, he had been here many times, so it was nothing new to him.