Elf: This owner is so sunny.

the next day.

Entrance to the Macha City Dojo.

Two men stood there. One had a stern face and an air of dominance between his brows, while the other had a smile on his face and an air of nobility. He said half-jokingly, "Adu, are you really going to challenge Bai Yu today?"

"What? You don't want the challenge?"

Instead of answering directly, A-Du asked a question.

"I do have that idea, but I'm no match for him right now."

Daigo had a good understanding of his own strength. It took him about half a month to leave the Galar region and head to the Unova region.

In the past two weeks, even if a Pokémon's strength has reached a whole new level, it may not be a match for Bai Yu.

Bai Yu's strength is far greater than expected.

"We should give it a try."

A-Du didn't care about winning or losing. He believed that as long as he kept trying, he would eventually succeed.

This has always been Awatari's battle strategy.

"Alright, I'll stay and watch." Daigo nodded. He also wanted to see how much A-Lun had improved during this time, and also to see the gap between him and Shiroha.

With nothing else to do, Steven handed over the Hoenn region matters to Wallace to handle.

Despite his daily complaints, Michael handled things quite well. At least the Hoenn region's league chairman didn't cause him any trouble, which proved that Michael's administrative abilities were quite good.

Bang bang bang!
There was a knock on the door.

"Coming, coming~"

A mumbled voice came from inside the dojo. After responding, he yawned, groggily opened the dojo door, and the receptionist scratched his head, looking like he hadn't woken up yet, and looked up at the two people standing in front of him.

She ate barbecue until midnight last night, and she got up early this morning to sit at the front desk. If someone hadn't knocked on the door, she would have almost fallen asleep.

Through blurry eyes, I could vaguely make out two people: one was a man with short, reddish-brown hair, a stern face, dressed in an investigator's uniform and wearing a cape; the other was a man with short, deep blue hair, a smiling face, and an air of nobility about him.

The receptionist's gaze met that of the two people.

Adu smiled slightly.

"you should……"

Before she could finish speaking, the receptionist slammed the dojo door shut.

All that remained was A-Du, who had raised his hand as if to say hello, standing there bewildered in the wind.

Daigo, who was watching the commotion from the sidelines, couldn't help but laugh out loud. The champion of the Johto region had actually been turned away at the gate of a gym.

If this were to get out, very few people would believe it.

However, the facts were right in front of Daigo, and he made up his mind that once he returned to the Hoenn region, he would definitely tell Wallace and the others about this. Thinking of Wallace's expression at that time, Daigo's smile deepened.

"Stop laughing." A-Du said with a displeased look.

He kept adjusting his clothes. Could it be that his trip to the Unova region had caused the champion of the Johto region to be replaced?

I don't think so. If he were to be replaced, President Damalangi would notify him immediately.

That's not the reason. Could it be that he got a tan?
A-Du took out a mirror and looked at himself. His face and expression were exactly the same as before.

So... what could be the reason? Could it be that Bai Yu is up to something?

Click~
Then the dojo door opened again.

The receptionist looked at Wataru and Daigo with an apologetic expression and bowed repeatedly, saying, "I'm so sorry, Wataru, champion, Daigo, I was a little sleepy just now."

"Still half asleep?"

"Yeah, I thought I was dreaming." The receptionist really thought she was dreaming. She closed the dojo door and rubbed her arms before she came to her senses.

"Oh~"

A-Du nodded, looked at the state of the stage in front of him, and said, "You should pay more attention to resting in the future, so as not to make similar mistakes."

"Okay...okay, Champion A-Du." The receptionist nodded quickly.

Then, Lance and Steven entered the Macha Gym. This wasn't the first time either of them had been to the Macha Gym, and the style of the gym had changed quite a bit.

Daigo remembered that when he came here before, there were no counting boards in the sky above the field, and the whole field looked very simple. As for the defense system, it was even less likely to be equipped.

However, it seems that the Macha Dojo has all the facilities it needs, and is equipped with the most advanced facilities in the dojo. Even the defensive barrier is a barrier that can withstand the impact of a champion.

"The environment here is quite nice."

Daigo praised her generously.

"Of course. After my last match with him, I specifically mentioned it to Chairman Damaranchi, and that we've put a lot of effort into rebuilding the dojo."

"So, you deserve credit for this dojo."

Daigo said, somewhat surprised.

"It's about half and half! After all, Bai Yu's strength is undeniable. Even if he doesn't become the champion of the Kanto League, he is still the strongest trainer in the Kanto League on the surface."

"These facilities are nothing to the entire alliance."

“That makes sense.” Daigo nodded without arguing.

He also planned to ask Chairman Damaranchi for some budget after he went to the Indigo Plateau, so that he could improve the venues of the official gyms in the Hoenn region. Not to mention the others, the Laszlo Gym in Laszlo City definitely needed to be renovated.

After all, that's the face of the Hoenn region. As the headquarters of Devon Corporation, Steven's father's company, Rustboro City's official gym can't be too shabby.

The two chatted idly inside the dojo.

After a while, Bai Yu came out of the backyard with dark circles under his eyes.

"Didn't you two say you'd come over this afternoon?"

Bai Yu said to the two of them with a hint of helplessness.

We had agreed to come in the afternoon, and Bai Yu had planned to close the gym early in the morning and reopen it in the afternoon. After all, he had stayed up quite late last night, and he was also busy planning the Green Region and raising the unique Pokémon in the Green Region. He stayed up until almost dawn and hadn't had enough sleep when the front desk woke him up.

"We came here because there were only morning flights available."

"Since you're here, you can also visit Macha City!"

Bai Yu said to the two of them with a bit of helplessness, and then led them towards the reception room. Before leaving, he reminded the receptionist to make them a cup of coffee.

If he doesn't wake up, he'll probably fall asleep while chatting idly.

Bai Yu slumped listlessly in the chair, forcing a smile as he chatted idly.

Upon hearing that Lance had subdued Hydreigon, he perked up considerably. "...You mean, when you went to Blueberry Academy in the Unova region to discuss academic matters, you incidentally destroyed one of Team Plasma's hideouts in the Unova region? And then Alderman decided to give you a Denoide?

"Otherwise what?" A-Du spread his hands and said, "As an investigator, it's not unreasonable for me to give a one-headed dragon as a reward for eliminating threats in other areas."

"By the way, didn't you run into N? If N were there, you probably wouldn't have destroyed it so quickly, right?" Bai Yu suddenly asked, remembering something.

As Ghettoss's adopted son, even though he has lost control of Zekrom, N possesses the innate ability to communicate telepathically with Pokémon, and he can definitely play an important role in this.

Jekrom is missing, but Lessilam is still alive.

Who knows, N might even end up with Lacey Ram.

“N? Who is that guy?” Awa was taken aback and glanced at Daigo beside him. Daigo slowly shook his head, obviously he had not heard of anyone named N either.

"That guy probably got dumped, right?" Bai Yu murmured. Quixote was a very pragmatic person. Once N stopped working for him, he would abandon the other party without hesitation.

This does fit Quixote's cold-blooded character.

He never considered N as his adopted son. In Ghettoss's mind, N was always a monster created by humans and Pokémon.

"What...what did you say?" Adu asked, somewhat unable to hear clearly.

"N-nothing," Bai Yu yawned and shook his head.

There are some things it's better not to tell this guy.

Given Wataru's disdain for evil forces, even if this matter were mentioned, Wataru couldn't possibly go to the Unova region and wipe out the entire Team Plasma.

After all, Lance has been dealing with Team Rocket in Kanto and Johto for so many years, but Team Rocket is still as rampant as ever, only calming down in recent years.

Just as Adu was about to say something, the receptionist brought in three cups of coffee and placed them on the tables in front of the three of them. After doing this, she was about to leave when Bai Yu called her back.

"Go and call the referee later, tell him we want to have a match and ask him to officiate."

"Yes, curator."

The receptionist nodded, and was about to leave when Daigo called her back.

"Wait!"

Daigo explained, "Let's not trouble the referee. I'll be the referee for this match. After all, I can manage to officiate a game."

Daigo also noticed that something was off about the Macha Gym today. Something must have happened yesterday. As the referee of the Macha Gym, he's probably still in bed sleeping right now.

Although Steven is not a professional referee, he is still capable of observing the Pokémon's condition and making judgments as a referee.

Moreover, as the referee, he could more directly see the difference in strength between the two. He could also take the opportunity to observe the Pokémon that Bai Yu had sent out.

In addition, he really didn't intend to compete with Bai Yu today. He came more to observe Bai Yu's current strength. During the Masters Tournament finals, he felt that Bai Yu's strength was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

"Dojo Master, this..." The receptionist looked at Bai Yu with some difficulty.

"Let Daigo be the referee if he wants to."

Bai Yu waved his hand, not really caring. Suddenly, he thought of something and said, "Later, put up a seal at the gym entrance and also post it on the official website so that trainers who want to challenge can come and challenge the gym this afternoon."

To be honest, Bai Yu didn't want too many people to see the match between Bai Yu and A Du.

After all, A-Du was the champion of the Johto League, and he had just been eliminated not long ago.

Losing would have a bad impact, and Bai Yu wanted to bring out a powerful Pokémon to face Lance's Dragon in this match.

A-Du likes to play with dragons, doesn't he?

If we release that Pokémon, one of the three dragons of the Unova region, it'll scare that guy to death. But based on Bai Yu's understanding of Lance, that guy definitely won't be scared to death; he'll be even more excited.

After all, his goal has always been to subdue more powerful dragons!
Those truly powerful dragons are naturally the high-level divine beasts that only exist in legends.

"So, Bai Yu, you've accepted my challenge?"

Adu was somewhat surprised. Yesterday on the phone, Bai Yu had been refusing, but today he accepted it quite readily.

"If I don't accept it, will you leave?"

Bai Yu asked in return, and seeing A Du's expression, he knew the answer.

Bai Yu had no choice but to accept this match, since it was just one game and wouldn't take up too much of his energy. It would also be a good opportunity to test Adu's current strength.

As the possessor of the power of Tokiwa and the power of the dragon, Bai Yu was somewhat reluctant to be eliminated in the first round of the Master Tournament. After all, his combat power in the Heart Gold and Soul Silver arcs was slightly inferior to that of Sakaki and Liu Bo.

"By the way, Bai Yu, do you know Shaka, the Gym Leader of Odd-Dragon City in the Unova region? When we went to the Unova region this time, we made a special trip to visit this former Dragon-type Elite Four member of the Unova League, and we learned a lot about Alumina Bridge Dragon from him."

Of course, the main purpose was to inquire about the aluminum-steel bridge dragon from Xia Ka's grandson, Du Ruo.

After all, Du Ruo's trump card is the aluminum-steel bridge dragon, which was cultivated little by little at Blueberry Academy.

Regarding training, Du Ruo knows more about it than A Du and Daigo.

“I went to the Unova region before and fought against Gym Leader Shaka at the Twin Dragons Gym.”

"No wonder..."

A-Du nodded, not taking it to heart.

He stared at the coffee on the table, drank it all in one gulp, and then got up and walked toward the venue.

"Let's finish this quickly."

Adu didn't want to get entangled in these matters anymore; he just wanted to fight Bai Yu as soon as possible.

"Hmm~ You drank this scalding hot coffee in one gulp, are you really okay?"

Bai Yu took a sip of coffee and said with a helpless expression.

This guy is too impatient; he's not as composed as Sakaki at all.

No wonder he was manipulated by Giovanni. Even his Dragonite was constantly toyed with by Giovanni's Beedrill. Perhaps his Dragonite was just a joke in Giovanni's eyes.

"fine."

A-Du shook his head; his current focus was on the battle.

"Alright, alright, let me get ready."

As Bai Yu spoke, he also got up and walked towards the backyard.

Today he's going to carefully select the Pokémon to compete with.

A-Du nodded and walked towards the venue first.

Somewhat curious, Daigo followed Shiraha towards the backyard. When he saw the two dragons lying in the backyard, his pupils shrank. Then, to Daigo's incredulous expression, Shiraha recalled one of the dragons into the Ultra Ball.

This...this guy isn't going to use that Pokémon against Lance, is he? (End of Chapter)