Pokémon, Ash's art style is off!

Anyone who passes the test will not only have their meals and accommodation provided, but they will also share a dormitory with anyone who comes with them.

This also shows how wealthy Yuhong City is and how much it wants to surpass Jinhuang City to become a top-tier city in the Kanto region.

Just as we passed through a stone path lined with green maple trees on both sides, a very deliberate cough came from behind.

"Cough! Cough!"

Upon hearing this, they looked over and saw it was Gary, whom Ash and the others had overlooked.

"Hey? It's Xiao Mao. Didn't you fail the test? Why haven't you left yet?"

Xiao Zhi spoke.

The tone is flat, with a rising note at the end.

The results were outstanding.

This made Xiao Mao's fist hard.

Has anyone ever told you that you have the looks of a superstar?

Xiao Mao said through gritted teeth.

Xiao Zhi's eyes lit up, and the corners of his mouth immediately turned up.

"Hahaha, I didn't expect you to think so highly of me, Xiao Mao!"

He took two steps forward and placed his hand on Xiao Mao's shoulder.

It was exactly two strikes.

"Thank you for saying that, and your talent is quite good too."

Xiaomao: "......"

Is that what he meant?!

Saying you have the potential to be a superstar is no exaggeration!

Xiaoxia turned her head away and lowered her voice.

"Is this the legendary natural counter to a cunning and scheming person?"

Xiao Gang nodded slightly. His gaze fell on Xiao Mao's pale and bluish face, then shifted back to Xiao Zhi's open and honest profile.

"really."

"Humph!"

Gary glanced at Satoshi, making sure there were no strangers around, and lowered his voice.

"I never expected this! Ash, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, you've actually gotten into strategy!"

Xiao Zhi looked completely bewildered.

"Strategy? What strategy?"

Xiao Mao stared at his face, his brows furrowed, as if trying to find a flaw in that open and almost innocent face.

"...Stop pretending."

"You deliberately aimed for a 300-point punch just now, didn't you?"

Upon hearing this, Xiaogang and Xiaoxia exchanged a glance. They both nodded in unison.

They thought so too.

Otherwise, with just one move from Xiao Zhi, I feel like that machine might not be saved.

"correct."

Xiao Zhi said it very frankly.

"Aha! Good thing you admitted it!"

"Admit what? Didn't he say that you need at least 300 to pass?"

"I controlled myself for a long time and just barely reached 300; I was so close to exceeding it—"

"Hey, why didn't they set the price higher? Three hundred is so hard to control..."

Pikachu nodded vigorously on his shoulder.

"Pikachu! Pikachu!"

Exactly! It's too difficult!

This is really putting my mount in a difficult position!

Xiaoxia: "..."

Xiao Gang: "..."

Xiaomao: "..."

Xiaoxia took a deep breath.

"Xiao Zhi," she said, lowering her voice, "have you ever thought about—"

She paused, carefully choosing her words.

"Is it possible that the standard for that test is any score above 300?"

Xiao Zhi blinked.

"...No way?"

"If three hundred is that easy, then anyone can do it?"

"Pikachu".

Pikachu tapped Ash.

Ash looked at Pikachu, and Pikachu then gestured with its mouth towards Gary.

"Oh, no offense intended."

Xiao Mao didn't move.

His hands, hanging by his sides, slowly tightened and then loosened.

Take a breath.

Two breaths.

He took a deep breath.

The mental victory strategy kicked in again, and only then did he barely recover.

With no other thoughts in mind, Xiao Mao suddenly blurted out a sentence out of the blue.

"Shiba will come."

Ash stopped moving.

"Shiba?"

"He's a special guest at this year's tournament." Xiao Mao kept his tone as calm as possible, as if he were stating something insignificant. "It's said that he'll be watching the entire tournament, and the final winner might have the opportunity to spar with him."

He paused, then shifted his gaze from Xiao Zhi's face to the branches of a maple tree not far away.

"I originally planned to win the championship and then challenge him face to face."

He didn't say the second half of the sentence.

But now it seems that it's probably not my turn to do this.

A brief silence.

Xiao Mao put his hands back in his pockets and turned around.

"I'm telling you this not to help you."

He had his back to Ash, his voice carrying his usual arrogance.

"I just feel that... if you don't even know this, it makes our Pallet Town look really cheap."

"Don't embarrass yourself in two days."

112. Shiba!

"Shiba...is that Shiba, one of the Four Heavenly Kings?"

Xiaoxia's voice rose slightly, tinged with disbelief.

"Hasn't he been traveling around cultivating his skills, rarely even showing up at formal alliance conferences?"

"Why would someone come to this kind of entertainment... I mean, a city-wide conference, as a guest?"

No wonder she was surprised.

For the vast majority of trainers, the title of the Regional Elite Four is...

More often than not, they are just terms in textbooks, silhouettes in TV broadcasts, or legendary material from other people's stories about "so-and-so almost beat the number X of the Heavenly King back then".

It's not that we won't have a chance to meet.

They had absolutely no idea where to meet.

For someone like them to even encounter one of these is considered lucky.

Even among all the regional powerhouses, these four from Kanto definitely stand out—their characteristics are so distinct they're almost extreme.

The most difficult to mess with, and the hardest to run into, is Kikuko.

As the most senior superstar, she rarely even attends the opening ceremony of the Quartz Convention, let alone other public occasions.

Rumor has it that, having spent so much time with Ghost-type Pokémon, her personality has been permeated with that chilling aura.

Harsh, eccentric, and unapproachable—some say she wanders in the shadows of the city, while others say she doesn't need a place to settle down at all.

But the Kanto region is precisely where stubborn people are not lacking.

A few years ago, a tracking enthusiast tried to "track Kikuko's whereabouts," and after a year, he actually found her.

The next morning, however, there was an extra person at the entrance of the Pokémon Center in Indigo Plateau.