"I lost after all…" As Beautifly fell, May helplessly recalled Beautifly, looking somewhat dejected.
She had clearly just won the Fallarbor Contest and had begun to understand a little how to build rapport with Pokémon, but May had not expected to suffer such a crushing defeat in a Gym battle…
May, who had only just built up her confidence, was frustrated once again. However, at this moment, Terrance suddenly tossed over two notebooks and one book, forcibly making May come back to her senses.
The three were respectively the Basic Coordination-Oriented Training Method for Skorupi and Cutiefly, as well as"The Secrets of the Fairy Type".
"This is…" May asked.
"The training methods are necessities for you and Ash's next Gym challenge. Study them carefully. As for that book, I wrote it. You can read it yourself or keep it for Brock. He will teach you how to raise Cutiefly," Terrance said.
Looking at the three books, May was a little dazed.
"Sister… are you all right?" Max had not been surprised by the outcome of the battle from beginning to end. Although he was still young, compared to Ash and May, he had a much clearer idea of things, and knew very well just how large the gap was between an Elite Four, a Contest Master, and a rookie Coordinator.
"I'm fine, Max." May answered Max with a smile, then held the three books and bowed to Terrance. "Then we'll go to the Pokémon Center first."
"Mm." Terrance nodded.
Watching May and Max leave, Kotoko, who had been holding back for a long time, could finally cut in. Casually glancing at the field, which had not been damaged much, she said with some confusion, "There's something I don't quite understand…"
In her view, even Troy was more talented than the Ash and May before her. Why was Terrance paying so much attention to these people?
"You'll understand when the time comes." Terrance smiled and shook his head. He could hardly tell Kotoko that Ash was the child of the world. Setting aside everything else, the Greninja Ash had caught during the Kalos period had, after raising its life level by itself, briefly gained combat power capable of suppressing the main Pokemon of a Top Trainer. That improvement was truly terrifying. One had to know that Greninja seemed to have been raised under Ash for only a few months.
Aside from Ash, May was not simple either. Although she had not inherited her father Norman's talent like Max had, as a pure rookie, she had managed to win and obtain a Ribbon the second time she participated in a Pokémon Contest. With that speed of progress, Terrance did not even know whether he himself could have done it back then without the four years he had spent accumulating breeder knowledge.
One had to know that the current Fallarbor Contest's value was not low. Perhaps May had had an element of luck, but luck was also part of strength.
"How are things on Troy's side?"
When Kotoko mentioned Troy, Terrance also remembered this Gym apprentice and wanted to understand his situation.
The Genetic Potion suitable for Beedrill that he had asked Master Victor to develop had already been given to Troy, and Troy had been out traveling for quite a long time. Presumably, he should have collected many Badges by now.
"He's collected five Badges so far, and the number of Pokémon in his hands has also broken through to six. At present, he should be making his final sprint to participate in the Ever Grande Conference."
"His progress isn't bad…" Terrance suddenly froze and looked toward Kotoko's calm expression. "Then doesn't that mean he and Ash might very possibly meet at the Ever Grande Conference…"
"Yeah. You only just realized… Oh, right, want to make a bet? I'll bet Troy will get the better result when the time comes." Kotoko smiled.
"Suit yourself. Then I'll bet on Ash." Before understanding Troy's progress, Terrance could not judge for the moment how the two compared in strength. However, this wager was clearly just a joke from Kotoko, merely a casual remark. There was no stake either, and winning or losing was secondary, so Terrance did not pay it much mind and casually replied.
...
...
Fallarbor's night was unusually quiet.
That night, in order to accompany Pidgeot, Charizard, and Beautifly, Ash and the others spent the night at the Pokémon Center. In truth, aside from feeling a little bad right after losing, Ash already did not feel much now. In typical carefree fashion, he had long since taken the training method May brought over and started pondering the tactics for his next challenge to Fallarbor Gym.
According to incomplete statistics, the vast majority of Trainers give up this profession because they cannot withstand the blow of repeated failures. Every time they lose a match, it is actually a test for Trainers as well. How to face failure, and how to turn failure into motivation and experience—this is an ability an excellent Trainer must possess.
With Brock by his side to guide him, together with factors of his own personality, Ash had long since developed a strong will. And rookie Coordinator May, influenced by both of them, also possessed outstanding qualities that ordinary rookies did not have.
After the Fallarbor Gym battle passed, Fallarbor Town was very peaceful. But on the other side of Mt. Chimney, that night, a major incident occurred that shook the entire Hoenn region.
In the middle of the night, Terrance was practically startled awake. Frowning, he looked at the virtual projection transmitted by his Elite Four medal. In the projection, one of Mt. Chimney's volcanic craters had suddenly become active, erupting layer after layer of magma. The magma then flowed down Mt. Chimney. However, what this volcanic eruption affected this time was not Fallarbor Woods, but a town at the foot of the mountain on the other side of Mt. Chimney—Lavaridge Town.
Fortunately, Lavaridge Town was not close to the crater, and the volcano's abnormality had been discovered in time. Otherwise, an irreparable disaster would have been caused tonight. Another comparatively fortunate point was that Lavaridge Town had a former Fire-type Elite Four stationed there, namely Moore, the former Gym Leader of Lavaridge Gym. Under his all-out efforts, the momentum of the magma eruption did not completely spread. Even so, the magma eruption still caused severe effects to a considerable portion of Lavaridge Town's outlying facilities. As for Mt. Chimney's mountain paths, they no longer had their previous shape, and countless Pokémon habitats also suffered fatal destruction because of it.
After that, with complicated thoughts, Terrance casually browsed through two newly released news reports. After muttering a few words about how fast these reporters had gotten the news, he quickly instructed the Rotom Pokédex to connect to his Elite Four medal, then began investigating this incident in greater detail.
Team Magma?
Terrance thought of them immediately, and he also had reason to suspect they had done it.
Not long after the incident occurred, Terrance could no longer sit around investigating.
This incident had happened suddenly, and with insufficient manpower, Terrance, who was not far from Mt. Chimney, was indeed entrusted with the task of going to the scene to investigate. Terrance had nothing else to do and wanted to set out overnight, but at this moment, he suddenly received a mysterious email from an unknown source, leaving him somewhat unable to make up his mind.
"What should we do, Roto?"
The Rotom Pokédex had originally also planned to set out, but after discovering this email of unknown origin, it, just like Terrance, abruptly stopped and fell into a dilemma.
"Stay here! The disaster over there has already been brought under control, and with Elite Four Moore stationed there, there shouldn't be any major problems. Sending me over would only be to assist in the investigation anyway. Whether I'm there or not won't make much difference. But the message on this side is very interesting!"
"Rotom Pokédex, connect to the Hoenn League as quickly as possible and cooperate with them to crack the source of this email."
Terrance's eyes flickered. Just now, an email from an unknown source claimed that Team Magma wanted to kidnap Professor Cozmo of Fallarbor Town, and suggested that Terrance protect this person well.
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