Early in the morning, having stayed up late to clear Victory Road in the Hoenn Region, John wanted nothing more than to sleep in. Unfortunately, his phone had other plans.
It was Mom and Dad calling.
This year, like many others, they hadn't come home for the holidays, choosing instead to travel abroad. The old couple, now free from the burden of raising John, had embarked on what could only be described as "revenge tourism." While other people worked tirelessly at home and occasionally took trips, his parents were tired of traveling and only occasionally returned home to work.
Actually, they'd been out of work for so long now that they only went home to show off to the neighbors.
John wholeheartedly supported his parents' lifestyle. After all, given their current financial resources, as long as they avoided gambling and drugs, they could live for 10,000 years under normal circumstances and still not spend it all.
To keep them safer during their travels, he'd specially prepared an Alakazam and Gardevoir as bodyguard Pokemon.
After exchanging New Year's greetings with his parents, John went to pay his respects to his teacher.
The senior students were still there, and they all had a lively lunch together.
"Senior, I'm ready to challenge the Champion. What's the process?" John asked Damian while eating.
His words were earth-shattering.
Everyone immediately turned to stare at John.
"Holy shit, seriously?!" Harisson looked at John in shock. How long had it been?
Not to mention that his junior had completed the double jump from Common Trainer to Gym Leader to Elite Four, and now he was about to attack the championship.
" There will be an Elite Four battle after the Spring Festival, and the winner will have the qualification to challenge for the championship," Damian replied, while also offering some advice. "I suggest you focus on training this time."
"The gap between Elite Four and Champion may be bigger than the gap from Gym Leader to Elite."
Everyone nodded slightly, feeling that John's steps were a little too ambitious and he might stumble.
John shrugged. Originally, he'd thought he would have to wait another half year to challenge for the championship.
However, capturing Zeraora and Lugia in succession had given him tremendous confidence. As long as he raised both of them to level 90 and had the assistance of Pokemon like Mega Garchomp who had mastered Precipice Blades, wouldn't that be more than enough to defeat Draconia Champion?
If he wasn't afraid that his senior would think he was arrogant, John would have said: "I've already started researching opponents for the World Pokemon Tournament finals."
The World Pokemon Tournament would start in the second half of this year.
Another reason John wanted to win the championship as soon as possible was that the Draconia champion, Magnus Vaelstrum, is a Master of Eight. If he defeated him in the championship challenge, John would directly inherit the seat of the Eight Masters.
This could save John countless battles with weaker opponents.
"Are you sure?" Among the crowd, only Saul Badman looked at John with a knowing smile. Based on his understanding of his disciple, John would never take action easily if he wasn't confident about something.
"Seventy percent," John said conservatively.
"Seventy percent!" Harisson almost jumped up.
While everyone was astonished, they couldn't help but wonder what kind of confidence John had that made him feel there was a 70% chance of defeating the Champion.
"Then we can wait for good news from our junior. I can't wait to show off to others that I have a champion junior," Zachary said with a smile. He didn't just believe in John, he believed in their teacher.
"I also think Junior John can accomplish this shocking achievement!" Violet chimed in.
Everyone followed suit with encouraging words.
Damian heard what John said, but he really wanted to fight him and gauge his true abilities. After thinking about it though, success or failure would be seen soon enough.
If John wanted to challenge for the championship, the Elite Four battle after the Spring Festival was already decided. If he didn't even have the ability to stand out from the Elite Four, let alone face the champion.
After dinner, everyone went their separate ways.
During New Year's, they all had relatives and friends to visit.
John didn't have many friends, Azure and Scarlett were brother and sister, but they didn't have time during New Year. People in big families had many obligations during the holidays, so they made an appointment to have dinner on the seventh and eighth day of the new year.
John's breeding facility was also on vacation. He figured it was fine to go back, he'd just stay at Riverstone University for a few days.
He left the Pokemon training for his mentor to supervise. The Pokemon he wanted to train now numbered more than three teams, twenty Pokemon total.
To prepare for the Elite Four battle and championship challenge, there wasn't much time to worry about Pokemon outside the main lineup.
Returning to rest at Trial Island of Riverstone University, John took out his Gameboy and continued his leveling journey.
For the upcoming Elite battle, in order not to expose his true strength, it was necessary to defeat them in a devastating manner. To achieve this, he still had to improve his Pokemon.
Turning on the Gameboy, John found his character's location was Lavaridge Town.
Since he was already here, John took Wobbuffet to visit the local hot spring pools in Lavaridge Town.
After comfortably taking his Pokemon to the hot springs, John got up and headed to the Pokemon Alliance in the Hoenn Region.
He'd finished the Sea Mauville matter, but the instigator Lovrina was still in his hands and hadn't been delivered yet. Yesterday, he'd been too focused on Lugia and Precipice Blades.
The poor girl had been living in John's "backpack" for a day.
Sending Lovrina to the Hoenn Alliance headquarters and explaining the whole story, John received another reward.
[Complete Alliance mission and receive 1,000 contribution points]
Contribution points? Not item rewards.
John wandered around the Alliance headquarters and finally got information about contribution points from the president.
Three thousand contribution points could be exchanged for a Legendary-level Pokemon item at the Alliance.
John raised an eyebrow. A Legendary Pokemon item!
Three thousand contribution points.
One Alliance task was one thousand points, so three thousand meant three tasks.
He remembered there were two more items in the Alliance's quest board.
John immediately returned to the task board to check.
[Team Rocket frequently appeared in the waters near Dewford Island. Investigators approached but found nothing. It is speculated that it may be caused by Pokemon power. Elite Four and Champion-level assistance requested to investigate the situation]
[A strange and unknown island was found on the southern side of Route 107. When investigators approached, the unknown island disappeared. It was confirmed that it was not a mirage. No danger was found for the time being, and additional manpower is requested to investigate the situation]