According to the tournament schedule, Nathan's match against Valar Team was set for six days later.
This six-day window was more than enough for Nathan to do quite a lot—such as training his Frosmoth.
Although Nathan still had a few matches during this period, each of them wouldn't take more than two hours.
The rest of the time would be more than sufficient to train Frosmoth!
Nathan opened the system's shop and started browsing for what he needed.
"Speed boost? Buy!"
"Attack boost? Buy!"
"Special defense potion? Buy!"
…
The already meager amount of Pokécoins Nathan had began to dwindle rapidly as he bought item after item.
First, he brought out a pile of Dynamax Candies and fed them to Frosmoth.
Next came the special defense potion, followed by various kinds of berries.
Even after Frosmoth had eaten its fill, Nathan still had more than half the items left.
Even though Frosmoth had eaten Dynamax Candies, its size didn't increase all that much.
Trying to consume a mountain of items like that was still a bit too much for Frosmoth to handle.
After Frosmoth had its fill, Nathan pulled out his phone to search for nearby mystic realms.
If he wanted to increase Frosmoth's strength, level played an important role as well.
And with his Golden Lucky Egg, if things went smoothly, he could potentially train Frosmoth all the way to Champion level!
After nearly thirty minutes of searching, Nathan finally found a suitable mystic realm.
It was only a thirty-minute drive from his hotel—and not far from the Murakami Arena either.
"Let's go level up!"
Nathan looked at Frosmoth and said with determination.
After recalling Frosmoth into its Poké Ball, Nathan slung his backpack over his shoulder and set off.
He took a car to the entrance of the mystic realm, and as he arrived, he noticed someone was tailing him.
"Hmph, still not giving up? And you think you can track me?"
Nathan sneered coldly.
Then he calmly entered the mystic realm after paying the entrance fee.
Inside, he immediately released his Flygon and took off in a chosen direction at high speed.
By the time those tailing him entered the mystic realm, Nathan had already vanished without a trace.
After flying a considerable distance, Nathan released Frosmoth.
He also equipped the Golden Lucky Egg on Frosmoth.
It wasn't until late into the night that Nathan, yawning, emerged from the mystic realm.
Meanwhile, the people who had been tailing him were already losing their patience.
Though it wasn't too cold in autumn, waiting outside the mystic realm for hours at night was still grueling.
Anyone would struggle to endure it.
After exiting the realm, Nathan returned to the hotel, washed up, and fell asleep almost instantly.
The next morning, Nathan finished his battle quickly and left the Murakami Stadium to a round of cheers.
Then, he headed straight back to the mystic realm.
Over the following days, Nathan barely got any sleep.
Sometimes he even dozed off inside the mystic realm and had to rush back to the stadium by taxi the next morning.
…
"You call this tracking?! Nathan follows the exact same schedule every day, and you still can't keep up with him?"
Fujiwara Taka glared furiously at his teammates.
That's right—the ones tailing Nathan were none other than members of Valar.
For the past few days, they had been following Nathan daily.
But all they could find out was that Nathan kept going to the mystic realm.
Once inside, they couldn't keep up with him at all.
Flygon's speed was incredibly fast to begin with, and on top of that, Nathan had fed it plenty of berries.
For Valar Team members to even think about catching up to him was nothing short of a dream.
"It's not our fault! That Nathan has a ridiculously fast Flygon—we just can't keep up!"
The one in charge of tailing Nathan spoke up indignantly.
Outside the mystic realm, they could take the same mode of transport.
But inside the realm, there was no way their Pokémon could match Nathan's speed.
"Enough! No more excuses. Even though we don't know exactly what he's doing in the mystic realm, we can guess."
Fujiwara Taka's expression turned grim.
Someone who kept heading into a mystic realm was clearly trying to train and power up their Pokémon.
But seriously—most people take a year or more to raise a Pokémon properly.
Even with a huge amount of resources, it takes at least three months to get a Pokémon tournament-ready for the Pacific Regional Tournament.
And they hadn't even seen Nathan buying any training resources.
Without resources, how could he possibly be powering up his Pokémon that fast? That was utterly impossible.
Unfortunately, what they didn't know was that Nathan didn't need to go out and buy anything.
With the system, he could do as he pleased.
Why go shopping when the system could deliver everything right to his hand?
And better yet—there were no middlemen taking a cut of the profit!
…
That day, just as Nathan stepped out of Murakami Arena, his phone suddenly rang.
It was a call from Kelly.
"Hello? What's up?"
Nathan answered.
"Why didn't you tell me about what happened in Valar?!"
Kelly sounded flustered.
Nathan was practically a national treasure now.
If anything happened to him while overseas, Kelly—as the official liaison—would be in big trouble.
"Oh, so you found out. But even if you knew, there's not much you could do to help. Better to let me handle it."
Nathan replied with a light chuckle.
Hearing the laughter in Nathan's voice, Kelly felt powerless.
He was right—even knowing about the situation, there wasn't much he could do.
After all, he couldn't fight in the tournament for Nathan, nor could he guarantee a win in the Asia Regionals.
"Maybe I can't help in that area, but I've already contacted the higher-ups," Kelly said seriously.
Though he couldn't help Nathan in the tournament, there were other things he could do—like ensuring Nathan's safe return home afterward.
Once Kelly reported the situation, the top officials responded immediately, promising to exert international pressure.
Whether Nathan won or lost, no one had the right to detain a citizen of their nation.
And no one had the right to act against their people!
That was the country's stance.
"Got it. Thanks. I'm heading out to train my Pokémon again. If things get really bad, I'll find a way to leave Valar myself."
Though Nathan's tone was casual, he was genuinely touched.
As a trainer representing his country, knowing that the nation had his back in times of crisis filled him with pride.
Do your best in the competition—afterward, your country will clear the way for you!
With a smile still on his face, Nathan ended the call and resumed his disciplined routine.
Six days passed quickly.
During that time, Nathan continued his daily routine of solo battles against national teams.
Each match shocked and thrilled the crowd.
Look at that!
That's our champion!
Whenever they watched Nathan compete, people back home felt a deep sense of pride.
On the night of the sixth day, Nathan looked at his now-leveled-up Frosmoth and finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Frosmoth, tomorrow is your first official match—your debut!"
Nathan said cheerfully, gently stroking Frosmoth's cool head.
Though "head" might not be the right word anymore—it was a pretty big head now.
When Nathan first got Frosmoth, it was only around 90 centimeters tall.
Not a particularly large Pokémon.
But after six days of focused training, its body size had increased by 20%.
Now, Frosmoth stood over a meter tall.
"Fros~"
Frosmoth rubbed its head affectionately against Nathan's hand, clearly responding to his words.
After recalling Frosmoth and returning to the hotel, Nathan washed up and went straight to bed.
…
The next morning, he put on a clean outfit and left the hotel.
Because he had gotten up early, a ray of sunlight had just appeared on the horizon. It was a beautiful sight.
"Today's the final day of the Pacific Regional Tournament. I hope Valar Team's surprise won't be too 'big,'"
Nathan murmured as he looked at the distant sunrise.
He took a taxi to the Murakami Arena.
The venue was more packed than ever.
Over the past few days, Nathan had single-handedly defeated entire national teams, maintaining a perfect win record.
Valar's representative had done the same—not as dazzling, but still undefeated.
That made today's match particularly anticipated by all.
(End of Chapter)