The town of Sootopolis is a small town floating on the sea, and it is also the town closest to Sky Pillar.
Due to its excellent geographical environment, it has gradually been developed into a city for physical therapy, making it very suitable for people with lung diseases to come for rehabilitation training.
Moreover, because it is located on the sea, the seafood here is exceptionally fresh and cheap.
After asking the residents, Ace quickly found a seafood restaurant. The area was not too big, but the seafood dishes in this small shop tasted great.
More importantly, the owner was a very good person, and the food was excellent and inexpensive.
Ace ordered a seafood feast that was enough for two or three people. As he was eating heartily, he did not forget to let his Pokémon out to eat with him.
After all, they had been on the road continuously, and Ace didn't have time to feed his Pokémon. His Crobat and the others were just as hungry as Ace. After being released by Ace, they began to enjoy the seafood feast.
The seafood here was not a delicacy made from Pokémon, but ordinary fish, shrimp, and crabs. The taste was not as delicious as Pokémon-based cuisine, but after being prepared by the owner, the flavor was indeed very good.
"Wow! So many Pokémon!"
Just as Ace was enjoying his food, a somewhat familiar voice sounded. Ace looked in the direction of the voice and saw a familiar family of three outside the restaurant.
"Uncle Norman?"
Ace was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted. With his intervention, Norman naturally wouldn't be blamed for Rayquaza's escape, so Norman, who had successfully completed his gym leader assessment, naturally moved his family to Hoenn early.
"Ace, long time no see. Why are you in Hoenn too?"
Norman looked at Ace and his Pokémon, also a little surprised. He walked into the restaurant with his wife Caroline and son Max.
"I have some things to take care of."
Ace put down his chopsticks and said to Norman, "Have you guys moved to Hoenn?"
"We moved a month ago. I was busy familiarizing myself with the procedures of being a gym leader, so I've been very busy."
Norman didn't mind and led his family to sit at Ace's table. At the same time, he waved to the owner to order food.
"Now that I'm free, I plan to take my family around to get familiar with Hoenn's geography."
Norman handed the menu given by the owner to Caroline, and then said to Ace, "Come to Petalburg City sometime. You seem very strong now, so you can challenge my gym."
Ace nodded and said, "I will definitely go if I have the chance. But..."
Ace looked at Max, who was taking pictures of the Pokémon from every angle with his camera, and said with some confusion, "What happened to Max? He seems to have changed a lot."
Hearing Ace's words, Norman sighed and explained the situation to Ace with some helplessness.
It turned out that even without the Salamence incident, Max and Sapphire still encountered some danger. It was as if fate had arranged it, Max saved Sapphire, and also scared her to tears.
From then on, the plot returned to normal. Max began to pursue absolute beauty and elegance, while Sapphire began to pursue powerful strength.
However, Max's change worried Norman. Norman had planned for Max to follow in his footsteps and become a Pokémon trainer. Norman had wanted to train Max to become a Champion.
But now, Max had a change of heart and decided to become a Pokémon coordinator. How could Norman not be worried?
In response, Ace could only laugh and tell Norman that everyone has their own path and you can't force it.
However, Ace's persuasion did not have any effect.
Especially since he hadn't seen Ace before, but now that he had, he saw that Ace's strength had clearly improved a lot. Comparing him to his own son, Norman was immediately filled with frustration. If they were at home instead of out, Norman would definitely have given Max a good spanking.
Soon, Norman's seafood feast arrived. Ace had already finished eating, so he began to prepare food for his Pokémon while chatting with Norman.
Through his conversation with Norman, Ace roughly understood the follow-up of the incident. Salamence had broken into the research institute, and Rayquaza had escaped afterward, which had infuriated the League at the time.
To capture Rayquaza, the League had put in a lot of effort, so naturally, they were extremely angry when something went wrong. Later, they checked the surveillance footage and discovered that Ace had entered the research institute.
However, they had no evidence, so they couldn't just arrest people randomly. Especially since Norman, who was about to become a gym leader, had vouched for Ace. Plus, Ace had just entered the institute, and Rayquaza had escaped right after. In the eyes of the League's higher-ups, no one would be so foolish as to blatantly reveal their suspicion.
Coupled with the fact that the Pokémon that attacked the institute was Salamence, and a check of Ace's travel history showed that he had no information of traveling to Hoenn, Ace was cleared of suspicion.
When Ace heard this news, his expression remained unchanged, or rather, everything was within his expectations. Without a sure-fire plan, Ace would not have chosen to team up with Zinnia to release Rayquaza.
Ace finished preparing the Pokémon food and served it to his Pokémon. Meanwhile, Max, who was eating seafood, took out a small notebook and a pen to record Ace's food recipe. He probably saw how good Ace's Pokémon looked and had the idea of secretly learning.
"Snap."
Norman slapped the back of Max's head and said angrily, "Just eat your food properly."
"Okay."
This was clearly not the first time this had happened. Max said "okay" but his hands didn't stop writing. Norman was so angry that he rolled up his sleeves, ready to teach his unfilial son a lesson in front of Ace.
But this was clearly not going to happen. Caroline quickly comforted Norman, and Norman could only glare fiercely at Max.
"Ace, we're done eating. Want to have a battle?"
Norman looked at Max, and then at Ace, and an idea came to his mind.
"Sure, I'll also take this opportunity to learn from Uncle Norman's fighting style."
Ace did not refuse. Looking at his Pokémon who had finished eating, he recalled them one by one.
Norman smiled and nodded after hearing this. He thought that if he could just let Max see the intensity of a Pokémon battle, he could definitely change Max's mind.
Ace, on the other hand, simply wanted to have a match with Norman.
According to the original plot, Norman, who had been searching for Rayquaza for five years, often had to battle in the wild. His strength at that time was comparable to that of Steven and Wallace, making him Hoenn's third champion.
Unfortunately, the plot had been changed by Ace, so he didn't know what Norman's strength would be like in five years. Would he be stronger than in the original plot, or completely inferior?
Ace was filled with fighting spirit and couldn't wait to battle Norman!