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The powerfully built man with the strikingly feminine face was named Evan.
He worked at the only official League Gym in Azure Bay City, where he held the position of Gym Leader. His main duties were to test League Trainers and issue badges.
After all, Azure Bay City was still one of the larger cities on the Floravale Continent. Although its size and prosperity could not compare with those of the great central cities, and its history was not especially long, its status as a port city made it fairly important within the League.
Because of that, establishing an official League Gym in the city was not unusual.
Since Azure Bay sat beside the sea and had abundant Water-type Pokémon resources, the city's Gym specialized in Water-types.
Although Evan was the Gym Leader of Azure Bay's Water-type Gym, he was not actually born in Azure Bay City.
He came from another coastal city on the Floravale Continent. Both of his parents were professional Trainers, and from childhood, he had displayed exceptional talent as a Trainer.
With the encouragement and guidance of his parents and elders, he developed steadily. In just over ten years, he won the League Trainer Tournament and earned the right to challenge the Elite Tournament.
At that time, Evan was at the height of his fame. He believed he could advance smoothly and become one of the League's next Elite-level Trainers.
So, ignoring the advice of his family and friends, he threw himself headfirst into the Elite Tournament.
The result was naturally miserable.
The younger Evan, facing a field packed with powerful veterans, became easy prey almost immediately.
Against those old foxes with deep foundations, each of whom had spent decades perfecting their specialties, he had almost no ability to resist.
Whether in battle strategy or the raw strength of his Pokémon, the gap between them was suffocatingly wide. He was crushed with ease.
When the first round of the League Elite Tournament ended, Evan's record was a complete defeat.
Dead last in his group.
And so, under the tournament's elimination system, this newly risen young Trainer failed to last even a single round before being cleanly kicked out.
Despite losing in such an embarrassing fashion, Evan did not lose his spirit. Through his battles against those senior League Trainers, he gained a painfully clear understanding of his own shortcomings. He also found a direction for how he should continue walking the path of a Trainer.
Time.
He needed a great deal of time to settle and refine himself.
Just as he had done when he was young, he needed to develop slowly, step by step, until he reached a bottleneck, then break through it with high-intensity battles.
And so, Evan took the initiative to apply to the League for a position as a local Gym Leader.
While accumulating strength, he could broaden his horizons, deepen his relationship with the League, and build a stronger foundation for his future path toward the Elite ranks.
Now, this was already his fifth year as the Gym Leader of Azure Bay's Water-type Gym.
Evan himself had also reached twenty-nine, approaching thirty.
As his thoughts and temperament became more mature, the strength and versatility of the Pokémon under his command had undergone a complete transformation compared with those early days.
Evan planned to spend another year or two refining himself before challenging the Elite Tournament again and making another push for a League Elite position.
For now, however, he first had to handle his responsibilities as a Gym Leader.
"Sigh."
Thinking of this, he let out a silent sigh.
As the highest authority of a Gym, a Gym Leader had far too many matters to handle.
It was not as simple as the public imagined, where he only had to accept Trainer challenges and hand out badges. There were the Gym's finances and daily operations, the selection and care of Pokémon habitats within the Gym, and the recruitment and training of staff members.
All kinds of tedious affairs pressed down on him like invisible burdens, leaving him constantly overwhelmed.
And that was not even mentioning the training and development of his own Pokémon.
Now that Evan had finally managed to get a little free time, he naturally had no intention of wasting this precious chance to rest.
Lying back on the sofa, he began browsing through the latest news.
"Board reshuffle at Eevee Tech?"
"Just more greedy corporate nonsense."
"Largest wild Bagon habitat ever discovered?"
"That's a little interesting."
"…"
The small mouse was almost swallowed by Evan's broad palm as he dragged it around casually.
The fragmented nature of online news made him browse quickly. One eye-catching headline after another slid past his eyes.
Suddenly, a line of bright red text caught his attention.
"Live Broadcast Incident at the Bibarel Cup Fishing Tournament."
Evan raised an eyebrow.
He vaguely remembered that this year's Bibarel Cup Fishing Tournament was supposed to be held at Azure Crystal Marine Park inside the city. Before the event, they had even invited him to serve as a judge, but he had declined because he was too busy with Gym affairs.
"What could have gone wrong there?"
Filled with curiosity, Evan clicked into the page.
What appeared on the laptop screen next was a breakdown of the incident, along with a video recorded at the scene.
"Well now."
Looking at the water-blue figure on the screen, small and delicate in appearance yet shockingly forceful in action, Evan's eyes suddenly flashed with interest.
As the Water-type Gym Leader of Azure Bay City, and as a top Trainer who had studied Water-type Pokémon in depth for decades, Evan only needed to watch this Sobble fight for a few dozen seconds before judging its approximate strength and battle level.
Strong.
Unexpectedly strong.
Whether in terms of energy control, speed, or explosive power, it had already reached the peak that a newly born Pokémon like Sobble could achieve.
That kind of visible potential and talent had appeared in a semi-artificially raised Pokémon inside a marine park. It was baffling, but also stunning.
Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, Evan's gaze shifted. He opened the video again and watched it from the beginning.
"Hmm."
Evan nodded thoughtfully.
As a Gym Leader, the pressure on him was considerable.
The Gym in Azure Bay City was the only Water-type Gym among several nearby major cities.
Aside from the League Trainers who came almost every day to challenge the Gym and obtain badges, beginner Trainers from a large surrounding area who were interested in Water-type Pokémon and eager to learn related training knowledge would also visit and study there.
As a result, Evan's schedule was almost completely packed every single day.
Recently, for some unknown reason, another large wave of Trainers had appeared to challenge the Gym.
Although their strength was generally not high, there were too many of them.
Under those circumstances, even though the Gym had more than a dozen Water-type Pokémon stationed there specifically to handle Trainer challenges, it was still not enough. One after another, they collapsed from exhaustion in battle and had to be sent to the Pokémon Center to recover.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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