After the recent treasure hunt, the rest of the journey became uneventful as they safely approached the Sinnoh region. Once they docked at the harbor, Dar's group disembarked from the ship, and the Sinnoh region's reception team immediately gathered around them.
"Welcome to the Sinnoh region, everyone. Please follow me to Jubilife City, where the Regional Battle Tournament will be held. It will be broadcast live across the entire Sinnoh region, so please go easy on us when the time comes!"
Yoshino said with a smile as he looked at Dar's group, his attitude extremely polite. He had no other choice; one only had to look at the fate of the Hoenn League to understand why. As a high-ranking official, Yoshino naturally had access to information that ordinary people did not. Although Bavi's actions had been underhanded, Dar's counterattack had shown everyone exactly what kind of man he was.
If you offended him, you had to be prepared for his retaliation through any means necessary. Because of this incident, everyone was reminded once again that Dar had climbed to his current position from the bottom, one step at a time. He knew how to use every trick in the book, and he used them more skillfully than most; it all depended on whether you pushed him to that point. While Yoshino didn't plan to use Dar for anything, there was no reason to offend him either. Those who reached this level were thick-skinned enough not to care about losing a bit of face.
"You are far too kind. Rather, we hope for guidance from the Sinnoh League contestants."
"Sigh, don't say that. Your previous performance has been witnessed by all."
"Not at all. It was just good luck, pure fluke."
Soon, Dar and Yoshino became well-acquainted, even putting their arms around each other's shoulders like brothers who had known each other for years. Under Yoshino's lead, Gu Yuan's group boarded a plane heading for Jubilife City.
Looking down at the Sinnoh region from above, Gu Yuan couldn't help but think of Ash's future opponent, Tobias—an extremely mysterious trainer. Given the strength Ash displayed in the Sinnoh region, he was fully capable of taking the championship, but a "Legendary-spammer" had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
First, Tobias swept through his opponents with Darkrai, the Nightmare Pokémon, reaching the semi-finals in one go. After Ash exhausted himself to defeat Darkrai, Tobias simply released a Latios. Under the pressure of absolute power, Ash was forced to taste the bitterness of defeat once again.
Gu Yuan still remembered how angry and frustrated he had felt when watching that scene. Looking back now, the Darkrai and Latios used by Tobias were likely only around the Ace Rank, at most reaching the Leader Rank. However, as Legendary Pokémon, how could a real Darkrai and Latios be used so easily by someone like Tobias?
The most likely scenario was that both were cloned Pokémon. Team Rocket was the first to put such technology into use. However, Giovanni's ambition went beyond simple cloning; he wanted something even stronger, which led to the birth of Mewtwo. From a strength perspective, Mewtwo was undoubtedly perfect, possessing intelligence even greater than a human's.
One could say that Mewtwo's birth meant Team Rocket already possessed the power to create gods, which was far superior to merely cloning Legendary Pokémon. After all, a clone could never grow to the heights of the original. Unfortunately, Team Rocket found it difficult to collect Mew's genes, making mass production impossible. Otherwise, if Giovanni could truly control many Pokémon on par with Mewtwo, the Kanto region would likely have a new master by now.
Snapping back to reality, Gu Yuan stopped overthinking and simply kept the matter in mind. When Ash eventually came to the Sinnoh region for his journey, Gu Yuan was determined to come here and see exactly what kind of powerful figure was standing behind Tobias. If it turned out to be some terrorist organization, he wouldn't hesitate to wipe out this "bug" for Ash!
After noting this, Gu Yuan began to meditate. As his psychic power grew stronger, he increasingly preferred using meditation to replace rest. Flying through the clouds, the group soon arrived at Jubilife City.
"This is the hotel we have prepared for you. Please rest well here. The Regional Battle Tournament will begin in five days."
Following the direction Yoshino pointed, Gu Yuan saw a luxurious hotel. Each region, for the sake of its own prestige, would book an entire hotel for the delegations. Since these were displays of status, the quality was top-notch, meaning the expenses for these few days were significant.
What Gu Yuan didn't know was that the reason Yoshino had prepared a hotel of this caliber was largely due to Dar's previous display of power. Now, for every team, the one to watch out for was Gu Yuan, and the one to build a relationship with was Dar. Many regions had already decided that when it was their turn to send a delegation to the Kanto region, they would send their most troublesome leaders—the Hoenn region being the primary example.
After checking in, Gu Yuan immediately selected a training room. Five days was enough for Charizard's strength to improve a bit more.
"How is the research going?"
Returning to the quarters where his own contestants lived, Yoshino asked sternly.
"Still no solution. The Kanto delegation is simply too strong."
"Unless they make a mistake, our chances of failure are extremely high. After all, they have one more Leader Rank Pokémon than we do."
Bellow, the team captain, said helplessly while shaking his head. Based on current information, both Gu Yuan and Taishi Utsunomiya possessed Leader Rank Pokémon. Specifically, Taishi's Leader Rank was a pseudo-legendary, making its strength even greater than average Pokémon. Even so, Gu Yuan firmly held the position of captain, which spoke volumes about his strength. To defeat an opponent of this caliber, they could only wait for them to make a mistake.
"It's alright. Don't put too much pressure on yourselves. Anyway, with the Hoenn League at the bottom, we just need to be better than them."
"According to the intelligence I received, that Gu Yuan is a monster—someone who transcends the category of genius."
"Keep in mind that he has reached this level of strength in less than two years of traveling. He is destined to challenge for the Kanto Champion title in the future. So, don't pressure yourselves too much; instead, think about what you can learn from him."
Yoshino nodded and comforted Bellow and the others. However, when he spoke of Gu Yuan, his eyes flickered incessantly. The other Leagues were well aware of the Kanto League's situation; if a Champion were truly born, they might actually be able to unify the entire Kanto League. And an extremely powerful and assertive Kanto League was undoubtedly something the other Leagues did not want to see.