Evening.
"Flint, who exactly are those two people?"
Du Juan watched Natsuhiko leave on the Zfuchi family's private plane and Lance getting ready to head to Hoenn Alliance Headquarters on Aerodactyl, and couldn't help but ask.
Flint smiled.
"They're... one of them is the Kanto Region's currently famous genius Trainer, Dragon Master Lance, who battled against me."
"Dragon Master?" Du Juan muttered softly, "But they're all Flying Type Pokémon..."
Flint's mouth twitched.
"And the other one?"
"Oh, that's Natsuhiko." Flint's smile deepened, "He's remarkable, born from humble beginnings but has a vast knowledge of Pokémon, skilled in battles and tactics, and has made notable contributions to Pokémon research."
The joint paper by Natsuhiko and Sakuragi is now influencing not just the Pokemon Research Community but also capturing the attention of many Trainers, causing widespread interest.
The existence of Affinity has basically been proven, many people are looking forward to new evolutionary forms, and there's significant focus on Eevee's new evolution type.
Once Affinity is completely confirmed, Flint plans to contact Sakuragi and Natsuhiko first, hoping they can sell the usage rights of their Affinity testing instruments.
This could add a new feature to their tools and indirectly promote them.
And as someone who holds an equally important position in the paper with Sakuragi, Natsuhiko naturally has significant influence.
Fortunately, Flint considers his relationship with Natsuhiko quite good, and he's confident he can secure the usage rights for the Affinity testing tool.
"Turns out this guy is really incredible..." Du Juan was a bit surprised.
This was the first time she had seen Flint give such high praise to a peer; even Hilona seemed to be just about the same?
Thinking of Hilona, Du Juan puffed her cheeks.
"I need to study." She said, flipping her ponytail, and walked away without looking back.
Flint was stunned as he watched her angry demeanor.
He wasn't sure where he might have misspoken.
Unable to figure it out, he gave up.
"Both Lance and Natsuhiko are very strong, can't fall behind. Fortunately, my promotion tasks are complete now, time to search for new stones... uh, time to train Pokémon."
...
...
Their brief encounter had come to an end, and each would continue on their own path.
Before the Saint Anus ship set sail, Natsuhiko boarded the ship along with a group of passengers.
The next destination.
Sinnoh Region, Binhai City!
Holding a stone that glittered with dazzling colors, it was a "small gift" Flint had given to them before he and Lance departed.
According to Flint, "I have many of these stones."
Natsuhiko and Lance each received one.
And naturally, this stone was the one Natsuhiko had paid the most attention to in Flint's stone collection room.
Keystone!
It's the key that can activate the energy within a Super Evolution Stone. Gather a pair, then with a Pokémon capable of Super Evolution, Mega Evolution can be achieved!
Coincidentally, Natsuhiko holds a Super Evolution Stone in his hand.
However, it's still unclear which Pokémon the Super Evolution Stone belongs to.
If the Super Evolution Stone corresponds to a Beedrill, which is the one he can currently use, then his power will rise to the next level.
Back in the second-class cabin room on the Saint Anus ship.
Playing with the Keystone and Super Evolution Stone in his hand.
"If this thing is made public, the impact might not be less than the emergence of the Fairy Type..."
After a brief play, he put them away.
Confirming the corresponding Pokémon isn't urgent.
Even if it's confirmed which Pokémon the Super Evolution Stone corresponds to, it doesn't mean much if it's not a Pokémon he owns.
Even if he does have the Super Evolution Stone for Beedrill or Alakazam, Mega Evolution shouldn't be exposed to the public eye soon.
Once Mega Evolution is made public, all his advantages related to Mega Evolution would vanish in an instant.
Never underestimate the capabilities of the wealthy families in the Pokemon Realm.
So what he has to do now is to collect as many Super Evolution Stones as possible.
Conversely, the Keystone seems less important.
These are plentiful and aren't as targeted as the Super Evolution Stones.
Of course, he wouldn't pass up the chance to gather them if possible.
He stretched and looked at the Pokémon in the room; the size of the second-class cabin seemed a bit small for him now.
"Time to upgrade the cabin, no need to be so stingy anymore."
With his current ability to buy Pokémon-related items, often costing around a million Alliance coins, upgrading the cabin is only a few ten thousand.
Flint had already helped him sell those two Evolution Stones, earning him another three million Alliance coins.
His wallet balance returned to nearly nine million.
"Inflated, I must be inflated," Natsuhiko couldn't help but self-deprecatingly shake his head.
Knock knock.
Suddenly.
Someone knocked on the door.
The Pokémon in the room immediately stopped what they were doing and looked toward the door.
"Yongji."
Yujira's eyes flashed blue, and he called softly.
"It's her." Upon hearing Yujira's words, Natsuhiko knew who was knocking.
Opening the door, accompanied by the harsh squeak of the wooden door, he saw the little girl standing at the doorway, her head lowered, fiddling with her dress hem. It was Meiyu, his neighbor.
However, Meiyu's originally beautiful and delicate dress was now somewhat messy and untidy, her pale face was smudged with dirt, and her eyes were red—evidently from crying.
Seeing her in this state, Natsuhiko couldn't help but furrow his brows, and he crouched to pat her head.
Meiyu trembled slightly at the touch but did not choose to avoid him.
He was the person she was most familiar with on the ship, aside from Grandpa Kage.
"What's wrong?"
Meiyu bit her lip, and tears started to fall uncontrollably, like broken pearls.
"Uncle, big brother, Togepi brother, can you save Grandpa?" Meiyu said intermittently.
Upon hearing this, Natsuhiko's brows furrowed tighter.
"What's happened to your grandpa?"
"There are bad people bullying Grandpa," Meiyu sobbed softly, her body trembling.
"Didn't you hire two bodyguards?" Natsuhiko couldn't help but ask.
"They... they ran away."
Ran away?
Meiyu's little hand, smeared with tears and dirt, clutched Natsuhiko's sleeve and looked at him with hopeful eyes, as if he was her last hope.
Natsuhiko remained silent.
"Let's go have a look." He gathered his Pokémon and followed Meiyu to the next room.
Also a second-class cabin, the layout and size didn't differ much.
And Meiyu's "Grandpa," as she called him, was lying on the bed, eyes closed, his breath seeming weak and his body bearing many injuries, clothes tattered, exposing elderly skin covered in scars.
A crooked towel was placed on his forehead.
No need to guess, it was Meiyu's doing.
"Grandpa!" Meiyu ran to the bedside, and the elder Kage's eyelids shook as he slowly opened his eyes.
Looking at Meiyu with eyes full of heartache and reluctance, a smile barely stretched on his lips, a hoarse, low voice sounded, "Meiyu, Grandpa is alright."
"You hardly look alright." Natsuhiko folded his arms, leaning against the wall, observing Kage's appearance, and thought he was doomed without timely treatment.
Upon hearing someone speaking, Kage struggled to sit up, and his gaze turned to Natsuhiko.
"If I were you, I'd choose not to move recklessly."
Kage hesitated, but eventually didn't sit up.
"Why not get a medical physician to examine you? You might die."
Saint Anus, being such a large luxury cruise, is equipped with quite complete medical facilities, should be no major issues with medical help.
"No!" Kage replied emphatically.
Natsuhiko raised a brow, "Why?"
"There must be some of their people already mixed in on the ship, they even know about my injuries and might leave someone in the medical room." Kage's face was solemn, and as he spoke more, his complexion paled.
"Their people?"
Natsuhiko scanned Kage and Meiyu.
Some previous doubts seemed to have explanations.
This little girl, could she be the target that the "Star of Blood" and "Ocean Team" are after?