June 8th, Tuesday.

Two days had already passed since the Champion League concluded.

Teacher Lu’s clean sweep of Sinnoh’s strongest Elite Four and his public confession to the champion were still the talk of the public.

What shocked the bystanders most was this:

The two champions had already been dating for some time, and they took this opportunity to announce it formally.

That day’s trending topics were all about that.

“I accept this marriage!”

“Who could refuse Teacher Lu—who can cook and also pull dirty tricks?”

“All the Officer Jennys and Nurse Joys in the region might lose their hearts on the same day!”

After the Champion League, Teacher Lu’s livestream gained a new regular guest.

Haunter could constantly consult Cynthia’s Pokémon for experience and then pass it on to the youngsters in the team.

“Gengarrr~(≧∀≦)♪”

Objectively speaking, Teacher Lu’s team still lagged slightly behind true league champions in average strength.

Neither Sylveon nor Arcanine had reached the threshold of a championship core member.

If he wanted to secure his family’s status,

retrieving Arceus’s Fairy Plate from Kalos was a necessary choice.

The Lily of the Valley Conference had come to an end.

Spectators gradually left Lilycove Island.

Teacher Lu stayed at his previous lodging for the time being, contemplating the next itinerary.

“Kalos’s PTCG expansion pack can be prepared for release.”

Lu Ye sat on the sofa, fiddling with his laptop and murmured:

“Darkrai’s guy has been nagging for a long time…and I promised him a ‘Darkrai—Limited’ as a reward for the card tournament…”

Tournaments in the Pokémon world never stopped.

Beyond entertainment contests like card tournaments,

the most prestigious was the World Championships hosted by the Galar region.

The World Championships were held every three years;

the last world champion was Dan Emperor, with Lance coming in second.

But given that the finals took place in Gongmen City under Gigantamax conditions,

if the finals were instead on the Quartz Plateau, whether Dan Emperor could defend his title remained uncertain.

Bamboo Lan was showing strong interest in the next Champion League…

Although Teacher Lu had no intention to compete, accompanying as a contender was reasonable.

Lu Ye: “Looking at it this way, there’s actually quite a lot to do…”

It was early morning, sunlight pouring in through the window.

Lu Ye continued tapping his laptop keyboard, while Sylveon walked back and forth in front of him before finally angrily waving her ribbons.

"Bwee! (*｀皿´*)ﾉ"

“Bwee!” Sylveon raised her head proudly, stepped out on her slender snow-white legs, and trotted off to the exercise wheel by herself.

“Gengarrr~”

Haunter was on the balcony, hitting the Rotom washing machine form.

Because Rotom had loaded time fragments…washing clothes would be faster.

A tool that combined livestream editing, laundry, cooking, and energy cube production…

the strongest utility Pokémon in Teacher Lu’s house: Rotom!

“I don’t get it, Roto~! o(TヘTo)”

“Gah~_(:3 ⌒ﾞ)_”

In the heat of summer, Sirfetch’d lay at home unwilling to go out.

Today was another tiring day, duck~

I’ll make myself some leek juice later~!

“Ka-may…ヾ(⌐■_■)”

Blastoise hid in his shell at the bottom of the aquarium, making no sound.

Today's Sunny Day conditions weren’t particularly favorable for my battles…

I’ll go out to train on an overcast day!

Aura slowly probed the lazy Sirfetch’d.

Blastoise suddenly jolted.

Could it be… that Sirfetch’d had already predicted this?!

“Ka-may…”

Blastoise looked serious and shrank further into his shell.

Ducklett and Blastoise—this pair of “hidden dragons and crouching phoenixes”—had, in a strange way, reached a consensus to “not go out to train”…

“Woo~” Cynthia’s little slug, the Gastrodon, slowly slithered around the room, leaving a trail of slime.

A robotic vacuum with mopping function trailed behind the slug, spinning and beeping.

Cynthia herself wasn’t seen in the house.

She had gone to the Sinnoh League early in the morning to attend the Elite Four council and handle post-conference matters from the Lily of the Valley event.

With that important league meeting over…Cynthia’s workload would be considerably lighter.

By late morning,

Lu Ye skillfully put on an apron and went into the kitchen to study recipes, then suddenly stopped.

Did he grab the wrong script…

Kanto’s script was “Return of the Dragon King”—

Sinnoh’s script was “Sinnoh Son-in-Law”—

and the next script…househusband?

“I, Lu Ye, am not someone who lives off a woman!”

Lu Ye’s gaze hardened as he slammed the kitchen knife onto the cutting board with a thud, pulled out his phone, and opened the search bar.

“Let me first check the specialty of Liyong City—how to make Tundra Bear Ice Cream…” Lu Ye muttered.

Ash had already set off for the Unova region.

In four months, the Unova Alliance’s Hinoki Tournament would be held.

Counting the Lily of the Valley Conference, “Satoshi” had four attempts with zero championships… Ash didn’t have much time left!

But in Unova, Ash hadn’t captured an absolute mainstay like Infernape.

The only noteworthy one was the swaggering Krookodile—

just like Blastoise, it liked to wear sunglasses to look cool.

Lu Ye: “…Ash didn’t capture Krookodile because of those sunglasses, did he?”

His own travel route differed from Ash’s.

This made Teacher Lu secretly pleased.

At least when he went to Kalos…he wouldn’t be dragged into movie-style plots by that idiot!

Crunch!

Lu Ye looked over at the sound.

“Yoji…”

A Larvitar sat in front of the TV, hand buried in a bag of chips, crunching them.

Influenced by Togepi, Larvitar was fond of chips.

According to Giovanni’s cultivation notes in Essence of Earth…Larvitar wasn’t far from evolving.

Once it evolved into Pupitar, like Metapod it would no longer be able to eat any food.

“Better have something good now…” Lu Ye said in a warm voice.

“Yoji…(°ー°〃)”

Larvitar suddenly froze, turned his head in a daze, and met Lu Ye’s gaze.

Then Larvitar obediently offered the chips, tears seeming to glisten in his eyes:

“Yo-yoji…(இωஇ)”

Lu Ye: “……”

Well, now was the time to bully the young cub of the desert tyrant…

He put the successfully recreated Tundra Bear Ice Cream into the fridge.

Lu Ye went out to the balcony, leaned on the railing, and looked toward the yard.

“Arf~~” Arcanine lay on the ground outside, lazily basking in the sun;

his injuries from the battle against Lucian had already healed completely.

Teacher Lu smiled faintly and prepared for the next trip.

“I remember…Professor Sycamore left me a business card…”

Professor Sycamore was Kalos’s regional professor and an expert in Mega Evolution research.

Contacting him first would facilitate the rest of the travel arrangements.

Lu Ye pulled out the business card Sycamore had left.

It had been given proactively during the Scientific Summit…back then Alain was still his assistant;

Lu Ye didn’t know if he had left on his travels.

Following the phone number on the card, Lu Ye called Professor Sycamore’s lab.

“Are you coming to travel in the Kalos region?”

Sycamore said in a high baritone, laughing exaggeratedly, “That would be—fantastic!”

“There’s one more favor I need.”

Lu Ye said politely, “I’d like you to keep an eye out for suitable residences in Miare City.”

Compared with the tranquil countryside of Masago Town, Miare City was undoubtedly a bustling metropolis.

Lu Ye still remembered being lost in Miare City in the game Pokémon X and Y…he always had to take a taxi to find destinations.

However…Miare City had a thriving culinary scene with many famous restaurants and cafes.

That was also one reason Lu Ye considered going to Miare City first.

After hearing Lu Ye’s explanation, Sycamore laughed:

“No problem, I’ll help keep an eye out!”

After some small talk, Lu Ye hung up.

Kalos was known for its romantic atmosphere—even its champion Karine was primarily an actress.

Of course, that champion’s battlefield performance was mediocre…

Quite in line with Kalos’s long-standing tradition—

monsters from the Demon City landed at Sorrow Port.

Despicable, shameless trickster trainers approached Aromatic Town.

Teacher Lu neared Fuwette Town.

The tactically adept champion arrived at his faithful Miare City!