"You think that's the Provincial Tournament champion kid Athena-sama mentioned?"
As Lin Yu accepted the mayor's stone reward, two quiet voices whispered from the crowd.
A few days earlier,
Athena had put out a wanted notice within Team Rocket.
Anyone who provided the whereabouts of Lin Yu, Provincial Tournament champion,
would receive a Gym-tier Pokémon.
Li San and Zhang Si — two low-level external members of Team Rocket stationed in this town.
One skinny, one fat.
"With a Riolu, and that good at fishing? Definitely him."
The fat Zhang Si asked, "Should we go grab him?"
"Grab him? Are you stupid?!"
The skinny one knocked him on the head, exasperated.
How could his partner be this dumb?
"He's a champion! You got any idea how strong we are? We'd just be snacks for his Pokémon.
Let's just report the info!"
The two slipped away quietly.
…
"Hm?"
Lin Yu, who kept Aura Power and [Malice Target] active at all times,
instantly locked onto the two with ill intent.
He silently sent Riolu after them using Aura.
"Truly remarkable — so young, already a champion, and a high-level Breeder too!"
Onstage, the mayor beamed with pride.
Even though he'd promised Lin Yu double the stones, he wasn't losing out.
After all, he only needed to award prizes to two people this time.
"First place normally gets three stones. But before the match, I made a bet: if our champion won, he'd get six!
Now, he may choose six stones from my treasure vault!"
A pile of stones was laid out in front of Lin Yu.
He activated Aura Power
and could clearly sense the energy within each rock.
His gaze immediately locked onto the one that had drawn his [Historical Resonance].
Compared to the big, clean-looking stones, this one was small, heavy, and covered in moss.
When he extended his Aura inside, a sharp, piercing aura almost stung his power!
Something amazing!
Lin Yu's eyes lit up.
He picked a few more random stones with Rock-type treasure energy inside,
thanked the mayor quickly, and left.
Using Aura to follow Riolu's trail,
he tracked down the two scheming Rockets.
He cast an illusion to listen in on their plan.
He'd originally thought they were just thugs trying to rob him after his win.
But it was something else entirely.
He heard the name Athena of Team Rocket!
Lin Yu's expression hardened.
Team Rocket's reputation in China was nothing like the obscure Magma or Aqua gangs.
On the contrary,
everyone knew of them.
The fact that even a small border town had external Rocket members showed just how widespread the organization was —
they could operate almost openly.
"Phew… the boss told us to tail him, but do you really think Riolu won't spot us?" the fat one worried.
"Dummy, of course he will. We just need to see which city he's heading toward and report the general direction!"
The skinny man knocked his head again.
"O-okay."
"C'mon, hurry, before he leaves!"
"Looking for me?"
Lin Yu stepped out of the dark corner where they'd been hiding.
Powerful Psychic energy slammed them against the wall,
cutting off any chance of summoning their Pokémon.
Having Dira around really was convenient.
Moments like this were easy to handle.
"H-how… how did you find us?!" the fat one stammered in terror.
Lin Yu smiled calmly.
"Don't ask questions you shouldn't. Now, you answer mine."
"Never! We're loyal Team Rocket agents — we'll never talk—"
"Frogadier, Thunder Shock!"
Lin Yu didn't waste time. He called out Frogadier.
A few electric shocks later, the two spilled everything.
"Team Rocket put out a wanted notice for my location?"
Staring at the two twitching from electrocution,
he turned to Dira. "Can you hypnotize them?"
"Sure! What do you want me to make them think?" Latias nodded.
"Make them believe we went north, not south."
"Okay."
Watching their eyes turn vacant under Latias's hypnosis,
Lin Yu was amazed by how absurdly powerful her Psychic was.
They mumbled dazedly, "He went north… Lin Yu went north…"
Then collapsed limply.
Several hours after Lin Yu left,
the two finally woke up.
"Idiot, wake up!"
The skinny Li San shook the fat Zhang Si.
"Huh? Why are we sleeping here?"
"Doesn't matter. We need to report to Athena-sama — that Lin Yu kid went north… to the—"
The hypnosis made them invent a northern city on their own.
"O-okay."
They quickly called Athena.
"North?"
Athena immediately ordered Rocket members in the north to conduct a sweeping search…
but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. No trace at all.
It wasn't until late April
that another Rocket member claimed to have spotted Lin Yu in Qingshui City, a coastal town in Guangdong.
April 4th.
Qingshui City.
Lin Yu had cracked open the stone he picked up in New Rock Town.
It turned out to be something incredible.
[Rotten Sword (Incomplete) — SS‑Rank Secret Treasure]
A sword holding mysterious power.
…The Sword of Zacian.
He messed with it for a while but found no way to activate it,
so he stored it away in his System Space.
But now,
Lin Yu and Latias had reached the coast.
He was getting closer and closer to the precious Pokémon from his guidance.
One highlight:
Charmeleon had stepped up.
It didn't evolve in an intense battle.
Instead, it happened casually, while eating a Special Attack Energy Cube.
With a flash of white light,
it evolved naturally.
[Pokémon: Charizard]
[Ability: Solar Power (Life Aura)]
[Gender: Male]
[Talent: Champion-tier]
[Level: 37]
[Moves: Scratch, Fire Punch, Dragon Claw…]
[Equipped Entries: Purification (Fixed), Hard Work Pays Off (Fixed), Flame Splash (Fixed)…]
Its power had risen sharply.
And by coincidence, they'd run into the national Water-type Gym Leader of Qingshui City —
Shui Rourou!
And she was in the middle of a battle against a challenger.