Pokémon Court

Terrance and Master Victor arrived at Mount Lanakila on the second day.

Rather than saying they were there to wait for the egg to hatch, it would be more accurate to say that Master Victor was sharing with Terrance the results of his years of research in Alola.

"What are you writing?"

"Master Victor."

Terrance stood up, glanced at his notebook, and said, "Nothing much, just a plan for the Gym."

"You're already preparing for it? There's no need to rush," Master Victor said in surprise.

"No," Terrance shook his head and said, "This is the draft for an application to change the Gym's format."

"An application to change the Gym's format?" Master Victor was stunned. Wasn't it supposed to be an application for transferring the Gym Leader's position?

Noticing Master Victor's confusion, Terrance had no intention of deceiving him and explained, "If I want to invest time in research, I originally thought transferring the Gym Leader position was my only option, but then I suddenly remembered something."

"Oh?"

"I realized I can both keep my position as a Gym Leader and also free up plenty of time to do my own things," Terrance said with a smile. This idea was a flash of inspiration he had while agonizing over the Gym transfer yesterday.

Unless absolutely necessary, he really didn't want to give up his position as a Gym Leader.

Although the Gym Badges, which were designed for use in Pokémon Contests, held significant value, they were nowhere near as important as a groundbreaking research achievement.

Even among Senior Breeders, there are different levels. The value of a Breeder can vary depending on the research achievements they produce, such as food and medicine with different effects. The research Master Victor shared with Terrance, for example, was of epoch-making significance. It could raise the current strength ceiling of a Pokémon to the equivalent of a stat boost from a powerful move, which would make almost every Trainer go crazy. Many Trainers who were stuck at a bottleneck and unable to progress would come seeking Terrance's help.

Even the Elite Four would be envious of such research results. If it were successfully developed, Terrance would hold exclusive rights to it, and the profits would far surpass the indirect revenue generated by the traffic drawn from having a Gym with Pokémon Contest Badges.

Take Master Victor's achievements in genetics, for instance. He had consulting roles regarding breeding with many high-ranking individuals within the League, the Joy family, the Jenny family, and so on. Even the Starter Pokémon issued to rookie Trainers by the League had undergone many of Master Victor's breeding concepts during their incubation period.

Additionally, numerous clubs and top-tier Trainers who wanted to raise the next generation of their main teams sought out Master Victor for guidance on egg-incubating directions, methods, and techniques.

A skilled Breeder is essentially a money-making machine, whereas a Gym Leader, to put it bluntly, is just a specialized role for Trainers—a relatively respectable job for a Trainer.

Haven't we seen many Gym Leaders neglecting their Gym Leader duties because of other commitments, and not even caring about it?

Terrance, having the option of pursuing the path of a Breeder, found himself at this crossroads. Although his achievements as a Gym Leader hold some promise due to a wager involving Pokémon Contests, the path of a Breeder would be far more beneficial for his Pokémon.

A groundbreaking advancement in breeding—the primary beneficiary would be the Breeder themselves.

Perhaps…. with this, Terrance, who might otherwise be stuck at his current level for the rest of his life, could step into a higher realm, saving ten years of effort compared to the conventional resource-intensive training.

Thus, this was truly a difficult decision, and giving up his position as a Gym Leader was the worst-case plan Terrance had in mind.

However, after much thought and deliberation, Terrance came up with a foolproof plan!

"Yes, changing the Gym's format. Master Victor, are you familiar with Mossdeep Gym?"

"Are you talking about that Gym where those two twin brats are the Gym Leaders?!" Master Victor asked in surprise.

"That's right, exactly that one!" Terrance said. "The only Gym in Hoenn where double battles are allowed!"

"And, and—do you know about Unova's Striaton Gym?"

"Striaton Gym…" Master Victor looked slightly confused. He wasn't very familiar with Gyms in Unova.

Master Victor had never dealt much with Gyms, but Terrance, aiming to become a Gym Trainer, had learned a lot about them.

"Speaking of Striaton Gym, its challenge format is even stranger. It underwent two reforms. Mossdeep Gym has two Gym Trainers, but Striaton Gym has three Gym Trainers!"

"From a format where challengers would team up with one Gym Trainer to battle the other two in doubles to a 'pick one of three' format, Striaton Gym can be said to have a unique approach," Terrance explained.

Master Victor finally understood what Terrance meant—he planned to innovate the Gym's challenge format to retain his position as a Gym Leader.

"That's indeed a clever idea!" Master Victor exclaimed. He wanted Terrance to focus entirely on the research into the Totem Aura. While he had accepted that Terrance might need to sacrifice something to do so, Master Victor was confident in the value of this research and believed Terrance wouldn't lose out. But if there was a way to have the best of both worlds… honestly, even Master Victor was quite surprised.

"You're certainly full of ideas, but changing the Gym's format is likely to be even more troublesome than transferring the Gym, isn't it?" Master Victor remarked.

"Yeah, it'll be troublesome, but if I can truly find a challenge format that achieves the best of both worlds, it'll be worth it," Terrance said.

"Alright then. If you run into any trouble, just let me know. I'll do my best to help," Master Victor replied.

"Thank you very much."

Terrance was sincerely grateful to Master Victor, not only for giving him such an important opportunity but also for fully supporting him when he needed to make a decision. Without Master Victor's initial guidance, Terrance probably wouldn't have even achieved the title of Top Coordinator, let alone become a Gym Leader or pursue greater goals in the field of breeding.

"Terrance?!"

At that moment, a familiar voice reached Terrance's ears. He and Master Victor looked over and saw that it was a young girl who had just climbed up the mountain.

"Soliera?"

Terrance was surprised. Wasn't this girl supposed to be looking for ways to challenge the Island Challenge? How did she end up here?

"It really is you."

From afar, Soliera had spotted Terrance and wasn't entirely sure at first, but the moment he responded, she became overjoyed and ran toward him. However, when she noticed the elderly man standing beside him, she suddenly paused and stopped running.

"What's the matter? Do you two know each other?" Master Victor asked with a kind smile, surprised to discover that Terrance had acquaintances in Alola.

"Her name is Soliera. We met at the airport on Melemele Island," Terrance explained.

"Soliera, this is Master Victor, an extraordinary Breeder," Terrance said, introducing him to Soliera.

"Master Victor, hello. I'm Soliera from Cerulean City," Soliera said. Although she didn't know Master Victor, since Terrance had described him as an extraordinary Breeder, and considering his advanced age, she quickly bowed respectfully.

"Hello, hello," Master Victor replied with a smile.

"By the way, Soliera, why are you here at Mount Lanakila?" Terrance asked.

"Me? I heard that the kahuna of Ula'ula Island is on Mount Lanakila, so I came here to see if I could find him and explore other ways to take on the challenge…" Soliera scratched her head awkwardly. She had looked into the conditions for the challenge on the other three islands, but for a Trainer like her, coming from Kanto, they were all extremely unfriendly. Left with no other choice, she decided to come here to try her luck with Nanu.

She still had great confidence in her strength!

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