Chapter 53: Zhulan

In the past few months, several major events have occurred in the long-calm Sinnoh region.

The first one was that a young rookie trainer successfully swept through the Lily of the Valley Conference and passed the Champion Road assessment.

This meant that after a gap of several years, the Sinnoh region finally welcomed a new Champion, injecting new youthful vitality into the Sinnoh League.

The name of this Champion is—

Zhulan.

And the next two major events were also related to this young Champion lady.

Because the candidate for the Sinnoh Champion was born, the aging Sinnoh Elite Four finally didn't have to struggle to support, and three of them retired in one breath.

If it weren't for the worry that the League was full of newcomers without experience, I'm afraid the only remaining Ground-type Elite, Grandma Bertha, would have retired as well...

The retirement of the Elite Four itself cannot be considered a major event.

But with three vacancies at once, selecting replacement members became a particularly headache-inducing matter.

This part of the work naturally fell on the new Champion.

Sinnoh Region, Pokémon League.

"Boom—!"

A loud explosion spread from the battlefield behind the League.

"Garchomp—!"

With skin rough and covered in spikes, its dragon tail slapped against the ground with a loud sound.

Garchomp roared to the sky, its roar carrying a chilling deterrent power.

In front of it, the scarred Gallade knelt on the ground, its unyielding sharp eyes staring unwillingly at its opponent.

How is this guy so strong like a monster.

Tried my best, unable to win...

With this thought, Gallade rolled its eyes and fainted to the ground.

"Battle over!"

"The score is 6:2, Champion Zhulan wins!"

The referee wearing a hard hat on the side waved the flag, making a judgment for this battle.

Behind Gallade, the young man with long light blue hair sighed helplessly.

"I lost."

He looked across, and behind Garchomp, a woman wearing a black trench coat with long blonde hair fluttering in the wind was standing with her arms crossed.

It seemed she was examining herself.

If you ignore the pink lollipop tucked in Zhulan's hand, she indeed looked exceptionally heroic.

Clearly everyone is the same age, but why could he only barely defeat two of her Pokémon even after trying his best?

Despair welled up in Lucian's heart, but he still tried to maintain his final grace.

"Thank you for your guidance, Champion Zhulan."

Lucian lowered his head and bowed to Zhulan.

"Next year, please give me more guidance."

"?"

Hearing his words, the originally heroic Zhulan blinked and subconsciously tilted her head.

"But you have already passed, haven't you?"

Are psychics really that concerned about their image? Even with a 90-degree bow, his hair didn't change at all...

"Remember to report to the Pokémon League tomorrow, along with Flint and Aaron."

After speaking, in Lucian's stunned gaze, Zhulan slowly reached out, took Garchomp into the Poké Ball, and then left without looking back.

"This... is it, right?"

Lucian was stunned on the spot.

Didn't expect that even after losing so miserably, he could still pass the Elite Four assessment?

"Don't worry, with your strength, it's more than enough to serve as an Elite Four member."

Seeing this, Grandma Bertha, who had been silently watching the battle from the side, walked up and smiled, patting Lucian, whose Dao heart seemed a bit broken.

"Actually, when little Zhulan challenged the Champion Road, the previous Elite Four only defeated two of her main Pokémon combined."

Late at night.

Sinnoh Region, Celestic Town.

"Haah—"

Garchomp, carrying the blonde beauty, landed slowly in front of the villa, and Ms. Zhulan, sitting on its back, yawned silently.

"So tired..."

After walking into the villa, Zhulan sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the pitch-black screen alone.

So many days have passed, and the assessment task of selecting new Elite Four members has finally come to an end; although the three selected trainers are as young as her, at least their strength is not bad.

With Grandma Bertha's guidance, they should be able to adapt to the duties of the Elite Four very quickly.

She should be able to relax for a while.

But clearly it was a long-awaited holiday, yet she had no idea what to do?

She was even too lazy to open the game she had been thinking about day and night...

Zhulan sighed, and after simply pinning up her waist-length long hair, she picked up the phone on the table.

As someone who grew up under her grandmother's cultivation, whose main job is a mythology scholar and whose part-time job is the Sinnoh Champion, she is relatively traditional and actually rarely uses a mobile phone.

So this time going to the Pokémon League, she unexpectedly forgot it at home.

Of course, when she was particularly bored, she would still open PokéTV to watch Professor Oak's nursery series or see if there were any new developments in archaeological excavations in other regions.

Only this time after opening the phone, there seemed to be something a little different.

In the center of the locked screen, a message from the Navigator appeared before Zhulan's eyes.

【Qingyu: Sorry for not replying to you for so long, I'm much better now.

The Gym left by my parents is an important treasure to me, so if possible, I want to try to continue operating the Sunshine Gym.

And, congratulations on becoming the Sinnoh Champion!】

Qingyu?

After half a year, suddenly receiving a message from a childhood friend who had almost lost contact, Zhulan's pupils shrank, and the corners of her mouth curled up high involuntarily.

Even the fatigue accumulated from working for several consecutive days dissipated quite a bit.

Although the time received was a bit late, knowing that Qingyu had walked out of the grief, Zhulan was still genuinely happy for him.

Having experienced such an unfortunate thing, it takes great courage to walk out.

If it weren't for the fact that she had been too busy in the few months since becoming Champion, she might have been unable to hold back and set off for Paldea to take Qingyu back to Celestic Town for recuperation.

Now it seems he doesn't need her help?

Zhulan pursed her lips and smiled, tapping the screen slowly with her finger, typing out two lines of text.

【Zhulan: It's okay, as long as you can cheer up.

I remember the Sunshine Gym is in Mesagoza in the Paldea region, right?】

It just so happens that she is free these days; should she just go there and confirm Qingyu's condition?

It shouldn't be easy to support a Gym alone, should she provide some help within her power?

I remember there seems to be a Riolu with decent strength in Grandma's laboratory?

Waiting for a while and seeing that Qingyu didn't reply, Zhulan opened PokéTV while thinking.

The first video on the homepage immediately caught her attention.

"A video forwarded by Steven? And this user's name..."

Azure Feather. ===== CHAPTER 55 =====