Chapter 514

The more suitable a place is for Pokémon to inhabit, the weaker the Pokémon populations nearby generally are; conversely, the harder a place is to survive in, the stronger the Pokémon that manage to live there usually are.

Glaseado Mountain, covered in ice and snow year-round and a vast expanse of white, is perhaps one of the harshest environments in Paldea.

Because of this, the Pokémon living nearby—such as Cetoddle, Froslass, Beartic, and even Baxcalibur—generally possess strength sufficient to rival Elite Trainers; even if they don't harm people, their impulsive pranks are difficult for the average person to endure.

Therefore, the League specifically established the Glaseado Gym atop this frozen land, not only to test the willpower of rookie trainers but also with the consideration of providing nearby support should an incident occur.

Just last year, the Glaseado Gym welcomed a young, newly appointed Gym Leader: Grusha.

Having shown talent from a young age and possessing a rapid growth in strength, he is regarded by many League mainstays as a benchmark for the next generation of trainers.

However, the young Grusha has recently been troubled by a few things.

The reason is roughly the same as that of Iono, who is also one of the "Big Three" young Gym Leaders.

……

Glaseado Gym.

"……"

After a Gym challenge concluded, Grusha, with most of his face buried in his scarf, stared straight at his opponent, his expression looking somewhat complex.

"You won."

Finally, Grusha spoke slowly, his tone carrying a hint of fatigue.

As the eighth Gym in the League's recommended assessment order, he had originally thought there wouldn't be many rookies coming to challenge him during this period.

After all, Grusha had clearly stated when attending an event at Naranja Academy—

"If you're counting on me to go easy on you to get a Gym Badge, you'd better give up on that idea right now."

"Only by defeating me head-on while I'm giving it my all are you qualified to receive this final Ice Badge!"

Having inherited this Gym from a father who believed in the supremacy of strength, Grusha would never show the slightest mercy to rookies.

Those second and third-year students had mostly already been beaten up by him last year, so they shouldn't be thick-headed enough to challenge him again.

As for the first-year freshmen...

With their meager strength, they still weren't quite up to par in front of him.

Therefore, Grusha had even harbored the thought that no one would come to challenge him for at least half a year, and he stayed tucked away in the Glaseado Gym with peace of mind.

But unexpectedly, in less than a month, several greenhorns had already appeared.

What was even harder to accept was...

He had actually lost!

The first one was a girl with a ponytail, two tufts of green-dyed bangs at her temples, who looked very athletic.

Although she looked like a true athlete, according to Grusha's observation, if she hadn't been riding a Skeledirge capable of providing continuous warmth, she probably wouldn't have been able to climb this Glaseado Mountain at all...

But the mount itself is part of the journey, so Grusha didn't say anything about it.

What truly left a deep impression on him was the unique battle style of this first-year student, Nemona.

"Skeledirge, Yawn!"

"Skeledirge, Will-O-Wisp!"

"Use Sing!"

"Finally missed? Awesome, I have to use All-Out Pummeling immediately!"

That 3v3 battle with her left even Grusha speechless.

Using a Fire-type Pokémon to challenge him, an Ice-type Gym Leader, was a perfectly reasonable thing to do; many trainers had done so in the past.

But...

Grusha was seeing a trainer play like Nemona for the very first time!

More than half of his main team were physical attackers, and once they were hit by Will-O-Wisp, the pressure dropped instantly, and they also had to face the opponent's type advantage.

Even when he sent out Altaria and used Terastallization, he didn't gain any benefits and was directly forced to retreat by Yawn and Sing.

Grusha had almost never heard of this kind of playstyle before; in the end, he struggled hard to take down the Skeledirge, only to have the match finished by the Pawmot that followed.

Of course, if it were just losing to an opponent, even if Grusha's Ability was Competitive or Defiant, he wouldn't say much.

But this way of losing really made one's blood pressure skyrocket...

And after receiving the Ice Badge, the words this Nemona student said inadvertently ignited Grusha's temper.

"Eh... wasn't it said that this is the hardest Gym? Why does it feel like the pressure is far less than Teacher Yu's..."

Grusha heard every word of Nemona's quiet muttering as she left.

While taking a deep breath to force himself to stay calm, the name "Teacher Yu" quickly caught his attention.

If nothing went wrong, this Teacher Yu that Nemona spoke of should be Qingyu, who was of a similar age to him and also a Gym Leader of one of the eight Gyms.

Although the environment around the Glaseado Gym was very harsh, connecting to the internet in the Pokémon world wasn't difficult; a Rotom was enough.

But besides keeping in touch with the League, Grusha, who didn't pay much attention to the online world and only focused on himself and the security near the Gym, obviously rarely used his phone.

Therefore, he wasn't aware that the rookie trainers in Paldea this year were quietly undergoing changes he couldn't quite understand...

And the culprit behind all this seemed to point to a certain rookie Gym Leader who was from the same period as him.

At first, Grusha didn't pay much attention, thinking he had just encountered a true genius.

But starting from Nemona's appearance, the subsequent challengers were clearly at a much higher level than last year.

Just last weekend, a rookie who specialized in a Sun team even came, relying on the coordination between Torkoal, Ceruledge, and Houndoom to push type advantages to the extreme.

After receiving the Badge, this red-haired rookie also mentioned "Teacher Yu."

After repeatedly hearing this name from students, Grusha's competitive spirit was stirred up again, and he finally couldn't help but ask:

"Who exactly is this Teacher Yu you're talking about?"

"Who else could it be? Teacher Yu is, of course, Teacher Qingyu from the Sunny Gym!"

……

Back at the Sunny Gym.

With Grusha's appearance, Qingyu could clearly feel the temperature around him drop by several degrees, which was especially noticeable in winter.

Grusha? Why would he appear in front of him?

Confusion immediately arose in Qingyu's heart.

Cabo Poco is basically at the southernmost tip of Paldea, completely the opposite direction from Glaseado Mountain in the far north.

Even if he caught a Shiny Magikarp, he shouldn't be able to get lost by such a long distance, right?

However...

What should he do, Grusha in reality feels even cuter!

Just as Qingyu was staring at Grusha, the blue-haired beauty opposite was also quietly observing him.

Although both were Gym Leaders, the two had actually never met, having only chatted briefly in the League group chat.

Therefore, Qingyu's first impression on him was actually quite average.

He didn't see any of the pressure that a powerful Gym Leader should have, but this kind of friendly temperament would indeed attract other rookies more.

As for how strong he actually was...

It seemed he would only know after battling him.

Let him see what level Qingyu, who is regarded by rookies as the "strongest Gym Leader," actually has.

"Hello, Gym Leader Qingyu."

Grusha nodded slightly, extended his gloved right hand, took off the scarf covering his face, and took the initiative to speak.

"Let's skip the small talk for now; I have only one purpose for coming to Cabo Poco this time—"

"To challenge the Sunny Gym."

"I wonder if Gym Leader Qingyu has the time?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Qingyu's eyebrows jumped.

Good fellow...

Although he had a rough guess in his heart, after hearing it personally from Grusha, Qingyu was still a bit puzzled.

Why would this nominal strongest Gym Leader of Paldea take the initiative to challenge him?

The two should just be ordinary colleagues, and this was even their first private meeting.

So far, the Sunny Gym had only been challenged by one peer, and that was Senior Iono, who came with a clear goal to boost each other's popularity.

However, since he had already come to his door, Qingyu's idea was very simple—

A battle with him!

"Of course, it just so happens there are no other challengers right now."

Qingyu smiled slightly and quickly accepted his battle invitation.

As trainers, the moment their eyes met, the Pokémon battle had already begun!

"However, may I ask why?"

"……"

Grusha fell into a long silence.

He couldn't very well say that he was curious and wanted to see what level Qingyu was at when he went all out because he had been defeated by students taught by "Teacher Yu," could he?

Just being willful for a moment and wanting to decide with him who was the "strongest Gym Leader in Paldea"—wouldn't he lose face if he said that out loud?

Therefore, after waiting for a moment, he spoke again.

"Elite Four Hassel mentioned to me before that if I had time, I could come to the Sunny Gym to spar with you and improve our strength together."

Although it was a rather perfunctory excuse, it was very official as a reason.

Hearing him say this, Qingyu's mouth twitched violently.

What ancient history this was.

It seemed that back then, in order for him to quickly get the hang of things and become a qualified Gym Leader of the eight Gyms, Hassel had "specially" reminded the other Gym Leaders.

Yeah, it definitely wasn't because he held a grudge after being defeated by him during the assessment.

But in such a long time, only these two "greenhorns," Iono and Grusha, had actually listened to Hassel.

The other Gym Leaders were all old hands, each more skilled at slacking off than the last, and they wouldn't even consider this kind of non-mandatory extra work.

After getting the answer, Qingyu didn't dwell on this question too much and quickly smiled again.

"By the way, as a Gym feature, weekday challenges at the Sunny Gym will be shown to other rookies in the form of a live stream; Gym Leader Grusha shouldn't mind, right?"

"I have no objections."

Grusha nodded coolly, then walked toward the battle field outside the Gym.

……

Noon, Qingyu's live stream room.

【Great, it's my second favorite Teacher Yu bullying noobs session!】

【Starting this week, challengers can choose the lineup they face; I feel like the old tricks can be used again!】

【Where is Teacher Yu? He's not going to be late, right?】

A few minutes before Qingyu started the stream on time, many fans had already gathered in the room, waiting for his appearance.

After a few seconds, only to see a white light flash on the screen, Qingyu's figure standing under the sun quickly appeared in the frame.

【Oh oh oh, Teacher Yu has finally appeared!】

【Starting on the battle field this time, has a little glutton already come to challenge the Gym first?】

Before Qingyu could speak, the comments began to discuss enthusiastically.

Their attention quickly turned to the familiar figure standing opposite Qingyu.