Chapter 735: That Day, the Students Finally Recalled the Terror of Teacher Yu

"Whew—finally home..."

By the time Qingyu finally stepped into the Sunshine Gym, it was already dusk.

A trip to Johto, though only lasting about a week in time, had seen him experience quite a lot.

First, in his debut at an international tournament of the Advanced Ball level, he had easily taken the championship with a crushing posture, letting the name "Teacher Yu" resound throughout the Pokémon world once more.

Beyond the satisfaction of honor, the victory also brought international points, which were incredibly important for elite trainers.

As the champion of an international tournament, Qingyu had basically locked in a preliminary spot for the next Masters Tournament based solely on the points earned in this Psychic Masters Tournament.

Although there was still some time before the tournament, he wouldn't be running into it this year, at least.

The other matter concerned Sakaki and Team Rocket.

In a sense, Qingyu's meeting with Sakaki could be considered the cleanup work following the previous operation.

Capturing Sakaki himself wasn't actually the most important thing; the core executives of Team Rocket were still at large, and as long as they had enough time, someone would eventually come to lead the organization.

In the game's plot, the four executives chose to come to the Johto region after Sakaki was defeated, recovering their strength while waiting for Sakaki to return like lightning.

The more famous incidents, like harvesting Slowpoke tails and occupying the radio tower, were their handiwork during this period.

But once Qingyu and Sakaki reached a consensus, these remnants of Team Rocket, who had left Wataru and the other International Police officers at their wits' end, were no longer a threat.

With Sakaki, the soul of Team Rocket, in the picture, at least they wouldn't dare stir up trouble on the surface.

As for the transformation of Team Rocket... that wasn't something Qingyu needed to worry about.

He had better focus on his basic identity as a Paldean Gym Leader first!

Oh, and it seemed he might soon have some "Temporary Elite Four" DLC content to deal with as well.

In just half a year, he had completed a triple jump from a newcomer to an Elite Four member; even compared to the protagonists of past generations, this speed was incredibly explosive...

Truly worthy of you, Teacher Yu!

After silently praising himself in his heart, Qingyu quickly walked into the lobby.

"Sable!"

Sableye, who was busy distributing energy cubes to the gym's Pokémon, was the first to notice Qingyu, immediately showing an excited expression and running over with a dance.

"I'm back."

Qingyu smiled and crouched down, petting the Sableye that had come to greet him.

"You've worked hard this past week while I was away, Sableye."

In the stereotypes of quite a few people, Dark-type Pokémon, especially Sableye, belong to the category of annoying pests.

Qingyu had nothing to say about that; he only felt that viewing them through such a biased filter would naturally lead people to magnify their flaws.

In reality, based on Qingyu's daily interactions with the Pokémon rented for the gym, Sableye was actually the most worry-free one.

While it might not look very serious and always wore a sinister grin for challengers, it was actually meticulous when taking care of Bagon and the other cloned Pokémon in their baby stages—a truly reliable "man-mom."

As for the other Pokémon in the gym... they either lacked hands or their size wasn't suitable; the only one with a humanoid appearance was Incineroar, and the baby Pokémon would probably wet their pants in fear if they saw it.

As everyone knows, Incineroar and Galar's Rillaboom are both great at being gatekeepers; their appearance and aura alone are enough to make people tremble.

Especially the fierce-looking Incineroar; even though its personality wasn't actually bad, it could only silently bear the disadvantages brought by its appearance.

"Sable..."

After interacting with Qingyu for a while, Sableye suddenly remembered something and reached out to tug on Qingyu's hem.

Then, following the direction of its finger, Qingyu quickly noticed the energy cubes it had just opened, and instantly understood what it meant.

Because he had been away for a bit too long, and with him and Indeedee gone, there was no one in the gym to cook for the whole family of Pokémon; even if they ordered takeout, there would be a language barrier.

So Qingyu had no choice but to settle for energy cubes.

As emergency food carefully formulated by breeders, energy cubes could replenish a Pokémon's stamina well enough to keep them fed.

However... there was a small problem.

It would be fine for one or two meals, but using them as a staple diet compared to the usual gym meals was indeed too monotonous.

The little ones were probably tired of it and had been suffering for a while.

That was why Sableye had been hinting so frantically the moment Qingyu returned.

"Since I'm back, of course, there's no need to eat energy cubes anymore."

Qingyu smiled, stood up, and took out all the Poké Balls from his pockets.

Soon, all his main Pokémon appeared in the gym.

"Speaking of which... Mew is gone again."

After looking around, Qingyu smiled with relief.

Truly worthy of being the "Haji-Mew"; it had probably vanished after watching the match, likely feeling it had played enough in human society and needed to return to the Tree of Beginning to refresh its cooldown.

Since that was the case, he couldn't be blamed for missing out on a grand feast~

"Indeedee!"