Sincere Agreement

At night, while Aisha was leisurely eating at home, the opponents he needed to face within the subsequent matches already had headaches to the point of collapse.

Unlike Aisha's pleasure and frivolity, they were incredibly important to the 'Rookie Tournament' championship.

Now that the 8 into 4 matches had ended, four contestants had successfully stood out on the stage of the 'Rookie Tournament'.

The four of them need to participate in tomorrow morning's semi-finals and finals to truly compete for the real champion...

The question is, do they really need to compete for this title?

Aisha's name already says it all...

Within the four people who had made it to the top four of the 'Rookie Tournament', three of them were jealous of Aisha, and the last one was Aisha herself.

If any one of them met Aisha in the semi-finals, his journey to the 'Rookie Tournament' would definitely be over.

In a one-on-one Pokémon battle, they didn't have the confidence that they could win against Azurill's strange power - the scene where Azurill killed Diggersby without suffering any visible injuries despite the difference in racial values was seen by everyone, not to mention the fact that Aisha had a Caterpie of unseen strength hidden in his hand!...

The three of them agreed that if Aisha had used a Pokémon that needed to be practiced, Azurill, in the 16 to 8 and 8 to 4 matches, and now in the semifinals and finals, Aisha was likely to use a more powerful Caterpie in order to secure the championship.

Their hearts were then half-cooled.

Caterpie's battle record was small, killing Hall's Monferno in one hit.

Hall's Monferno was no less powerful than the ace Pokémon that the other three had cultivated in head-on battles... They themselves knew this very well.

Hall had been one of their formidable rivals, but he had gotten unlucky with Aisha in the first round of the elimination rounds, and then died in the same place, and had not survived the preliminaries.

He and his Monferno were already depressed for days...

Referring to Hall and Monferno being psychologically beaten out by the Caterpie, it probably wasn't something impossible for this big green bug that exceeded a meter to achieve even a violent and incomparable string of three of its own Pokémon above the finals.

After all, this Caterpie was Aisha's Pokémon.

At this point, the other three contestants only had to pray that they wouldn't meet Aisha in the semi-finals tomorrow morning... The other three contestants were just praying that they wouldn't meet Aicha in the semi-finals tomorrow morning, and that they would try to snatch the second or third place in the 'Rookie Tournament'.

There's no shame in losing to Aisha - they reassured themselves.

"Hey... Eat up!"

While the other three were somberly preparing for the semifinals and finals, studying their opponents' profiles and records, Aisha was already putting down the bowl with a relieved face.

"Ow~"

Charmander that had dug its head into the bowl filled with Pokéblock and feasted on it also licked the corner of its mouth and gave a thumbs up towards Aisha.

It was meant to be a compliment that the flavor of the Pokéblock made by Aisha was very good.

"Mmm~ It's good that you like it."

Having received Charmander's approval, Aisha's mood was also much better.

"Luli~ luli... luli!"

If Charmander still had the heart to enjoy the food while distracted, praising Aisha's handiwork, Azurill had already completely sunk under the temptation of the food, and her petite body was nearly buried within the rice bowl, her head not willing to lift a bit.

"Mimi..."

Caterpie was slowly and methodically eating the dragon and flying type Pokéblock food and the exclusive Pokéblock that Aisha had specially made for himself - as the unquestionable senior within the team, he needed to maintain a mature and stable appearance in front of his juniors at all times, and he must be elegant even when he was eating.

Well, adhering to elegance.

"..."

Aisha gave a rather amused look at the pretentious Caterpie.

How had this child gotten to the point where he had idol baggage?

"Mee~"

Noticing Aisha's line of sight, Caterpie saw the teenager's meaning from inside his eyes, and then gave a twist of his head and grunted in dissatisfaction.

What are you looking at?

As a future Rayquaza himself, what's wrong with being a little more elegant...

"Me-ta..."

Shiny Beldum's sense of flavor was a bit inferior compared to the other partners.

However, as a shiny Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon from a wealthy background, shiny Beldum still tasted out that within the Pokéblock that was used as dinner today, there seemed to be something extra unusual as an ingredient.

"Hmm, seasoning, I added seasoning."

Putting on his apron, Aisha answered shiny Beldum's doubts as he cleaned up the pots and pans.

"Me-ta-"

Hearing Aisha's words, shiny Beldum was instead quite puzzled.

Within its knowledge, seasoning should be something that needed to be added to a meal, and its function was to enhance its flavor a bit.

"Ah..."

Carrying his own dishes into the kitchen, Aisha turned on the faucet, and while washing the dishes, he responded to the question that the Shining Iron Dumbbell was wondering about, saying, "Today, I bought a roasted meat for Charmander and Azurill in the shopping street, and they really like these delicious human foods, but... Whoever it is must also like to eat something tasty, this is a problem I neglected before."

Aisha's words were colored with a touch of apology.

"The previous me, when I was crafting the Pokéblocks and preparing your food, was purely just thinking about their nutrition, and didn't care much about things like taste and flavor."

Aisha tilted his head a bit, washing the pots and pans with a bit more vigor.

"Today I realized that you are not my tools, never have been.

"I used to chant that trainers and Pokémon are partners, though still maintaining a parental attitude in a more elevated position, viewing you guys in a really bad mood." Aisha shook his head, his bangs blocking his expression, and said, "You guys must also like to eat some delicious food, although Pokéblock food and energy cubes are things that must be consumed, however, paying attention to the appropriate exercise and quantity of the case, I think that the delicious food belonging to the human race, you guys can eat it just the same.

"After the taste buds are satisfied, no matter what kind of creature it is, it must also be very happy."

"..."

Shiny Beldum floated behind Aisha, its bright red eyes quiet under its silence as it watched the slender back of this new master.

This teenager was different from normal trainers.

His feelings for Pokémon were particularly strong.

It was even to the point where he must want Pokémon to live comfortably even if he gets himself into trouble...

"I'm not very good at cooking, so that means I can learn it later."

Pokéblock's deliciousness appeared to change as Aisha spoke out, saying, "Today, I tried to put in the seasonings that you guys like to taste within the ingredients of the energy cube for some seasoning, and now at a glance, the effect seems to be good, and you all like it a lot.

"In the future, I'll endeavor to try to make dishes and create something that you all like."

Aisha finished washing the pots and pans with the tree fruit mixer.

Shiny Beldum untied the knot of Aisha's apron in the back.

Aisha turned around and showed a gentle smile towards shiny Beldum, saying, "Beldum, although it is said that you are a steel lifeform, however, I also know that your clan has the same ability to recognize flavors, but it is a bit inferior to normal Pokémon.

"So, let's make a pact."

Rubbing his fingers over the shiny head of shiny Beldum, a bright light shone within his deep black eyes.

"In the future, I will definitely be able to create a dish that even you, who are a mechanical life form with a different taste sensitivity than a normal Pokémon, will definitely be able to consider 'delicious'."

"..."

Shiny Beldum felt kind of marvelous.

It had also met a lot of trainers in Devon Co, and while normal trainers valued and cared about their Pokémon, they definitely couldn't reach the level of Aisha though.

That stone maniac with a head full of digging had found himself a good master - shiny Beldum was grateful to Steven in its heart.

"Me-ta-!!!"

Between the flashes of his mind, shiny Beldum also narrowed its eyes in response to Aisha's words.

It was happy.

The feelings from Aisha truly reached its heart.

The silver-white steel body also seemed to glow with a warm color.

"Yes!"

Seeing shiny Beldum showing a happy smile, Aisha thought that it was this child who had also developed an interest in tasting a bit of food, and was instantly motivated with a high level of excitement as well.

"Learn, cooking!"

Aisha ran in the direction of the computer with great strides.

For the sake of the child, what's wrong with some hard work?

"Maybe afterward, I can even become a cooking anchor for a bit, broadcasting 'Instructor Ai's Kitchen' or something like that to create cuisine, killing two birds with one stone!" Calculating the plan to learn culinary skills, Aisha combined his identity as a popular anchor and even generated some special thoughts, saying, "The material rewards handed out by the Hoenn League and Dayan League are quite a lot, but it won't take a lifetime, so I'll need to plan some new money-making schemes."

"Cooking Pokéblock... Hmm."

Seeing the empty bowls of the four Pokémon, Aisha gave a rakish smile.

"Most of the powerful trainers are keen on asking professional breeders to customize Pokéblocks that are exclusively for their Pokémon... If my Pokéblock making skills continue to improve, it's only a matter of time before I catch up with those master breeders, and if I can skillfully master the technique of enhancing the flavor of Pokéblocks, I might be able to gain the favor of those powerful trainers' Pokémon!"

The people in this world who lacked the most money were the great trainers.

Aisha was prepared to make a fortune on them.

"That Wallace guy probably has a bit of interest in Pokéblocks..."

Looking back at his circle of friends, Aisha was also surprised to find trainers he was on good terms with, all of them were actually Elite or Champion level trainers.

Red, Blue, Lance, Steven, Wallace... And Summer, how come there was only one Elite Four level trainer, Summer?

However, Summer, as the head of Dayan's Elite Four, her strength was unquestionably formidable.

"I wonder what exactly is the strength of that Dayan region Champion?"

Aisha developed a trace of curiosity.

However, the obsession for cooking and the interest in cooking Pokéblocks also overcame Aisha's anticipation for the Dayan Champion.

"I wonder when the system can give me a cooking skill."

Extreme cooking skill was a skill that came standard for protagonists.

How could one not have it?

...

The next day, Aisha, who had been busy all night, also had dark circles under her eyes and ran to the arena of the 'Rookie Tournament'.

"Ha..."

Yawning, Aisha stood on top of field 1, waiting for his opponent.

"Instructor Ai, go for it, Instructor Ai, go for it!"

"Instructor Ai, I love you!"

"Charge, Instructor Ai!"

The cheers of the backup group crowd, which were as usual subverted to the extreme, came from the ears.

"Huh?"

Listening to their words, Aisha seemed to have discovered something as if he had, and his eyes, which were originally quite sleepy due to lack of sleep, steeply sharpened.

"..."

Aisha's line of sight continuously scanned above the audience, quickly finding Blaze and Leaf who were pulling banners before the cheerleading group along with the owner of Diggersby, the water friend who had lost to him yesterday afternoon.

Sure enough, there was one more.

"Get it?"

After that, Aisha made a stern face and gave the three of them a look.

"Get it!"

Blaze, Leaf, and the water friend who didn't want to disclose his name froze for a moment after seeing Aisha's look, and then they revealed a look of realization and returned Aisha's "OK" gesture.

"I'm Instructor Ai's dog-!!!"

In the next moment, the three of them shouted out a weird slogan as if it was a "corporate culture" at the top of their voices.

Not only that, Blaze and Leaf, who had already been shouting like this for a day, had crystals glistening between their eyes, as if they were happy that Aisha had finally recognized the sincere and warm heart of the two of them.

"What's wrong with you guys?"

The water friend who didn't want to disclose his name asked them.

"Nope, I got Instructor Ai in my eyes, I'm a bit touched."

"Instructor Ai is too gentle, such an excellent boy, I wonder what kind of person will be cheated in the future?"

Blaze and Leaf responded to him so.

"Hmmm..."

Above the competition field, Aisha listened to the cheering voices of the three and revealed a satisfied expression.

The flavor was right.

At this time, the opposite side of the player channel ran out of a flustered face of a boy, obviously Aisha in the semi-finals need to face the opponent - he was sleepy face with a pair of dark circles under his eyes, even semi-finals are almost late, needless to say know that must be the previous night in the late-night agonizing against Aisha's strategy.

Aisha knew that this player was not his own water friend as soon as he looked at him.

After all, if he was a friend, he should have given up thinking and started swinging after seeing that his opponent was himself...

"Both players have sent a Pokémon to battle each other!"

The referee waved down a small flag and announced the start of the match.

Aisha didn't say anything and threw out Azurill's Pokémon ball.

"Luli!"

Unlike Aisha, who was quite sleepy from studying culinary knowledge all night, the heartless Azurill had rested well, and now stood on top of the field with her head held high and energized.

"..."

At the sight of Azurill, the other frowned, seemingly a bit displeased.

"Woof!"

He threw his Pokémon ball as well, and a tough Growlithe landed in front of him, barking combatively towards Azurill.

"Luli?"

Azurill took an involuntary step back.

"The Intimidate trait activated?"

Aisha was quite surprised.

Growlithe was not a Pokémon that could be raised by any ordinary family, especially with the Intimidate trait.

"Growlithe, Flame Wheel!"

"Woof!"

Growlithe barked at its master's command, and then hot flames wrapped around its body, and the burly puppy rushed towards Azurill with the sizzling light of the flames trailing under its swift run.

"...Bounce."

Aisha frowned as he watched Growlithe's "Flame Wheel".

Something was wrong...

The color of this flame, the heat with the stance of the move, and the speed at which it ran, was clearly a Flare Blitz!

"Luli!"

Azurill decisively jumped up into the sky, dodging Growlithe's attack.

"Woof!"

"What?"

The opponent was also rather puzzled- according to his research on Aisha, if Growlithe had used Flame Wheel, which wasn't that powerful, this guy should have chosen to command Azurill to go hard with Aqua Jet.

"Bubble Beam!"

Azurill locked onto Growlithe from above the sky and sprayed a mouthful of Bubble Beam at it.

"Woof!"

Without the need for its master's command, Growlithe quickly began to run, constantly dodging Azurill's Bubble Beam.

However, Azurill's Bubble Beam only blocked Growlithe's alignment.

With Azurill's landing, Growlithe was forced out of the way by Bubble Beam and met its Bounce head on.

"Growlithe, Fire Fang!"

With nothing else to do, his opponent chose Fire Fang, a move that didn't require much time to build up power, to counterattack.

"Luli!"

"Woof!"

The attacks of both sides clashed together.

Although it was said that Azurill's physical attack level had dropped by one level under the intimidating properties of Growlithe.

However, it was still Azurill who had a small victory above the contest of power, and Growlithe retreated a meter under the bouncing attack.

"Bubble Beam!"

Azurill didn't hesitate to spray Bubble Beam towards the nearby Growlithe, and her own airborne body used the propulsion of Bubble Beam to fly to a farther position.

"Woof!"

Growlithe screamed miserably and received Azurill's Bubble Beam.

The attribute-restricted attack caused a good effect on Growlithe's body.

"This Growlithe is pretty good..."

Seeing the Growlithe stand up without any hesitation, Aisha also sighed at the excellence of this Pokémon - not only was its battle sense very rich, its nature was also decisive and tough, it even inherited Flare Blitz, a powerful fire-type move; clearly, this child had an unusual origin, perhaps the offspring of a police dog that had been specially exercised at the police academy.

"Hey..."

Seeing the situation of Growlithe, his opponent also sighed.

Originally, when he saw that Aisha had still sent Azurill in the semi-finals, he thought that Aisha was displeased with himself for belittling him.

Now, even his own ace Pokémon, Growlithe, might not be able to beat Azurill...

"Growlithe, Wild Charge!"

He recited a lurid name.

"Azurill, Charm!"

Aisha also quickly chose to weaken Growlithe's attack a bit.

"Woof!"

While Growlithe ran towards Azurill wrapped in thunderous lightning, the little water bear showed a pitiful expression, its watery eyes staring into its eyes.

"Woof, woo..."

The Growlithe fumed at Azurill's stare, even as its running speed slowed down a few points.

"Aqua Jet!"

Azurill wrapped by a clear stream of water and flew into the sky, dodging Growlithe's Wild Charge with the help of the swift propulsion of the stream of water.

"Is it really a rich brother?"

Aisha narrowed his eyes.

Growlithe had used a high-powered fire-type genetic move and an electric-type move that had to be learned with a technical machine right out of the gate.

This opponent's family was a bit of a thing.

Although it felt like this guy's personality was a bit strange, however, not forcing Growlithe to evolve into an Arcanine with Fire Stone just to deal with himself showed that he wasn't a bad person.

Moreover, the demeanor of Growlithe also showed how good their relationship was...

"Azurill, Belly Drum!"

Finally, Aisha gave this order for the first time above the stage of the 'Rookie Tournament'.

"Lu-li-!!!"

Azurill ran to one end of the field with the propulsion of Aqua Jet, and relying on the distance separating herself from Growlithe as a time advantage, she expanded her petite body.

At once, a strong aura filled its body.

"Hiss..."

The opponent immediately sucked in a breath of cool air.

"Growlithe, Flare Blitz!"

Knowing very well what the effect of the move Belly Drum was he practically shouted out the command.

"Woof!"

Wrapped in the fiery flames of Flare Blitz, Growlithe ran and built up his strength at the same time.

As a result, it happened to run in front of Azurill a second after the Belly Drum was completed.

"Slam!"

At the same time, Azurill's slender tail whistled as if it was a meteor hammer, flinging the rounded sphere and smashing it against the Growlithe whose body was also wrapped in flames.

A dull sound reached everyone's ears.

The hot flames were torn apart without mercy, and the Growlithe flew backwards at a speed equal to that of the charge, finally landing in front of the trainer.

"Growlithe is unable to fight, Aisha and Azurill win!"

Confirming that Growlithe had hung up its swirly eyes, the referee also immediately announced Aisha's victory.

"Good job, Azurill."

Retrieving Azurill, Aisha wasn't going to say anything more and turned around to walk towards the competitors' aisle.

However...

"Eh?"

Within the contestants' passage, the head of Dayan's Elite Four with black hair was wearing a mask and sunglasses, waiting for him.