Shinobu’s Uncle!?

Early the next morning, when the sun has just risen, a troubled-looking teenager with a Pikachu beside him can be seen sitting inside a convenience store.

"Ugh, how did mother learn about my participation?"

The teenager was Dante, currently waiting for Shinobu at their meeting place near the Alliance Branch. The time is currently 5:45 AM and their agreement was at 6 AM. 

When he left home this morning, his mother cheered for him, and then angrily said something about having a talk after the competition. 

'She shouldn't be angry about it anymore if I win, right? Sigh, there goes my plan to keep the prize money a secret from my family. What would they think if they learned that the money would be used just to auction some things?'

As Dante was thinking about his parent's reaction, a voice from behind suddenly interrupted his thinking.

"Hey! You came so early today. Did you wait long?"

Shinobu walked to the opposite side of the table while looking apologetic to Dante.

"No, I also just arrived. I already knew you were gonna come early, so I tried coming at the same time as you." 

Whenever they make an appointment in the past weeks, Shinobu would always be there earlier than him even when he tried coming 10 minutes before their agreement.

When he asked, he learned it was a habit she had to arrive 15 minutes earlier than the agreed time in order to account for accidents. 

The two of them continued to chat while Pikachu slept on Dante's lap. Last night, the two accepted another simple task for Beach Cave and while in the middle of the task, Dante noticed that Pikachu's experience was about to reach the requirement for leveling up.

They therefore grinded for a few more hours in that dungeon which made them a little tired. However, the gains they had last night were huge.

Pikachu leveling up, as well as the Gummies they collected, made all of Pikachu's stats exceed 70 except for the Special Defense. In addition, Pikachu also gained one of the strongest IQ skills, Sharpshooter.

Sharpshooter, much like Dante's Ability Super Luck, can increase the chance of landing a critical hit. And while Dante relies on his good luck to make it happen, the Sharpshooter IQ skill gave Pikachu a more powerful dynamic vision.

This also has an added effect on increasing Pikachu's dodging ability, as well as the accuracy of his attacks.

While Dante's IQ also increased, it only allows him to manipulate his Illusion ability more fluently in the real world. He is still not able to manipulate the energy in his body to unleash moves.

However, Dante wasn't too worried about it, it was only a matter of time. With just his improved physical attributes and Illusion, he already has a great survivability when he inevitably enters a PokePortal in the future.

Shinobu and Dante continued chatting while waiting for the Trainer with Karrablast to message her. According to yesterday's text, they would come to the Alliance Branch before 7 AM.

The gathering time for competition participants starts at 7:30 AM, so the two had plenty of time to spare.

At 6:27, Shinobu finally received the message. She turned and read it before standing up.

"Let's go, they said they're located at the entrance of the Alliance."

Dante hugged the still drowsy Pikachu and walked with Shinobu towards the Alliance branch. Before they even arrived, they saw a group of gangster-looking guys, led by a tall, muscular man with a white hair, messing around the entrance.

When the group saw Dante and Shinobu, they waved at them from afar.

"No. way."

Shinobu stopped in her tracks after seeing the group. Her expression was full of surprise, disbelief, and joy.

"Yo! It's Shinobu! Hahaha, your battle yesterday was awesome! I mean, clearly not comparable to mine, but it was certainly alright."

The one who spoke was seemingly the leader of the group. He was very tall. Dante, who is 5'10 in height, was barely able to reach his neck. 

He has white, spiked hair with pale red streaks. His face is tattooed with red lines that extend from his upper eyelid to his lower eyelid, and numerous parts of his body, arms and head.

He was only wearing a black coat on his upper body which exposes his abdominal muscles. His style of clothing is reminiscent of Shinobu's current outfit. (Picture in comment)

"Uncle Itto! Everybody! Why are you here?"

"Hahahaha, of course it's to check on you! When we learned that the princess of our Arataki Gang left the country, we definitely had to chase you back. So? Why did you leave."

"...Uncle, did you not check the headquarter's meeting table? I already left a letter explaining everything before I left."

"Huh? A letter? Did anyone see a letter on the table?"

Itto faced his members and asked them. Everyone shook their heads, muttering how they directly boarded a plane after learning about what happened. 

"I left that there for more than a month…"

Seeing Shinobu's deadpan gaze, everyone avoided looking at her, looking to the side and whistling like children who did something wrong.

"A-anyway! Forget about the letter and what not. Why don't you come back with us now? Whatever you want to achieve, you can do it with the support of the Arataki Gang! Not all by yourself in a foreign country!"

Itto hurriedly changed the topic of the conversation back while also making an inviting gesture to Shinobu.

"Thanks for your concern uncle, but there's no need. I want to prove something to my family, and I won't be able to do it if they know you supported me. Besides…I'm not alone here."

While saying that, Shinobu shyly glanced at Dante who remained silent ever since he knew that the man in front of him was a relative of Shinobu.

Arataki Itto's attention was finally attracted away from his niece and instead to the boy next to her. Seeing the close distance between them, his eyes suddenly sharpened.

Feeling his sharp gaze, Dante returned it with a serious look. Although the man in front of him gave off some pressure, it cannot compare to the pressure he had when having a face-to-face battle against the Pokemon in the dungeon.

"I see~ I see what this is~ *Sniffle* it looks like my little Shinobu has finally grown up and left his dearest uncle Itto for another man~"

Suddenly, Itto's serious face turned into an exaggerated expression of being hurt. He clutched his chest as if suffering from some heartbreaking event while making some poor crying noises.

The rest of his gang quickly followed suit, crying and making a fuss about their princess leaving them for another man.

Some of the people who came to watch the game early saw this scene and began to whisper. 

"S-Shut up! It's not like that at all! Dante and I are just friends!"

"She is right, uncle. We're just friends…for now."

"Dante! Stop joining in with them!"

Shinobu's face turned bright red from their teasing. One can't tell whether that was due to embarrassment caused by his uncle, or because of the words of a certain someone.