"Wait a second, if the secret and special places that Champions and the Elite Four can access are actually limited, then once Steven has fully accessed all of them, there's really no need for him to be constrained by the Champion position anymore. He could just toss the Champion title to a familiar figure from the same faction and then go off freely…" Terrance's eyes suddenly widened. Could it be Wallace?!
Devon is a major shareholder of Pokémon Contests, and Wallace is also the representative figure of Pokémon Contests. Putting all this together…
"Following this line of reasoning, it's actually entirely possible… I wonder if Steven would tell the truth if I asked him directly…"
Devon is now a giant corporation not inferior to Silph Co., which is itself a world-class business titan. Naturally, Steven could easily step down from his position as Champion, and with the backing of Devon and the Pokémon Contest, it's even possible to support another person to become Champion
And that person is very likely Wallace, the Contest Master and Water-type Master.
"Ugh, I'm having a headache…" Terrance sighed. The waters run deep. No idea if he guessed right.
"Oh right, ever since the year I made my debut, the positions of Elite Four and Champion seem to have been getting younger and younger…" Terrance suddenly thought. He believed it was possible for young people like them to surpass the accumulated experience of the older generation in a very short time—status, talent, and opportunities could all be major factors. Even so, it shouldn't have led to such a large-scale trend of youth taking over… As for why these young people were being promoted to the Elite Four one after another, Terrance suspected there were probably some hidden reasons.
Could it be to cultivate a new generation, with the older generation voluntarily giving up resources and retiring en masse?
"What are you thinking about, Roto?" Seeing Terrance sink deeper into thought, his expression growing more and more complex, Rotom Pokédex asked blankly.
"Tell me, do you think this world might be facing some kind of unexpected threat?" Terrance said impulsively. Spirit World, parallel dimensions, the places where Ultra Beasts come from. Just imagining it, the Pokémon world must be attached to a vast space-time system. Even if several other-dimensional worlds suddenly popped up and a bunch of monsters poured out, Terrance wouldn't find it strange.
These were all unknown threats. But information about the Spirit World or Ultra Space was something ordinary people couldn't access at all. Even with Terrance's current status, he could only obtain some rough data. Even academic discussions had always remained superficial. No one had ever published materials based on in-depth research.
Terrance asked himself. Faced with these unknown regions, if he were someone in power within the League, he would definitely want to explore them, rather than leave them alone.
After all, even in his previous life, nations had never stopped exploring the universe. Although this world had some cultural differences and even more unknown lands, would the League really stop exploring the unknown? The unknown… represented hidden dangers.
If exploration had indeed taken place… then clearly, that information hadn't yet reached the stage where it could be made public. To access it, one would need a certain level of status.
For example, the Elite Four who hold real power within the Pokémon League.
Just as little people were fighting it out in Terrance's head, the notification chime of the Pokémon Center suddenly sounded. It seemed the Pokémon he had left there had fully recovered.
Quickly wiping his face to clear his head, Terrance opened his backpack under the Rotom Pokédex's helpless expression. The Rotom Pokédex then proactively flew inside.
"I'll say this first—before I finish sleeping… no, Roto, before I finish studying, don't disturb me again, Roto," the Rotom Pokédex said quickly before diving into the backpack.
"Alright." Terrance chuckled, then hurried over to Nurse Joy to retrieve Kirlia's and Gallade's Poké Balls.
After that, Terrance went to the transfer device at the Pokémon Center and sent Gallade back to Fallarbor Town, where he had already made arrangements in advance.
"As for what's next…" Having finished all this, Terrance walked out of the Pokémon Center and fell into thought.
"With the Grand Festival approaching, I'll give Ninetales some special training. I can just put the Never-Melt Ice to use… and during this time I should also gather some ores that pair well with Float Stone, and get ready to evolve Pupitar!!"
The Pupitar stage is different from, yet similar to, the cocoon stage of Bug-type Pokémon. It's primarily a phase of accumulating nutrients.
That is to say, as long as you're willing to spend the money, this stage can be shortened. A wild Larvitar that wants to evolve into Tyranitar might need to devour several mountains and spend years doing so, but in reality, there aren't that many nutrients inside a mountain. Mostly it's just ordinary sand and rock…
"Still, collecting other ores, even if it's not as difficult as gathering Float Stone, isn't exactly an easy task…" Terrance thought to himself.
Just as he was considering which channels he could use to gather them, his eyes suddenly flickered.
"Ja… mes?" Seeing the person in front of him, Terrance spoke in confusion.
"Terr… ance?" James also spoke in surprise, looking as though he was completely taken aback to run into Terrance here.
Because the trio had lost their memories during the Mewtwo incident, Terrance knew that James's memories of him were still stuck at the last time he had saved them in Acapulco. Still, James appearing in Saffron City genuinely left Terrance a bit dumbfounded.
According to the plot, the three of them should definitely have been following Ash.
"You're Terrance, right!" Seeing Terrance, James's initial surprise immediately turned into delight. He grabbed Terrance's hand and said, "Thanks so much for last time in Acapulco. If it weren't for you, my partners and I might have been eaten by that Giant Tentacruel."
"It was nothing…" Terrance smiled gently. "But running into you here, James, really is lucky."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so too. Oh right, after you saved us in Acapulco, my partners have been wanting to repay you for saving our lives, but unfortunately we never managed to find you. This time, please be sure to let us repay you," James said seriously.
Are you guys for real?
Terrance laughed inwardly. Team Rocket, who should have been following Ash, showing up in front of him was already suspicious enough. Now James was acting completely differently from how he had on New Island. Terrance could practically be certain that this group was up to no good… and that their sights were set on him!!
James would never imagine that Terrance knew their original itinerary, much less that before this, the two of them had already met once on New Island. Back then, Team Rocket hadn't shown the slightest intention of wanting to repay him at all…
You guys… got the wrong script.
"If it weren't for the plot and Mewtwo lending a hand, I might really have been fooled by the three of you acting your hearts out. What are James and the others approaching me for? Could it be Giovanni's orders?" Terrance thought suspiciously, already beginning to calculate his next moves.
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