Pokémon Court

"Welcome to Sootopolis City, Mr. Terrance."

Seeing Terrance slowly walk out from the port, a young woman greeted him with a faint smile on her face.

"I'm the assistant arranged for you by Mr. Raoul Contesta. You can leave all the arrangements for the upcoming festival to me."

"Thank you." Terrance nodded. He had already known that someone like this would be waiting for him upon arriving in Sootopolis City, so he wasn't too surprised.

"Well then, let me first take you to your accommodations." The young woman was named Sharan, and under her guidance, Terrance arrived at a luxurious hotel.

"Has the specific information about the festival been announced yet?" Terrance asked.

From what he understood, the festival would last for nearly half a month. Even the Ever Grande Conference doesn't take that long, so he had long been curious about the details of this joint Trainer and Coordinator Super Grand Festival.

"Not yet," Sharan shook her head and said. "But the basic format has already been released."

"Oh?" Terrance was slightly surprised and asked, "What is it?"

"At the beginning of the festival, it will be divided into 17 events—you could also call them competitions. These 17 events each correspond to one of the types: Normal, Fire, Bug, Water, Poison, Electric, Flying, Grass, Ground, Ice, Fighting, Psychic, Rock, Ghost, Dragon, Dark, and Steel…"

"These 17 events… only Pokémon of the corresponding type may participate, and each event has a different format."

Sharan explained to Terrance.

Terrance fell into thought. Leaving out the Fairy type, there were 17 events corresponding to 17 types?

Only Pokémon with the matching type could take part in a given event?

"So that means… the team I have with me now—Beautifly, Altaria, Mismagius, Arcanine, Castform, Gallade—can at most participate in 8 types of events? And considering how underwhelming Gallade's Psychic type is, that probably means only 7 events realistically." Terrance thought to himself.

"All 17 events are entertainment-oriented, but they also test various aspects, including the Pokémon's fundamentals, coordination, battles, and more. It's said that only the winners of each event can proceed to the later-stage competitions."

After hearing Sharan's further explanation, Terrance understood: the 17 preliminary events were open to all Trainers and Coordinators who had come for the festival, but the main part of this festival should be the competitions that followed.

In other words, at most only 17 people can advance… and some might even monopolize several events, forcibly reducing the number of qualifying spots to single digits!

"What an unfriendly rule," Terrance said with a faint smile.

"Ah?" Hearing Terrance's mutter, Sharan showed a surprised expression.

"It's nothing." Shaking his head, Terrance's thoughts took a darker turn. While he couldn't participate in every event, he was absolutely determined to dominate at least a few—that way, this trip would be worthwhile.

If Terrance was right, each event would likely draw widespread attention. The more appearances one made and the more victories one secured, the greater the chance they'd attract public attention.

If someone managed to dominate multiple events and advance to the next stage of the competition, they were bound to be remembered.

"So that's how it is." Terrance paused slightly in thought. Though he still didn't know the specific details of the events, he recalled that Wallace specialized in Water-type Pokémon. He just didn't know how many events Wallace intended to participate in.

Thinking further, Terrance suddenly became curious: Who would represent the Coordinators? And which well-known Trainers would be attending the festival?

"Mr. Terrance, do you plan to rest now?" Sharan asked.

"No, you don't need to worry about me. I'll contact you tomorrow when the festival begins," Terrance replied.

The festival was going to last half a month—Terrance had no intention of spending that time idly. He needed to prepare some things on his own… to deal with any unexpected situations.

At Terrance's repeated insistence, Sharan was heartlessly driven away by Terrance. As for himself, he left the hotel alone, wandering around Sootopolis City.

"I think Sootopolis City's shopping mall is… in that direction, right?" Terrance recalled, trying to remember the direction of the largest mall in the city.

"But before buying any materials, I should get something to eat first." Rubbing his stomach, Terrance didn't plan on dining at the hotel. Sootopolis City had many local specialty snacks—and compared to the luxurious food in the hotel, Terrance much preferred those.

At this moment, thanks to the Super Festival, Sootopolis City was packed with people—an extraordinary sight that only happened once in several years.

This festival had taken years to prepare and months to promote. Coordinators and Trainers had come from all over Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh.

Terrance wore a hat to conceal his face. With his current status, he was considered a semi-public figure in Hoenn. If he showed his face on the street, it would definitely cause trouble.

"It's just a bit unfair to the Rotom Pokédex—it has to stay stuffed in the backpack right now, cough cough."

Sootopolis City was considered a major city in Hoenn and also had a special nickname: the Water City. Everywhere you look, there are water arts everywhere, making it truly beautiful.

Terrance was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and a white jacket. With a round snack pastry between his lips, he walked down the street in a happy mood. The air quality in Sootopolis City was exceptionally good—just breathing it in was an unparalleled pleasure.

But before Terrance could even finish eating, he nearly choked, suddenly stopping in his tracks as he fixed his gaze on the two people across from him.

One was a young man, around seventeen or eighteen years old, with an extremely pale, sickly complexion. His hair was mostly black, but streaked with white strands—something that looked quite out of place for someone his age.

The other was a girl, who aside from her cold demeanor, seemed relatively normal.

"Albus, Fujiki…" Terrance quickly swallowed the pastry, his sparkling eyes locked onto the two.

The pair clearly noticed Terrance's gaze and turned to look at him in unison.

When they saw Terrance's face, the pale Albus visibly froze, and Fujiki also showed a surprised expression. On the street, Terrance didn't say much to them—he simply pointed in a direction, and the three of them headed together toward a secluded alley.

"Hey, you…"

Walking in front, Terrance suddenly turned around, grabbed Albus by the collar, and snapped angrily: "Why did you not reply for months? Playing hide-and-seek?"

"Cough, take it easy, alright? My bad," Albus said with a wry smile, raising a hand in apology.

Since the trio parted ways on Nightmare Island, Albus and Fujiki had set off on a journey to find a cure for Darkrai's illness, while Terrance had gone to Sinnoh. At the Crown Academy, Terrance uncovered information about "Dark Paulownia Wood," which might be related to Darkrai's illness, and relayed it to Albus.

But nearly half a year had gone by without a single reply. Terrance hadn't heard a word from them. It was as if Albus and Fujiki had completely vanished from the world.

PC Chapter 560 Arriving in Sootopolis City! Albus and Fujiki

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