"Mom! Haha, it's been a long time!"
"Me? I'm doing fine out there, following my mentor in a variety of jobs, and I'm a little accomplished."
"Aiya don't worry, how old am I, can I still not take care of myself? No, it's not cold here, really, I don't know whether it's hot or cold."
"No, can we not bring up my black history back then? I'm a big girl now, okay?"
"What girlfriend? Yes, yes, yes, she's right next to me! Do you want to meet her?"
"What? Not for a while? You can't meet your daughter-in-law without makeup now?"
"Don't regret it! If we don't meet this time I guess I'll have to bring her home to see you in the middle of the fall."
"Okay, mid-autumn is fine. We'll have a good chat when we get home."
"Aiya I'm really quite good outside, my mentor treats me like his own grandson. The others are also very good to me."
"It's just an exchange program. It's not too bad, right?"
"What? Crying? I didn't cry, the tears at the corners of my eyes are because of the wind."
"Hey hey don't worry, I'm out here...it's fine..."
"Oops, it's almost time, there's still a bit more work on my side, wait for me to go back in mid-autumn."
"Uh okay, bye, don't worry about me, it's fine, I'm all good here."
"En, en, good night, go to bed early, you tell my father to pay attention to his health, do not always focus on the project."
"Hey, there is no mom who dislikes her son's nagging!"
"Okay, okay, I won't say any more, that's it. Well, I'll definitely be home for the Mid-Autumn Festival this year."
"Okay, I'm hanging up."
"Beep..."
The phone hangs up, Rope spreads out on the bed, then looks at the ceiling with a smile on his face.
The tears in the corners of her eyes were involuntarily sliding down.
Finally...finally being able to see each other.
"Happy?"
Off to the side, Cynthia walked over with a fruit plate and a smile.
Rope closed his eyes and nodded desperately.
Of course he was excited, home wasn't a place. A place with family was home.
Here was his home. There was his home too.
Cynthia set the fruit plate on the table and rubbed Rope's temples.
With the sound of insects chirping outside the house the world finally entered a rare peace...
————————————
Something is long and nothing is short.
The Indigo Plateau Conference battles were never meant to be suspenseful. Time passed in the blink of an eye, and in the blink of an eye, Quarterfinals was approaching.
"Rope, tomorrow is Quarterfinals, nervous?"
Lance looked at Rope with a snicker on his face.
"What do I have to be nervous about?"
Rope gave Lance a blank stare. He hadn't used any other Pokémon during this period of time, and had simply used Chimchar and Haunter to reach the Quarterfinals.
It couldn't be said that the opponent was too weak. It's just that Rope is too strong.
This year's Indigo Plateau Conference really wasn't that interesting.
In fact, the next Indigo Plateau Conference isn't going to be much fun either. To be more precise, a novice-oriented tournament such as the Alliance Conference itself is not interesting, after all, many of the opponents are new Pokémon Trainers who have just started traveling.
The real high-level battles are still to be found in the Championship Tournaments.
If I may say so, Ash's Lily of the Valley Conference and Lumiose Conference were both of a very good caliber. The former had Tobias the Legendary Pokémon Man, and the latter had Ash.
Water absorb sprayer[1]? Water absorb sprayer aside, Rope is a sure bet for a brutal beating if he ever meets one anyway.
One thing is for sure, the writers didn't even give Ash such a dio.
And then there's Gary... sure it's not the writers' ego bringing it on? A person who is not good at fighting and still wants to teach Ash how to fight...
Look at who Ash is, okay? The champion of the Alola region! What kind of a person are you? It's disgusting to be forced to open up.
Rope's Poipole hasn't made his official debut yet. Mainly because it's not necessary for this occasion.
Poison Bebi doesn't look like he's too big, but in reality, Poison Bebi is already very strong in his own right.
Coupled with his own unique bit pattern and characteristics, his strength was indeed good.
But it was only barely ranked above Haunter and Chimchar.
His long life of leisure and escapades had not allowed his strength to be sufficiently honed and improved. It could be said that Poison Bebi had been eating his old ways. And he himself hadn't completed the final stage of evolution.
Although it wasn't that one couldn't be very strong without evolving. But evolution must be the best way to strengthen strength.
This was also one of Rope's philosophies. Though it was possible that other people didn't recognize it. But to be honest Rope didn't think that other people's approval was that important to him either. Or that things like evolving or not evolving were very personal in themselves.
Rope himself doesn't want other people meddling in his training methods, and naturally other people wouldn't want other Pokémon Trainers involved in their training.
There was no excuse for human nature.
"Your next opponent is considered one of the best of the younger generation."
Lance said to Rope rather seriously as he ate the breakfast on his plate.
Rope gave him a blank stare and said, "Do you think it's me who doesn't look like the younger generation. Or is it that Red and the others don't look like the younger generation."
Regardless of their debut age or achievements, they certainly weren't considered the younger generation, but if it came to their age, then Rope and the others were definitely standard youngsters.
They were only in their early twenties and had already made a name for themselves in the researcher community.
The so-called young generation that Lance was talking about was about the same age as them.
That's why Ash was able to use his own strength to wander between the various alliance conferences at the age of ten. It was a strong thing in itself.
Rope would never deny Ash's talent.Ash's talent was really really good. As for why he traveled for so long to get his first title...let's just say it was timing and fate.
Or maybe the writers screwed up.
"I think you still need to watch out for someone though."
Lance took another sip of his cup of moo-moo fresh milk then said.
"Which player?"
Rope asked, a little confused.
What he did as a contestant was really not very competent. It was because he hadn't even carried out any intelligence gathering on his opponents.
For one thing, he really didn't have the time recently. Secondly, it was also true that these opponents were not worth the effort.
After all, none of these players were very strong.
"You need to pay attention to this player named Taito."
Lance pointed to the business card of the player shown on the TV above him and said so.
Rope raised his eyes and looked at a very naive looking, honest looking teenager.
"This guy? What about him?"
"He's just like you. Also defeated all his opponents with only one or two Pokémon."
Saying this, Lance felt quite amused as he looked at Rope and continued, "Right now, the internet and various media outlets are treating you and him as the favorites to win the title this time around, believing that the title is basically going to be 'decided' between the two of you."
Lance added emphasis on the word 'decision'.
Rope shook his head and said, "You don't say, I'm really looking forward to him then."
Then Rope turned his head and asked, "What do you think of his strength?"
Lance waved his hand and said, "It's just middling, not really that strong. Those other Pokémon of his didn't show up. So there's no way for me to fully determine his strength. But just from the words of those two Pokémon he is known to have now. It can be seen that his strength is actually average."
"After all, his opponent is different from yours. The two of you are basically the two extremes of this tournament."
"Your match is hard from start to finish. His match is soft from the beginning to the end. That's why the two of you have nicknames. One is called the genius nemesis. One is called the Rookie Killer."
Lance shook his head with some amusement.
Rope's opponents, one by one, were all strong veteran players. Even the one at the very beginning who had gotten to the last 16 by luck. His own strength was also not weak. Not to mention those opponents afterward.
Basically, they are all talented players who can be named in various regions.
And this player called Taito. His opponents were all newcomers. Most of them just started traveling this year, and the one with the most experience has only been traveling for three years.
It could be said that he was picking on the soft ones along the way. Makes you wonder if he's slipping money to the people who assign opponents.
Rope also felt quite amused after seeing this. All of his luck had been divided up by this person. Though that bit of luck is pretty much the same with and without it, right?
Rope shook his head, then continued to eat his breakfast, ''I'm not really worried. Whatever the hell is this person in front of me? I'm sure of it."
That made sense, after all, if someone really had Rope's kind of strength, they would basically go to the Championship Tournament to qualify.
It was like Gang, Kasumi. They themselves wouldn't be going back to participating in a tournament geared towards newcomers like the Alliance Conference.
As dojo masters, they would basically participate in the Championship Tournament, which is a high-level ranking tournament.
This was because the alliance had also recently made the rankings at the Championship Tournament one of the evaluation items for the dojang assessment.
In fact, it was quite brutal. Because for some dojos who had just inherited their dojos. It was still difficult for them to face the rankings at the Championship Tournament.
But after all, they had all already inherited the position of a dojo master. Even if it was worse, it couldn't be much worse. After all, to dojo master was also responsible for guarding the peace of a party.
By all rights, Rope should have participated in the Championship Tournament as well. But he wanted to come to the Alliance Conference to blow up the fish pond this who can not stop.
The name of the game is to accumulate experience. To put it badly, wasn't it just abusing vegetables?
"If I remember correctly, from Quarterfinals onwards it's split into two-day matchups, right?"
Lance thought for a moment then spoke.
Rope also made a thoughtful look. After a long time, he nodded, "That should be the case."
Lance's face was filled with black lines, he didn't realize that the player in front of him didn't even remember how the match system was like.
At this moment, Blue appeared out of nowhere and sat down next to the duo with his own plate, saying, "It's no problem. Today is the first two matches of the Quarterfinals."
He also looked up at Taito's card above him before saying, "If I remember correctly. The person in front of me is the player for the second game today. Do you guys want to go over and take a look?"
Actually, if you're hard to say Rope didn't feel the need.
It wasn't so much a matter of him being cocky. Rather it was a very realistic thing. After all, if he could beat him, then he would be able to compete for a Heavenly King position in itself. It didn't matter if it was competitive or not. But at least it was competitive.
To have such strength. And coming over incognito to blow up a fish pond. So that people can't investigate anything else. In itself is a very suspicious thing.
If the strength is not as strong as yourself. Then it doesn't matter whether one goes to see it or not.
No matter what kind of mind one holds. As long as one loses to oneself. Then that person's plan will be null and void. And it's still the same. To cause trouble at the Alliance Conference. That's too big of a nerve.
Just when Rope was planning to refuse, Lance said, "Why don't we go and take a look, it's idle anyway. These two days themselves are for relaxation."
Even though she said that, Rope knew that Lance was still busy these two days.
Rope gave Degree a look. She also guessed that this guy must have some other purpose. After exchanging a glance with Blue, Rope spoke up and said, "Alright, then let's go there and see what this person is really about."
So the three of them finished their breakfast hastily, taking advantage of the fact that the others were still sleeping. They directly ran to the main arena for the day.
The three of them relied on the identity tags they had on them, as well as the faces that were quite recognizable. It was easy to enter the arena. The trio had gotten up relatively early, and the match had just begun, which was the first match of the quarterfinals. A female player from Hua Lan City and a male player from Chang Pan City were playing against each other.
That female player was clearly a fan of Kasumi. Whether it was the team configuration or playing style, or even the dress. All of them had a bit of Kasumi's shadow.
The one from Tokiwa City was rather ordinary. There was nothing worth saying.
After a fairly intense match. The match ended with the victory of the young man from Tokiwa City.
He looks like an ordinary person. But the way he fought was exceptionally delicate. Rope was impressed that this was a Pokémon Trainer with a promising future.
The female Pokémon Trainer was three times like Kasumi. I'm afraid there's only three more.
We can only see if she has any style breakthroughs in the future. If there was, there were still a few ways to go in the future, if not, the current Quarterfinals should be her limit.
And soon, the second scene was about to start. The main character of the second game. Taito, who the trio had mentioned at the dinner table, and a Pokémon Trainer from Kalos.
He had traveled a long way to participate in the competition. There was no telling what kind of results they would achieve in the end.
"Both look pretty spry."
Lance said.
"Both are loud?"
Rope said with a smile.
"What's loud?" Lance wondered.
Rope sighed softly, then said, "Nothing, just pretend I didn't say anything."
He looked down at the two men. It still felt like he was having a hard time with no one picking up the stunt.
[1] refers to the Chinese audience jokingly said Alain's Charizard has Water Absorb