317 CH85 (315), Prelude & Various Conversations (3)

The choice was not easy since all 6 materials were tempting, but I ultimately settled on the Gravity Stone and the Evergem. This time I did my choice purely based on logic since I thought all items were interesting.

The fragments would have been a great source of energy for my supplements, but before Utopia was able to reproduce them, they would be useless to me since each fragment would be used up through usage.

The Dawn Crystal had the same problem, which left me with the Gravity Stone and the Evergem which I could use right now, even before Utopia was able to produce more of them.

Having made my choice, I called out to the staff and told them I had chosen the two materials I wanted. Once I informed the man which ones I selected, he went up to them and checked them out, before handing them over to me, after accepting my material voucher.

I saw him look at the voucher for a moment before putting it away, while I checked the materials one last time to make sure there was no mishap, before putting them away after everything came up alright. The staff member then escorted me out, and I made my way over to the previously agreed-upon restaurant for dinner.

Time: Shortly after Mikail won the continental competition.

Location: Phenac City, Orre.

"Yes!!!!" Yu yelled before turning away from the giant TV he had just been focusing on.

"I told you that my friend was a super genius and would win the whole thing, but you doubted my evaluation, and yet here we are," he said with glee and a bit of conceit.

"Time to pay up," Yu said while motioning with his hands for his friends to pay up. Some good old harmless gambling under friends was practically a tradition in Orre, so all they did was groan and moan a bit before all of them pulled out their wallets. Each one of them plucked out a hundred-Poke note, that they then handed over to him.

"You shouldn't have doubted me and most definitely not bet against me," he said in satisfaction while pocketing the money. None of them really cared about losing 100 Poke, but they did not like his smug look.

"The hell with not doubting you, the way you've described the kid he sounded like the second coming of Oak, and Sir Aaron, or some kid created straight through the hands of Lord Arceus or Lady Mew. Who would believe that?" Sarah complained and the others agreed with her.

"It is what it is," Yu said with a shrug. "I tried convincing you people. I even told you that he was already stronger than Ace and Weiss, who both made it to the global competition two years ago," Yu then turned towards Ryuuto.

"You fought against her during the global competition, so you should know how strong she was at the time. Mikail being quite a bit stronger than her two years ago should have told you that he would ace this whole thing," Yu let out, and Ryuuto simply shrugged.

"It is because I remember my fight with her that your claim sounded unbelievable. No matter how you look at it, hearing about a kid 2 or 3 years younger than me being considerably stronger than someone that is or was, close to my strength, sounds unbelievable, especially when one considers that he had to have gotten stronger during the last 2 years," Ryuuto grumbled before shaking his head.

"Well, no matter what you guys and gals say, I know how it is, and Mikail is a genius that comes only once every thousand years or so. Calling him the second coming of Oak and Sir Aaron is not wrong since I believe that he'll reach that point as well as long as no accident happened.

Anyway, if you had believed me enough to bet on him as I did, then you'd all have made a fortune together with me," Yu gloated before laughing a bit thinking of the huge fortune he had made by betting all his personal savings.

*Boooooo*

The others threw empty bottles, and fruits at him due to his gloating. Someone even threw a used napkin, which was really nasty by the way, that he saw at the last minute and managed to dodge. He released a chuckle and raised his hands placatingly.

"Well, I hope you'll follow my example this time and bet on his victory during the global competition. At least, that's what I'm going to do, so don't come crying if you miss the chance." Yu advised everyone in his little group of friends.

"So, you're absolutely sure he'll win the final competition as well? In both categories at that?" Ryuuto asked still slightly doubtful.

"Look Ryuuto, you're my friend and I like you as a bro should, but ex-global champion or not, if it comes down to a fight between you and Mikail right now, I would bet on Mikail, so yes, I'm absolutely sure that he'll win the Pokemon battle part.

As for the personal battle one, I'm sure regarding that one as well. I won't tell you why I think Mikail will win this since he shared that with me in confidence, so I won't talk about it until he reveals it himself.

Just know that unless some freak of nature pops up, Mikail has that competition in the bag as well, and even if a freak of nature does show up, I would say the result would be in the air with Mikail having a good chance at winning," Yu returned with absolute conviction, and he saw wry smiles on all 8 faces around him.

"Wow, your faith in that guy is making me jealous," Anna joked, causing the others to chuckle, while still nodding in agreement.

"The way you describe the guy, I want to challenge him to see if he is as incredible as you make him out to be, but I'll put my trust in your trust in Mikail this time around. I could use that kind of money for my Pokemon," Ryuuto confided, and the others shared the sentiment.

Following the impulse, they all opened the betting website and bet quite a bit of their savings on Mikail becoming the dual champion once more. Yu being the most confident in Mikail, bet all his recent winning, hoping to make it big.

If he won, and there was no doubt in his heart that he would win, then he would be more than set for his journey. The odds were 17 to 1 right now, so he was looking at close to 40 million Poke, which was more money than many saw in their lives.

*ring, ring, ring*

They looked around to see whose phone was ringing, but the answer became obvious when Ryuuto pulled out his phone and answered it after looking surprised. He actually stood up from his seat before he went a bit to the side for the talk, and they all quietly waited for him to come back.

They were curious who had called him for Ryuuto to react like that. They did not have to wait for long since Ryuuto returned to his seat just a few minutes later, looking curious and perplexed at the same time.

"Well, Yu, it seems that you are not the only one with an interest in Mikail. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I just had a talk with Professor Krane about your friend," Ryuuto said in a slightly disbelieving tone.

"Why would the professor call you for information on Mikail?" Yu asked in an unbelieving and confused tone.

"Yeah, I found that weird as well, but it's mostly due to something really unassuming. During one of my talks with Wes, I mentioned you talking, or rather bragging about your super genius friend Mikail back in Rota, who according to you was more talented than everyone in the current generation and even the previous one.

I said it mostly in a joking manner, insinuating that he would go around challenging Wes and all his fellow champions to prove his superiority. As I said it was mostly a joke, so I forgot about it, but it seems Wes became a bit intrigued, and even mentioned it to the professor, which is why he knows that I know you, who personally knows Mikail.

So, don't be surprised if the good professor calls you in case your little friend wins as you say he will," Ryuuto first explained, before giving Yu a warning/heads-up.

"Not much I can tell him even if he calls to be honest, but let future Yu worry about that," Yu replied acting nonchalantly.

He had known that Ryuuto had some relation to Orre's champion, but he had not thought that Ryuuto would mention him to Wes, especially not while bringing up Mikail. Nor could he have known that the champion would take interest in a young boy all the way on another continent in Rota.

That Wes then mentioned him and Mikail to the Regional Professor, who actually bothered keeping that in mind, was the cherry on top. How high was the probability of something like that happening? Not high he would assume, but his luck had struck out once more, and it happened to him.

Yet, he was not worried since Mikail was interested in professors and research in general, so giving the prof Mikail's mail address would be not a problem. Nonetheless, he would still ask Mikail for approval to do so since he did not want to give out any contact information without express permission.

Date: Shortly after Mikail won the continental competition.

Location: Sienna City, Kanto.

Kevin George, head of the George family, just finished watching how an estranged descendant that he kept an eye on became the first continental dual champion in more than a thousand years.

While it was only a competition at the secondary student level, it showed how vast Mikail's potential was. Not to mention that these young children were all nearly as strong as veteran Senior-Class trainers, simply having less Pokemon than a genuine one.

Well, even in that Mikail seemed to be an exception since the boy had more Pokemon at hand than his competitors, and some of the Pokemon he had revealed made even him a bit jealous.

As far as his personal abilities were concerned, he had still not shown any indication of his ground affinity, which meant that he still had to be holding back. There was no doubt in his mind that Mikail had a ground affinity, or Arthur "freaking" Cameron would not have bothered giving his family a warning in person.

George became a bit pensive thinking about Mikail's potential and what that could mean for their family. After Mikail had won the regional competition, he had assigned Isaac and Raymond to discretely and pseudo-anonymously approach the boy to try to establish a friendship.

However, he was now thinking of rescinding that order. Having Layla and James approach Mikail instead seemed better since the two were among the best of their younger generation and their characters were more open as well as friendly, which should at least keep them from turning Mikail against them.

If Layla managed to garner Mikail's interest down the line, even better. That would mean that Mikail would be rejoining the family, and if Mikail actually got a shot at the position of patriarch since Layla was his granddaughter, then he'd say that it was a bonus incentive that was a happy coincidence.

Yes, this sounded much better than the previous arrangement, so he pulled out his phone and began making calls to make the appropriate changes as well as arrangements to realize his plans.

"Layla, dear, what would you say about taking a break from your journey for a year to train all your new and old Pokemon," George asked his sweet granddaughter, after informing Isaac and Raymond that their assignment was canceled.

"Yes, I know that you barely started the third year of your journey honey, but there's nothing wrong with consolidating your strength before the last stretch of your Gym Challenge," George placated Layla after hearing her disbelief.

"I'll tell you the details once you're back home, but you know me, I would not recommend it if I did not think that you would benefit from it," he coaxed his granddaughter.

"Yes, I love you too," he returned before he hung up with a "see you soon".

He released a sigh after that call, happy that he had managed to get his beloved granddaughter to come back home without an argument.

"So, only James is left," he spoke to himself. "At least, James is much more soft-spoken and mild than his cousin," he mused before calling his grandson.

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