First Meeting

As expected, just as Liliana had said, the instructions from higher-ups came quickly. The next day, Yuga received Liliana's second notice.

In the instructions, Yuga's first task was to head to Petalburg City to meet with Mr. Norman and the other two examiners. Together, the four examiners would discuss the specific details of the gym assessments.

After receiving the notice, Yuga was immediately required to depart, so early in the morning, he set off for Petalburg City on Dragonite.

If he were to take the regular route from Verdanturf Town to Petalburg City, Yuga would first need to pass through Rusturf Tunnel to reach Rustboro City, and then from there, change direction to head towards Petalburg.

However, Yuga wasn't about to take such a long detour. Instead, he rode Dragonite straight across the Petalburg Woods, which would get him to Petalburg City by the same day.

Crossing Petalburg Woods might be challenging for others, but it wasn't a big deal for Yuga.

As Dragonite's strength continued to grow, its flying speed also increased. That afternoon, thanks to Dragonite's full-speed flight, Yuga arrived in Petalburg City right on time.

In fact, the scheduled meeting with the other examiners was the next day, but Yuga was accustomed to preparing in advance, so he arrived in Petalburg City a day early.

Before arriving, he had already informed Mr. Norman that he would be staying at the Petalburg Gym overnight. Since it wasn't his first time visiting the Petalburg Gym, he headed straight there on Dragonite.

When he landed in the courtyard of the Petalburg Gym, the first thing he saw was little Max pacing back and forth anxiously. When Max saw Yuga, his eyes immediately lit up.

"Brother Yuga, you're here!"

As soon as Yuga dismounted from Dragonite, Max ran over to his side, his footsteps quick and eager.

Yuga patted his head and asked, "Were you waiting for me specifically?"

Max nodded eagerly. "Yeah, yeah! I haven't seen you in so long, I really missed you."

Hearing the exaggerated tone in Max's voice, Yuga gave him a skeptical look: "Why do I find that hard to believe?"

Before Yuga could say more, Max grabbed his arm and started pulling him inside. "Come on in! My mom is making something delicious. When she heard you were coming, she's been preparing all afternoon."

From the kitchen, Caroline, who had heard the commotion, poked her head out from the doorway. Seeing Yuga, she greeted him warmly, "Yuga, you're here! Go ahead and have a seat. I'm busy in the kitchen. Max, make sure you pour some tea for Yuga."

"I got it!" Max replied loudly to his mom's instructions before hopping off to pour tea for Yuga.

After pouring the tea, Max carefully placed the cup in front of Yuga. "Here you go, Brother Yuga, try this tea I personally made for you." He emphasized the word "personally," causing Yuga to glance at him again, puzzled but amused.

What's up with this kid? Yuga thought silently to himself.

He glanced at Max, who had been acting strangely ever since he saw Yuga, then picked up the teacup and took a sip. "Hmm, the tea is brewed well."

Max beamed with pride, "Right? Right? I really put a lot of effort into brewing it."

Ignoring Max's overly enthusiastic behavior, Yuga glanced around the living room. It was only then that he realized May was nowhere to be seen. Curious, he asked Max, "Where's your sister? I haven't seen her since I came in."

Hearing this question, Max quickly leaned in closer to Yuga and answered, "My sister went to Professor Birch's lab a couple of days ago to pick up her starter Pokémon. She should be back by tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Yuga suddenly understood. So, it was already time for May to start her journey. He hadn't known about this at all.

After answering Yuga's question, Max shuffled even closer to Yuga on the sofa, then casually said, "Starter Pokémon are so cool. I wish I could get one too. I really can't wait to turn nine."

At first, Yuga didn't quite get what Max was hinting at, but when he heard the mention of "nine," it suddenly clicked. He had promised Max that he would gift him a Pokémon on his ninth birthday.

So that's why Max had been so eager, waiting around in the courtyard and acting unusually attentive. Seeing his sister about to go on a journey must have made him impatient.

Yuga found Max's not-so-subtle hints amusing and couldn't help but chuckle. Pretending not to understand, Yuga saw Max immediately grow anxious. Max hopped off the sofa, pacing back and forth beside Yuga, muttering, "I really wish I could turn nine soon... I wonder if I could get my birthday gift early."

With a playful smile, Yuga replied, "A birthday gift for when you turn nine has to be given when you actually turn nine, or it won't have any meaning. Otherwise, how could it be called a 'nine-year-old birthday gift?'"

Max was driven to frustration by Yuga's deliberate obliviousness, but Yuga continued to play dumb, forcing Max to give up in exasperation.

After teasing Max for a while, Yuga headed into the kitchen to help Caroline with the cooking. Though most of the cooking at Yuga's home was done by his Audino, his culinary skills were actually quite good.

By evening, Mr. Norman finally returned from the gym, and by that time, Yuga and Caroline had already prepared a table full of dishes.

Once the four of them sat around the dinner table, Caroline warmly served Yuga some food. "My cooking may not be as good as your Audino's, but it should taste decent. Go ahead, don't be shy, eat more."

Yuga, Mr. Norman, and Caroline chatted as they ate, while Max couldn't join the conversation and just focused on wolfing down his food.

As the three adults continued talking, the topic naturally shifted to May.

Caroline couldn't help but sigh. "Sigh, I wonder how May is doing. What kind of Pokémon will she choose at the professor's lab?"

Seeing an opportunity to speak, Max, who had been stuffing his face, immediately looked up and said, "She'll definitely choose Treecko."

Caroline gave him a playful slap. "That's what you want to pick! Shut up and eat your food!"

Max pouted and muttered, "What's wrong with Treecko? You'll see, when she gets back, you'll know I'm right." With that, he continued devouring his food.

Mr. Norman set his chopsticks down and reassured Caroline, "Don't worry. May's not a little kid anymore. She'll know what to do."

In truth, since returning from the abduction incident, May had matured a lot. She had even taken the initiative to ask him many questions about being a Pokémon trainer.

And since she had been training her Swablu for a while, she was no longer a novice trainer. Mr. Norman was confident his daughter could handle any sudden situations that might arise.

Hearing this, Caroline also put down her chopsticks. "You're right, but..." As a mother, she couldn't help but worry about her child being away, especially since it was her daughter.

With that, dinner ended with the conversation still centered around May.

The next morning, Yuga was woken up by Max shaking him awake. Max wanted to accompany Yuga on his morning training session. It was surprising that such a little kid could get up so early.

After finishing the morning training, Yuga and Mr. Norman set out. Today was the day the other two examiners were supposed to arrive in Petalburg City, and they had agreed to meet at the Pokémon Center.

It was only yesterday, after speaking with Mr. Norman, that Yuga learned who the other two examiners were going to be.

Both of these examiners were from the Supervisory Bureau, which didn't surprise Yuga. The Supervisory Bureau and the Investigation Bureau were two special departments—one handling internal matters, the other external. Since the gym examination was clearly an internal League affair, it made sense that personnel from the Supervisory Bureau would be responsible.

What surprised Yuga was the identities of these two people.

One was a man, and the other a woman. The woman was named Lua, and she was a bit older. The man was named Iori, and he was a bit younger.

Many people might not know Luvia, but they definitely knew her younger brother—none other than the famous Wallace.

Luvia was much older than Wallace, so while Wallace hadn't even married yet, Luvia's daughter, Lisia, had already reached the age to start her own Pokémon journey.

You had to admit that this family had extraordinary genetics. Luvia had the same light green hair and light green eyes as Wallace and Lisia. Even their facial features shared a 40-50% resemblance.

The other person, Iori, was also someone with strong ties to Wallace.

Iori's older sister was Winona, the Gym Leader of Fortree City. And Winona, as it happened, was Wallace's ex-girlfriend. That made Iori Wallace's former brother-in-law. (This detail comes from the comics, where Wallace and Winona were once depicted as a couple.)

As for how Yuga knew such gossip, he had Steven, Wallace's mischievous friend, to thank.

In any case, the relationships within the League were complex. Any two random people you met might have some intricate connections through a few degrees of separation.

After some casual greetings, the four began assigning tasks. Since there were only four of them and the tasks required two-person teams, it was easy to divide them up into two pairs, each with one older and one younger member.

The oldest, Mr. Norman, teamed up with the youngest, Iori. Then, Luvia, who was slightly younger than Mr. Norman, partnered with Yuga, who was older than Iori.

The route assignments were as follows:

Yuga and Luvia's group would go from Petalburg City → Rustboro City → Fallarbor Town → Mauville City…

Mr. Norman and Iori's group would go from Petalburg City → Dewford Island → Slateport City → Mauville City…

As for the gym evaluation criteria, it was simple and consisted of three tasks.

First, they would observe the battles between the Gym Trainers and challengers on-site.

Second, they would review the number of badges issued by the gym over the past four years.

Third, they would compare the list of challengers to the gym with the general performance of those challengers in League tournaments.

The third task was the most important, as it provided the clearest evidence of whether or not a gym had fulfilled its responsibilities properly.

Each Gym keeps a record of its challengers. By obtaining this challenger list from the Gym and cross-referencing it with the League's records of participant performance over the past four years, everything becomes clear.

Perhaps this method of evaluation isn't perfect, but it is the most direct and effective.

After everything was settled, Yuga and Mr. Norman returned to the Petalburg Gym. Tomorrow, they would depart from there.

As soon as the two stepped into the courtyard of the Petalburg Gym, they heard lively chatter coming from inside the house, especially from Max, who seemed to be shouting something.

Just as Mr. Norman, who was walking ahead, was about to step into the house, a Torchic came running out, headlong, and crashed right into Mr. Norman's leg, landing on its rear end.

Max, who was chasing after the Torchic, appeared right after. Upon seeing Yuga and Mr. Norman, he exclaimed happily, "Dad! Big Brother Yuga! You guys are done with work! Sis is back!"

Mr. Norman smiled and said, "Really? That's great!"

Yuga followed Mr. Norman into the house, and sure enough, May was there. In addition to May, there was also a young boy sitting on the sofa with a Pikachu by his side—the boy was Ash.

Although Yuga had guessed that Ash might tag along with May when she returned, seeing him in person still gave Yuga mixed feelings.

Max, however, was oblivious to Yuga's complicated emotions. He enthusiastically began introducing Ash to him.

"Big Brother Yuga, let me tell you, this guy here made it to the Top 4 in the Indigo League and was a runner-up in the Silver Conference. He's kind of strong, but he's still far behind you and Dad."

Max's words seemed to praise Ash, but his tone had a slight arrogance to it, making Yuga feel secondhand embarrassment.

But wait—Ash reached the Top 4 in the Indigo League and was a runner-up in the Silver Conference? Wasn't it supposed to be Top 16 and Top 8? Yuga hadn't really followed the League tournaments closely, so he wasn't sure of Ash's actual results.

Where did things go wrong?

What Yuga didn't know was that back when he was in Kanto, he had passed on Nana's meditation technique to Misty's Starmie. This caused Misty to become much stronger than in the original timeline, and it even indirectly impacted Ash's journey.

Nana's meditation technique was quite advanced, so in order to fully utilize it, after Yuga left Cerulean City, Misty also trained a Slowpoke with both Water and Psychic types. This Slowpoke later evolved into a Slowbro, and together with Starmie, they became Misty's two ace Pokémon.

As Misty traveled with Ash, her exceptional strength kept the originally arrogant and impulsive Ash in line. She was able to whip him into shape early in their journey, which made him much more diligent and focused. As a result, his League tournament performances greatly improved.

Later, Misty even got a particularly talented Psyduck. Even though Psyduck wasn't a Psychic-type Pokémon, its immense psychic power was stronger than many actual Psychic-types. After learning Nana's meditation technique, Psyduck's full potential was completely unleashed.

Even though that Psyduck never evolved, neither Ash nor Misty had many Pokémon that could beat it.

Of course, Yuga knew nothing about any of this.

Ash, on the other hand, was clearly unhappy with Max's comment: "What do you mean, 'barely decent'? Do you know how hard it is to make it to the Top 4 or be a runner-up? I worked really hard for that!" Even though Ash had only just met Max, their lively personalities meant they were already getting along well.

Max, with his head held high, shot back at Ash: "I said barely decent, and I meant it! My dad and Big Brother Yuga are Gym Leaders! They're way stronger than you!"

In Max's mind, his dad was the strongest person around. Plus, since he was eyeing that birthday gift from Yuga, he was willing to include Yuga in that ranking as well.

Hearing this, Ash blinked in surprise before getting excited and saying to Yuga, "Wait, you're a Gym Leader too? That's awesome! You have to battle me!"

Max: "..."

Yuga: "..."

That's so Ash, all right!