Perhaps Su Wen’s swift victory had inspired everyone, or maybe his dominance had intimidated Haixu High. Either way, Zhou Wan and Qiu Kun won their matches convincingly.

  Qiu Kun’s Murkrow, with its ?Prankster ability, used ?Shadow Sneak to completely outmaneuver its opponent, making it the most humiliating loss of the day.

  With a final score of 4-1, Cloud High emerged victorious. The head of the Pokémon Center, Mr. Wang, nodded in approval. "Not bad, not bad. The youth of Cloud City are quite spirited. Is that Su Wen the son of Gym Leader Su Chuan?"

  The principal adjusted his gold-rimmed gsses. "Yes, and Ni Xuanya was the second-highest scorer in the city’s entrance exams. Zhou Wan is the daughter of Gym Leader Zhou Li. Chen You’s parents, though deceased, were also exceptional Gym Leader-level trainers. Qiu Kun was specially recruited from another city but has shown great potential."

  Mr. Wang smiled. "Excellent, excellent. They’re all outstanding young talents."

  Meanwhile, the representatives from Second High and Haixu High looked less pleased. Their attempt to undermine Cloud High had backfired. The only silver lining was that they hadn’t wagered any restricted area slots this time.

  The matches were over, but the morning’s csses hadn’t ended yet. Mu Hanzhi herded everyone back to their cssrooms like ducks.

  Chen You grumbled, "That old baldy Mu, always quick to dismiss us after we’ve done our part."

  "Old Baldy Mu" was a nickname the Css 2 students had given Mu Hanzhi due to his prominent bald spot. Over the past two months, Su Wen and Chen You had noticed even more hair disappearing from his head.

  Su Wen yawned. "It’s fine. The st css is history. We can just coast through it."

  While Su Wen didn’t sck off in other subjects, history was one where he never scored below 95. Even if he doodled during css, the history teacher would turn a blind eye.

  As the history teacher lectured about the start of the Third Pokémon World War, Su Wen’s mind wandered to Charmeleon’s current state.

  Charmeleon’s current moves included ?Scratch, ?Growl, ?Ember, ?Smokescreen, ?Dragon Breath, ?Dragon Dance, ?Dragon Rush, ?Outrage, ?Fre Blitz, ?Protect, and ?Mystical Fire.

  Shadow Cw hadn’t been taught yet, and ?Roost could only be learned after Charmeleon evolved into Charizard.

  Among the moves it already knew, ?Dragon Dance, ?Dragon Rush, ?Outrage, and ?Mystical Fire were still unusable, as Su Wen hadn’t focused on training them.

  For now, Su Wen pnned to have Charmeleon master ?Dragon Cw and ?Protect. Once Charmeleon reached the Elite level and learned ?Fmethrower, it would start practicing ?Mystical Fire.

  After evolving into Charizard, it would begin training Flying-type moves.

  Unfortunately, Charmeleon likely wouldn’t evolve into Charizard before entering the restricted area.

  In the restricted area, having a Flying-type Pokémon, especially one like Charizard that could be ridden, would be a significant advantage.

  Su Wen scribbled on a piece of paper, and the history teacher, mistaking it for note-taking, felt a surge of enthusiasm, thinking Su Wen was finally paying attention.

  Since evolving, Charmeleon had become even more energetic. Where Su Wen used to push Charmeleon to train, now it was the other way around. Charmeleon often urged Su Wen for extra training, and the resources were starting to run thin.

  Fortunately, during a video call with Zhu Tianxing, Su Wen mentioned Charmeleon’s evolution. Zhu Tianxing, impressed, adjusted the monthly resource allocation.

  Charmeleon consumed resources much faster than other Charmanders from Charicific Valley, but its growth rate was also significantly higher. Most of the Charmanders hatched around the same time were still at the early or just entering the Advanced level.

  The wealthy Charicific Valley leader didn’t mind the resource consumption. As long as its offspring grew stronger, it was worth it.

  A week ter, Su Wen and Chen You were training at Zhou Wan’s gym as usual.

  But today, Zhou Wan seemed distracted, leaving openings that Su Wen easily exploited.

  "Sister Wan? What’s going on with you today?" Su Wen pulled back his elbow strike just before it hit Zhou Wan’s chest.

  Zhou Wan sat on the ground, looking lost. "Su Wen, has your dad ever mentioned... ?Dawn?"

  Chen You, who had been training with Rotom nearby, overheard and asked, "Dawn? What’s that?"

  The "Dawn" Zhou Wan referred to clearly wasn’t the break of day. It was a code name or perhaps an organization.

  Su Wen understood that this "Dawn" was somehow connected to Zhou Wan’s current state.

  "What’s wrong, Sister Wan? My dad hasn’t mentioned anything about this ‘Dawn.’ But whatever it is, we’ll face it together," Su Wen said, crouching down to comfort her.

  Chen You also moved closer. "Yeah, Sister Wan, tell us what’s going on."

  Zhou Wan remained silent for a long time before finally taking a deep breath and speaking. "Last night, after you two left, I received a deyed email just before bed. It was from my dad, sent two and a half months ago, shortly after he left Cloud City."

  "The email said he’d left a box in the hidden compartment on the east side of the basement storage room. If I received this email, I should consider handing the box over to the League for protection and to beware of ‘Dawn.’"

  "The email was rushed, with no other details. And it’s been two and a half months..."

  Zhou Wan’s voice trailed off as she closed her eyes, trembling as if imagining the worst.

  Chen You panicked. "Then we should give the box to the League immediately! Something must have happened to Uncle Zhou!"

  Su Wen smacked Chen You’s head. "Stop spreading nonsense! You know how careful Uncle Zhou is. He always pns ahead. If there was real danger, would he have left the box with Sister Wan for over two months? I think he’s just deyed by something. Sister Wan, don’t worry too much."

  Zhou Wan, usually the confident leader, now looked like a vulnerable 15-year-old girl, tears welling in her eyes as she looked at Su Wen. "Then, Su Wen, what should I do now?"

  Su Wen sat cross-legged. "Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll call my dad first and see if he knows what ‘Dawn’ means. If even he doesn’t know, then we’ll consider having Sister Wan seek help from the League."