As for the words he had just spoken to Candice, and the goal of becoming the “world’s number one Gym Leader,” they were naturally meant to motivate her to forge ahead.
Besides, theoretically speaking, wasn’t it perfectly reasonable—even expected—for an Ice-type Gym Leader to tie or even defeat a Dragon-type Champion?
If that was truly out of reach, she could just work hard to challenge the Elite Four.
That would be even more reasonable.
After all, there was already a precedent in the Kanto region: a Dragon-type Elite Four member, countered by Ice-types, eventually ran off to the neighboring Johto region to become its Champion.
Moreover, compared to Cynthia or the other Gym Leaders in the Sinnoh region, Candice was years—if not decades—younger than most of them.
She was still young and had plenty of time; that was her capital to grow stronger.
Of course, everyone had to forge their own path.
What the future held would ultimately depend on her own choices.
After watching Cynthia’s interview about clearing the Lost Tower from the sidelines for a while, Sinshi didn’t try to strike up a conversation or engineer a chance encounter.
Instead, he headed straight to the Pokémon Center with Candice.
Even if Cynthia had a good personality—appearing aloof but actually being quite approachable—striking up conversations wasn’t exactly his strong suit.
Furthermore, Cynthia obviously wouldn’t just look at a random stranger, declare he had the makings of a champion, and impart her training secrets.
‘It might actually be faster to just face her head-on in the future.’
…
At the front desk of the Pokémon Center.
“Hello, two of your Pokémon have been fully healed.
Snover will take a little longer because it has some injuries that require careful treatment.
Additionally, the purchasing process for your Oran Berries is still under review, so please wait a moment,” Nurse Joy, dressed in her white medical uniform, said in a gentle tone.
“Alright, thank you for the trouble.”
Candice picked up the Poké Balls of her two fully recovered Pokémon and walked over to the nearby waiting area to sit down.
“Nurse Joy said Snover will take a bit longer.
Since they’re also still checking the quality of the berries, we might have to wait a little while,” Candice said.
“That’s fine.
If the price is this much higher, I don’t mind waiting,” Sinshi replied with a nod.
Upon arriving at the Pokémon Center, he had explained his intentions to Nurse Joy and handed over the berries.
After a brief inspection, he had received an estimated price.
Excluding the ones eaten by Snover and Agumon on the road, the remaining 45 berries could be sold for roughly 990 Pokémon Dollars.
This surprised Sinshi slightly.
Based on his memory of berry prices in the games and the information he had gathered from Candice, Oran Berries typically sold for between 10 and 15 Pokémon Dollars.
If market demand was high, or if the berries themselves were of exceptional quality, combined with other factors, they could sell for a maximum of 20 Pokémon Dollars.
This was the price Sinshi had initially been prepared to accept.
However, without any haggling, they had directly offered a price higher than the market peak just by seeing the good quality of his Oran Berries.
This was something Sinshi hadn’t expected.
“I heard it’s because the number of people challenging the Lost Tower has increased over the past few days,” Candice chimed in from the side.
“That means more injured Pokémon need treatment, so the Pokémon Center had to increase their purchasing volume for all berries.”
“I see.”
Sinshi looked around, his gaze falling on the people coming and going.
Ever since they entered the Pokémon Center, there had been a constant stream of people rushing in with Pokémon needing treatment and others hurrying out with their partners.
Everyone seemed to be in a rush.
Obviously, there was a high probability that these trainers had seen Cynthia clear the Lost Tower and claim the rich rewards, instantly deluding themselves into thinking they could do it too.
Hoping to get lucky, they had gone to challenge the tower themselves.
However, by the looks of it, they had all failed.
“Miss Candice, here is your Pokémon.”
Nurse Joy approached them pushing a cart and handed one of the Poké Balls to Candice.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
After giving Candice a polite nod, Nurse Joy turned around and pulled out an envelope.
“Mr.
Sinshi, here are the 990 Pokémon Dollars exchanged for your 45 berries.”
Sinshi took the envelope and gave it a quick glance.
Seeing this, Nurse Joy continued, “As a token of our gratitude for your help during this busy period, I can apply a discount to any future purchases you make at this Pokémon Center.”
“Then I’ll use it right now.”
Sinshi pulled out two hundred-dollar bills from the envelope and handed the rest back to Nurse Joy.
“Right now?
Alright, what would you like to purchase?”
“A five-day supply of Dragon-type Pokéblocks and general-purpose Pokéblocks, six Poké Balls, and use whatever is left to buy Potion sprays.”
“Understood.”
After briefly repeating the order to confirm, Nurse Joy took the envelope of money and left.
“Pokéblocks and Poké Balls are necessities, so buying extra makes sense, but why do you need so many Potion sprays?” Candice leaned in and asked.
“We’re going to be doing some special training over the next few days.
It’s better to stock up now in case they sell out, and running back and forth would just waste time.”
“Special training?
You’re not thinking of doing a crash course for a few days and then challenging…”
Candice’s voice inadvertently grew louder before she realized they were in a public place.
She quickly lowered her voice.
“You’re not actually going to challenge Cynthia, are you?”
Sinshi immediately shot her a deadpan look.
“Relax.
I’m not so blind to the gap in our strength that I’d think a few days of training would let me beat her.
But you…
what goes on in your head to make you come up with an idea like that?”
“What’s with that look?
Why are you staring at me like I’m an idiot?”
“I’m not just staring.
I actually think you are one.”
“Sinshi!”
Candice instantly jumped up in agitation, immediately drawing the gazes of everyone around them.
Her hand, raised and ready to strike him, froze in mid-air as she hurriedly bowed to her surroundings in apology.
Seeing Candice’s face flush red with embarrassment, Sinshi couldn’t help but laugh.
Amidst this relaxed atmosphere, his thoughts began to wander as he pondered his upcoming training plan.
Basic physical conditioning was essential.
Any attack, defense, or movement required stamina to support it.
Even when executing moves, physical endurance was a crucial factor.
As stamina grew stronger, all aspects of comprehensive ability would improve along with it.
The reason the Elite Four, Champions, and even Legendary Pokémon were synonymous with power was largely due to their formidable physical endurance.
Even after withstanding countless attacks, they could still stand back up.
Aside from physical conditioning, the other equally important aspect was moves.
Moves didn’t necessarily have to be overwhelmingly powerful, nor did there need to be a vast quantity of them.
However, there had to be offensive versatility—meaning a wide coverage of types and the ability to adapt moves.
This was to avoid falling into complete passivity without any means of counterattack when facing a disadvantageous situation.