The nearest city to Pallet Town should be Pewter City.
There, Fang Yuan could smoothly register for the Pokémon World Championship.
However, since Pewter City didn't hold much attraction for Fang Yuan, he didn't stay long; after confirming there was no tablet wave motion, he flew straight toward Rainbow City and Golden City.
Rainbow City was one of the travel destinations Fang Yuan had promised Eevee; the Game City here was very famous.
Heading to Golden City was because Fang Yuan was quite interested in the Psychic Nastina at the Goldenrod Gym and planned to meet her.
"Mewtwo, can you use superpowers to turn a human into a doll?"
On the day of the journey, Fang Yuan used his smartphone Rotom to call the artificial intelligence 3D Dragon at the secret base island, and then asked 3D Dragon to connect with Mewtwo.
On the other end, Mewtwo, who was training for independent MEGA evolution, fell silent after receiving Fang Yuan's call.
A doll?
Mewtwo: "..."
You called just to ask that?
"What do you mean?" Mewtwo barely resisted the urge to hang up the phone and asked.
It suspected that Fang Yuan wasn't fully awake yet.
"Looks like you can't do it either; then she really is quite impressive..." On the other end of the phone, Fang Yuan muttered.
Indeed, I need to learn this; it's a rare opportunity to strengthen myself. If my superpowers become stronger, then my Power of the Heart will naturally increase.
On Earth, the strongest Psychics are only at the level of Master Kong Hai, but even Master Kong Hai couldn't provide Fang Yuan with a rapid increase in superpower.
Psychics like Master Kong Hai reached the top not just through talent but also through perseverance.
Fang Yuan consulted with Dream as well, but Dream also had no solution; it could enhance Pokémon or awaken superpowers in humans, but as for advancing a human's supernormal power attainment... Dream hadn't tried that, so this route was also a dead end.
Fang Yuan's current level of superpower and Aura wasn't weak, but there was still a lot of room for improvement. If Fang Yuan could acquire Pokémon World's human superpower training methods passed down over tens of thousands of years, his ability would surely advance further.
It might be difficult to reach the extent of Nastina or Caitlin, but just having his superpower level reach that of Su Shu would already be a significant improvement.
By doing so, the likelihood of Fang Yuan winning the championship would be even greater.
While he was determined to get the tablet, without Victini's game-breaking help, Fang Yuan felt that he only had a fifty-fifty chance against the Champions, and he needed to become stronger!
So, coming to Pokémon World, aside from searching for the tablet, the first thing Fang Yuan wanted to do was to "borrow" the strongest superpower training methods from the Goldenrod Gym.
"You..." As Fang Yuan talked to himself, Mewtwo on the other end already had a face full of confusion.
So why exactly did Fang Yuan call?
"Ahem, nothing special... I just wanted to ask how things over there are going."
"Also, the Pokémon information you compiled for me earlier... Could you help me make it accurate?... I just registered for a world championship; the Pokémon information can't be falsified..."
Mewtwo: ???
World Championship???
What happened to the low-key search for tablets??
"Hey, don't hang up... It's serious business, I'm really in it to compete, listen to my explanation—last billion times!!"
......
Rainbow City, a city as dreamlike as its rainbow colors.
As one of the largest cities in the Kanto region, its scale is second only to Golden City, the metropolitan to the east.
According to Fang Yuan's route, to reach Golden City, they had to pass through Rainbow City, and with Eevee wanting to stay here for a bit, Fang Yuan planned to complete his registration here as well.
Registration was more about checking and verifying identity information than actual signup; Fang Yuan had already preliminarily signed up online through Rotom, but since he was a Trainer from the Sinnoh Region and wanted to compete in Kanto, he had to go to a Spirit Center for another verification. Only then, he would be able to search for opponents online and issue challenges.
Rainbow City Spirit Center.
After entering Rainbow City, Fang Yuan and Eevee searched for a while before finding the place.
The real-life Spirit Center was much larger than what Fang Yuan had seen in the animations, not at all smaller than the Trainer Association in the provinces of Hua Nation. From its architecture, it seemed even more luxurious, and the interior was very lively.
Moreover, there were many more staff members than just Nurse Joy, all working on other floors.
Even for something as simple as registering identity, Fang Yuan and Eevee ran through many procedures—
"It makes sense; if a city's Trainer registrations were all handled by a single Nurse Joy, she would probably work herself to death."
"Though, I suspect the Joy family might be androids."
"And Miss Later... they really all look the same, it's outrageous. Eevee, weigh in on this!"
Eevee: o((⊙﹏⊙))o.
"Bwoo!" Eevee patted Fang Yuan's shoulder again, don't think too much about it, don't all Eevees look the same to you? Game City, Game City——
Just as Eevee urged him on, Fang Yuan, who was waiting in the hall to handle his business, heard the notification.
"Mr. Fang Yuan from the Sinnoh Region, please register at window number 1."
"From..."
"Let's go after the registration," Fang Yuan said and then immediately stood up to find window number 1.
Window number 1 was in the most visible location of the Spirit Center, also known as Nurse Joy's spot, where she handled the final process. By the time Fang Yuan got there, Rainbow City's Nurse Joy was busy typing something into her computer.
"Mr. Fang Yuan, congratulations, you have successfully registered in the Kanto region."
Not making Fang Yuan wait too long, after about a few seconds, Nurse Joy, dressed in her nurse's uniform, turned the computer screen towards him. On it, Fang Yuan's Trainer ranking had been activated.
Name: Fang Yuan
Level: Poké Ball level
World Rank: 10954
"Now, you can challenge nearby Trainers through the network. For every battle you win, your ranking will rise according to the battle performance. However, if you do not engage in new battles for a prolonged period, your rank will automatically drop. There are also some other things to note, which you can check for yourself on the Championship website," Nurse Joy said with a smile.
"Thank you." At that moment, Fang Yuan also took out his phone, and indeed, his Championship app displayed his ranking.
Ranked 10954th.
This meant that it seemed almost ten thousand people had entered the Championship.
"Thank you for your help." After thanking Nurse Joy, Fang Yuan left straight away.
As for the rules of the Championship, since he was going to participate, he had already learned about them beforehand.
He was currently ranked 10954th, at the bottom of the Poké Ball level.
World ranks from 1000 to 10954 were all at the Poké Ball level, and Trainers at the Poké Ball level could only challenge other Poké Ball level Trainers.
So it was unrealistic for Fang Yuan to expect to challenge a player ranked in the tens and leap to the stars in one go.
Therefore, to advance further, Fang Yuan had no choice but to enter grind mode.
Fang Yuan walked out of the Spirit Center, staring at the Championship webpage's rankings, while Eevee also kept a watchful eye on the rankings.
After briefly familiarizing himself, Fang Yuan began manually searching for opponents.
Within the scope of Rainbow City, he found many Trainers he could challenge. Among them, the highest-ranked Trainer currently set to "challengeable" was the Rainbow Dojo Gym Leader, the young lady from a prestigious family, the Grass-type Master Erika. She was also at the Poké Ball level, ranked 1199.
"The Gym Leader of Rainbow City, the second largest city in the Kanto region, a master flower arranger born to a prestigious family, only ranked just over 1000?"
Seeing this rank, Fang Yuan fell into thought.
Despite Erika's ordinary performance in the animated series, that could not possibly reflect the true strength of a Gym Leader.
As the Gym Leader of a city like Rainbow City, even if she wasn't the first-generation Gym Leader, she should at minimum have a squad of master level spirits, and it wouldn't be excessive if some of her Pokémon had top-level combat power.
Like Lt. Surge of the Vermilion City Gym, who became a member of the Poison Elite Four after not too long, it shows that these Gym Leaders are no pushovers and are essentially reserve members for the Elite Four.
Just over 1000th rank, was it because she didn't care much about her rank, or were there simply too many formidable opponents ahead?
"If it's her real level, that would be interesting," Fang Yuan said. "Perhaps, the threshold from Poké Ball level to Ultra Ball level is owning top-level combat power."
"Nevermind, don't think too much about it. At Poké Ball level, I'll let Mane Rock Werewolf and the others get some practice," Fang Yuan remarked.
"Bwoo~~" Eevee nodded. So next, are we challenging this Erika??
"Let's just apply and see. She's ranked just over a thousand, and I'm over ten thousand. Even if I lost, her rank probably wouldn't rise much. I imagine she won't accept the battle..."
"Let's go. During the waiting time, I'll take you to the Game City you've been dreaming about!"
"Bwoo!!!"
Eevee: (.＾▽＾) Dada da, la la la~
That was exactly what it was waiting to hear.
Seeing Eevee so happy, Fang Yuan shook his head with a smile, sighing. When will Eevee ever grow up, huh?
Hey...
Wait a second??!
All of a sudden, Fang Yuan remembered something important. Rainbow City Game City, isn't that Rocket Team's property? And beneath it, isn't it bloody Rocket Gang Base...?