Ordinary people would never dare walk into a place that clearly puts them at a disadvantage.

Right at this moment.

The diners in the Treasure Restaurant hall all left one after another, the tables and cushions were taken away by the waiters, and then, under the Dancer’s shocked gaze, the Treasure Restaurant hall turned into a battle arena.

"Hiss! That’s awesome!"

Baimu sucked in a cold breath, unable to figure out how exactly the Medali Gym Leader managed to talk the restaurant owner into remodeling his restaurant like this.

Could it be that the real boss behind the scenes is the same person?

Who knows.

As expected, a middle-aged man whose pixel portrait art style was completely different from everyone else’s walked over from behind the bar; an exclamation mark popped up above the Dancer’s head—she clearly hadn’t expected that the random info source she’d picked up would turn out to be the Gym Leader.

[Looking at the other party’s listless movements, you seriously doubt whether he’s actually capable of doing a Gym Leader’s job]

But as it turns out—

How strong a Trainer is has nothing in particular to do with how "spent" he looks.

Medali Gym Leader Qing Shan, Padia Pokémon Alliance staff and concurrent member of the Four Heavenly Kings, specializes in General Attribute Pokémon...

Very strong.

[You discover that whether in moves or tactics, Qing Shan is extremely "general"; he also calls his own strength "average" among Gym Leaders, yet from within this "average" there’s a faint but undeniable sense of power]

Maybe it’s the difficulty spike that comes after the fifth Gym Badge, or maybe she’s just hit a bottleneck.

Even though the Dancer took the win, the victory was painfully hard-earned; Qing Shan’s working-adult skill [Harden] could really hold out, and he took down both Tsareena and Larvesta in succession.

Even Oricorio didn’t have much stamina left; sure, it’s Immune to [Harden], but it can’t be Immune to Dudunsparce’s Sharp Stone Attack.

In the end, the Dancer relied on Quaquaval, who became Water Attribute after Great Crystal Transformation, to bring down the Great Crystal general-type Staraptor.

[You defeated Medali Gym Leader Qing Shan and obtained the Medali Badge]

[Qing Shan treated you to a meal]

Treating the victorious Gym Challenger to a meal seemed to be a habit of Qing Shan’s, and judging from the way he actually paid the bill, the Treasure Restaurant probably isn’t his.

"Mm... why does he feel so much like Wulang?" Baimu fell into a kind of pondering.

Corporate slave plus middle-aged plus gaunt face plus love of gourmet food—straight-up "The Solitary Gourmet," no?

Of course, it might just be his imagination.

——

Leaving Medali Town.

Just like last time, the Dancer received a notification about newly added classes from the school.

She couldn’t help getting a little conflicted.

[From Qing Shan’s mouth you learn that the upcoming Gym Battles will only get tougher, and the Gym Leader of the Frosty Mountain Gym you’re about to head for—Gulu Xia—is even called the strongest Gym Leader]

Put simply, it has nothing to do with the new classes; the Dancer just wants to go back and "develop" with battle studies teacher Huang Bo for a bit, but she’s also worried she’ll miss Melok, so she’s stuck in a dilemma.

Compared to her dithering—

Quaquaval and the other Pokémon were much more decisive. After the Dancer handed part of the decision over to them, they unanimously voted to go back and develop.

The battle with Qing Shan had made them aware of their own shortcomings; at this rate there’s no way they’ll be able to handle stronger Gyms.

Egged on by her Pokémon, the Dancer accepted their proposal and made preparations to develop at the fastest possible speed.

"Good thing you’ve got that Well-trained talent."

Watching the Dancer return to campus and switch on "class clearing" mode, Baimu thought that Padia Gym Leaders, like Galar Gym Leaders, generally field stronger Pokémon against challengers than those from other regions.

Why?

Because they don’t have a League Conference!

He’d looked into Padia Region’s League and found that they actually don’t hold League Conferences at all; they only have the Champion Alliance, i.e. the Four Heavenly Kings Battle, and this seems to be related to Padia Region’s unique Champion Level Trainer seats.

Only the one person at the pinnacle of the Champion Level—"Chief Champion"—counts as an employee of the Pokémon Alliance and is regarded as the equivalent of other regions’ Regional Champion.

Similar to how the Galar Region only runs the Champion Cup and doesn’t do League Conferences or a Champion Alliance.

And as the narrator revealed, with five Badges to her name the Dancer already counts as a powerhouse at Orange Academy, and her status on campus has risen accordingly.

This is most concretely shown when she walks through the corridors: people, regardless of age or gender, all stop in their tracks to clear a path for her, while little red hearts pop up over their heads.

Baimu: "?"

What kind of third-rate domestic school-drama setup is this? Campus goddess?

But the Dancer clearly didn’t care about any of that; what she wants most right now is to hurry up and get stronger, then hurry to Frosty Mountain and challenge the two Gyms there.

[You passed the Home Ec midterm]

[You passed the Art midterm]

...

After successfully passing a series of new midterms and earning the recognition of battle studies teacher Huang Bo in terms of strength—

The Dancer could finally head to Frosty Mountain just as she’d wished.

Meanwhile, in the interim—

[Your Larvesta evolved into Volcarona]

Going from silkworm to moth was a deadly blow to Larvesta, because it lost its "feet."

How do you dance with no feet?

Volcarona stayed depressed for quite a long time over this, but with the Dancer’s and Quaquaval’s group counseling, it gradually accepted reality and created its own Fire God Dance based on [Butterfly Dance] and [Fire Dance].

Combining entertainment and combat into one.

Of course—

It wasn’t the only one with a breakthrough; either proactively or passively, under the Dancer’s intervention and Quaquaval’s and the others’ self-motivation, they each successfully created a "War Dance" of their very own.

It gave a huge boost to their movement and sense of rhythm.

When Baimu saw it, he just felt it was a bit stronger than Tieryu’s all-hands Ghost Step Dance.

"War Dance, huh... would be nice if we could get that as a reward."

He thought that even though most of his own Pokémon didn’t have any talent for dancing, it’d be enough if Mawile learned it; no need to get greedy.

Sadly, luck doesn’t always go your way.

On screen—

The Dancer switched on travel mode; the scene transitions sped up drastically, but before she could reach Frosty Mountain, the sim speed suddenly dropped back to normal.

The reason was that the Dancer had suddenly discovered a glowing Lilligant in West District Three.

[Using the knowledge you’ve learned, you figure out that it’s a special Great Crystal Transformation Pokémon affected by its environment, with a Great Crystal Attribute different from its own Attribute]

This was the first time a Wild Pokémon had caught the Dancer’s interest; its refreshing fragrance and graceful figure both deeply enthralled her.

[You decide to capture this Lilligant]

Now that she’d learned to be decisive, the Dancer immediately sent out Volcarona. Even though once battle began, Lilligant revealed its Great Crystal Transformation to be Fairy Attribute, Volcarona still defeated it with sheer power.

[You captured Lilligant; your shy dance partner count has increased]

"Mm... they’re both Grass Attribute, but Lilligant is Special Attack–oriented, and its Great Crystal Transformation is Fairy, so it’s not really redundant."

Baimu nodded in approval.

In the blink of an eye—

The Dancer smoothly arrived at Frosty Mountain, and as someone who can get lost even with a map and compass in hand, the pure white, nothing-but-snow Frosty Mountain soon had her turned around.

She’d originally planned to challenge the Frosty Mountain Gym first, but after wandering in circles for ages, she only managed to find Montenevera Town.

[You arrived at Montenevera Town; the lights here make you feel especially warm]

On a frigid snowy mountain, Montenevera Town was just too cozy for the Dancer to bear leaving; she’d been freezing for so long.

And so—

[You decide to challenge Montenevera Gym first]

Thinking of her own warmth, the Dancer went to Montenevera Gym to register.

What she didn’t expect was...

The Montenevera Gym Leader Tim gave her math problems to solve!

[You hear Tim cheerfully say she wants to quit being a Hall Master and go teach math at Orange Academy]

Good grief!

Baimu bared his teeth; skip running a Gym to be a teacher?

He couldn’t wrap his head around it, but judging from the Dancer’s reaction she seemed very supportive of the idea—maybe because she’d been taken such good care of by the many teachers at Orange Academy?

And as a straight-A student, mere math was nothing to the Dancer; she cleared it with ease.

The Gym Battle officially began from there.

Integrating War Dance Techniques into battle for the first time, Quaquaval and the others performed far beyond the Dancer’s expectations—especially since Tim, as a Rock Attribute Gym Leader, was hard-countered by Quaquaval, Tsareena, and Lilligant.

Lycanroc, Stonjourner, and Coalossal were all easily cut down by the Dancer.

[You discover that former sense of "pushing your limits" has disappeared]

When fighting Medali Gym Leader Qing Shan, the Dancer had felt both her own and Quaquaval’s group’s limits—but now she’d finally regained that early, easygoing, relaxed form.

Tim’s last Pokémon, Garganacl, was also defeated by Quaquaval’s Soul-leaping [Low Sweep].

[You defeated Montenevera Town Gym Leader Tim and obtained the Montenevera Badge]