Rowan understood the boss' enthusiasm for wanting Pangoro's consecutive naming rights.
The bamboo-patterned wallpaper was covered in panda paw prints, the server's aprons were embroidered with black-and-white dumpling designs, and even the menu cover had a gold-stamped silhouette of Pangoro's evolved form.
You could tell from the decor and the servers' outfits.
As long as you voted for Pangoro on the official website while dining here, you'd get a discount. But personally, Rowan still chose to vote for someone else.
"Hope everyone's had a good meal. Before we rest, let me say a few things.
Tomorrow morning, we'll visit the Pancham breeding center. In the afternoon, we'll go to Illumina Panda Park. If you don't want to go, you can stay at the hotel and binge dramas with Teacher Liu. I have memberships for all streaming platforms that I can lend you.
The day after, we'll familiarize ourselves with the venue. And the day after that, the competition begins.
I've already discussed it with the higher-ups. As long as we can secure a ranking this time, we can go to the beach for a team outing!
Also, after the competition ends, we'll stay here for one more day. If you want to do your own thing, wait until the competition's over, got it?"
Back at the hotel lobby, Li Han was announcing the plan for tomorrow.
They were all adults, so it wasn't right to force them to stay in one place, but who knows if someone might sneak off?
With the example of helping that innocent girl on the streets, they didn't dare let everyone roam freely again.
Better to guide than to block, so it turned into a team activity in the end.
As for why Old Liu was the one staying behind at the hotel...
Well, Li Han, Jia Qiong, and Joy all didn't want to stay back, since if they went out on their own, they couldn't get reimbursed for tickets. So Old Liu, who was still sound asleep in the hotel, ended up being assigned the important task.
Looking at the night view outside from the lobby, Rowan had originally wanted to go for a walk, but considering the humid heat and not wanting to cause trouble for Li Han and the others, he gave up on the idea.
If he really went missing during the competition, Old Liu's mental state would be hard to predict.
After returning to the hotel, Rowan took a shower. Though the facilities were decent, he still found it a bit inconvenient as the showerhead was fixed to the wall and couldn't be taken down.
The next day, Old Liu saw off the public-funded travel group… no, research group at the hotel entrance.
Not a single person in the group chose to stay behind, leaving Old Liu all alone at the hotel.
Whether it was a regular panda or a Pancham, it was still more interesting than idly staying at the hotel with a middle-aged male teacher.
Pokémon were inherently special. Right from the moment they hatched from their eggs, they already possess some ability to act on their own. However, at this stage, they could hardly use any moves.
Pokémon like Misty's Togepi are more like infants when they're first born; they have almost no subjective judgment and act entirely on instinct.
As their levels increase, they gradually become more mature.
Inside the breeding center, the Pokémon were divided into different areas based on their levels. The areas with lower-level Pokémon were the most popular with visitors. Through glass enclosures, you can see large groups of young Pancham.
Some were holding bamboo tubes and doing somersaults, colliding with their companions, some were rolling around like black-and-white Venonats, and a particularly persistent little guy was gnawing on the guide's microphone wire with its baby teeth.
There wasn't much interaction in this area, but in the next area, quite a few Pancham were staring directly at people through the glass.
"Pancham is a very prideful Pokémon. In order not to be underestimated, they'll stare you down like this. As long as we pretend to be scared, they'll feel quite satisfied."
One of the staff members was giving a science-based explanation and demonstrated it on the spot. Just as he said, upon seeing its "enemy" surrender, that Pancham immediately grinned and ran back, proudly showing off to the Pangoro behind it.
This is also typical behavior for Pancham. Not long after they're born, they'll pick a Pangoro they admire to be their leader, learning all kinds of skills from them.
"Of course, there's also this method."
The glass windows in this section weren't completely sealed. At regular intervals, there were open slots positioned just right for people to reach in and pat the Pancham on the head, shattering their feigned toughness instantly.
Rowan was taking photos with his phone, but the pictures made Nekomi shake her head repeatedly; it was obvious she was questioning his photography skills.
"Meow. (Hand me the phone.)"
Taking the phone from Rowan, Nekomi expertly opened the settings. She adjusted the lighting, brightness, and aspect ratio, completely outclassing Rowan's basic beautify mode by a mile.
After setting up a timer, the transparent flower stem even doubled as a selfie stick. She found an excellent angle and snapped a group photo.
"Meow, meow~ (Looks way better now, doesn't it)"
"It does. You're way better at taking pictures than me."
Rowan couldn't quite say what exactly made it look good, but the composition and aspect ratio felt just right. Even the Pancham in the background making a silly face got captured perfectly.
"Meow, meow. (Remember to print it out when we get back.)"
The other members of their group didn't understand what Nekomi was saying, but they did notice how she adjusted the camera settings.
"Sister Neko, help me adjust some settings? I think the photos will look better this way."
Li Han even came over on her own initiative, asking Nekomi to help adjust her phone settings. The nickname "Sister Neko" was her own creation.
She was the type who could get along with everyone on the Varsity Team, no airs about her, easygoing and friendly with all. During tryouts, Nekomi had also softened her animosity toward her; after all, she had no romantic interest in her Trainer.
"Meow~"
Considering that she was called "Sister Neko," Nekomi reluctantly helped her adjust the settings. If you looked closely, you'd notice the settings were different from Rowan's phone, since they weren't even using the same phone brand.
There was still one more area to visit, but this one was quite different. There were no Pancham here, only Pangoro lived in this section, and the area showed obvious signs of destruction.
Broken bamboo poles stuck out at odd angles from the cracked earth, the surface of the rocks was covered with claw marks of varying depths, and some of the Pangoro looked downright menacing.
"Dear visitors, as you can see, these Pangoro are much fiercer than the ones we saw earlier.
They're not friendly toward humans. But that's because these Pangoro were all abandoned. Thanks to those irresponsible 'Trainers,' they've lost their trust in humans."
Just like that driver had said when they arrived yesterday, Everstones were hot sellers in Tianfu as many people didn't want their Pancham to evolve.
But what he didn't mention was that this demand caused the price of Everstones to be driven up.
Some people didn't want to spend that money, and also had no intention of raising a Pangoro, so they chose to abandon them instead.
Although this center carefully screens potential adopters, Pancham weren't exclusive to this facility, other areas have them too. So, abandonment still happens occasionally.
Those people thought they were "freeing" the Pokémon by casually releasing them in the forest, but they never considered that these Pangoro had no experience living in the wild, and the mountains they chose were often close to scenic areas.
This led to some incidents where people were injured. In the end, those Pangoro were taken in and brought here.
Some would find new Trainers, others would be released into real wilderness, and some would remain here permanently.
The staff were explaining how this shelter came to be. Allowing people to visit was meant to help Trainers understand that abandoning Pokémon is not a good habit. Once you've chosen a Pokémon, you should take full responsibility for it.
BANG!
"Gaa-wooh!"
Just then, a loud crash rang out from the side - a Pangoro was slamming its paw hard against the glass.
The glass shook violently, but the staff member remained calm.
"Please don't worry. This glass is specially reinforced. Pangoro's strength isn't enough to break it, we're completely safe."
BANG! BANG!
But the Pangoro didn't seem to agree. The pounding continued again and again, making Nekomi furrow her brows.
Seeing the Pangoro following them so persistently, Nekomi decided to respond.
"Meow!"
Her paws similarly slapped down in front of Pangoro, completing a high-five with it across the air, but at this moment, a cracking sound came from the supposedly unbreakable glass.
The glass that the staff had just declared indestructible… was starting to crack.
Please support on buymeacoffee for extra chapters. You can read ahead by 20 chapters.
https://buymeacoffee.com/dm30