Castelia City was a port industrial city with numerous chimneys and a thriving graffiti culture.

Although Castelia City was covered in industrial haze, the local residents were quite active. Movie theaters, production studios, and music venues were all present.

This city was particularly famous for its "Tundra Bear Ice Cream."

Lu Ye speculated that it should have the same effect of curing status conditions as "Skyarrow Bridge Ice Cream."

It was midsummer, the sea surface glittered brightly, snow-white ships were docked at the port, and Wingulls soared and dipped through the air.

Lu Ye met with Cynthia, and smiles simultaneously appeared on both their faces as they shared a light embrace.

She wore a sleeveless blue shirt and black wide-leg pants, her golden hair cascading down to cover half her cheek as she said with a soft smile:

"Your timing is quite fortunate."

"Yes, because I met you."

"I meant, there's a concert in Castelia City tonight, and you happened to arrive just in time," Cynthia said with slight helplessness, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"A concert?" Lu Ye blinked in surprise.

Haunter canceled its invisibility, floating beside Lu Ye, its eyes lighting up: "Gengarrr~(✪ω✪)"

Does that mean I can perform on stage then? Gengarrr~

"It's Roxie and her band's performance," Cynthia said with a gentle smile. "Don't let Roxie's rock band fool you - she's quite skilled with the cello too."

Lu Ye nodded slightly without objection.

Putting aside the troublesome matters about N and Team Plasma, Teacher Lu decided to enjoy this rare date with his adorable partner.

Strolling through Castelia City's square, ripples formed on the fountain's water surface. Children fed bread to approaching Tranquills, a homeless man sat on a bench reading a newspaper with a dozing Purrloin nestled in his arms.

Lu Ye still found himself thinking about N.

The world he hoped for wasn't real, and while the real world wasn't perfect, it would certainly become better.

"You seem distracted?" Cynthia glanced at Lu Ye.

"Thinking about one of my students," Lu Ye paused before saying. "He's struggling with the conflict between ideals and reality."

Sylveon walked alongside Lu Ye, its snow-white ribbons wrapped around Teacher Lu's arm.

Glaceon walked ahead of Cynthia, its ice-blue hair-like fur shaking off glistening ice fragments with each step.

"What about you? How do you feel about it?" Cynthia's clear gray eyes turned to gaze at Lu Ye.

"I..." Lu Ye fell silent before saying, "I firmly believe the future is bright, though the path is long and arduous."

"Then keep persevering," Cynthia linked her arm with Lu Ye's, her eyes curving into smiles. "Persevere until the day the clouds clear."

The sunlight was gentle, the sky clear blue, with a flock of Tranquills flying overhead.

Lu Ye looked at Cynthia's tender smile, his eyes widening slightly as the gloom in his heart vanished completely, a smile forming on his lips:

"Today, I absolutely must have Haunter perform Perish Song."

"Gengarrr!（๑`▽´๑)۶"

Haunter promptly produced a microphone it had prepared in advance.

Cynthia: "...Let's not do that."

Lu Ye: "Then let's go to Lacunosa Town for the Junior Cup!"

"They invited you as a guest, not a participant," Cynthia said with a light smile.

"As a guest, participating in matches to observe the contestants' performance is quite reasonable, right?" Lu Ye said righteously.

"Speaking of which," Cynthia rested her chin on her hand, her gray eyes sparkling, "I saw on the list that Ash and Alice are also participating in this Junior Cup."

"Ash and Alice?"

"Mmm... Alice is a very promising talented trainer, more gifted than Ash. I wouldn't be surprised if she became a League Champion."

Cynthia said thoughtfully: "But Ash possesses a very precious quality... I look forward to seeing his performance in the Champion League."

Perhaps all of Ash's talent points were allocated to [No Restrictions Battles].

Born at the wrong time, Satoshi!

Lu Ye felt somewhat emotional as he held Cynthia's hand, his other arm entwined with Sylveon's ribbons.

"Let's go, I'll treat everyone to ice cream!"

**

The Tundra Bear Ice Cream stall was located in Castelia City's square.

Facing the cooling, dazzling array of ice cream options, Lu Ye instinctively asked:

"What flavor would you like?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lu Ye realized his mistake.

"Hmm..." Cynthia rested her chin on her hand, her eyes sparkling as she entered thinking mode.

"Maybe I should choose."

Lu Ye looked at the various ice cream scoops and found himself hesitating too.

Haunter liked bitter flavors, Eevee loved sweet ones, Turtwig preferred bitter tastes...

And there was Darkrai who followed along - it liked sweet and sour lemon flavor.

With so many conflicting options, Lu Ye slightly frowned as he was about to speak.

"Teacher Lu! Champion Cynthia!"

"Pikachu~!"

A youth carrying a Pikachu on his shoulder hurried over.

Lu Ye's expression froze, a slight chill running down his spine.

Crap, right before movie events, one of the last people I wanted to see!

Cynthia turned gracefully, a flicker of surprise in her gray eyes before she smiled and said:

"Long time no see, Ash, Pikachu. And this—"

Beside Ash followed a dark-skinned girl wearing loose clothing with purple twin tails, who introduced herself:

"Teacher Lu, Champion Cynthia. My name is Alice, and I'm currently training to become a Dragon Master!"

Cynthia nodded with a smile: "I've heard about you from Mr. Drayden. They have high expectations for you."

Alice scratched her head and said sheepishly: "I still need to continue training with Axew..."

"Yah~ yah!" Axew, perched on Alice's shoulder, also showed a smile.

"What's this, you're even younger than me..." Ash muttered quietly.

"So that means Ash is still a child!" Alice crossed her arms.

Pikachu, resting on Ash's shoulder, felt something poking it and looked around but saw nothing: "Pika?"

Suddenly, Haunter appeared before Pikachu, stretching its mouth wide: "Gengarrr!"

"Pika!" Pikachu tumbled down in shock, flipping mid-air before landing on all fours.

"Stop messing around, Pikachu," Ash picked up Pikachu and placed it back on his shoulder, curious: "Teacher Lu, why are you guys here?"

"I was about to ask the same thing," Lu Ye asked, "Aren't you supposed to be collecting badges?"

"Pikachu and I are heading to Lacunosa Town to participate in the World Championships Junior Cup, and Alice is traveling with me," Ash replied.

"In that case, why not come visit Undella Town together."

Cynthia placed a hand on her hip and suggested with a smile: "Lu Ye and I were planning to go to the Junior Cup too."

Lu Ye blinked in surprise, glanced at Cynthia, confirmed she didn't seem to be joking, and couldn't help but press his lips together.

Major oversight!

If we team up with Ash, won't we definitely get recorded by Ho-Oh's camera crew into the movie footage?!

A critical hit from the adorable one came completely unexpected to Teacher Lu.

But given Ash's emotional intelligence, expecting him to read the atmosphere was clearly somewhat difficult.

In the end, Cynthia treated Ash and Alice to the specialty ice cream while Teacher Lu paid the bill, and the four sat on a bench in the square enjoying their treats.

"Gengarrr~" Haunter also held an ice cream scoop, happily licking it with its tongue.

"Togepri!" Togepi buried its face in the ice cream scoop, lifting its head with giggles.

"Pika~" Pikachu used a handkerchief to clean Togepi's face, its ears slightly swaying as it curiously looked around.

Ash: "What's wrong, Pikachu?"

Pikachu had faintly heard a melody just now, but with only the sound of the fountain around, it shook its head: "Pika."

Hidden within Lu Ye's shadow.

Darkrai licked its ice cream with an aloof expression, glancing sideways at the Pokémon floating invisibly in the air.

Wave-like emerald hair, a headband with a central gem on its forehead, and black hair accessories resembling microphones.

Meloetta listened with curiosity to the colorful thoughts around, gently closing its eyes as a faint smile appeared on its lips.

Seeing that this Pokémon meant no harm.

Darkrai continued licking its ice cream while glancing at the silent Teacher Lu.

With his Aura abilities, there was no reason he couldn't detect it...

Probably because he was feeling down.

As for why he was feeling depressed, Darkrai couldn't quite say.

Glancing at the floating Pokémon, Darkrai thought:

"Maybe I'll tell Lu Ye later..."