The training for Xia Huna, and the others, concluded in the blink of an eye. While the Chinese New Year celebrated midway lacked much festive spirit, it was merely a gathering for a decent New Year's Eve dinner.
On February 7th, Xia Huna and his group boarded a plane bound for an unknown destination. As Xia Huna settled into his seat, he asked Meng Tianya, "So, what exactly is that place?"
"I don't know either. Our researchers only managed to land on the island and find the Keystone. They didn't explore further. As you know, the scale of this expedition team was too large, and no one dared to make any rash moves. If everyone went down together, they would start fighting, so it was impossible."
Xia Huna nodded, "Then what about the name? The island must have a name, right? It would be too much if it didn't even have a name."
"Its codename is Nameless 107. This is the seventh nameless island discovered by our Ming Long Nation, but the previous six already have names."
"Then we're not just going to set up camp in the island's woods, are we? A camp should have already been established," Chu Xiaodie was more concerned about having a place to live when they arrived.
"I'm not sure. I'm only responsible for your training and leading the team. Other matters will naturally be explained to you by someone once you get there."
...
The plane crossed the ocean and finally landed on a half-constructed airport. Xia Huna was thoroughly shaken by the plane's landing: "This is torture. If it happens one more time, I'd rather this plane be hit by a missile. That would just be over in an instant."
Yu Longdu and the others were also uncomfortably jostled. "I think, Boss Xia, while what you said isn't entirely right, there's some truth to it. This airport was definitely not built by our Ming Long Nation. It's been months, and it's still like this."
As they disembarked, Xia Huna stomped his foot. "It's okay, at least my foot didn't sink into a pit. Where is our camp?"
Meng Tianya looked around. "That's strange, why is no one here to pick us up? It's my first time here too."
At this moment, Xia Huna had already placed his hand on a Poké Ball, ready to break out with Groggy and Diancie if anything seemed amiss.
As they were wondering, another plane landed nearby. Although they didn't know which country's team it was, they were clearly much smarter than the Ming Long Nation group. For example, they were using helicopters, not passenger planes.
Helicopters didn't suffer from the debuff of a rough landing. However, looking at the people descending from the helicopter, Xia Huna scratched his head. "Long time no see, Feng. But I truly didn't expect you to bring Mei along as well?"
Feng shook his head. "No, I'm not here to compete. Mei is the one who is actually competing."
Xia Huna breathed a sigh of relief. "That's not right. Even if Man Ying's talent pool is in decline, they wouldn't force Mei to participate."
"What do you mean? Are you looking down on me...?"
"It's not looking down on you, but you're really not a frontline ninja."
While Xia Huna was chatting with the two Man Ying contestants, the others around them were unaware of their prior connection. Meng Tianya asked Mu Zhi Shui, "So, when did they meet?"
"It was when we came to Man Ying before. Xia Huna learned quite a few techniques from a ninja."
The Ming Long Nation group responded, "I see."
Meanwhile, on the Man Ying side, it was even livelier. "Is this the not-weak friend that Captain Feng mentioned? We're not going to have to face opponents like this, are we? That would be too exciting!"
"Yeah, we need to get more information about him from Captain Feng. But I really envy you guys in the lower bracket, having such strong opponents."
Xia Huna and Feng didn't chat for too long before seeing a third plane approaching the airport. Xia Huna pointed at the large plane in the sky. "This thing must be from Li Xing. No one else can build something so ostentatious and impractical."
Feng didn't say anything, just gave Xia Huna a casual glance. Xia Huna pointed at the plane that had tossed him around so much earlier. "But Ming Long Nation's has already arrived."
The plane circled at a low altitude and then dozens of people jumped out from the sky. Xia Huna roughly counted them. "Judging by this, there are probably some Mirren people too. Their adventurous spirit is so charming, so charming that I want to hit them with a Water Shuriken."
When the large group landed, the Ming Long Nation and Man Ying contingents saw that there were indeed two teams. The Mirren and Li Xing teams had arrived on the same plane. No wonder the numbers seemed off.
As time passed, more and more teams arrived on the island, and the airport became so crowded that it could barely accommodate hundreds of teams. Even if each team, including leaders, coaches, and support staff, only had twenty people, the sheer number of teams was overwhelming. Small countries were all participating, even if they likely wouldn't make it past the second round. Nevertheless, they had come with great courage.
By now, Xia Huna had separated from Feng. After all, it wasn't ideal for a contestant to spend too much time with another team's leader before the competition began.
Back with the Ming Long Nation group, Yu Longdu asked him, "When did you learn Man Ying language? Is your language talent that high?"
Xia Huna chuckled. "I got this skill from Mew two days ago. It's quite practical, isn't it?"
Yu Longdu nodded. "Yeah, no more subtitles for us from now on."
"Get lost. Speaking of which, why hasn't anyone come to pick us up yet? Have you contacted anyone on this island?"
Yu Longdu pointed to a signal tower in the distance. "See that thing? There's only one signal tower on the entire island, and it's not very reliable. Everyone's trying to make calls, so it's probably busy."
Xia Huna squinted at the solitary signal tower standing in the wind. "So, why don't we just have someone make a call, and have the other end translate? Getting back is the priority, don't you guys feel hot?"
Yu Longdu rubbed the sweat on his forehead. "Damn it, I didn't feel anything at first, but now that you mention it, I really do feel hot."
Xia Huna sighed. "Honestly, if this island didn't have such strategic importance, someone would have stomped it out long ago."
Yu Longdu grinned wickedly. "Whoever dares to stomp it out would be beaten to death by everyone else."
Xia Huna looked around. "Tell me, out of all these teams, which one do you think is the biggest threat? Let's take one out first."
The remaining members of the Ming Long Nation team shivered at the wicked grins of the two. Fortunately, the Ming Long Nation's expedition team had arrived by then. "Hello everyone, I'm here to pick you up on behalf of the expedition team."
Meng Tianya stepped forward to negotiate with him, while Xia Huna found someone nearby who looked like he had nothing to do and borrowed a megaphone. After confirming they were leaving, he rallied all the teams and set off together, thousands of people moving with earth-shattering momentum towards the camp.
Walking on the road, Xia Huna asked why the camp was so far from the airport. Meng Tianya spread his hands. "There's no choice. This is the only place on the island suitable for building an airport, and the expedition team's camp was determined to be on the other side from the start..."
"Is that so? Well, let's hope that Groudon decides to stomp out an island again and makes the entire island more stable next time."
Meanwhile, at the camp, the number of people was already small. Recently, with a large influx of trainers arriving on the island, many tents had been set up, making the camp appear empty. The momentum of two thousand people was enormous. Moreover, due to the poor signal, the people sent to pick them up couldn't call back for a while, so those in the camp thought there was a Pokémon riot and rushed out of their tents.
"What the hell is going on? Didn't we detect no reaction from any Pokémon realms? How could this happen?"
The tremendous noise continued for a few more minutes, and a dense group of figures approached, making it seem as if the camp had provoked some evil force. It was Xia Huna, following behind the researchers, holding the megaphone and shouting in fluent Mirren language for everyone to come out and receive them, that finally reassured the people in the camp.
However, it was unfortunate that although the expedition team had many participating factions, the competing teams were clearly more numerous. In the end, a large number of teams, or rather, the vast majority of teams, couldn't be picked up. Finally, members of the Ming Long Nation's expedition team, along with Mirren, Li Xing, and other contingents, made arrangements.
Xia Huna returned the megaphone to the "charcoal burner" old man. "How was it? I didn't lie to you, did I? Our Ming Long Nation is quite generous."
The old man took out a diamond from his pocket and handed it to Xia Huna as a thank you gift. Xia Huna was almost ecstatic. "I know your region produces diamonds, but to casually give one away as a gift is a bit too generous."
"It's okay. You are good people, and we are friends."
Xia Huna said goodbye to the old man and returned to the Ming Long Nation's advance camp. "You know, even though that guy looks dark, his heart is red. Look, he gave me a stone. Is this a real diamond?"
Xia Huna's question elicited laughter from everyone. Chu Xiaodie retorted, "Shouldn't you be saying that the gift is light but the sentiment is heavy at this moment?"
Xia Huna countered, "Don't you want to know if it's a real diamond or a fake one?"
"I do..."
As they were talking, Meng Tianya came out of the tent. "Alright, everyone just wander around the camp for now. Get familiar with the island's environment first, so that no problems arise later."
Xia Huna pointed to the forest. "Can we go in and walk around?"
Meng Tianya shrugged. "That's really not allowed, at least not until the competition ends. Mainly, we're afraid people might misunderstand, you know."
Xia Huna nodded indifferently. "Although this is a southern island, it shouldn't be a tropical island, and the scenery is quite nice, but this arrangement is really a bit..."
"A bit like a prison, right? Bear with it. We'll draw lots this afternoon, and the competition will start tomorrow."