Early the next morning, Dante and his friends said their goodbyes to Mr. and Mrs. Zulueta then returned to the University. As it was their trip to the portal the next day, the group only did some light training before heading to Dante's mansion to relax.
However, while the girls were resting, Dante was checking and preparing his Space Bag for any items he needed.
Because of the importance of the ruins' exploration, he was required to go to their meeting place a day earlier for an orientation- to a hotel near the Snow Portal.
Not just him, the other invited students and the other low-ranking Alliance members who were lucky to be invited would also come. And from the official group chat he was added in, there were rumors that there would also be their country's Elite Four or Champion there.
After making sure everything was ready, he bathed and dressed in a casual suit then bid farewell to Shinobu and the others.
"Good luck, Dan! Oh! Be sure to tell us what the inside of the ruins looked like!"
Candice said cheerfully while giving him a brief hug. The others also gave their blessings one by one, until in the end, only Focalors and Shinobu remained.
Focalors stepped forward and slightly adjusted his suit.
"Please be careful. Although you're strong, remember not to get too overconfident when exploring the ruins, alright? Pikachu, please protect Dante."
"Pika pika!"
Focalors nodded in satisfaction and stepped back. However, before she turned around to the others, Dante hugged and gave her a deep kiss.
"Don't worry. I used our illusion on us."
"...when you return, I have a big surprise for you."
Her face was slightly red as she returned to the others. However, thanks to everyone being focused on Dante, no one seemed to notice it. At last, Shinobu stepped forward.
"Have fun there, Dan. Next time, let's explore a ruin together as well."
"Definitely."
Dante nodded and also gave her a deep kiss. Only this time, he didn't bother putting up an illusion. He chuckled and ignored the reaction of the other girls before taking out Ursaring.
"See you in a bit, then. And good luck on your trip too!"
With a wave, Ursaring rushed on all fours while carrying Dante on his back. He had already carried him, Pikachu, and Eevee on his back around the campus multiple times, so he was already accustomed to running like this.
With his maximum speed and strength, Ursaring only needs one leap to reach their destination. However, just like other land vehicles, riding on a Pokemon also has a speed limit- circumvented only if the situation is urgent and they have an official pass.
Dante and Ursaring had none of those, so they just took a leisurely pace of 50 km/h and arrived at their destination in less than 20 minutes.
"Whistle~ the Alliance really doesn't skimp on its treatment."
Before him was a building that was at least 50 stories tall. It was a four-star hotel, with free breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the guests. And from the outside, each room looks to be very spaced apart.
From what he knew, a room here costs around 10,000 credits for one night. The Alliance invited more than 100 people for the exploration. If each of them had a room, that would amount to more than 1 million credits just for the accommodation.
'Though for them, such a price must be just a drop in the bucket.' Dante thought as he entered the hotel and gave his ID to the lady at the counter.
"Welcome, Mr. Dante. This is the Key Card to your room. The orientation starts at 2 PM just in the stage room besides the main hall."
"I understand. Thank you."
Dante smiled and took back his ID and the Key Card. However, in the middle of doing so, he felt something extra being slipped in. He glanced down and saw a piece of paper with a string of numbers on it.
Looking up at the receptionist lady, her demeanor was still as calm and professional as ever. However, the slight curvature of her mouth and the wink she sent made Dante's eyes slightly widen.
She was either hitting on him, or…this is one of those legendary 'special services' in some hotels. He had only heard about it. But maybe because he often went with Shinobu, this was the first time he experienced something like this.
He placed his ID and Key card in his pocket and clenched the piece of paper. Then, he smiled and nodded back at the lady before walking towards the main hall. And on the way there, he mobilized his energy to destroy the paper.
As someone the hotel hired to face the guests, the lady's appearance was impeccable. Paired with her mature charm, her rating had even reached 9/10 in Dante's standard.
However, he doesn't want to push his luck for now. Although Shinobu was very open to Focalors and Mualani joining them in bed, that was because she also had a close relationship with them. (Focalors still haven't joined in, but Shinobu is just okay with it).
He had no plans on knowing her reaction once she learned he slept with someone he barely even met- just because he couldn't control his libido. The hard earned harem he had just started to build may crumble before it even began its first expansion.
After using some energy to disperse the ashes in his hand, he entered the hotel's main hall. It was nearing the time for orientation, so he decided to attend before heading to his room.
As it was late afternoon, there were many people chatting and lounging around. When the door swung open, most of them turned to see the new guest.
"Isn't that…?"
"That's Dante Zulueta!"
"Who?"
"Tsk tsk, that's why I said you shouldn't stay cooped up in the Pokeportal. He's the current strongest among the younger generation of Trainers, with a good chance of even becoming part of the Elite 4 or even the Champion in the future!"
"What!? I haven't only followed the news for a few months and a monster like that emerged without warning?"
"That's because he just became a Trainer in the past few months!"
Hearing the surrounding discussion, Dante maintained a calm smile. He doesn't know how many times he has heard the same whispers of awe and praise whenever he walks around Treasure Town with his team.
At first, it was hard to force himself to stop grinning like a fool. But over time, he got used to it, only feeling a slight pride when hearing these.
He glanced around to search for the room the receptionist mentioned. With his keen eyesight, it didn't take long to see a huge sign on top of a door that read 'For the Alliance Rescue Members!'.
He raised an eyebrow before walking over. It seems the Alliance was really cautious about not letting others learn about the ruins. Well, hopefully, Shinobu and the others don't let slip what he had told them about.
At the door, there were two guards who checked his identity before allowing him entry. The bystanders were curious why an operation to quell the Pokemon riot needed to be so secretive, but after learning it was related to the criminal Hunter J, they just 'ahhed' and left it at that.
Meanwhile, inside the room, Dante saw many people and Pokemon already gathered. There were those whose age were similar to him, and those whose hair had begun to fall off.
He smiled and nodded at the ones who greeted him as he walked down the aisle while looking for an empty seat. He found one in just a moment, though he was surprised to find a familiar face nearby.
"Hey, Lesther. Long time no see!"
"Who the hell's Lesther?! My name's Luiz!"
"Ahahah, oh yeah. I'm surprised though. I didn't expect you'd be selected for this exploration as well."
Dante said with a smirk as he sat down beside the blond boy. Luiz Sanchez, the first Trainer whom he fought in an unofficial battle together with Pikachu.
At that time, he had only trained with Pikachu for a few days in the PMD world, and Spinda's Cafe still wasn't available. Against Luiz and his Scyther, they had to take a lot of effort to win.
But that was then. At the Rookie Competition, this guy couldn't even defeat Shinobu who still had Shelmet. Therefore, he was quite surprised this guy had managed to obtain a high enough ranking in their school to get one of the ruins exploration quota.
"Hmph. Don't underestimate our university because of him. He just bought the position from one of the other top 10 students."
At this time, a cute but fierce voice from the side butted in. Sitting beside Luiz, a girl with short, fiery orange hair and wearing a white, frilly one piece dress said.
"Heh. So what if I did? Don't act all high and mighty with me, Hine. If it wasn't for your sister giving you the Mega Stone, there's no way you would have entered the top 10 so quickly and got the quota as well!"
"At least I won my position through a fair battle! And doesn't your family have a Mega Stone for Scizor too? Don't blame me just because your bond with your Pokemon isn't strong enough!"
"Why you!"
Dante watched with amusement as the two argued. So it wasn't Luiz that suddenly became stronger, but he just used the power of money.
Thinking about it, isn't his family in charge of the Flying-type Gym or something? And they have Scizor's Mega Stone? Now he was interested. Maybe he should set that as the target for his 7th Badge?
And also, according to the words of these two, the top 10 in their university all gained a chance to explore the ruins. In that case, there was only one school that meets that criteria- the Philippines Pokemon University.
He looked past the two arguing people and at the similarly aged people in the same row. As expected, they really were the top students of said school.
"Ahem! H-hey, Dante, right? I'm Hine Haborym. N-nice to meet you."
Just as he was looking over the 'top threats' Coach Jomar repeatedly emphasized during their training session, the bickering between Luiz and Hine finally stopped. At this time, the orange-haired girl shifted her attention back to Dante. Staring at her outstretched hand, Dante smiled and shook it.
"Dante Zulueta. From what Luiz said, are you a first year as well?"
"Y-yeah! I-"
"Hey! You're here too, Dante!"
A heroic female voice interrupted Hine. From the side, a girl with long black hair tied into a ponytail enthusiastically greeted. Three bangs stuck out from her forehead, two of them colored green which was different from the rest of her hair.
She had healthy tanned skin and a slim build, seeming to be more of the athletic type. Her orange irises seemed to be glowing as she stared at Dante.
"Yeah. I was lucky and got the only quota from our school. You must be Nemona? The student council president and 1st rank of the Philippines University?"
"Hahaha, yup! That's me! So? How about it?"
"Huh? How about what?"
"Let's go for a battle after this!"
Dante raised his eyebrows as he stared at this 4th year senior student from the current strongest University. Was she joking? But her expression and tone suggests she wasn't. So, she really wanted to fight him?
"Uhh, Nemona. The contract explicitly stated that we aren't allowed to fight amongst ourselves, or else both parties would be removed from the exploration."
"Ah darn it! I forgot! Hahaha, I was just so excited to fight against you it slipped my mind."
Nemona scratched the back of her head and laughed. Since the two of them couldn't fight, she just had a hearty talk with Dante and returned to her seat when the orientation started.
The venue had been filled up with more people than when he first came in. And on the stage, a black-haired middle aged man in a formal suit went up and attracted everyone's attention.
"Everyone. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come today. I'm sure most of you have already been informed on our method of action, but for everyone's sake, I'll briefly summarize it."
"Ehem. This time's actions will have three phases. For the first phase, everyone will travel and make a stronghold near the location of the ruins. Trainers are tasked to hold back the Pokemon who are currently on a riot while the non-combat personnel set up camp."
"The second phase will be the longest one. Multiple shifts will happen as everyone is tasked to either guard the camp or join the ruins exploration. This can last for weeks, or even months, until the ruin is explored and the Pokemon riot is resolved."
"And the last phase is the final checking before returning to the real world. That concludes the summary. So now we'll talk about the specific method of operation..."
The middle-aged man continued to drone on. Dante absentmindedly patted Pikachu and Eevee who were sitting on his lap, watching some new movie, while he listened to the guy onstage.
After an hour, the orientation was finally over. The man just talked about precautions, things to look out for while exploring ruins, as well as how important it is to follow the leader's orders.
Speaking of which, everyone who attended this orientation will be assigned under the command of a more experienced Trainer. As he headed back to his room, Dante wondered who would be his team Leader.
A/N: Ehehe, sorry for the late chap. This should have been finished yesterday, but I found a new mtl genshin fanfic that I just couldn't drop, and before I knew it, hours had passed by.
I'll offer up the title as an apology. It's "Genshin Impact short video, the death penalty at the beginning scared Fu Fu to tears". It can be read at fanmtl, and yes, as expected of a machine translated fanfic, the grammar is a bit unbearable and some names are unrecognizable. I've been reading mtls for almost 10 years at this point, so it doesn't faze me. But if you're just a beginner, expect some headaches.
Tbf though, there are many good fanfics on that site if you can stomach the problems. And with the advancement of the translation system, it isn't as unbearable as it used to be.