Taking the ticket to the Isle of Armor, John boarded a train at the station, transferred to a Corviknight taxi midway, and finally arrived at his destination.
Stepping out of the Isle of Armor station, John found himself standing in a vast wilderness field.
This was a coastal wilderness area. Standing in place and gazing into the distance, he saw an endless blue ocean stretching to the horizon. Turning around, there were coconut trees, beaches, and Wingull "singing" as they flew overhead.
Nothing surrounded the area except the station and a Pokemon Center.
But if he turned and walked toward the island’s interior, he could immediately spot the Martial Arts Dojo who’s master was named Mustard.
Mustard was the teacher of the current Galar region Champion Leon. More importantly, he was an 18-time consecutive League Champion record holder.
In other words, Mustard was a living legend.
If there was such a thing as a "Pokemon Master" in this world, he would definitely be one of them.
At the same time, Mustard was also the owner of the Isle of Armor, having named the island himself.
"I remember he still has a Urshifu," John muttered. According to the game’s plot, if he joined Mustard’s martial arts school, he’d have a chance to obtain a Kubfu, the pre-evolution form of the martial arts bear master.
As the first legendary Pokemon with an evolution line, this was quite significant.
However, since it was a legendary Pokemon, John didn’t hold much hope of obtaining it easily.
Walking closer to Mustard’s martial arts dojo, John was immediately stopped by two people.
One was a female Psychic wearing a magician’s hat, controlling a Pokeball floating in mid-air.
The other had a white bow tied in her hair and wore a fleece jacket—a sweet-looking girl.
[Klara (looking him up and down): Are you also a trainer who came to join the martial arts school?]
[Avery: I didn’t expect there would be new disciples joining at this time. How rare!]
[Klara (getting excited): How about... we help Teacher test how good this new disciple is in advance?]
[Avery (face freezing): We’d better not. I don’t want to get lectured by Teacher again.]
[Klara (seeming to remember something unpleasant): Right, let’s forget about it...]
The two left in a panic.
Watching the duo talk among themselves before departing, John remembered that these two were supposed to be the protagonist’s rivals in the game. More precisely, they were the strong opponents on the Isle of Armor.
However, they seemed more like a comedic duo, so he didn’t pay them much attention.
John continued controlling his character and headed straight for the martial arts dojo.
Before reaching the dojo, John heard sounds of "Ha! Ha! Ha!" coming from inside.
This wasn’t someone encouraging drinking, but a group of people practicing martial arts with their Pokemon.
Thinking back, John recalled that Mustard seemed to be a trainer who specialized in Fighting-type Pokemon.
When he reached the dojo entrance, he saw an old man squatting on the ground playing with a Gameboy.
John stepped forward to talk.
The old man stood up, put down his device, looked at John, and asked:
[Mustard: Do you want to join the martial arts school and train with me?]
The person in front of him was Mustard?!
John hadn’t expected that the person who won 18 consecutive Pokemon League championships would turn out to be this little old man squatting on the ground playing games.
White pants, a green vest, and two long white eyebrows hanging on both sides of his face like extra braids. He looked quite peculiar.
Of course, John had some memory of Mustard’s appearance, but he hadn’t expected to meet him squatting at the dojo entrance playing games, looking like an old farmer shucking corn in a countryside yard. What champion? What 18 consecutive Alliance championship throne? He had none of that temperament at all!
However, he still needed to join the martial arts school. This appearance only showed that Master Mustard was very down-to-earth.
John controlled his character to select "Yes."
Mustard immediately clapped his hands and put away his Gameboy.
[Mustard: Since you want to join the martial arts school and train with me, you need proper training clothes. Unfortunately, the clothes I prepared for a new disciple a few days ago were stolen by a group of wild Pokemon. So you’ll need to get those clothes back first.]
[Mustard: This is also my test for you to join the martial arts dojo. After you retrieve the clothes, you’ll officially be counted as my martial arts apprentice.]
[Mustard: I’ll mark the locations of the Pokemon who stole the clothes on your map.]
As he spoke, he handed John a map.
A quest prompt appeared on the Gameboy:
[Trigger Quest: Mustard’s Three Trials Part 1]
[Quest Requirements: Retrieve the stolen training clothes (0/3)]
[Quest Reward: Unlock Mustard Martial Arts Dojo reputation]
A quest trigger with Gameboy prompts outside of dungeons?
The rewards were novel too.
Could it be that he could earn rewards through the Dojo system?
John began to look forward to it.
John tried opening the panel and could already check the local map. The Isle of Armor map was very detailed.
Fields of Honor, Honeycalm Sea, Forest of Focus, Courageous Cavern, and more.
Three red target icons appeared in the areas of Courageous Cavern, Forest of Focus, and Honeycalm Sea. The target icons with red dots were still moving and weren’t fixed in one location.
These should be the locations of the Pokemon that Mustard had marked for John,the ones who had stolen his prepared clothes.
After visiting the Pokemon Center in the Fields of Honor for treatment, John began heading to the nearest location, Honeycalm Sea, to search for the first stolen training outfit.