Chapter 26: The Tournament Is About to Begin

The time left for Baimu was running short.

Therefore, over the next few days, he had no choice but to compress his literacy class study time and increase his battle time in the underground city, so as to familiarize himself with the Pokémon he held.

Since battle modes were unrestricted during the tournament, everyone occasionally played two-on-two or three-on-three as well. After all, it would essentially be a ruleless wild battle, with the sole purpose of defeating the opponent.

Without a bit of coordination, if a free-for-all accidentally screwed over a teammate, that would be awkward.

Fortunately, Chansey only needed extra practice on healing abilities and a boost to its own courage, so it didn't add more burden to him.

Finding the right positioning really was important.

And without a doubt, the oversized Larvitar drew quite a bit of attention, most of those gazes tinged with envy — after all, that person had given the Pokémon to him in full public view.

Isn't it just something that crawled up from below? On what grounds is it getting favored like this?

Clearly Master Liu Ge is a Successor just like us! Clearly we're the ones on the same side!

If not for that worrying declaration the day before, if not for Otsuka and the others already keeping close company with him, if not for Liu Ge's undisguised care, this bunch of jealousy-twisted fellows would probably have already started ganging up to ostracize Baimu.

Resentment of the talented was inevitable.

"These people really are fickle." Baimu sighed helplessly.

Although the ways of the world change, that awkwardness of adolescence never does — these fellows had swallowed their hostility because of Liu Ge's appreciation, and now sprouted it again because of Liu Ge's excessive appreciation.

Of course, to him this could only count as light amusement between battles; compared to this, he cared more about the long-range move that Aron had struggled so hard to learn—

【Rock Tomb】

Originally he had been aiming for Rock Slide, pestering Otsuka's Golem every day to set up big rocks for Aron to throw, push, and ram — somehow it ended up turning into Rock Tomb instead.

"It's like that when you learn moves on your own; if you could learn whatever you wanted, that'd be a Move Tutor." Otsuka tried to comfort Baimu.

The latter asked back, "Move Tutor?"

"Yeah, some people have unique training techniques that can make Pokémon learn the moves they planned." Otsuka's face was full of longing. "People like that have an incredibly high status no matter where they are."

Ah~

I see.

Baimu raised an eyebrow; he suddenly felt like impersonating this so-called Move Tutor, relying on the moves rewarded by the simulator.

But he immediately rejected it himself — after all, the moves produced by the simulator weren't fixed, and it took so long to simulate even once; saving the chance to learn moves for others was just too much of a loss.

Unless he was especially short on money, or the randomized move really couldn't be used.

"That's fine too."

Baimu stroked Aron's head. Compared to Rock Slide, Rock Tomb had slightly less power, but could use sheer numbers to seal off the opponent's movement, thereby lowering the opponent's speed.

A textbook utility move.

"Goo!"

Aron returned a smile.

——

"I gave you so much time, and he's still perfectly fine?"

"A thousand apologies — the target really was too wary, almost never stayed in the underground city for long, ate and rested on the surface, and Liu Ge…"

"I don't want to hear your nonsense — tell me, what do you plan to do next?"

"…I've already contacted the pawn on the Cerberus Squad's side, successfully stirred up their emotions — once the tournament starts, someone will go intercept him!"

"Hmph, I hope so. If the tournament ends and I don't see his legs, I'll take yours!"

"A thousand apologies!"

"Get lost!"

"Yes!"

In the darkness, a figure kept nodding and bowing, as if bowing to someone, only muttering curses under his breath after the beeping sound rang out.

"Stupid baldhead! What do you know of my hardships! Push, push, push! Pushing me to death!"

Talking about striking at Cang Zhi Lang's faction, preventing the other side's team from expanding again — isn't that just him not being able to save face?

Not only did his underhanded tricks fail, they got spread around everywhere; seeing the matter couldn't be quietly smoothed over, he cooked up more schemes and plots — what does any of this have to do with me?

Whoever screwed up, go find them!

Doesn't even dare to kill the guy, only dares to break his legs — heh heh heh, laughable, absolutely laughable!

If he hadn't boarded a pirate ship he couldn't get off, he truly wouldn't want to keep mixing with this kind of small-minded big shot.

Being a mole is too sad.

"Shi Yuan Du! Taking a piss that long? Want me to take you to the hospital? Seriously, it might actually be a disease!"

"Coming, coming!"

Shi Yuan Du gave a start, pretended to hitch up his pants as he walked out of the dark alley, and met Baimu and Otsuka's curious gazes. "Heh heh heh, sorry about that."

"Drink more water — sometimes drinking water can solve a lot of problems."

Baimu patted Shi Yuan Du's shoulder with the weight of experience.

"I will." He grinned sheepishly.

To defeat the enemy, one must understand the enemy. Shi Yuan Du was well-versed in the aesthetics of backstabbing, and had long since found a chance to chat with Baimu.

And by seizing the moment when the other was being cold-shouldered by those around him, he quickly grew close.

By now, Baimu probably already trusted him completely. Shi Yuan Du would occasionally daydream about what wonderful expression the other would show when he got backstabbed.

Disbelief? Heartache? Or despair?

"Heh heh heh…"

Shi Yuan Du couldn't help laughing out loud, completely failing to notice the strange looks Baimu and Otsuka were giving him from the side.

'What's up with this kid?'

'No idea — old problem, you know how he is.'

The two exchanged glances but didn't think much of it — that person always liked spacing out while grinning foolishly, looking rather abnormal.

They returned to the field and continued battling until both trainer and Pokémon were completely exhausted.

Ever since getting Chansey, All Baimu's Aron had much better stamina, no longer dropping to the ground after just a few hits like before.

He had asked Aron whether battling every day felt too grueling, whether it needed to dial the intensity down a bit.

The latter, however, shook its head wildly, saying it wasn't tough at all and it could handle even more.

All Baimu found it hard to tell whether that answer was genuine — Aron had been abandoned before, and might very well have developed the idea that if it didn't fight, it couldn't stay by his side.

So he often had heart-to-hearts with Aron, not wanting it to carry that kind of psychological burden.

If only it truly found joy in it.

Still, All Baimu felt that every time he and Aron won, the smile Aron showed was probably not faked.

Aron's efforts had also pushed it up to level thirty-three — starting from twenty-eight, using three level-up rewards, plus two levels from independent battles. The pace could be called lightning-fast.

And after all these days of healing work, Chansey had become quite skilled in every respect, and its habit of being constantly nervous had improved dramatically.

It just often needed him to give it a gentle push, like offering encouragement — fine in the short term, but definitely not workable long-term.

The gap between active and passive was too big; it should be independent, should muster its own courage.

"Raising Pokémon really is a deep study."

He rubbed the two Poké Balls in his hand.

As the competition drew near, the young Misses and lads on the field were visibly tensing up, and that mood spread to their Pokémon, making the battles very hasty and the shouting urgent.

"It's making me a little nervous too."

All Baimu took a deep breath to steady his emotions — a trainer's state affects the Pokémon, so to make sure Aron and the others had plenty of fighting strength, he had to stay calm.

"Life or death, it all comes down to this one."