Chapter 561

Hoenn Region, Pokémon League.

About a week has passed since the League Champion, Steven, finished his "external mission."

However, although the Champion returned like a flash of lightning, Wallace, who had been acting as the interim Champion and fulfilling Steven's duties, did not return to Sootopolis City, but instead remained at the Hoenn League.

After all, in times of peace, it is quite impossible to expect Steven to do any work.

He has ten thousand excuses to delegate work to the other Elite Four members, and they have even become accustomed to this.

"Hoo—"

Sitting in the League Champion's seat, Wallace finally finished his work and looked toward the other side with a helpless expression.

On the sofa, Steven was immersed in his own game world; an enchanted diamond pickaxe in the center of the screen was digging away furiously, and his score in the top right corner was also skyrocketing.

This is Steven's favorite game, and it is said that he is also the current world record holder for the highest score, more than double the score of his father, who is in second place.

Wallace actually has no objections to Steven's little hobby.

However...

"Hey! Can you not play games openly during work hours, Mr. Champion? Why don't you just let me be the Champion instead..."

Wallace held his forehead, his face full of helplessness.

"Haha, if you're willing, that's not impossible, you know."

Steven smiled slightly, his eyes still fixed firmly on the screen in front of him as he replied.

"If you were the Champion, I could rest easy."

"..."

Honestly, Steven's thick-skinned nature has already exceeded Wallace's imagination.

To think there would be such an absurd reason as needing personal time to give up the Champion position, you guy, Steven!

"Forget it. After all, this Champion position was snatched from my hands fair and square by you, so just fulfill your duties properly, hey!"

While Wallace was complaining, he had already stood up and walked toward Steven, sitting on the other side of the sofa.

"Speaking of which, did you happen to meet Xiang Qingyu in the Paldea region?"

As soon as Xiang Qingyu's name was mentioned, Steven's focused expression suddenly froze for a moment.

It was at this moment that the game popped up the settlement screen.

"Hmm, Teacher Yu is a very interesting person. He is quite different from the image I had in my mind."

Noticing that the score was much lower than he had imagined, Steven smiled helplessly, then turned his head to look at Wallace.

"Actually, I didn't feel that Teacher Yu had anything 'underworld' about him at all. Getting along with him, he feels like an outstanding young man with a strong sense of justice."

Even though the time spent with Xiang Qingyu was not long, recalling his various actions—such as being able to calmly make judgments when facing those two powerful Paradox Pokémon, and immediately choosing to stop after discovering the truth—undoubtedly left Steven with a good impression of him.

He is indeed a very generous person, even giving valuable gifts to newcomers upon first meeting.

But at the same time, Steven is also an "investor" with extremely high standards.

The eldest son of the Devon Corporation is not some foolish son of a landlord; only Trainers who have earned his approval will receive preferential treatment.

And Xiang Qingyu is the most outstanding peer he has ever met in Paldea.

So even if he likes to play some strange and eccentric tactics online, it doesn't overshadow his virtues, and it doesn't affect Steven's high regard for him.

He even gifted him a precious Evolution Stone as a souvenir for their journey.

"Your evaluation is so high..."

Wallace was stunned.

Why does it feel like the Xiang Qingyu in his eyes is a completely different species from the one in Steven's eyes?

His impression of Xiang Qingyu is simply that of a "sunny and cheerful big boy." What kind of normal person plays salt-cure torture on their opponents...

It's fortunate that Steven didn't suffer this loss, otherwise he would also be confused for a while.

"Forget it, move aside, it's my turn to play."

After the topic ended, Wallace immediately snatched the controller from Steven's hands.

To this, Steven didn't say anything, still maintaining a calm smile.

As a person of Sootopolis isolated from the world, Wallace actually has quite few hobbies.

Besides participating in Pokémon Contests to showcase his "unique and elegant charm," there is only Pokémon battling.

Therefore, the only game he would play is "Pokémon Champion."

"Speaking of which, is today the day Xiang Qingyu is streaming?"

Steven spoke up suddenly, making Wallace, who had just opened the game, freeze for a moment before reacting.

"That's right, Xiang Qingyu mentioned before that he was going to talk about Rain Teams this time."

"I'm actually quite looking forward to it. After all, it seems there are no tactics that Xiang Qingyu doesn't know. The previous Sun Team also received a lot of praise."

While talking, Wallace had already taken out his phone, opened PokéTV, and entered Xiang Qingyu's live broadcast room.

"Sure enough, today is a Rain Team special."

Wallace nodded.

Occasionally, when work is finished, he also watches Xiang Qingyu's stream. The various imaginative tactics in his hands are truly eye-opening.

Compared to these, the relatively basic weather system is not that difficult.

However, with Xiang Qingyu's style, he will definitely show his unique understanding in today's stream.

If he can broaden his thinking because of this, that would be good too.

Of course, Wallace wouldn't watch for free. Seeing Gym Leaders from other regions sending gifts one after another, he also clicked casually to send one as tuition for learning the tactics.

"Oh?"

After glancing at his actions, Steven responded with a subtle sound, then the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and the tone of his voice carried a bit of teasing.

"Speaking of which, since Teacher Yu is using a Rain Team for this week's teaching, shouldn't you, an expert who is also good at Rain Teams, consider sniping Teacher Yu to avenge your defeat in the last battle?"

"I heard about last time, Teacher Yu used Garganacl to pierce through half of your team. It was a total rout with no room to fight back."

"..."

Wallace sighed helplessly.

How could he not know that Steven was stirring up trouble again, wanting him to go and cause a scene?

But he happens to fall for this, so even though Steven knows he can see through his thoughts, he is still confident.

"Then let's give it a try. I happen to have some new understandings, and they seem to overlap a bit with Teacher Yu's ideas."

Wallace soon showed a confident smile, and amidst Steven's subtle "as expected" expression, he quickly started "Pokémon Champion."

If he were facing other teams, perhaps he wouldn't be so confident.

But Rain is completely his specialty, and Xiang Qingyu's lineup doesn't have that many flashy things.

Most importantly, that Garganacl that came purely to retaliate against society is not in his lineup, and he has a solution for the Gliscor that looks somewhat decent.

So, it's not impossible to win against Xiang Qingyu!

With this thought in mind, Wallace quickly matched with an opponent.

Upon noticing the extremely familiar Trainer image in front of him, his heart rate accelerated by a few beats.

He really did snipe him, so let's have a go!

Wallace's expression was extremely serious, clearly intending to go all out.

To this, Steven could only smile helplessly.

To think he actually matched with him, can such a low-probability event really happen?

However, even he hasn't seen Wallace in his serious form for a long time.

The last time should have been on the Victory Road, the battle between him and Wallace to decide the Champion?

Thinking of this, Steven's expression suddenly became subtle.

But why do I always feel like Wallace is going to lose?

After the match was successful, Wallace's lineup was quickly displayed in front of Xiang Qingyu.

Politoed, Milotic, Ludicolo, Swampert, Toxapex, Wash Rotom.

"The lineup has been optimized quite a bit."

Watching the mature Rain Team system in front of him, Xiang Qingyu's mouth quickly curled into a smile.

Sure enough, these Trainers at the level of Gym Leader and above improve much faster than those newcomers.

Less than two months have passed since his last battle with Wallace, and he has already optimized his lineup to a fairly perfect level on his own.

"Although it's still a pure Water-type team like last time, the details are done better."

Xiang Qingyu thought while whispering his thoughts out loud.

"Wash Rotom, which can use Thunder in the rain, also has good defensive synergy."

"Toxapex's positioning is similar to the Gliscor in our team, but not exactly the same. Its defensive ability is very excellent."

Speaking of which, Toxapex seems to be the Pokémon he used when he faced Wallace last time. That battle must have given him inspiration.

"Except for the choice of weather setter, the overall idea is actually a bit similar to mine?"

From the previous all-out attack lineup to the current semi-defensive team, who knows what kind of changes have taken place in Wallace's heart?

But one thing is certain—

"It seems Wallace must have watched my stream a lot..."

As soon as Xiang Qingyu's muttering came out, it immediately drew fierce complaints from the comments.

【Teacher Yu, please stop your supernatural powers! How did our Pokémon battles become like this...】

【The battle environment has long been ruined by Teacher Yu. If you don't find a way to adapt, you will be eliminated~ (Merciless)】

【It's over. Originally, the Sootopolis Gym was the most difficult in the Hoenn region. You had to hold your breath and dive deep to get there. Now even the Gym Leader's strength has come up, and it's so high-quality, how can we clear it!】

【Has the Yu-virus spread to Hoenn? It's a bit scary, brothers. Is there any place where Trainers can be more normal?】

【There is, brothers, there is. Come to our Paldea. Gym Leaders and challengers are all talented, and the tricks they pull out can bring you endless surprises!】

"..."

After glancing at the comments, Xiang Qingyu couldn't hold back.

However, the focus now is on the battle with Wallace, so he directly ignored these obvious rumors.

What do you mean the battle environment was ruined by me? This is slander!

"In a Rain civil war... I feel Wallace won't play by the rules. Let's use a conventional weather setter."

Xiang Qingyu quickly made a plan and confirmed his lead.

Pelipper!