Chapter 625: I Say

Shenhezhen, History Research Institute.

After following the research team to complete the exploration of the Destiny Slate, Zhulan was finally able to put aside her main job and return to a relaxed Champion life.

"So bored..."

Late at night, Zhulan sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling in resignation.

After so many days, the archaeological work surrounding the Spear Pillar ruins had finally come to an end. All that remained was to wait for other teams to discover the most crucial "Spear Key."

However, having suddenly stepped away from high-intensity work and immediately reverting to her usual relaxed and leisurely Champion mode...

She actually felt a bit unaccustomed to it.

"The Alliance's work has already been well-distributed by Wusong; there doesn't seem to be anything I can help with."

Thinking of this, Zhulan couldn't help but shake her head helplessly.

Nominally, she is the Champion of the Shenaolian Alliance and the face of the entire region, but the Alliance's operations don't seem to require her effort anymore; just relying on Wusong and the other three is enough to keep everything running in perfect order.

But that's fine; professional matters should be handled by professional people. With an Elite Four member as reliable as Wusong, she just needs to trust them completely.

So, what should she do with this long-awaited holiday?

As a late-stage patient of decision paralysis, Zhulan tried hard to think, but she had no clue at all. Soon, she looked up at the Garchomp resting nearby while hugging a Togepi doll.

Seeing this, Zhulan couldn't help but smile.

Garchomp, who looks very fierce, has actually lacked a sense of security since it was small and often needs to hug something to fall asleep.

At first, it was her arm, then it was the egg before Togepi hatched.

Until now, Togepi has long since evolved into Togekiss, and Garchomp has also become more mature and reliable.

However, when returning home, it still often inadvertently shows its old habits.

"Garch?"

Garchomp sensed her gaze and immediately looked up, confused.

"Do you want me to lie down with you for a while?"

Zhulan smiled slightly, speaking with a hint of teasing, which immediately earned her a roll of the eyes from Garchomp.

"Garch..."

After crossing its claws in a gesture of refusal, Garchomp lay back down on the carpet.

When it was small, perhaps because it was hatched while being held by her, it really liked sleeping with Zhulan.

But now, acting spoiled is no longer suitable for it.

After evolving, its skin became better adapted for battle and thus rougher. Coupled with its sharp hand-blades and spikes, it might accidentally hurt her if it wasn't careful.

Therefore, even though it actually wanted to act spoiled with Zhulan like it did when it was small, it still suppressed this impulse.

However...

If it keeps refusing, will she feel sad?

Thinking of this, Garchomp silently looked up and glanced at Zhulan from the corner of its eye.

Completely different from what it had imagined, Zhulan didn't seem to take its refusal to heart at all. She had already picked up her phone and seemed to be watching something.

While Garchomp felt relieved, it also felt a bit disappointed.

Of course, Zhulan didn't notice its small movements.

Because her attention was now drawn by a pop-up received on her phone.

"The streamer you follow is live!"

Zhulan raised an eyebrow and clicked in without hesitation.

During the time she was following the team for the investigation, she had gradually lost her sense of time, so she completely forgot that today was Sunday.

The only one who would stream late at night was Xiang Qingyu, who was far away in Paldea and had a time difference.

She had received a message from Xiang Qingyu in the afternoon saying he had decided to participate in this month's Psychic Master Tournament. It was a good time to see if he had made any progress during this period.

Psychic users are all monsters.

Besides Cattleya, Miss Natsume from Guandou and Miss Gejihua from Kalos are also very powerful Gym Leaders.

If his strength isn't enough, even if Xiang Qingyu can come up with all sorts of outrageous tactics to counter the Psychic type, it might not necessarily produce good results.

"Of course... actually, it also has to do with the other Mega-user on the Sandstorm team being a bit of a drag."

After entering the stream, the first sentence Xiang Qingyu said immediately made Zhulan raise an eyebrow.

Today's tactic, it seems, is a Sandstorm team?

"Garch?!"

Hearing the familiar man's voice, Garchomp, who was originally resting on the ground, immediately sprang into action and stood up abruptly.

Xiang Qingyu! It's you again!

Why does it feel like every time it hears this guy talking, he's talking behind its back?

As for the reason...

Although he didn't say it explicitly, when talking about Sandstorm team members who can also master Mega Evolution power, who else could it be!

Regarding Garchomp's stress reaction, Zhulan just smiled and then explained:

"Xiang Qingyu is streaming right now; do you want to watch together?"

During this period, because Professor Platane from Kalos and the Devon Corporation from Fengyuan collaborated to make the mysteries of Mega Evolution public, Trainers from various regions had long since received the relevant information.

Even her grandmother, Professor Mustard, had prepared the Garchomp Evolution Stone and Key Stone for her in advance.

Today, Zhulan had also taken advantage of her free time to try using this special power with Garchomp, but for some reason, Garchomp didn't seem very accustomed to it, so it appeared much clumsier than before it evolved.

Although Xiang Qingyu was far away in Paldea, he seemed to have some research on Mega Evolution as well.

So Zhulan had originally planned to wait until his stream ended to ask Xiang Qingyu about Garchomp's Super Evolution.

Perhaps, she could take this opportunity to make his relationship with Garchomp better?

However...

After hearing Zhulan's suggestion, although Garchomp looked suspicious, it still quickly leaned over.

And just at this moment, Xiang Qingyu's next sentence came out:

"I don't seem to have said who it is; why did you all start guessing it's Garchomp?"

"Garch?!"

Garchomp was clearly stunned for a moment, and then its face collapsed abruptly.

You tricked me over here just to roast me to my face?

You really deserve to die!

This kid is truly too bad; from now on, he is not allowed to get close to our Zhulan!

And Zhulan clearly didn't expect that Xiang Qingyu would really start joking about Garchomp in the stream again.

It seems that the first time she discovered he was streaming, it was the same scene...

Since it was small, Xiang Qingyu seemed to really like teasing Gible, which is why their relationship had always been in a state of being both good and bad.

A bit like Cattleya.

A flash of memory crossed Zhulan's eyes, but she soon noticed the sulking expression on Garchomp's face, and her eyes suddenly became lively.

Just now, she thought of a development that might be very interesting.

"Garchomp."

"Garch?"

After Zhulan spoke calmly, Garchomp quickly cast a confused look.

"Since Xiang Qingyu said such excessive things..."

"How about we snipe him once and use Garchomp in the game to defeat him head-on~"

After entering the battle interface, Zhulan's lineup quickly appeared on the screen.

Spiritomb, Roserade, Togekiss, Milotic, Lucario, Garchomp.

A glance across, and not even the types were repeated. Most of the Pokémon in the lineup had their own special functions, and almost every one of them was both offensive and defensive.

Even if Spiritomb's offensive ability was slightly weaker, it could use Destiny Bond or Hypnosis to bring unique contributions to the team.

The gap in level between a regional Champion and other Elite Trainers can indeed be intuitively felt from the lineup.

Especially geniuses like Zhulan and Daigo, who are not limited to a single type and whose lineup depth is hard to estimate, making it even harder to target them.

This is the main reason why Xiang Qingyu could easily win against Mikeli but felt that this battle with Zhulan would inevitably be very difficult.

"However... even if it's difficult, I have to try."

While Xiang Qingyu clicked his tongue secretly, he had already entered the overclocking mode before the battle, his gaze focused on Zhulan's lineup.

"If Spiritomb leads, it should try to use Hypnosis to establish an advantage, but the playstyle is too luck-dependent. It might work on a novice, but at this point, Zhulan shouldn't consider it."

"Considering the Sandstorm team I'm using... if I were Zhulan, I would most likely choose Lucario to lead to catch the matchup, striving to focus fire and take out the most important weather setter, Tyranitar, in one punch."

"Milotic is not impossible, but I have Rotom-Wash in my team. She definitely wouldn't want to see Volt Switch chip damage, and the interference ability of Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave also needs to be considered."

Xiang Qingyu quickly started muttering to himself.