"Arf~"
Watching the Arcanine carry a ball over to him, drop it at his feet, and then stare at him with an expectant look on its face; Julian pointed toward the three females and two males not far away—they were now all fighting, while Arcanine, the key figure in the whole situation, had run over here.
"Aren't you going to deal with that? It's because of you they're fighting, after all."
Arcanine glanced back, then shrugged with one paw, saying: "They only delay my playtime with the ball."
Somehow, the words sounded oddly familiar.
Suspiciously eyeing Arcanine, Julian wondered if the dog was subtly mocking him.
But with that innocent dog face, Julian really couldn't detect any other expression.
Then again, his own dog was a bit silly—how could it possibly be mocking him?
He picked up the ball from the ground, and Arcanine's tail began wagging so fast it was almost a blur, its eyes locked intently on the ball.
With a whoosh, Julian threw the ball.
Julian was quite strong, so naturally, the ball flew high and far—otherwise, it wouldn't be exciting enough for Arcanine.
As the ball began to descend, a red figure flashed past, catching it firmly in its mouth.
Wagging its tail, it placed the ball back in front of Julian once again.
"This time, I'm going to use a lot of force. It'll fly really far. Are you ready?"
Julian looked seriously at the Arcanine.
Arcanine nodded.
No matter how far it went, it would catch the ball before it ever touched the ground.
"Alright."
Julian weighed the ball in his hand, leaning back in an exaggerated motion.
"Go!"
He swung his arm with all his might.
The next second, Arcanine dashed off, running while looking up at the sky for the ball. But when it looked, it realized there was no ball up there at all.
The simple-minded Arcanine didn't suspect Julian hadn't thrown the ball. Its first thought was that it had run too slowly, and the ball had already flown far away.
"Sigh, this IQ… good thing it followed me. If it was out in the wild, it'd end up tricked into a butcher shop."
Julian held the ball, never having thrown it at all, while watching Arcanine sniffing around the ground in the distance, trying to locate the ball by scent.
Then Julian finally tossed the ball—for if he didn't, he feared that the dog might end up digging up the entire ground.
Thud!
The ball hit the ground.
Arcanine, who had been searching for the ball, caught its sound. Its eyes instantly lit up, locking onto the ball's location. Just as it was about to snatch it and bring it back to Julian, another Arcanine moved even faster, clamping its jaws around the ball.
Looking closer, it was none other than that male Arcanine #1.
The dog now looked triumphantly at Julian's Arcanine, as if saying, "Want it? I won't give it to you."
Unfortunately, it chose the wrong dog to provoke. Julian's Arcanine was a bit of a muscle-head; you try to play mind games, it responds with brute force.
With a light shove, male Arcanine #1 felt as if it had been rammed by a Steelix and was sent flying.
But this guy was quite stubborn. Even after being knocked away, it still kept the ball clamped tightly in his jaws.
This annoyed Arcanine even more. It walked over and lifted a paw, ready to smack the opponent's face.
Just then, male Arcanine #2 charged over and slammed into Arcanine. It probably expected to send Arcanine flying, but instead felt like it'd crashed into a mountain—the impact sent it bouncing backward.
With its paw now pressed against the other dog's face, Arcanine sneered, "Spit. It. Out."
Male Arcanine #1, feeling the force behind that paw, knew the gap between them was huge. But it still refused to let go of the ball.
"Stop right there!"
A voice rang out, and a young man hurried over to Arcanine, fuming. "Why are you hitting my Arcanine?!"
Beside him was male Arcanine #2.
The man pushed against Julian's Arcanine, trying to shove it away and save his own dog. But his strength was nowhere near enough to move the powerful creature.
Julian, who had been watching the commotion from a distance, hadn't planned to get involved. After all, this was between the three Arcanine, and frankly, his own dog was the one bullying the others.
But now that their Trainer had showed up and seemed to be scolding his Arcanine, Julian couldn't just sit back anymore.
'Damnit, my dog can only be scolded by me.'
He quickly strode over.
"What are you doing?"
With one shove, he pushed the man away from Arcanine.
Since Julian was wearing a mask and sunglasses, the man didn't recognize him.
Fuming, the man pointed at Arcanine. "You're its Trainer?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
Julian nodded, patting his own dog.
"Can't you see your Arcanine is bullying mine?!"
"Oh, sorry, didn't see it," Julian replied, casually shaking his head.
The response instantly infuriated the man. 'What the hell? He's lying right to my face!'
"Tell your Arcanine to let mine go, or you'll regret it," the man threatened.
Julian chuckled and beckoned him with a finger. "Come on. I'll give you a chance—you and me, one-on-one. If it's a Pokémon battle, you'd definitely lose to me."
The man grew even angrier at those words, but then he saw his own Arcanine being easily pinned to the ground by the other's paw. The difference in strength was clearly massive. So in a Pokémon battle, he really might stand no chance.
But in a one-on-one fight between Trainers… He sized up Julian. The guy didn't seem physically imposing, while he himself worked out regularly at the gym.
"Fine, we'll settle it one-on-one. If you lose, you apologize to my Arcanine."
"Sure. And if you lose, you apologize too."
Julian nodded.
Their confrontation had already drawn the attention of people around. After all, Julian's Arcanine looked exceptionally impressive—it had caught many eyes the moment it appeared.
Watching drama unfold was second nature to most. Instead of intervening, the onlookers were enjoying the show, many even pulling out their phones to record.
The man took off his jacket, flexing his toned muscles, and shot a triumphant look at Julian—only to be met with a dismissive finger gesture.
"I'll smash that smug face of yours!" the man roared, charging forward and throwing a punch straight at Julian's face. 'This poser, wearing a mask and sunglasses like he's some celebrity.'
The punch looked powerful, full of momentum. In his mind, he'd already knocked this show-off to the ground in tears. But then—everything went black. When his senses returned, he found himself lying flat on the ground.
The man: 'What happened? Where am I? How did I...'
"Don't you think that dog and the guy in the mask look a bit familiar?" one person recording whispered to his friend.
"It's Champion Walker! How haven't you recognized him yet?" his friend replied with a hint of disdain. "You're such a fake fan—just because he's wearing a mask and sunglasses, you can't recognize him?"
"Oh crap, it really is Champion Walker! Should we still be filming this? Shouldn't we go ask for an autograph?" the friend said excitedly.
"Are you stupid? Champion Walker getting into a fight—this is amazing footage! We can ask for his autograph after it's over."
"Right, right! This is exclusive content. I'm gonna post it on TikTok—I'm definitely gonna get so many followers!"
*****
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