Meanwhile—at the Flying Eagle Gang.
Inside the training room.
The mobile phone on the table suddenly emitted an urgent alarm.
Su La picked up the phone, his brow furrowing deeply.
"Shixiong, what's wrong?" Ling Yun asked, stopping his movements upon seeing Su La's serious expression.
"It seems the Pokémon Teacher reserved for you… has been snatched away by someone else," Su La said slowly.
"What?"
"Someone dared steal my Pokémon?"
Ling Yun's eyebrows shot up, fury filling his voice.
"Where is it?"
"I'll gather our people and go right now."
Su La calmly spat out two words, "Black Market!"
Without hesitation, Ling Yun quickly gathered Su La and their gang members, rushing toward the black market.
At the same moment, the Lin family, who had reserved the Abra earlier, had also sent people toward the black market.
…
"Boss lady, whose Pokémon is this?" Su Qingxue asked curiously.
Seeing Su Qingxue's cautious manner, Zhen Fei suddenly found it strange.
How come the dignified young lady of the Azure Dragon Society is so worried about this and that, while this Teacher Guo doesn't seem to care in the slightest?
Just what is their relationship?
Unable to clearly grasp their connection, Zhen Fei explained anyway, "This Chimchar was reserved by Lie Ke, that retired Fire-type Elite Four member."
"If my guess is correct, he intends to gift it to Ling Yun, the young master of the Flying Eagle Gang."
Upon hearing Ling Yun's name, Su Qingxue instantly lit up with delight.
"Ling Yun! Perfect!"
"Yan'er, go! Take that Chimchar for me right now!"
Since it was their sworn enemy, why should she hesitate?
The two sides were already irreconcilable anyway.
However, Zhen Fei kindly reminded, "It's true this Chimchar is Ling Yun's, but after all, it was reserved by that retired Elite Four Lie Ke himself."
"If you take it away now, you're openly slapping him in the face."
"With this excuse, Lie Ke would have every reason to strike directly against your Azure Dragon Society."
"You'd better reconsider carefully!"
Previously, Lie Ke had refrained from helping the Flying Eagle Gang because of the balance among various forces and the lack of a strong justification.
But now, by openly stealing his reserved Pokémon—even if Lie Ke intervened personally, no one could criticize him for it.
Yet—when Su Qingxue heard this, she didn't seem bothered at all.
"What's so great about some retired Elite Four?"
"Am I supposed to fear him?"
"Yan'er, ignore all that. Just take this Chimchar with you."
The reason she didn't care about Lie Ke at all was precisely because of Guo Yi.
Was being a retired Elite Four member impressive?
Go defeat a legendary Pokémon first, then act arrogant!
Hu Yan'er nodded immediately.
"Alright, Xiaoxue."
Since Teacher and Xiaoxue had both spoken, how could Hu Yan'er refuse?
Moreover, she herself really liked this Chimchar.
Seeing this, Zhen Fei could only helplessly shake her head, silently sighing, Ye Qing, I tried to speak up for you.
But your daughter and the people she hangs around with—they're utterly lawless!
In her view, Su Qingxue was simply venting personal frustration.
She paid absolutely no heed to the dangers she might bring upon the Azure Dragon Society in the future.
But well—what should be said had already been said; advice had already been given.
Whatever Su Qingxue chose now was entirely up to her.
Hu Yan'er took the keys excitedly and opened the cage, ready to catch Chimchar.
Yet, the moment the cage door opened—the Chimchar's face twisted fiercely, and it lunged straight at Hu Yan'er.
Seeing this, Su Qingxue immediately turned and urged the Pikachu beside her, "Pikachu, hurry and help!"
Who knew—Pikachu merely waved its hand dismissively, not showing the slightest intention to step in.
[Relax, relax!]
[It's just a little monkey—not even a match for my trainer.]
Su Qingxue: Not even a match for your trainer?
"Eat my fist!"
Just as Su Qingxue struggled to grasp Pikachu's meaning, Hu Yan'er's fierce shout echoed suddenly.
She raised her head to look—and saw Hu Yan'er had already pinned Chimchar beneath her, mercilessly raining punches down.
"Do you surrender?!"
[Never!]
Bam! Bam!
Two more punches landed.
"Do you surrender?!"
[I…no—]
Chimchar hadn't even finished speaking—when Hu Yan'er's fists slammed onto his head again.
"Do you surrender?!"
Right as she asked, Hu Yan'er's fist landed once more under Chimchar's utterly stunned gaze.
Chimchar: I haven't even answered yet!!
Hu Yan'er: Sorry! My fists moved too fast!
In the end—under Hu Yan'er's overwhelming martial prowess, Chimchar gave in.
"Xiaoxue, look! I caught it!" Hu Yan'er declared proudly, tidying her slightly messy clothes.
Although her face was similarly bruised and swollen, her joy was unmistakable.
At this moment—whether it was Su Qingxue or Zhen Fei, both stared in utter disbelief at this 'walking tyrannosaurus girl.'
"Caught it?"
"Since when did catching Pokémon mean trainers using their own fists?"
For a moment—Su Qingxue sank into deep contemplation.
Zhen Fei, watching Chimchar obediently follow behind Hu Yan'er, likewise began to question herself internally.
"Caught…just like that?"
"Are you even the same wild and untamable Chimchar from before?"
You must understand—previously, no matter who approached this Chimchar, it treated them coldly, ignoring everyone.
At the slightest opportunity, it would immediately attack just like before.
Even after repeated defeats at the hands of stronger Pokémon—the next time, it would still stubbornly fight again.
Precisely because of this proud, untamed personality, Lie Ke had chosen it at first glance.
Yet now—after just being beaten up by someone, it submitted immediately.
At the same time, Zhen Fei grew intensely curious about exactly where Guo Yi had found such peculiar disciples.
First, there was that He Yongsen who had boldly declared—that he'd handle the Lin family himself.
Now, there was this young girl who had single-handedly beaten Chimchar into submission.
Had Hu Yan'er demonstrated some kind of sophisticated martial arts earlier, Zhen Fei wouldn't have been nearly as shocked.
After all, she had indeed witnessed martial artists defeating Pokémon using pure fighting skills before.
But Hu Yan'er had displayed nothing but street brawling—
Just punch after punch, exchanging blows head-on.
Street brawling was one thing—but the key point was that she'd actually won!
If this girl ever learned formal martial arts techniques, she'd become truly frightening.
…
"Pika, pika!"
[Your performance just now wasn't good enough! At least throw a couple more punches next time!]
Pikachu stood with the posture of a seasoned boss, scolding Chimchar sternly.
Chimchar scratched his head shamefully.
[I'm sorry! I embarrassed all Pokémon just now…]
[But that trainer really was amazing—she actually defeated me with her bare hands!]
As he spoke, Chimchar's face showed genuine admiration.
Someone who could defeat him with pure physical strength—Hu Yan'er was the very first.
Chimchar was indeed wild, stubborn, and prideful.
But Pokémon like him respected strength above all else.
The reason Zhen Fei and the others found Chimchar impossible to tame was because they had repeatedly used overwhelmingly strong Pokémon to suppress him.
But the more they suppressed, the more rebellious Chimchar became.
If they had instead defeated him with a Pokémon of comparable strength, Chimchar might have behaved much better.
However—Zhen Fei and her associates were merely in the business of selling Pokémon, not raising them.
They naturally chose the simplest and most convenient method for themselves.
As for Chimchar's temperament issues—that was the buyer's problem, not theirs.
Exactly for this reason—once Chimchar was beaten thoroughly by Hu Yan'er's own strength, he instantly surrendered.
"Yan'er, why didn't you just use your Pokémon? Why fight it yourself?" Su Qingxue asked helplessly while carefully applying ointment on Hu Yan'er.
But—this simple question caused Hu Yan'er to pause in confusion.
She tilted her head and asked earnestly:
"Catching Pokémon… isn't it supposed to be done personally?"
"Eh?"
For a moment, Su Qingxue genuinely didn't know how to respond.
Finally, she pointed at the Pikachu beside her and asked hesitantly, "Then Pikachu too?"
Hu Yan'er nodded proudly, raising her clenched fist.
"That's right!"
"Pikachu also submitted after I beat him up."
"Pika!"
[Only because Grandpa was there—I went easy on you!]
Pikachu quickly argued back.
As if!
The little monkey had just joined them. How could Pikachu lose face as the big sister?
"Nonsense! If Grandpa hadn't been there, you'd have been beaten even worse!"
Hu Yan'er indignantly retorted.
In an instant—Hu Yan'er completely forgot about the bruises on her face as she and Pikachu glared at each other, neither willing to give in.
Electricity crackled intermittently from Pikachu's cheeks, as if ready to deliver a quick shock to her trainer at any second.
Su Qingxue sighed heavily, covering her face helplessly with her hand.
Sure enough...
Birds of a feather flock together.
What kind of trainer, what kind of Pokémon.
But at that moment, Su Qingxue looked toward her teacher with curiosity.
"I wonder what Pokémon Teacher will choose for me?"
Right now—aside from Zhen Fei and Guo Yi, no one here knew exactly what Pokémon lay hidden inside these cages.
For Su Qingxue, this felt a bit like opening a blind box.
Soon enough—Guo Yi stopped in front of another cage.
Su Qingxue's eyes instantly lit up.
She knew—her Pokémon had arrived.
[Aron (Steel/Rock)]}
[Gender: ♂]
[Level: Lv13 (Qualified)]
[Ability: Rock Head]
[Potential: Elite Four]
"Aron."
"Not bad. Perfectly suited to Qingxue's sandstorm team."
"This one's yours."
With that thought, Guo Yi decisively lifted the black cloth covering the cage.
And immediately, that familiar alarm blared once again.
This time, Su Qingxue reflexively turned to Zhen Fei again, asking who exactly had reserved this Pokémon.
Even if Teacher didn't care—Su Qingxue had to care.
Even though Teacher could probably handle any trouble if these forces came knocking—it was always better to be prepared.
This time, though, Zhen Fei smiled amusingly as she answered, "Interesting! This Aron was reserved by your own Azure Dragon Society."
"Your own people, stealing your own Pokémon."
"You Azure Dragon Society sure know how to have fun!"
Ah!
Su Qingxue froze, speechless for a moment.
She'd never imagined that the Pokémon she'd snatched actually belonged to her own faction.
But this wasn't so bad...
Other than the Lin family, at least they hadn't provoked anyone else. She only wondered whether her junior disciple-brother could really handle the Lin family issue.
Guo Yi continued to stroll around briefly, but eventually shook his head with a sigh.
"Too bad there's no Froakie here. Otherwise, this trip would've been perfect."
To tell the truth—the Pokémon here really were excellent.
The final evolutions of the Pokémon available here all had stats at least comparable to those of traditional Starter Pokémon.
There were even two or three pseudo-legendary hatchlings.
But—even among those pseudo-legendaries, the potential only reached Elite Four at most.
Thus, the Champion-potential Chimchar was indeed the greatest harvest from this trip.
As for Froakie—if there wasn't one here, he'd just have to look at other breeding houses.
Fortunately—for Guo Yi, who possessed a special template, his own Pokémon didn't necessarily need exceptional potential.
Instead—he meticulously selected every single Pokémon for his disciples.
After all, the stronger his disciples became, the stronger his own Pokémon would grow.
"Boss lady, time to settle the bill!"
Guo Yi approached Zhen Fei with a pleasant smile.
However—Zhen Fei shook her head gently, declining. "There's no hurry to settle payment."
"With your wealth, buying these few Pokémon is nothing."
"But if you want to take the Pokémon away, you'll have to solve the trouble you've caused first."
Just then, hurried shouting came from the corridor:
"Big Sis! People have arrived outside!"
Zhen Fei chuckled softly. "See? Speak of the devil, and he appears."
"Everyone, please head outside."
Guo Yi nodded calmly.
He naturally understood that without resolving this issue, there was no way the boss lady would let them leave easily.
Thus, he boldly stepped out first, leading the way.
At the same time—outside the breeding house, the three factions had already assembled.
"Old Ye, how exactly does your Azure Dragon Society manage this black market?"
"Trouble like this breaking out in broad daylight!"
"If you can't handle it, just hand over management of the black market to our Flying Eagle Gang and save yourselves the embarrassment."
Ling Yun from the Flying Eagle Gang taunted Old Ye mockingly.
"Heh, heh, heh!"
Old Ye laughed lightly, entirely unbothered. "You can't even defeat our young miss, yet you still have the nerve to boast?"
"I wonder who exactly was cursing the Flying Eagle Gang as inferior to our Azure Dragon Society just a few days ago?"
"What? Has your memory gotten that bad already?"
"You!"
Ling Yun immediately flushed with rage, about to lash out.
Fortunately, his Shixiong Su La swiftly stopped him.
"Calm down, Shidi. The Azure Dragon Society is still technically the black market's security."
"If you attack now, it'll only give them ammunition."
Ling Yun gritted his teeth, snarling, "I know, Shixiong, but it just pisses me off!"
Su La patted Ling Yun's shoulder reassuringly, stepping forward himself. With a composed tone, he said, "Captain Ye, I'll make things perfectly clear."
"The Pokémon involved this time was personally requested by my teacher."
"If anything happens, don't blame Teacher for personally stepping in to reclaim our dignity."
Hearing this—Old Ye's expression darkened.
Admittedly—the words "retired Elite Four" carried considerable weight.
But still, they couldn't afford to look weak.
Despite harboring some apprehension toward Lie Ke, the retired Fire-type Elite Four, Old Ye confidently declared, "Relax. As long as I'm here—"
"—No troublemakers will leave here."
After all, their Azure Dragon Society had also received the alarm.
If they let troublemakers escape openly, they'd lose tremendous face.
Besides the Flying Eagle Gang and Azure Dragon Society—in the center of these two factions stood another imposing figure, silent and unmoving.
This big man was from the Lin family.
Although alone, both Ling Yun and Old Ye eyed him with wary caution.
"Didn't expect it'd actually be Lin Niu himself this time," murmured a curious bystander who recognized him.
"Lin Niu? That's Lin Niu?"
"Looks like the ones causing trouble are done for now."
"Rumor has it Lin Niu's the most ruthless person in the Lin family."
"This is going to be good."
…
At once—the surrounding crowd quickly grew, eager to witness who exactly was bold enough to provoke three powerful factions at once.
"Things are certainly heating up!"