Lu Ze felt a little frustrated thinking: Too bad Crobat and Snorlax won't get to show off this time.
He was a bit miffed — if someone challenged him, and that someone was that strong, shouldn't he bring out Crobat and Snorlax?
That way they could have a moment to shine too.
But unfortunately, anyone who wanted to challenge Lu Ze still had to get through Sui Yan first.
So despite his frustrations, Lu Ze knew Sui Yan's strength.
Not to mention the Arcanine that could go blow-for-blow with Mega Charizard X — just the Mega Charizard X itself was going to give those exchange students trouble.
Mega Evolution really gave ordinary Pokémon a stat boost that could let them temporarily surpass the legendary tier.
Take Mega Charizard, for example — after Mega Evolution, its base stats were actually a bit higher than Deoxys's.
But as the saying goes, stats aren't everything. Stats don't equal ability.
"Alas, what a waste."
Lu Ze sighed, then started thinking about his Pokémon team's future development. It was still a while before class — time to space out.
"Oh right — can Electabuzz evolve soon?"
The pre-class发呆 ended and class began. Lu Ze settled into focused listening mode.
But everyone has moments where their mind wanders — and for Lu Ze, that moment came during class.
"Electabuzz has been evolving for a while now. With daily training and energy and nutrition supplements… his potential at this stage should be nearly maxed out, right?"
"Mm. I'll run a check after this week. If he's ready to evolve, I'll handle it then."
Ever since Electabuzz lost to Heracros (it was actually a draw, but in Electabuzz's mind, he lost), he'd been training harder than ever, and his strength had grown by leaps and bounds.
During an inter-squad match a couple days ago, Electabuzz had actually fought Crawdaunt to a standstill.
That made Electabuzz happy — but Crawdaunt was not having it. Lately, the one training the hardest had become Crawdaunt.
Crawdaunt absolutely did not want to be beaten by his little junior. That would be a disgrace to dragons everywhere.
(I'm a dragon — I learn Dragon Dance. Why am I not counted as a dragon?!)
So lately, all the Pokémon had started training competitively with each other.
And then Lu Ze realized: this Crawdaunt had been total slack before!
It had only been a few days — after actually training seriously, Crawdaunt was still grinding Electabuzz into the dirt.
But this time, after he'd beaten Electabuzz, he got lectured by the big sister, so now he wasn't slacking anymore either.
"Oh right — there's Zoroark!"
After finishing his thoughts about Electabuzz, Lu Ze's mind inevitably drifted to Zoroark.
"Zoroark is from the Hisuian region. I need to figure out where she came from — that might tell us where Hisui is."
Lu Ze thought about it, stroking his chin: "But for that, I'll need Hoopa. After all, I can't understand what Zoroark is saying."
"But how do I even get a message to Hoopa? I need a way for Hoopa to pull me over."
Lu Ze was thinking — and suddenly his eyes landed on the Lunar Wing and the Location Tracker in his bag.
"Oh right — I can use the Lunar Wing to call Darkrai over! I don't have the ability to travel through shadows, but I can have Darkrai carry a message back to ask Hoopa to pull me over."
"Slap!"
Lu Ze struck his open left palm with his right fist in excitement.
Except — he forgot. He was still in class…
"Lu Ze, is there something you want to share with the class?"
The professor's eyes locked onto him from the front of the room, dangerous.
If you can't come up with something reasonable, don't blame me.
Lu Ze glanced at the board — it was about Pokémon food preparation. He scrambled.
"Professor — I think using fruit juice instead of fruit pulp to make Pokémon food would give it a much better texture, and also—"
Lu Ze delivered a full-blown lecture. Not only were the other students floored, even the professor was left speechless.
His points were solid, backed up with good reasoning. Genuinely convincing.
"Hmm… Professor, I'll try it when I get home. But — your suggestion shows real creative thinking!"
The professor dryly offered one sentence and moved on with the lesson.
And Lu Ze exhaled in relief. He reached into his bag and pulled out the Location Tracker.
The tracker displayed two dots — one red, one black.
The red one was Victini. The black one was Darkrai.
"Hmm? Victini's gone pretty far."
Lu Ze looked at how far his red dot was from Victini's red dot and frowned. He pulled out his phone, opened a map, and compared.
"Jeez — passed Canada already? And this is… Greenland Island? Wasn't it at Guba just a few days ago?"
"She travels. But Darkrai's location — hmm, still with Hoopa? Good. That's convenient."
Lu Ze put away his phone and the Location Tracker and smiled.
He had no idea when Victini would get tired of wandering and come back. He worried about whether Victini had enough to eat. He worried about whether Victini—
Victini was out exploring the world, and Lu Ze felt exactly like he had when his pet frog used to leave home. Constantly worrying about this and that.
Lu Ze was lost in these thoughts when the bell rang. One class period over.
Lu Ze snapped back to reality. So it turns out the one slacking off was me!
—
In the forest, Shaymin was sulking at that moment.
To rewind a bit — after all the Pokémon had gathered in the forest and started their training, Shaymin got excited. His dream was about to come true.
So Shaymin held in his excitement and waited until everyone's training was underway. Then he went looking for Zoroark — who had transformed into Xiaohong and was playing with her.
"Kyu~$"
(C'mon — transform into Rayquaza~)
Wait — !?
Xiaohong froze. Transform into Rayquaza? What?
Then Xiaohong realized — Shaymin was talking to Zoroark.
Thinking about Zoroark's ability, Xiaohong's eyes began to sparkle with anticipation too.
If Zoroark transformed into Rayquaza, she could ride Rayquaza back home — wouldn't that shock her brother?
With that thought, Xiaohong was excited too. She watched Zoroark with eager eyes.
Zoroark felt their anticipating gazes, puffed out her little chest confidently.
"Hmph!"
(Leave it to me — Zoroark delivers!)
A moment later… nothing happened.
(They're not actually frozen, by the way — this is just how long it takes.)
After a brief pause, Shaymin was confused.
"Kyuu?"
(You're supposed to transform…?)
"Hmph?"
(Transform into who?)
"Kyuu!"
(Rayquaza! Like we agreed!)
Shaymin was getting anxious. They had a deal — he'd ride Rayquaza. How could she suddenly go back on her word?
"Hmph?"
"What's a Rayquaza supposed to look like? You gotta show me a picture first — how am I supposed to transform into something I've never seen?"
Zoroark scratched her head with her front paw, equally bewildered. How was she supposed to transform into something she'd never seen before? She needed a reference!
"Slap!"
Xiaohong slapped her own forehead. She got it now — Zoroark needed to see what she was supposed to turn into.
But the problem was — she'd never seen Rayquaza either.
The first step was already dead on arrival. Now what?
The three Pokémon sat in silence for a moment.
Finally, Xiaohong stepped up.
"Alright — you two follow me."
(This chapter is complete.)
———
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