Jace watched the foreigner walk away, laughing.
"That's all you've got?"
Following Jace's words, Charizard on the field let out a mocking roar of its own.
"You—" The foreigner's face flushed crimson at the sight of Jace and Charizard mocking him together.
Then the foreigner raised his right hand.
"Referee — I forfeit!"
He shouted it at the top of his lungs, then turned and walked straight out. He left behind only Jace, the referee, and Charizard — all frozen in shock.
"Tch. That's it?"
A moment later, Jace finally reacted, and he dismissively snorted.
"Come on, Charizard. Let's go home."
"Roooar!"
Charizard was equally annoyed. It had barely gotten warmed up — both of the opponent's Pokémon had gone down in single hits.
(That's it? At least fighting big brother is fun.)
As they walked, Charizard picked its nose irritably. That was its thought.
Meanwhile, back in the foreigners' group chat, the messages started flying.
Gargeer Latefox: Second-place Jace challenge failed. Charizard Mega Evolved and swept three in a row.
Tonia Softiropalo: Sixth place, Tang Yunqin — challenge failed. Two Pokémon cleaned up three of hers.
Tonia Softiropalo: Important note — Clamperl and Milotic are typical stall Pokémon with numerous recovery moves and high move mastery. They'll grind you down slowly. Clamperl's ability is Sheer Force — damage is extremely high. No countermeasure found yet.
Dolbice Rodriguez: Fifth place, Zhang Xiaoqing — challenge successful. Narrow win. Opponent only had two usable Pokémon, but those two nearly swept all three of mine.
Michael Reubenstan: Fourth place, Lu Zhengjie — challenge failed. He also only had two Pokémon, but his Lucario has a temporary self-enhancement ability. Suspect Lu Zhengjie has Aura powers!
Yordi Navas Garcia: Good work, everyone.
Yordi Navas Garcia: @Universe Gyaru, Angula — how'd it go on your end?
Universe Gyaru: Didn't happen!
Yordi Navas Garcia: Wait, why?
Universe Gyaru: It wasn't an official challenge, so he refused.
Yordi Navas Garcia: …
Dolbice Rodriguez: …
Daniel Skorelsky: Hmph. Dragon Kingdom's first place is all talk. Not even brave enough to accept a challenge?
…
The moment Skorelsky spoke, the ten-person group chat went silent. Every one of them came from prestigious families. Even those who didn't, anyone who'd made it as an exchange student had enough brains to know better.
But then again — there was one person who came from a great family, who had made it as an exchange student, and who simply had no brain whatsoever.
One could only attribute it to racism clouding his vision.
"Idiot."
Gar put away his phone. He wasn't going to look at anything else in that group chat. He might be dragged down by association someday.
"First I need to handle this. Skorelsky is a loose cannon — can't let him drag us all down."
Gar thought about what had happened with the challenges today. The ones who'd reported back had roughly comparable strength.
They'd all challenged top-ten ranked students.
But in the end, only one person had actually won — and that was a three-against-two narrow victory. There was also one person who'd lost a three-against-two, and one who'd been swept by a single Pokémon.
"This Dragon Kingdom… is it really that strong?"
Gar thought about it. Either he challenged Jace, took his spot, and then challenged Auron — or Angula did.
Thinking about Angula's personality, Gar's head began to ache.
"Forget it. I'll handle it myself."
"I need to find the right opportunity. Can't rush. Can't be too obvious about it."
Gar thought, and a smile crept onto his face. "Jace is nothing to worry about. Tomorrow I'll find Angula and ask her about Auron's Pokémon lineup."
"Good morning, everyone."
"Good morning, Zoroark!"
The next morning, Lu Ze woke up and greeted his Pokémon. The Pokémon all responded and began to wake up.
Well, almost all of them.
One was a notable exception.
Zoroark turned her head away with a look of haughty stubbornness, huffing and puffing but firmly refusing to acknowledge Lu Ze.
And it wasn't her fault. This was entirely on Lu Ze.
Last night, Zoroark had monopolized Snorlax's belly, refusing to let Lu Ze sleep, and at some point had even kicked him.
So Lu Ze lost his temper. He grabbed Zoroark by her hind legs and threw her straight into Crawdaunt's tank.
Zoroark crawled out of the water in a daze.
You're supposed to want to catch me. Why would you do something like that?!
Crobat had to fish the bewildered Zoroark out of the water, and it shot Lu Ze an admonishing look. Where were his manners? Throwing a girl into a fish tank?
As for Crawdaunt — when Lu Ze threw Zoroark in, Crawdaunt had been just as bewildered as Zoroark.
My reflexes are slow enough as it is. Don't make things harder for me.
In the end, after extended negotiations between both parties — full of Zoroark's piteous complaints and Lu Ze's fierce scowling — they finally reached a settlement.
Lu Ze would take one half of Snorlax's belly. Mini Dragon and Zoroark would share the other half.
With that settled, Zoroark finally fell asleep nestled against Snorlax's stomach.
Which led to this morning's scene. Zoroark was still annoyed at Lu Ze. She hopped off Snorlax, jumped to the windowsill, and nuzzled against the just-return Crobat's cheek.
Then she strutted over to Charizard and Tapu Fibi's bed, rapped on Tapu Fibi's shell, and woke the groggy creature up.
Tapu Fibi tumbled out of its shell, blinking sleepily, and looked toward Charizard.
Have you eaten yet?
Charizard shook its head with a grin, then nodded toward Zoroark standing beside it.
Zoroark bounced on her heels. Let's go play outside!
Tapu Fibi mumbled an acknowledgment, then prepared to retreat back into her shell for more sleep — but Zoroark stopped her again.
Zoroark: Let's go play outside!
Tapu Fibi: Mmm… alright.
Tapu Fibi agreed, and the two of them headed off together.
Not before Zoroark glanced back one more time — at Rayquaza.
Ever since watching Deoxys and Rayquaza clash at the Colosseum, Tapu Fibi's dreams had changed.
What had once been "laze around and enjoy a good life" had become something altogether grander.
Today — she was going to ride Rayquaza.
———
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