Lu Ye imagined Sirfetch'd furiously swinging its leek, punching multiple holes in the wall.
Then he lowered his head to look at Sirfetch'd.
It raised its head, eyes sharp, a confident grin on its face.
"Sir~fetched!"
Lu Ye quietly turned to Bea and said, "You really came prepared, huh!"
"You flatter me," The gray-haired girl with a headband gave a shy smile.
Looks like her master was quite pleased with this gift~
Then, she crouched down and took a close, careful look at Sirfetch'd.
"Sir~fetched?" Sirfetch'd eyed the Fighting-type girl with an air of martial mastery.
"I plan to catch a Farfetch'd of my own someday," Bea looked up slightly, a soft smile blooming on her face, "When the time comes, I hope you won't hold back on your guidance, Master!"
Lu Ye blinked.
Teach her how to become a slacker?
But if Close Combat from this lazy duck kept landing crits one after another... Maybe, just maybe, Duck here could actually carry the team...
"Let's head back to the hotel first," he said.
Brock looked around at the dispersing crowd. A group of people was waiting nearby, eyes filled with anticipation.
Fans? Brock was just thinking that, when the crowd surged toward Lu Ye.
"Mr. Lu, can I get your autograph?"
"I've been a fan forever! Level 12 badge in your stream!"
Lu Ye immediately took the notebook.
He scrawled his name in flamboyant strokes, then grinned.
"Master's got some real star power," Bea murmured.
"Well," Brock nodded, with admiration in his voice, "he is the Fighting Master of Donghuang, after all."
It took quite a bit of effort for them to finally make it back to the hotel.
Bea bowed with a fist salute and went to prep for A Group's next match.
Meanwhile, Teacher Lu returned to his room.
As soon as he opened the door, his eyelid twitched.
"Gengarr!" Gengar's face was covered in sticky notes—clearly, he'd lost a bunch of rounds to Togepi.
"You can't even scare me anymore. Why are you still pulling faces?" Lu Ye chuckled as he looked at Gengar clawing at his eyes.
"Gengarr... (இωஇ)"
Gengar looked miserable, but with one lick to Lu Ye's face, he perked right back up.
"Gengarr! (๑`▽´๑)۶"
Lu Ye, used to the routine, took out a Pecha Berry, munched on it, and started peeling the sticky notes off Gengar's face.
He glanced deeper into the room.
"Tchugki~briee~" Togepi sat on the floor, giggling.
Beside the little one, a 1.5-liter bottle of cola floated in mid-air, suspended by a faint blue psychic glow.
"You're doing that?" Lu Ye paused, surprised.
Gengar shook his head.
Then, with a proud look, he pointed at Togepi. "Gengarr!"
Something clicked in Lu Ye's mind. His lips twitched, and he silently opened Togepi's move list.
His brows raised instantly.
Well, damn. It already learned how to use Psychic to grab things from afar?
This training efficiency... feels way better than mine?
As the self-proclaimed slacker trainer, Teacher Lu cleared his throat: "You two better be careful, don't let that cola—"
Right then, the 1.5-liter cola bottle exploded with a loud pop.
A geyser of caramel-colored soda burst into the air. Visually stunning.
Lu Ye wiped his face.
Sirfetch'd, visibly shaken, lowered its shield and glanced sideways at Lu Ye.
"Sir~fetched~! (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))"
Lu Ye: "I'm stewing you for dinner."
"Sir~fetched~?! Σ(っ°Д°;)っ"
Lu Ye looked around the room, a bit conflicted.
Thankfully... they didn't destroy the whole hotel.
Let's just say they played a round of "Dragon Sucks Water" at home.
"Tchugki~briee..." Togepi's face was full of guilt. It looked down pitifully at the cola puddling across the floor.
"Gengarr!" Gengar gave Togepi a friendly bop on the head, grinned wide, and pulled out another bottle of cola.
"Tchugki~brieee! (ﾉ´▽｀)ﾉ♪"
Lu Ye gave a helpless smile.
He called room service to come clean up. An Indeedee came by, pushing a cleaning cart and knocking on the door.
Gengar rushed over, struck up a chat with Indeedee, and happily snatched a mop.
"Gengarr!" Gengar hummed a tune as it started cleaning the room.
No one understands household chores better than me!
...
Monday, December 23.
Light snow.
The Christmas vibe was getting stronger. In the vendor area of the P1 Fighting Tournament, all kinds of decorations had gone up.
Team Rocket's trio had even launched a Christmas Limited-Time banner pool.
If they didn't make money off this, they'd be wasting their business genius.
Lu Ye pulled on a hoodie, hands stuffed in his pockets, Gengar floating beside him.
He set off for the day's match.
By the arena, a crowd had already gathered. Thin frost lined both sides of the road.
Lu Ye exhaled a puff of white breath and entered the participant tunnel.
Walking in with him was a girl with short pink hair and a bandage on her nose.
Maylene was wearing a blue tank top, swinging her thin arms, barefoot, jogging up with a smile.
"Aren't you cold?" Lu Ye gave her a look and couldn't help asking.
Maylene turned, surprised, her eyes flickering.
The Fighting Master from Donghuang...
Rumors about Teacher Lu had already spread among the fighters.
After all, he was personally praised by Master Mustard.
"Not cold at all!" Maylene grinned—then shivered.
Lu Ye: "..."
"Ahaha!" Maylene blushed, shook her head, and started doing high knees in place. She waved to Lu Ye: "M-Master Lu, I'll head in first!"
In the special episode, Maylene came from a poor background. Often starving, she called it "ascetic training."
As a Fighting-type Trainer, shoes and sleeves were optional. Barefoot and sleeveless worked just fine...
"Ten out of ten Gym Leaders are broke," Lu Ye muttered. "The one exception is Giovanni."
He walked slowly into the arena.
On this winter morning, the sunlight shone gently, and the crowd erupted in cheers.
"Let's welcome our contestant from Donghuang—Lu Ye!"
The announcer's voice pushed the energy to its peak.
In the stands not far away... A man with bronze skin and a blue mullet crossed his arms, showing off his well-toned muscles.
"So that's Teacher Lu," said Brawly, main job: Gym Leader in the Hoenn Region, side hustle: surfer.
His gym was on a remote Hoenn island, only reachable by surfing or boat.
He himself was the junior fellow disciple of Elite Four member Bruno. The two studied the "Way of Soft" and the "Way of Hard" respectively.
"That's right," the shirtless Agatha beside him nodded, "Gurkinn gave him high praise."
"That old guy from Kalos?" Brawly raised his eyebrows, "Isn't he an Aura Guardian too?"
Agatha's face was solemn as he gave a slight nod.
Brawly blinked, sinking into thought.
He still remembered how Teacher Lu's rapid burst of light strikes had left a deep impression.
If he could just spar with Teacher Lu in this tournament...
Brawly lowered his head, clenched his fist, and chuckled quietly: "Guess this trip's already worth it…"
On the field, as the referee's flag dropped, both sides tossed out their Poké Balls at the same time.
"Go, Medicham!"
"Sirfetch'd," Lu Ye said, "Time to throw hands!"