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Back at school.
There was still some time before dinner, and the sky was still bright, so there was no rush to return and torment each other with that group.
Li Xiang rode his bicycle, carrying the curious Doublade on his back and his beloved Greninja, wandering around the campus.
What piqued his curiosity the most was the enormous tree inside the gate, so massive it turned day into night under its canopy.
"The species is... Jianmu (World Tree) Really? Even the mythical Jianmu is here?"
Li Xiang stared blankly at the encyclopedia entry on his phone.
It stated that this World Tree at Mist City University was over 270 meters tall, with a canopy covering an area 800 meters in diameter, and was estimated to be over 5,000 years old.
Not just older than Mist City University, it was even older than the ancient city of Mist City itself. But why was it inside the university gates instead of in the city center...
Honestly, it was very intriguing.
Its appearance was very similar to that giant tree in Coumarine City, Kalos. The top was lush and densely leafy, with thick vines hanging down like twisted, verdant serpentine dragons.
It just didn't have those large "mushrooms" on its trunk.
Li Xiang reached up towards the hanging vines above him, tempted to climb them, but the "No Climbing" sign nearby forced him to dismiss the idea.
"Ninja?"
Greninja stood beside Li Xiang, tilting its head.
"Don't you dare."
Li Xiang grabbed it. If he didn't stop it, it would probably dash to the treetop immediately.
After all, standing high on the canopy to enjoy the view was inherently showy, something it deeply loved.
But climbing up was one thing; getting caught would be embarrassing.
"Nin..? Ninja!" (You forgot? I can turn invisible!)
Greninja gave Li Xiang a confused look, and before he could respond, its long red tongue shot out, wrapped around his waist, and activated its Camouflage ability.
"Hey, hey, hey?"
Li Xiang only felt a powerful force, and then he was carried up the tree by Greninja.
His nearly 70-kilogram body was treated as if it were weightless by Greninja.
"You... Ah, forget it. We're already up here."
Li Xiang glanced at Doublade floating beside him and the rapidly receding ground, feeling somewhat speechless. Luckily, there weren't many people around, preventing a situation where they vanished right in front of someone.
The key point was...
"Your tongue's strength has really increased."
Li Xiang turned to look at Greninja.
Trainers needed to learn to utilize their Pokémon's body parts effectively. Although the idea of a tongue scarf was a bit off-putting, Li Xiang would definitely make use of anything he could.
Greninja's tongue might look soft, but it actually possessed considerable strength. Developing this as a foundation for a three-sword style in the future could be a great option.
"Ninja."
Greninja responded in a muffled voice.
Soon, they reached a thick branch and Greninja released its tongue.
Amidst the dense foliage, with a strange fragrance around his nose, Li Xiang gazed into the distance, taking in most of the campus scenery.
"Really..."
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
A man's voice suddenly sounded right beside his ear.
Li Xiang's scalp went numb. He decisively leaped towards a nearby vine, grabbed it, swung to another branch, and rolled to dissipate the force.
Shing!
A sword was drawn!
"Whoa, such a big reaction."
The man's voice was flippant, followed by the clear sound of metal clashing and the splat of water bursting.
"Stop!"
Li Xiang looked up and shouted lowly. Dodging was an instinctive reaction, but that didn't mean they could just attack someone randomly.
In his line of sight was a balding middle-aged man. In front of him stood an Accelgor with a pink head and body wrapped in silver-gray bandages.
It held two azure blue Water Shuriken, blocking Doublade's attack.
Well, it was more like the attack stopped halfway because of Li Xiang's command.
"Student, climbing this tree is forbidden. Not only did you climb it, but you also attacked a teacher."
The balding man said with a smile.
"I'm sorry, Doublade didn't mean to."
Li Xiang apologized quickly. Greninja stood close to him, and Doublade swiftly retreated to his side. "I'll get down right now. I won't dare do it again."
Saying this, he grabbed Doublade's tassels and, without giving the man a chance to speak, quickly made his escape downwards.
Doublade immediately used Magnet Rise, pulling Li Xiang's body and helping him land smoothly.
In this kind of situation, the best thing was to run as far away as possible. Only a fool would stay put… and for what? Looking for a scolding?
The balding man didn't expect Li Xiang to retreat so decisively either. He watched with surprise as Li Xiang got on his bicycle and left.
"Kids these days... they run away this well?"
He scratched his ear in amazement, watching idly as Li Xiang rode away. "That kid should be Li Xiang, right? Quite interesting."
Tsk tsk tsk.
...
Down below.
Li Xiang pedaled rapidly with Greninja on the back until they were out from under the tree's canopy, then let out a slight sigh of relief.
The thrill of doing something wrong and running away was real. If the teacher didn't chase after him, it probably meant he didn't intend to pursue the matter.
But...
He hadn't detected him at all?
Not just him, but Greninja and Doublade hadn't noticed either. Where was he hiding?
'Hmm... Mist City truly had hidden dragons and crouching tigers.'
He'd ask some seniors or juniors on the WeChat group later.
Also… "Don't be so quick to attack others next time. It's dangerous. Pokémon are strictly forbidden from attacking humans. I remember telling you that, right?"
He tapped Doublade's hilt. "Next time, focus on defending first, don't rush to attack. Your Protect isn't just for show."
Earlier, Greninja's first reaction was to maintain camouflage and guard Li Xiang. Doublade's choice, however, was to boldly attack.
Strictly speaking, this choice couldn't be considered wrong, but within city limits, Pokémon attacking humans was absolutely not allowed.
Doublade needed to understand this deeply.
Clink clink~
Doublade gently shook its body in response.
.....
Back at the villa.
Incineroar and Riolu were sitting on the sofa watching TV. Seeing him return out of breath, they looked quite surprised.
"Roar?" (Did you do something bad?)
Riolu jumped down and looked at him curiously, then at Greninja and Doublade behind him.
"Ahem, it's nothing." Li Xiang coughed lightly and headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
With plenty of free time during the break, he decisively took the time to learn a lot about Pokémon breeding, focusing specifically on Pokémon food.
Initially, his cooking skills weren't great.
The things he made could be called disasters…. but after several attempts and gaining experience, the quality of his creations gradually improved.
While it didn't reach his mother Mrs. Yin's level, let alone that of professional high-level breeders, in the eyes of Incineroar and the others, Li Xiang's food came with a built-in deliciousness bonus.
It was equivalent to—
[Item: A Token of the Trainer's Affection]
[Type: Food]
[Quality: Good]
[Special Effect: Super Effective (EX) against Incineroar, etc.]
Whether it tasted good or not wasn't the point; the important thing was that Li Xiang made it himself.
They ate happily, and Li Xiang would cook even more happily.
...
After dinner.
Li Xiang looked for someone on the WeChat group.
Senior Chao wasn't online, and he felt awkward calling him, so he bothered Su Qian, who was online.
He got an instant reply.
Butterfree (Su Qian): [Balding? Accelgor? With bean-sized eyes? Looks like he has dark skin? Smells like smoke?]
Li Xiang: [Uh, I didn't observe that much. I was too busy running away.]
Butterfree: [Hahahaha, it's fine. Climbing the tree is normal. Students climb it every year, and even if students don't, Pokémon will.]
[That person is a coach, by the way.]
'A coach?'
Li Xiang was stunned for a moment, recalling the information about the Mist City University team.
'Wasn't it someone wearing a baseball cap and glasses?'
Li Xiang: [Senior, that teacher is our team's coach? The head coach?]
Butterfree: [Yep. His name is Xu He. We like to call him Uncle He, sometimes Baldy He. By the way, the assistant coach is a female teacher named Miao Shuang. We call her Sister Shuang.]
'So it was him, Xu He, the head coach of the Mist City University team.'
Giving nicknames to teachers you're close to was very common during student days.
'But Baldy He... was that a term of endearment?'
Li Xiang was speechless, also wondering why the coach wasn't at home during the New Year and was instead wandering around the school.
After chatting with Su Qian a bit more, she told him not to be nervous around Xu He and to be thick-skinned. He doesn't hold grudges.
Li Xiang agreed readily, thinking he'd deal with it next time he saw him.
He closed the chat window.
Unexpectedly, Anya contacted him. She asked if he was at Mist City University.
Li Xiang was taken aback, replied yes, and then there was no follow-up.
'What's going on?'
How puzzling.
He didn't pay it much mind. She might have just been asking. As for how she knew...
It was likely that Su Qian told Abigale, and Abigale told Anya.
A classic case of pass-the-message.
After a short break, he watched a round of Metagross's gaming skills and saw Corviknight personally teaching Metagross how to trash-talk opponents.
After they finished a solo match and the opponent silently disappeared, Li Xiang stood up and started gathering the Pokémon scattered around the room.
It was time for night training.
Song Jie would take at least three or four more days to arrive in Mist City. He had too many relatives; it wasn't something that could be wrapped up in a day or two.
Gong Xu was similar, but he hadn't chatted much with the guy recently, so he wasn't sure about his specific situation.
Wu Ruoxue... he didn't even have Wu Ruoxue's contact info.
They weren't really familiar anyway, having barely exchanged a few words. It seemed he was the only one who had arrived so many days early.
Under the dimming sky, Li Xiang went for a run with his Pokémon around the rather empty school.
There were really few people.
After running for a while, he only saw one person, and it was a school staff member.
Having missed out on the global level, the school team students were naturally on a long break. Few stayed at the school.
After crossing the bridge, there were slightly more people. There was traffic on the roads, and occasionally, explosion sounds from the distant battle area could be heard.
"Let's go check it out after training."
Li Xiang withdrew his gaze from the battle area.
...
The school team training facility.
Bai Wanhua had specially opened it up for him; it was originally closed.
Externally, it was a massive semi-circular stadium. Rumor had it the internal facilities were no different from the A-grade ones at the Youth Training Camp.
After swiping his card to enter, Li Xiang found the rumors were true, even surpassing them, because there were several machines he didn't understand, seemingly for training some peculiar Pokémon.
Which was better, the mass-produced version or the exclusive version? Anyone could tell.