"Brother Axel, you're too strong, I admit defeat!"
"Huh?"
Axel was stunned. He had even planned to send out Gholdengo to throw in some mental stress damage for Lacey, yet the other side just surrendered outright?
"Senior, listen to me…"
"No need to say anything!", Lacey's pretty face turned red, and with the corner of her eye she glanced at her father in the audience, then whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Brother, I understand all your feelings, but I don't want to, um, do that while still in school."
"When I quickly save enough credits and graduate, I'll definitely come find you, alright?"
'Wait what?'
Axel froze. Since entering Blueberry Academy, the two of them had spoken less than a hundred sentences in total, right?
What feelings of his did she understand?
Before Axel could even ask, Lacey had already lifted one corner of her skirt and hopped off the stage in light steps.
She went straight to Drayton and Nerina, and said seriously, "You two should surrender."
Nerina blinked, then firmly nodded.
She had watched Axel's battles carefully, and every single Pokémon he had sent out was terrifyingly strong.
If his main force had been Poison-types or Dragons, she could still fight a little.
But in that last battle, the opponent's Fighting-type had "accidentally" awakened bond evolution.
Nerina thought about it and realized she had no chance of victory at all, so she simply nodded, "Alright then, my Steel-types can't beat his Fighting-type anyway, no need to go up just to get crushed."
But Drayton clearly didn't want to surrender.
As the current champion of the school's ranking battles, and the leader of the League Club, he had his pride.
If Axel were a student of their school, it would be one thing. Surrendering would just mean admitting defeat.
But the opponent was Axel, an exchange student from Aurient.
If he surrendered now, how would the school see him later?
The word "cowardly" would haunt his entire academy career, and challengers would keep appearing, all crazy to take his place.
"Why should I surrender?", A sharp gleam flashed in Drayton's eyes.
"Even if Axel is stronger than me, as the leader of the League Club, the number one in the school, how could I retreat."
"It's just one loss, that's all. Axel may be strong, but can he come beat me every single day?", After saying that, Drayton decisively took off his coat and walked toward the stairs leading to the stage.
At that moment, behind him came Lacey's cold laugh, "He really can't come fight you every day. But what about me?"
Drayton: "..."
Suddenly, he felt maybe this battle wasn't worth fighting.
So what if people called him cowardly?
So what if he lost his dignity?
Compared to being challenged by Lacey, Drayton felt these were things he could live with.
Although he was the champion, he was still a Dragon-type trainer. How could he fight Lacey with a hammer?
Seeing Drayton peeking his head up from the stage, Briar was clearly surprised.
"What, you're going up? Nerina isn't fighting?"
Drayton nodded.
Briar didn't say much more, after all, Axel was a trainer who could even capture the principal.
It was perfectly normal that a little girl like Nerina wouldn't dare fight him.
"Since Nerina has forfeited, then hurry and get up there."
"Well…", Drayton blinked, finding it hard to say aloud.
A sudden uneasy feeling rose in Briar's heart, and she shot to her feet.
"Drayton, you're not planning to give up too, are you?"
Drayton was silent for a moment, then decisively chose a zero-frame opening, catching Briar completely off guard, "Since Teacher Briar has already agreed, I'll be leaving first."
"Goodbye!"
Watching Drayton's figure vanish from the school grounds, Briar went completely numb.
Of the school's Elite Four and the champion, only Crispin had fought through his entire battle.
The other four, two surrendered halfway, two surrendered without even fighting.
Had she known this earlier, she would've had Carmine act as referee instead.
But the process still had to continue. Forcing a smile onto her stiff face, Briar said, "Since Axel has already broken through Blueberry Academy's ranking battles, next it should be Dr…"
Halfway through, Briar fell silent.
According to the normal procedure, Raihan and Drayton were supposed to award Axel his prize, then Drayton would take him to the treasure vault to choose an item.
But Drayton had just run off…
"Teacher, let me do it," Lacey looked at Briar with a hint of expectation.
Even though she had said she wouldn't date during school, deep inside she still wanted to spend more time with Axel.
After all, Axel was gentle and elegant, hardworking and ambitious, and he even cared about her feelings.
Now that Axel was about to leave, Lacey wanted to at least create some memories of the two of them alone.
"Alright, then you go."
Seeing Lacey's eager look, a certain uncle in the audience quietly broke apart inside.
'Seriously, he beat you up that badly, and you're still acting all shy like this?'
'A grown daughter really can't be kept at home…'
———
Half an hour later.
After the not-too-complicated award ceremony, the students left the plaza in order.
Clay had originally wanted to give Axel a bit of a hard time, but seeing how familiar Raihan was with him, he gave up the idea.
Since this was someone both Raihan and his daughter had acknowledged, he probably wasn't bad.
Raihan greeted Axel, making him promise to come to Galar one day, then rode his Flygon into the sky.
The entire schoolyard was left with only Axel and Lacey, the atmosphere turning a bit delicate.
Lacey brushed her purple hair back behind her ear, and said softly, "Um… junior, would you like some blueberry juice? Our blueberry juice here is the best."
"Better not," Axel took a step back, keeping some distance from Lacey.
He just felt that something was off with Lacey today. Very off, extremely off.
Just a few days ago when they met, she was still the image of an ice-cold goddess. Why had she melted this fast?
The only relief was that Axel had already put away every Pokémon that might accidentally cause trouble.
This time, as long as he held firm, take the alloy, leave immediately, no messing around, there was absolutely no way Lacey could trap him.
Just then, a rough shout came from the distance, quickly reaching Axel and Lacey's side.
The General waddled over with small steps, stopping right between Axel and Lacey, holding a cup of milk tea.
This milk tea was a little different from normal. It was slightly larger in size, with two straws sticking out from the sides.
In the center of the cup was a handwritten blessing:
[Together for this life and the next.]
"Roar!"
The General handed the milk tea to Axel, letting out a proud roar.
'Master, mission accomplished. The Dragon God ordered me to buy it, and I brought it back!'
Axel's heart nearly stopped.
'No way. Who the hell told you to play wingman?'
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