Capítulo 37: There's Something Off About My Pokémon. [37]
"When did that happen?"
"Just yesterday. He even threw a party to celebrate."
"Tsk tsk, what a waste of money!"
A-Le had successfully made it into the second round of the elimination matches, but only a small group of people knew about it. With 32 sub-venues and everyone busy preparing for their college entrance exams, who had time to pay attention to the qualifiers? However, Hu Sheng's Charmander evolving caused quite a stir at Jiangcheng No. 1 High School. Charmander, as a Fire-type Pokémon, is notoriously difficult to train, and Charmeleon's temper is usually quite volatile. The fact that Hu Sheng managed to train it well showed that his talent as a trainer was far more than it seemed on the surface. Yet, his personality remained as flamboyant and arrogant as ever, leaving everyone with mixed feelings.
"Still just relying on his dad's money!"
Su Xiangrou walked through the school, hearing these rumors, but showed no reaction other than adjusting her glasses. Charmeleon, huh? Definitely something to keep an eye on.
"Porygon." At Su Xiangrou's soft call, an electronic image suddenly appeared on her glasses. A cute 3D version of Porygon spun around in the corner of the lens.
"AE at your service. How can I assist you today?"
This AE wasn't a real Porygon, but rather a digital assistant that connected to the Porygon inside her Poké Ball and to the servers at her uncle's tech company, functioning similarly to Apple's Siri.
"Add Charmeleon's data to Hu Sheng's page," Su Xiangrou said quietly.
"Understood," AE responded with an adorable expression. A profile of Hu Sheng popped up on her glasses, and beside his full-body, flashy photo, new details were added.
Hu Sheng's Pokémon: Charmeleon
Pokémon Description: Skilled in fire-based moves, possessing a thick tail and sharp claws. It swings its burning tail to knock down opponents before tearing them apart with its claws.
In a way, Su Xiangrou's glasses functioned as a kind of advanced Pokédex.
After logging the new information, Su Xiangrou let out a sigh of relief, a sense of satisfaction welling up inside her. This feeling of fulfillment was exactly why she constantly gathered data and aspired to become a data-driven trainer.
"So, next…" Su Xiangrou muttered to herself, "there must be someone else worth paying attention to."
Almost unconsciously, she opened another profile—one that had left a deep impression on her. It was Lu Cheng's profile. On the screen was a photo she had secretly taken during chemistry class—Lu Cheng turning his head to look at her with a startled expression.
"Based on the data, Vulpix probably doesn't stand a chance against Charmeleon," Su Xiangrou said quietly. "But why do I have this feeling…?"
"Forget it." She shook her head, her gaze becoming cold and analytical once again.
"Everything must be backed by extensive data analysis to reach a conclusion."
"Data doesn't lie."
---
After finishing drinks with his rowdy group of friends, Hu Sheng tried to kick open the door of his car, laughing loudly, "Oops, I forgot, you need a key to open it!"
With a swish, he summoned his Charmeleon, whose sharp claws ripped off the car door in one swift motion. Hu Sheng climbed into the car, now missing a door, slammed on the gas, and sped off with a scream, leaving his friends looking at each other in bewilderment.
"Do you think that's going to be a problem?"
"What problem? His dad already has several cars tailing him for safety."
"Tsk, even a useless guy like him can get a Charmeleon. It's all because his dad's rich!"
"You still wanna hang out with him or not?"
"Hahaha, stop worrying, let's go grab a few more drinks!"
Under the night sky, Hu Sheng returned to his cold mansion. The entire house was dark, except for a table of food prepared by the housekeeper, which had already gone cold.
"Young Master, shall I heat this up for you?" The drowsy housekeeper, awakened by the noise, got up and saw Hu Sheng reeking of alcohol. She couldn't help but feel concerned. "Go take a hot bath. Look at you, your hand's even cut!"
Hu Sheng looked down to see a long gash on his arm, blood dripping steadily onto the floor.
"It's nothing, Aunt Wu," Hu Sheng waved her off drunkenly, "this little… scratch, I'll sleep it off."
"I'll get some bandages," Aunt Wu hurried downstairs, adding, "Did you eat anything yet?"
Annoyed, Hu Sheng waved her away and retreated to his room.
"Come on out, Charmeleon."
Charmeleon's tail flame burned brightly, filling the room with the scent of singed fabric. It glared coldly at its trainer, full of disdain.
"Heh, don't look at me like that," Hu Sheng laughed. "If you're unhappy with me, go blame my dad for buying you."
Charmeleon let out a low growl and shredded the nearby bedding with one swipe of its claws.
"You're not happy with me…" Hu Sheng continued, as if he hadn't seen what Charmeleon had done, muttering to himself, "I'm not happy with you either. How come other people's Vulpix can protect their trainers, but you… you just end up hurting me?"
"But… if you win against that fox this time, I'll set you free, how's that sound?"
Hu Sheng drunkenly extended his hand, blood dripping steadily to the floor, smiling at Charmeleon.
After a long moment, Charmeleon growled lowly and returned to its Poké Ball.
Hu Sheng stared at the vicious wound on his arm and, strangely, a smile crept across his face as he slowly drifted into sleep.
---
The first round of the qualifiers had come to an end, and over 200 contestants had advanced to the second round of elimination matches. For the past two days, the news had been repeatedly pushing the headline, "The Champion is Undoubtedly Him! Wang Yingjie!" to the point where Lu Cheng was getting tired of seeing it.
"What's the deal with this Wang Yingjie?" Lu Cheng muttered. Since he had been seeded directly into the competition and his senior was invited through an external wildcard from the Jitian Gym, neither of them had to participate in the elimination rounds, so their weekly tutoring sessions continued as usual.
During lunch break, while scrolling through his phone, Lu Cheng slouched over the desk and asked, "The news has been all about him lately. He's even more talked about than that Karate-Chop Machamp guy."
"It seems like traditional media hype from the way they're promoting him," Mu Mei said, tilting her head. "But I wonder why Wang Yingjie is going along with it."
"I watched one of his matches—he's actually pretty skilled. I'm not sure if the TV station approached him or if he's already signed a deal or something."
"Signed a deal this early?" Lu Cheng was taken aback. "Isn't it usually after the top 128 that people start getting attention?"
"Not at all," she smiled. "Because of the scale of this event, many TV stations started reporting right from the qualifiers."
"Which means when you step onto the stage for your first match, you'll need to wear the outfit I had custom-made for you!"
"So sudden?" Lu Cheng asked, surprised. "I haven't even seen what it looks like."
"You'll find out when the time comes," she replied, smiling gleefully, which sent a shiver down Lu Cheng's spine.
Well, as long as it wasn't a dress, he could deal with it!
---
T/N: I may have made a mistake in translating Su's pokemon in the previous chapters, I am unsure though. Perhaps I will find out later when she actually battles then I can correct it.
Hello this is me from the future! I already changed it. ᕙ(`▿´)ᕗ
If there are any mistakes let me know!
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