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Because a certain iron-headed fool was eager to play on the computer, Li Xiang had to skip watching Song Jie's battle. He went straight to the Pokémon Center and then rushed back to the dorm without stopping.
By the way, the shiny Metagross had an incredibly high rate of turning heads. While flying to the Pokémon Center, people kept taking photos and talking about it.
Some even tried to strike up a conversation, but Li Xiang ignored them.
After all, requests like "let me play with your shiny Metagross" – why don't you offer your girlfriend for a swap instead?
Of course, exchanging Pokémon for training or experience was actually quite common in this world, just like in the anime. The difference was that one was a temporary swap, and the other was a permanent trade.
'But even so, we don't even know each other; why would I hand it over to you? What nonsense!'
'The sheer audacity.'
Looking at the exchange post someone had made on the forum, Li Xiang curled his lip. Without a doubt, Metagross's impressive performance earlier had been recorded and even posted on the school forum.
Li Xiang was puzzled about where it was filmed; he hadn't seen anyone around during the battle.
And because Metagross was a rare shiny, it was break time, coupled with an exaggerated title:
—[Shocking! Senior Student Brutally Beaten by Stubborn Freshman! Referee Teacher Furious!]
It successfully attracted a lot of attention, and the number of replies kept increasing as Li Xiang refreshed the page.
Countless people were asking who the trainer of the shiny Metagross was, which freshman it belonged to. Others were critiquing Metagross's battling style.
There were praises, admiration, disdain, and scorn.
One comment even fabricated Li Xiang's hidden background, suggesting he was a mysterious rich second-generation heir here to gild his reputation at Mist City University.
Claims that the shiny Metagross was entirely a gift from his family, and that without his family background, he was nothing.
The former was fine; Li Xiang, lurking, could chuckle at it. The latter almost required pinching his nose to block out the sourness emanating from the screen.
As expected, even in one of Zhu Xia's top institutions, there were some less-than-stellar oddballs.
Talent and character couldn't be lumped together.
However, remembering the mere five-point increase in his ranking points, Li Xiang felt this round was a bit of a loss.
Although he hadn't planned to hide his Pokémon too much anyway—they'd be exposed eventually—was a gain of just five points a bit too little?
Lying on the sofa, enjoying Riolu's back-walking service, Li Xiang silently refreshed the post.
The efficiency of the onlookers was high. In less than half an hour, his real identity was guessed.
And as he was exposed, another post popped up on the forum.
—[Can't Bear to Look! The National Topper's Partner is Big, Hard, And Sparkly! Pictures Don't Lie!]
'Dammit! What year is this? Having so much fun with outdated UC-style headlines?'
'Oh, it's 2014. Never mind.'
Li Xiang glanced at the date and rolled his eyes. Not really wanting to see others digging up his past, he silently closed the forum and opened WeChat.
Sure enough, he was bombarded by a bunch of seniors and classmates. So many messages that he couldn't possibly reply to them all.
"One after another, all curious little rascals." Li Xiang lifted his head, not planning to reply to any. It would be a waste of time and could easily lead to misunderstandings.
"Riolu?"
Riolu on his back lowered its head, curiously looking at the phone screen.
"The iron-headed fool's business got secretly recorded and posted online." Li Xiang reached back and poked Riolu's nose.
Riolu's cute nose wrinkled in dissatisfaction as it swatted his hand away, the paws on his shoulders unconsciously applying more pressure—
Crack crack!
"Ooh! Oh..."
Li Xiang let out a moan, his face full of ecstatic expression, feeling as if something pressing on his shoulders suddenly loosened up.
"So good. What's up with you guys lately? Why is everyone learning massage one after another?"
He turned his head to look at Riolu with one eye. Lately, ever since Incineroar demonstrated its excellent head massage skills, these guys had started acting strange.
Riolu's Thai massage, Greninja's foam mousse scrub, Rotom's electric foot massage. Even Corviknight's acupressure massage.
Good grief, that bird's beak was so precise; even seasoned acupuncturists might not be as steady, accurate, and ruthless!
It almost felt like they were setting up a Pokémon massage parlor.
Li Xiang was starting to wonder if he should just open a massage parlor with these guys if he ever decided to quit being a trainer.
Hearing the trainer's words, Riolu, sitting on his back, scratched its face and said casually, "Riolu..." (We just felt like learning it...)
"Really?"
Li Xiang looked at Riolu suspiciously. "You're not hiding something from me, are you? Tell me now; I won't get mad."
"Riolu!"
Upon hearing this, Riolu's face turned serious, its little paws patting his back loudly, looking very displeased.
'Can't we maintain some trust between us?'
"Alright, alright, my bad."
Li Xiang turned his head back and closed his eyes. "I'm going to nap for a bit. Wake me at six. I'll make dinner for you."
"Riolu~"
Riolu responded softly, unconsciously slowing its movements, its eyes full of attachment and contentment.
Why learn massage?
Simple. They just wanted to help Li Xiang.
Their trainer was self-studying Breeder courses; everyone knew. Seeing him work so hard every day—practicing martial arts, training with them, studying Breeder knowledge on his own.
His days were packed, running 24/7 with basically no personal time.
They couldn't just stand by and watch. Since they were companions, an inseparable part of the team, they should share both joys and hardships. They needed to share some of the burden for his hard work, even if just a little.
Even if it was just helping him relieve stress and relax his tired body, that was still great.
Because of Li Xiang, they could all stick together tightly, living happily every day without worrying about unnecessary troubles.
To all of them, Li Xiang was a warm sun, generously radiating its light and sharing it with everyone.
All their wonderful stories unfolded precisely because they were by Li Xiang's side. Riolu and the others didn't ask for much. As long as his light still shone on them, as long as he didn't abandon them, that was enough.
.....
A short rest.
When he woke up again, it was exactly six o'clock, pitch black outside.
Even though Mist City was warm in winter and cool in summer, winter nights were still longer than summer nights; that was an unchangeable fact.
Riolu was gone, not sure where it went.
"Ah..."
Li Xiang yawned and looked at Corviknight blocking the door. "Did anyone come by?"
"N-o! Caw!"
Corviknight spoke in its androgynous voice.
Li Xiang frowned. "Speak clearly. No."
"N-o!"
"No!"
"N-o!"
"First tone! No!"
"N-o!"
"You damn— Forget it, go practice with the Little Tyrant learning machine yourself!"
Li Xiang waved his hand and headed to the kitchen. No point arguing with a crow.
Corviknight looked utterly baffled. Wasn't its pronunciation correct? At most, it dragged the sound a bit.
In the music world, dragging notes was perfectly normal.
Young people sure were picky.
Kitchen.
Li Xiang looked at the ingredients on the counter: a bunch of unprocessed Berries and vegetables, and the kitchen knife beside them.
After pondering for two seconds...
"Sword, come!"
Shing!
A flash of silver light, two swords flew in from the west—
"Hey, hey, hey, don't run away! Help me out here. I can't handle all this alone."
Li Xiang grabbed Doublade's tassels. This guy tried to escape the moment it saw the stuff on the cutting board, no sense of loyalty at all.
Doublade shook its body, adopting a resolute refusal attitude.
It was a Pokémon, not a kitchen knife! Back when it had nothing to do all day, splitting firewood was one thing, but now that it had things to do, did he still expect it to play chef and chop vegetables?
No way!
"Don't be like that! Let's talk this out! Please, Doublade!"
Li Xiang batted his eyes at Doublade, rarely acting cute towards his own Pokémon. "Help me out just this once? It's not like you haven't done it before. I'm doing this for you guys, after all. Help me this once; I know you're the best!"
Doublade was creeped out by his antics, but when it turned and saw the sincerity in Li Xiang's eyes, it couldn't help but soften.
Its movement to fly away slowly stopped.
'Fine. Just this last time.'
Doublade looked at Li Xiang with its pink eyes, full of "this is the last time" expression.
"Thank you~"
Li Xiang smiled and scratched its tassels. Doublade shook its body discontentedly but flew into the kitchen.
And this...
...was the thirtieth time it had helped Li Xiang chop vegetables.
Reportedly, each time was supposed to be the last time.
Sometimes, you could always use a Pokémon's affection points in special ways. And if you were usually stern, occasionally softening up to ask for a favor made it hard for others to refuse.
Doublade was a typical case, susceptible to both soft and hard approaches.
'Sigh. My charm is simply irresistible.'
Li Xiang touched his hair, uncharacteristically narcissistic.
At the cutting board, Doublade looked at the piled-up food but didn't start chopping immediately. Instead, it flew to the sink and slowly rinsed its body.
After thoroughly washing away the dust on its blades and scabbard, it slowly sheathed itself. Then, it suddenly extended its tassels, tossing most of the ingredients into the air!
And then—
Doublade, unsheathe!
Silver light flashed!
Aerial Ace Iaijutsu! Dual Chop unleashed!
In Li Xiang's sight, after a dizzying flurry of movement, the ingredients were neatly arranged on the counter, just like in cartoons.
Perfectly precise. What needed to be discarded was in the trash; what was edible was properly placed.
And Doublade in front of the cutting board slowly returned its blades to their scabbard, posing as if its work was done and its name unknown.
"Clap clap clap clap clap."
He applauded vigorously, even whistling for Doublade. "Astonishing! Truly astonishing!"
If he were just being lazy, Li Xiang would have bought pre-processed ingredients. The reason he did this every day was mainly to train Doublade's cutting ability.
While chopping vegetables might not be glamorous, it was a skilled task that tested knife work greatly.
It helped improve the precision of Doublade's attacks.