Mythical Pokémon Era: Global Ascension — 15

"Phew!" Roy let out a long breath. His opponent had pulled off all sorts of flashy maneuvers, but fortunately, Roy had been the more skilled one!

As the smoke cleared, Lin Shixian stared blankly at the battered Bulbasaur and heard the verdict.

"Bulbasaur has lost its ability to battle. The winners are Riolu and Competitor Roy!"

"..."

His mind went blank.

Lin Shixian's legs suddenly gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground.

He had lost.

I... lost again?

No. If he had merely lost, he would have been disappointed, but he would never have found it this hard to accept.

After all, just as he had prepared tactics specifically for Roy, Roy might have prepared tactics specifically to counter him...

A clash of passion, an all-out battle, losing by a single move—if that had been the case, Lin Shixian would have accepted defeat willingly.

But what the hell was this development supposed to be??

What had happened?

Lin Shixian's head swam as he stared dazedly at Riolu standing there as the victor. Is this Pokémon some kind of monster? It grew this much in just one day...

A few seconds later, he suddenly noticed something.

Where are the bracelets?

Lin Shixian had spotted the blind spot.

During yesterday's battle, this Riolu had worn a bracelet on each wrist.

But today, Riolu was completely unadorned.

Buying accessories for one's beloved Pokémon and dressing them up was perfectly normal. It was not just girls who liked it; plenty of burly men enjoyed changing outfits too. Lin Shixian had not suspected a thing yesterday.

But now, some instinct vaguely told him that Riolu's sudden tremendous improvement was likely because it had removed those bracelets.

Could they be some kind of magical item?

Lin Shixian guessed.

The arrival of Pokémon had also brought many ruins from other dimensions.

Things such as Poké Balls and the healing pods at Pokémon Centers had all been discovered in ruins, deciphered, and improved upon.

Aside from such advanced technology, the ruins also produced items with mysterious functions...

Like Fire Stones, Water Stones, and the like...

Lin Shixian had heard that several years ago, a magical item called the Proof of the King had sold for an astronomical five hundred million at an auction house open only to Professional-level Trainers.

But where could Roy, a commoner by birth, have gotten a magical item?

Lin Shixian could not figure it out no matter how hard he thought.

"Student Lin!"

The referee's stern voice interrupted his thoughts. "What should a Trainer do first after losing?"

"...R-recall their Pokémon, then shake hands with the opponent." Ashamed of his complete loss of composure, Lin Shixian reflected, "Sorry, I spaced out just now."

He hurriedly stood up and recalled Bulbasaur into its Poké Ball.

Lin Shixian walked to the center of the arena. Shock, embarrassment, guilt... his feelings were complicated as he looked at Roy. The two shook hands in salute.

Then, he drew a deep breath and smiled brightly.

"Keep it up. Win it for my sake too."

"..."

Roy released his hand and looked speechlessly at this overly dramatic classmate.

"You haven't been eliminated, have you?"

"Uh..."

"This is only the preliminaries." Holding back a laugh, Roy put on an enlightened expression. "Oh, the two sides that advance from the preliminaries won't meet again before the finals. So you said that to me in advance because you're not confident you'll make it to the finals."

"R-right."

Lin Shixian was so embarrassed he wanted to dig himself a three-bedroom apartment with his toes. He could only nod repeatedly.

Roy turned around and waved.

"I'll win."

It was a plain statement, yet it filled Lin Shixian with anticipation.

With the strength of him and this Riolu, maybe they could even defeat that Child of the Heavenly Kings...

Meanwhile.

The result of the battle for first place in Group F spread, and Sheng Hai University's forum completely exploded!

A shocking upset and the emergence of the dark horse most likely in history to strip a recommended student of their qualification during the entrance test sent the entire forum into a frenzy.

Countless posts appeared with all kinds of titles.

But the progression of those posts was nearly always the same template.

The template went like this:

"Did Roy win or lose?"

"He won."

"Holy shit, how did he win?"

"Three moves. Instant kill."

"????"

The exact way people spammed posts varied, but that was more or less how it went.

Even so, countless people continued discussing the matter with relish.

The dark horse had won!

And he had won so easily!

Everyone at Sheng Hai University, including some teachers following the situation, could not resist joining in on a forum poll.

How would you evaluate Student Roy's true strength after he defeated Lin Shixian in three moves?

①: Honestly, he really does have Champion potential.

②: His strength is approaching Xiao Bin's. He's a favorite to take first in the entrance test!

③: He's definitely making the top eight. Making the top four would already count as a success, yeah!

④: Xiao Bin misjudged him. Lin Shixian is the biggest Cjb, the shame of recommended students! Beating him proves nothing!

⑤: Rigged match! Fake battle!

Only single-digit numbers of people picked the first and fifth options for fun.

There was no need to mention the first option. Champion was simply too distant a prospect. Even if Roy became the top student of all Sheng Hai University, the public would not recognize him as such. Not even Heavenly Kings dared claim that.

As for the fifth option, anyone with half a brain knew Lin Shixian would never risk his reputation and recommended-student qualification to rig a match...

Second-generation Trainers were not short of money.

What was more, Roy's family background could not offer anything tempting enough to move him.

The main dispute centered on options two, three, and four.

Many girls who were fans of Roy's looks received this morale-boosting news. Good heavens, looks plus strength—how could that be anything but incredible?

The girls immediately became diehard fans. Their voices were loud, and they all believed Roy would definitely make the top eight. The more fanatical ones directly supported him to win it all!

Xiao Bin's supporters, along with those who envied and resented Roy, naturally refused to accept option three. Most backed option four, constantly belittling Roy and even dragging Lin Shixian into the insults.

No matter how the debate ended, the labels "biggest Cjb" and "shame of recommended students" were firmly stamped onto Lin Shixian's forehead.

Thus, when Lin Shixian picked up his phone and discovered this, he nearly suffocated.

"Fuck me—!!"

He almost failed to catch his breath and nearly choked himself unconscious.

He sat blankly before his phone, despondently reading all the mockery, insults, and sarcastic comments about him on the forum.

After a while, Lin Shixian suddenly saw a post titled, "I got matched against that pretty boy in the main bracket. Watch me crush him!" He immediately clicked into it.

The poster was the recommended student with the arrogant personality who had previously made grand statements on the forum, with the ID Arrogant Lord.

He had posted the main-bracket match list, and his opponent was unmistakably Roy.

His tone remained as arrogant and unruly as ever, but everyone's reaction was completely different from when they had cursed him before. He was now embraced by a crowd of Roy haters.

Arrogant Lord was delighted. He had probably never met anyone more hated than himself, and he had rarely been this popular. He immediately began spouting off.

"I'll prove it—Roy is nothing but a paper tiger!"

"That Lin Shixian is full of shit. I'm different from him, so everyone can rest assured!"

"What if I lose? What a joke, how could I lose?... Fine, fine, fine. If I lose, then I'm the biggest Cjb. You can curse me however you want, online or in real life, and I definitely won't talk back! Okay?"

"..."

Lin Shixian numbly scanned the comments. Seeing that everyone hoped a recommended student would beat Roy down, he suddenly let out a strange laugh. Then, with a ferocious expression, he shouted:

"Die!"

"Every last one of you has to die!"

"Roy, kill them for me!"

In an instant, Lin Shixian became the person in the world who most wanted Roy to win.

A ten-year fan reporting for duty!