Ouyang Sheng Tian

Ye Lan generally avoided tactics that depended on luck.

Given the situation back then, if Camerupt had unleashed Explosive Flame first, Servine would already have been blasted away.

Seeing the dirt-covered Servine in the arena, Ye Lan felt that familiar pang of sympathy for her again.

His little princess normally loved keeping herself clean, but she had really put her life on the line for today's battles.

"Should we call it a day?"

"Servine!"

"Then let's keep going!" Ye Lan's gaze grew resolute.

"Ye Lan's quick thinking just now is something you need to learn from, too."

In the seating area for Mianzhou No. 1 High School, Liu Yan was explaining the details of Ye Lan's last battle to the school team members.

"Although Ye Lan's move involved some gambling, his choice made perfect sense."

"Camerupt is a dual Fire- and Ground-type Pokémon. If it knows Ground-type moves that can alter the terrain, dragging this into a battle of attrition would put Servine at a serious disadvantage in her current state..."

Liu Yan's voice drilled into their ears like a demonic chant, leaving the elite class students, who had been eagerly watching the matches, utterly miserable.

Although Liu Yan was mainly addressing the four school team members, everyone's seats were close together, and the other students felt too awkward not to listen.

They had no choice but to sit through an impromptu "Pokémon Battle Theory" class in the spectator stands.

Cottonee covered its ears with its little hands, unable to understand why this female human had so much to say.

"Let's continue," Ye Lan said calmly in the arena.

"Servine!" Servine raised her head and cried out in response to her trainer.

However, with her body covered in dirt and her tail scorched black, Servine looked less imposing than slightly comical.

Meanwhile, in the conference room on the arena's second floor, the previously quiet room erupted into chatter after Ye Lan secured his thirteenth consecutive win.

"We can't let him keep winning! At this rate, he'll really be able to redeem a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon egg!"

"Don't we keep a team of 'hunters' here at the arena? It's time to send them out to stop this Ye Lan."

The executives chattered nonstop. Some even argued that since Manager Lin had brought Ye Lan here, he should be responsible for all the losses!

Others argued that the arena shouldn't recognize the membership card Manager Lin had issued without authorization, and that Ye Lan should be disqualified immediately!

Hearing this, Manager Lin trembled in a corner of the conference table, not daring to say a word.

Every person present could be considered his superior. In a meeting at this level, a lowly manager like him didn't even have the right to interrupt.

"Quiet!" At the head of the conference table, a young man in a suit slammed his hand down on the table.

The resounding bang instantly silenced the entire conference room.

"Are you saying our arena's second floor can't even afford a single Pseudo-Legendary egg? What are you all panicking for?!"

The young man who spoke was Ouyang Sheng Tian, the only son of Ouyang Tian, founder of the Jindu Battle Arena.

The Jindu Battle Arena had an unusual management structure. Each floor was overseen by an old subordinate who had traveled far and wide with Ouyang Tian in his early years.

Anyone with a discerning eye understood that the higher the floor, the stronger the competitors. The risks were greater, but so were the profits.

Back then, the arenas from intermediate to Gym Leader level had been assigned to those subordinates according to their strength. Aside from the earnings they had to hand over each month, each floor's overseer was free to allocate the rest.

Ouyang Tian had always believed in trusting those he employed and not employing those he distrusted. Combined with his generous nature, this had earned the unwavering support of the overseers and their followers for the Ouyang family.

As Ouyang Tian's only child, born late in his life, Ouyang Sheng Tian enjoyed the affection of the entire Ouyang Group.

His name, Ouyang Sheng Tian—"surpassing heaven"—alone showed just how high his father's hopes for him were.

But history had shown time and again that when a family reached the height of its prosperity, it was especially likely to produce an oddball.

Clearly, Ouyang Sheng Tian was that oddball!

In this world dominated by Pokémon and trainers, Ouyang Sheng Tian had no interest in becoming a trainer, nor did he like Pokémon.

His sole passion was making money—an enormous, enormous amount of money!

His father, Ouyang Tian, had once warned him that no matter how much wealth he amassed, he wouldn't be able to hold on to it without sufficient strength.

Ouyang Sheng Tian's reply had left Ouyang Tian thinking for days, yet he still couldn't find a way to refute his son.

"If I can't hold on to my money, then obviously I don't have enough money yet!"

After waiting a while, one of the executives seated closest to Ouyang Sheng Tian stole a glance at the young master's expression, hesitated, then spoke softly:

"Have you forgotten, young master? When the family first sent you to manage the second-floor arena, you were curious about how a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon egg tasted, so you had a chef from Kalos make that egg into egg fried rice!"

"...Did that happen?" Ouyang Sheng Tian's angry expression froze on his face.

Two and a half months earlier, the previous second-floor overseer had resigned due to his advanced age and returned to his hometown to open a farm.

Apparently, he now spent his days holding his grandson and basking in the sun on his farm with a herd of Miltank, living a wonderfully comfortable life.

The Ouyang family had thought it over. Hadn't Sheng Tian always liked business? Why not let him manage the second-floor arena?

As the lowest-level arena, the intermediate arena wouldn't cause any crippling damage to the Ouyang family even if it lost money. It was the perfect place for Ouyang Sheng Tian to gain some experience.

"Young master, as you know, the most important thing about our arena's reward exchange system is its credibility."

"If we can't provide a prize a competitor redeems, it will be a major blow to our second-floor arena," another executive advised.

"Is there any way to obtain a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon egg from somewhere else in advance? The Ouyang family can afford the price!" Ouyang Sheng Tian had now realized how serious the situation was.

"Young master, this isn't a question of money. Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon eggs aren't like Pikachu, as common as stray dogs on the roadside!" the executive who had just spoken explained, caught between laughter and tears.

"It's still too early to worry about that. Based on what I know about Ye Lan, it'll be very difficult for him to achieve fourteen consecutive wins with Servine in her current condition."

Seizing his chance, Manager Lin slipped his opinion into the conversation.

Now that the young master had finally become the overseer, he had to make the most of this opportunity to get noticed.

"Manager Lin, are you sure?"

Sure enough, Ouyang Sheng Tian turned his gaze toward Manager Lin in the corner, his eyes full of questions.

After all, compared with the many executives present, this obscure Manager Lin had interacted with Ye Lan the most.

"Absolutely!" Manager Lin's eyes lit up with wild joy. Was he sure? How could he not be? That Servine had almost lost all the scales on her tail. How could she possibly have any fight left in her?!

"Congratulations to Ye Lan on the incredible feat of fourteen consecutive wins! Let's congratulate him on reaching an astonishing 8,191.5 points!"

On the big screen, the host, Little Li, was flushed with excitement. Anyone who didn't know better might have thought he was the one who had won fourteen matches in a row.

"???"

Feeling everyone's gazes on him, Manager Lin slowly produced three question marks.

(The comment about Pikachu in this chapter came from Ash's actual line in episode three of Pokémon: Original Series, "I Finally Caught a Pokémon": "But roadside Pikachu are as common as stray dogs! Why do you have to steal mine?"

The author likes Pikachu a lot, too. This was just a joke about the anime, hahaha~)