Guilt (Please Bookmark, Vote, and Send Monthly Tickets!)

Jiang Jing could tell that Liu Bin was getting a little carried away, but he didn't say much. After going through this sort of thing enough times, he'd learn to keep his composure. A small reminder would do.

So he said, "A-Bin, you're getting ahead of yourself. You're already floating just because you made the top six? Is that all the ambition you've got?"

Liu Bin held Shinx in his arms and said indifferently, "Damn, what do you mean, that's all the ambition I've got? I fought my way up round by round too, okay?"

"You think making the top six is easy? Why don't you get into the top six first and let me see?"

Jiang Jing continued, "There's nothing impressive about the top six. If you're going for it, aim for the top three. I'm afraid you might not even beat your opponent next round."

"You should go back and properly study your upcoming opponent."

As soon as he finished speaking, the next round's matchups appeared on the large screen in the distance.

"The next round's matchups are out."

Jiang Jing checked his opponent and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't one of the three strongest competitors, he had an eighty percent chance of advancing.

Then he looked at Liu Bin's opponent: Liang Shen, the guy in sunglasses. It looked like there was truly no hope this time. Even he couldn't beat Liang Shen, so Liu Bin had even less of a chance.

Thinking about it, Liu Bin's luck was both good and bad. It was good because he'd received a bye straight into the next round, but bad because he immediately had to face one of the three strongest contestants.

The moment Liu Bin saw that his opponent was Liang Shen, he instantly calmed down. After thinking it over, he realized he didn't know Liang Shen's Pokémon's level, but he could guess it wouldn't be low. It would only be higher than his—much higher.

He really did seem to be no match for him, but that didn't mean he had no fighting chance at all.

That evening, Jiang Jing lay on his bed when Aron voluntarily climbed up, pointing at his phone with its short little legs and calling out twice.

Jiang Jing said, "Want to watch videos again?"

Aron nodded seriously with its adorable little head.

"Alright!"

Jiang Jing opened the Douyin app and searched for Aron battle videos.

Countless videos about Aron battles immediately popped up.

Jiang Jing pulled Aron close and watched the battle videos with it.

Over the past month, Aron had developed a habit of watching matches every day from following the National Championship. It especially liked watching battles involving Aron and its evolutions—Lairon and Aggron.

Now, it had to watch videos for a while every night before bed before it could sleep peacefully.

Jiang Jing decided that tomorrow, he'd buy Aron a tablet so it could watch videos during its free time too.

Once school started, he might have classes to attend. Then Aron could watch videos by itself to pass the time whenever it got bored.

Before long, after who knew how many videos they had watched, it was already eleven thirty. Jiang Jing closed Douyin and said to Aron, "Alright, that's enough for today. Go to sleep."

Aron nodded, rubbed against Jiang Jing's arm, then obediently climbed off the bed and hopped down into its little nest to sleep.

Jiang Jing turned off the light and got ready for bed.

After an unknown amount of time passed in the darkness, he felt something else on the bed. It soon crawled over to his side.

One touch was enough for him to know it was Aron.

"Why did you suddenly want to sleep on the bed?"

Aron called out in the darkness, then pressed itself closer to Jiang Jing.

Jiang Jing understood what it meant. "So you want to sleep with me."

"Then we'll sleep together. Until you evolve, we'll sleep together."

He felt a little guilty as he spoke. Ever since Aron had hatched, Jiang Jing had made it sleep alone in its little nest. He hadn't realized it wanted to sleep with him.

It had been hard on it to keep that thought to itself until today.

The next day was the fourth day of the Suicune Cup Challenge. There were still just as many people, but only eleven contestants remained.

All the battles would end today, so the Trainers needed to prepare enough Potions.

Cerulean Supermarket had also invited two Pokémon Center staff members to treat the contestants' Pokémon.

All the contestants had arrived except Liang Shen, the man in sunglasses. He only showed up after two matches had already finished, and his lackeys had nearly worried themselves to death.

As a result, they hadn't performed well and lost their battles. By the time he arrived, it was Jiang Jing's turn.

Stepping onto the Arena again, he was much calmer than before. Confidence had to be cultivated.

Battles now only made him calm, not nervous.

This time, his opponent was a girl wearing glasses. She dressed plainly and had an ordinary face and figure.

But she wasn't weak. She had a Pokémon resembling a snail, its entire body covered in lava—Slugma.

[Pokémon]: Slugma

[Attribute]: Fire type

[Talent]: ★

[Level]: LV11

[Ability]: Flame Body

[Pokémon]: Aron

[Attributes]: Steel, Rock

[Talent]: ★★★

[Level]: LV13

[Ability]: Heavy Metal

Aron had leveled up again. After returning yesterday, it had trained hard for a while, and leveling up had come naturally.

The reason Jiang Jing was so confident was because of Aron's level and strength.

There was a two-level gap between Slugma and Aron, along with a two-star gap in talent. Combined, the difference between them was only greater.

"Slugma, use Yawn!"

"Aron, use Headbutt!"

Slugma opened its mouth and let out a huge yawn, as though it were about to fall asleep.

But Aron's speed didn't slow down at all. It continued forward at the same pace.

That move was useless against Aron. Yawn induced drowsiness in the opponent and forced them to sleep.

But when the opponent was prepared and possessed firm willpower, it couldn't take effect.

This Slugma had been extremely effective against other Pokémon before. It had directly put its opponents to sleep and won, succeeding every time.

But against Aron this time, it was no longer effective.

The girl became a little flustered and hurriedly issued another attack command.

"Slugma, use Ember!"

Slugma quickly gathered flames and fired them out, but because it was in such a rush, the flames were somewhat small.

Aron didn't even try to dodge. It charged straight into the flames.

It leaped into the air, its body flying forward as it thrust its head straight ahead and rammed forward.

Aron's head was reflected in Slugma's eyes because it was far too close.

Bang!

Slugma didn't even have time to scream before it was sent flying, smashing into the ground and coating its fiery red body in dust.

It instantly fainted and lost its ability to battle.

That was Aron's attack power. With a Headbutt of seventy power, few Pokémon could stay standing after taking a hit.

And it wasn't easy to dodge, either. Aron had long since trained Headbutt to a Proficient level—fast, ruthless, accurate, and precise.

The Referee announced, "Slugma has lost its ability to battle. Aron wins."

Jiang Jing said, "Sorry, you let me win." He'd learned that line from a movie he watched online yesterday. It sounded pretty cool, so he used it today.

After saying that, he turned and left the Arena. Once his opponent recalled Slugma, she watched Jiang Jing's retreating back with only one thought in her heart: He's so handsome!