A Strange Neurotic Girl!

For Feng Ya, Pokémon battles meant nothing to her.

Or rather, ever since her mother had died of illness last year, and her father—always busy with work and never home—had rushed to marry a stepmother who came through the door with a son her age, she had lost interest in many things.

Her heart had gradually gone numb. Even the icy silver studs piercing her skin brought her no pain at all.

If not for the Whismur her mother had given her staying by her side, she might not have had any particular desire to keep living.

In that hollow numbness, she was like a puppet on strings, drifting through each day without purpose or direction.

But if there was one thing that could still stir her emotions, it was the Whismur that had already evolved into Loudred.

"X-Scissor!"

A flat voice carried across the battlefield and reached Feng Ya's ears, adorned with black steel studs.

A bright yellow figure, too fast for even her black eyes to catch, shot across the field like a meteor tearing through the sky and arrived before Loudred in an instant.

The sheer speed made Feng Ya, whose expression had barely changed all along, shrink her pupils. Her dark purple lips parted slightly.

It wasn't as though she had never battled Pokémon before.

In fact, at Huaxing High School, where wealthy second-generation kids were everywhere, Pokémon battles were one of the most basic forms of entertainment.

Thanks to Loudred's outstanding talent and her calm, almost numb mentality, she had even become the undisputed strongest at Huaxing High School.

But even so, she had never seen a Pokémon belonging to someone their age reach such speed.

Even a Combusken with Speed Boost couldn't possibly do it!

And yet, what flew before her was merely