There were indeed four or five fewer people at the Arena than yesterday.
Baimu looked more closely and found that everyone absent belonged to the group planning to travel. Those who genuinely wanted to learn from him were all there.
Most importantly, the few he had high hopes for had stayed.
That was enough.
"Everyone, before this afternoon's lesson begins, I have something important to announce!" he called to the people scattered around the Arena.
Otsuka and his friends were the quickest to respond, hurrying over excitedly. The others watched them with complicated expressions.
Baimu raised an eyebrow. "You battled?"
"We did!"
Otsuka grinned and nodded. "We only lost one match! We won all the others!"
The one who had lost pursed his lips, seemingly grumbling under his breath.
So they battled after all...
Baimu wasn't surprised that the Arena trainers had challenged Otsuka's group to Pokémon battles. After all, those guys always acted as though everything the others were doing was old news to them. It was an infuriating attitude.
Since they couldn't just beat the group up, taking them down a peg through Pokémon battles was one of the few satisfying alternatives.
Silver Horse clearly hadn't taken it well either. Yesterday, he had been among those bitten on the backside most often by Lycanroc.
But the Arena trainers had lost all but one match.
Baimu looked at the trainers gathering around him, genuinely surprised.
Many of them had apparently heard Otsuka's smug account. They instinctively turned their heads away, unwilling to meet his eyes. Silver Horse kept his head down the entire time.
Baimu wasn't about to let him off. "Did you lose too?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah..."
Silver Horse looked up reflexively, glanced around uneasily, then scratched his cheek. "More or less."
What did "more or less" mean?