The Battle Restaurant

The university dorms were standard four-person suites, each with four bedrooms and a shared living room. Since both men were already engaged, they had applied to the university to let Shen Yue and Ye Ling move into the other two rooms. That meant the four of them would be living under one roof for four years.

"Ugh, I'm exhausted! That Principal Zhu sure can ramble!" Shen Yue said, flopping onto the sofa without a shred of decorum. The president of Nancheng University's surname was Zhu, which sounded like the word for pig. Coupled with his plump figure, it had earned him the nickname "Principal Pig" among many of the freshmen.

"It's all a formality. How could he be a university president if he couldn't ramble?" Jiang Cheng chuckled, lying down beside her.

"Come on, stop lounging around. We still have plenty to clean up. Do you want to sleep tonight or not?" Xiao Ran said helplessly. After putting his things in his room, he grabbed a broom and started sweeping, while Ye Ling fetched Bu from the bathroom and began wiping the windows.

They had dropped off their belongings that morning and gone straight to the opening ceremony, leaving no time to clean the suite. Only those two could flop onto the sofa without a care.

"Oh my god! I should've hired a cleaner before going to the opening ceremony!" Jiang Cheng cried. For a rich young master like him, why do something himself when money could solve it?

"Lingling, I love you! I love you more than Xiao Ran does! I'm sleeping with you tonight!" Shen Yue shouted to Ye Ling.

"Okay!" came a calm voice from the room. Clearly, this wasn't the first time she had dealt with something like this.

"Um, Xiao Ran..."

"Get lost! I'm not gay!" Before Jiang Cheng could finish, Xiao Ran's roar cut off whatever he had been about to say.

"Hahahaha!" Seeing Jiang Cheng get shut down, Shen Yue collapsed into his arms, laughing without the slightest concern for appearances.

"Actually, it's probably not too late to hire a cleaner now. Lingling, stop cleaning. Let's go to the mall together. We moved into the dorm so suddenly that we haven't had time to get some of the things we need." After a moment's thought, Xiao Ran suddenly stopped what he was doing.

"Huh? Yes, absolutely! I want bubble tea! You want some too, right, Charmander?" Delighted at the prospect of going out, Shen Yue immediately agreed and even summoned her Charmander to nod along with her.

"Bu~~~" Hearing there would be food, the two recently hatched Eevee immediately popped out of their Poké Balls. Over the summer, the Pokémon Eggs Xiao Ran's mother had given him and Ye Ling had successfully hatched, becoming their third Pokémon.

Both Eevee were still infants, however, so neither had been given a training plan. They had been kept inside their Poké Balls throughout the ceremony and had long since grown restless. Now they stared up at their respective Pokémon Trainers with wide eyes.

"Then it's settled. I'll hire a cleaning service. Get ready to go—we'll have lunch out." Jiang Cheng, who hadn't wanted to clean in the first place, immediately made the decision and picked up his phone to call a cleaning company...

Malls were always especially busy at the start of the school year, with one promotion after another. Thanks to Pokémon, those promotions came in all sorts of forms. The entire mall buzzed with excitement as various Pokémon worked hard to advertise and liven things up, making them just about the cheapest and most hardworking labor available.

Xiao Ran and the others went to the Golden Summit Department Store, one of the largest department stores in Nancheng. Inside was a chain steakhouse that was Jiang Cheng's absolute favorite. Whichever Golden Summit Department Store in Nancheng he visited, he always had to eat there. The restaurant had one special feature: Pokémon battles.

The restaurant provided three opponents, one each at Novice, Entry Class, and Elite Class. Diners could choose which level of opponent they wanted to challenge.

Challengers could only use Pokémon provided by the restaurant. Winning earned them a free meal for two, and the quality of the steak served that day increased with the level of the opponent they defeated.

Jiang Cheng had almost never won these battles before, so he could only enjoy the better steaks by bringing Xiao Ran along. Even then, they had been limited to Novice opponents. Back then, they hadn't even graduated from high school or owned any Pokémon, so the restaurant wouldn't let them battle trainers at Entry Class or above. Today, however, was different.

"Ran, want to try Entry Class? I've never had their Entry Class steak before!" Jiang Cheng urged, his eyes shining.

Food in this world came in many varieties. Steak, for instance, could come from ordinary cattle or from Tauros. Defeating a Novice opponent earned diners premium steak from ordinary cattle for free, while beating an Entry Class opponent earned them Tauros steak. Of course, those Tauros were specifically raised as beef cattle.

"Why don't you give it a try?" Rather than agreeing to Jiang Cheng's suggestion, Xiao Ran turned to Ye Ling beside him. Sneasel had reached Entry Class over the summer, and she needed experience battling with Entry Class Pokémon.

"Okay!" Ye Ling thought for a moment, then nodded. She handed Abu, who was nestled in her arms, to Xiao Ran and walked toward the Battlefield.

Because Pokémon existed, malls in this world had especially large event spaces. Some businesses held Pokémon battle events, so each floor had designated battle areas to accommodate them.

Ye Ling requested a battle, and a staff member guided her to a Battlefield. Her opponent was a young man who looked like a university student himself. The mall was close to the university district, and many students came here for part-time work when they had free time. After all, being a Pokémon Trainer was an expensive profession.

"She's going on! Lingling actually got a Pidgeotto as her random Pokémon!" Shen Yue cried excitedly when she saw the Pokémon Ye Ling summoned. Pidgey were common in real life, but seeing a Pidgeotto wasn't nearly as easy.

"Tsk, this doesn't look good. Her opponent's using a Graveler!" Jiang Cheng clicked his tongue and sighed. Graveler was both Rock-type and Ground-type, so winning wouldn't be easy for a Flying-type Pidgeotto. Still, that was one of the restaurant's tricks. If winning were too easy, they would lose a fortune.

"Rock-types do have an advantage over Flying-types, but that doesn't make victory easy," Xiao Ran said, looking like a babysitter with two Eevee in his arms and Popplio perched on his head.

After a brief exchange to establish some understanding, Ye Ling finally took the field with Pidgeotto. With an unfamiliar Pokémon, whether it could understand her tactics was still uncertain. At the very least, though, she needed to understand her Pokémon and know its moves. That was basic knowledge every Pokémon Trainer had to master.

"Graveler, use Smack Down!" The moment Pidgeotto entered the field, the opposing Pokémon Trainer issued his attack order. Clearly, repeated battles had made him familiar with the routine and left him bored and impatient.

"Agility!" Ye Ling's cool voice rang out. Pidgeotto suddenly accelerated in midair, dodging the rock hurled straight at it.

"This Pidgeotto's pretty good! It knows Agility at Entry Class? Isn't that a move plenty of Elite Class Pidgeotto haven't even mastered?" Jiang Cheng's eyes lit up as he praised it.

"Yeah, looks like the restaurant underestimated this Pidgeotto a little!" Xiao Ran nodded. Agility was a Psychic-type move. Although Pidgeotto flew fast, mastering it wasn't easy.

Compared to Flying-type energy, psychic power required an entirely different way of channeling energy. It wasn't simply a matter of moving faster; this was a status move whose effects could persist.

"Graveler, keep using Smack Down!" The opposing Pokémon Trainer frowned slightly, clearly caught off guard as well. In all his time working as a battle opponent, he had rarely encountered a Pidgeotto that knew Agility. Still, that didn't mean he had no way to deal with it.

Graveler kept hurling rocks, trying to knock Pidgeotto out of the sky. Although Pidgeotto dodged them all, it had no opportunity to attack Graveler in return. If this continued until Agility wore off, getting hit by Smack Down would only be a matter of time.

"Get close with Quick Attack, then use Feather Dance!" Ye Ling knew this couldn't continue either and began issuing a different command.

Unlike Agility, the Normal-type Quick Attack was one of Pidgeotto's signature moves. It could even trace a zigzag path. However, Quick Attack consumed a tremendous amount of stamina, which was why Ye Ling had wanted it to use Agility first.

"Pidge!" With a long cry, Pidgeotto became a flash of white light before everyone's eyes. Using Quick Attack while boosted by Agility made it blindingly fast, and it reached Graveler in an instant. Yet just as it was about to follow up with Feather Dance, it suddenly let out a shriek. A moment later, Pidgeotto lay off to one side, both wings bloodied.

"Do you want to continue?" Graveler's Pokémon Trainer asked Ye Ling. Pidgeotto could still fight, but these Pokémon belonged to the restaurant, after all. Letting them suffer serious injuries wouldn't be appropriate.

"You win!" After looking at Pidgeotto, Ye Ling fell silent for a moment before conceding outright. She recalled Pidgeotto into its Poké Ball and handed it to a nearby staff member for treatment.

"What... what just happened?" Jiang Cheng asked, utterly baffled. He wasn't the only one. Confused voices had already risen all around the Battlefield, making it clear that plenty of others hadn't understood either.

"It was Stealth Rock. This Pokémon Trainer's pretty good. Even I hadn't thought of using Stealth Rock like that." Xiao Ran watched the opponent with an intrigued smile.

In the games from his previous life, Stealth Rock had been used to disrupt an opponent's Pokémon switching. He hadn't expected it to be so effective in a real battle. It was like placing an actual rock nearby and waiting for Pidgeotto to crash headfirst into it. Wasn't that a classic case of lying in wait?

"I'll give it a try too!" When Ye Ling returned, Xiao Ran offered no words of comfort. Instead, he handed Eevee back to her and walked eagerly toward the Battlefield. Clearly, the Entry Class battles had caught his interest.