"Hey, Chen, what are you spacing out about? Is it because your good... friend left?"
Seeing Chen Shi sitting on the hotel sofa in a daze, Steven couldn't resist teasing him.
Chen Shi snapped out of it and said irritably, "What are you thinking? We really are just ordinary friends."
"I was thinking about something else."
Chen Shi really wasn't trying to fool Steven. He had genuinely been thinking about something else.
The day's experiences had left Chen Shi feeling different.
Although that day's Elite King Exhibition Match had been lackluster and entirely scripted,
Sidney's boldly unrestrained presence and the immovable steadiness of the veteran Mura had both stirred something in him.
Especially after meeting Lance and Lorelei, Chen Shi realized that they both possessed a confidence that radiated from within, a confidence that made anyone who saw them feel inferior.
Cynthia and Steven were actually the same. He had simply spent so much time with them that he had started overlooking it.
They were all the finest talents of their respective regions, and all firmly believed they were as good as anyone.
But Chen Shi didn't. Before he had even entered the championship, he already felt he was inferior to them and planned only to do his best.
Then Chen Shi thought of Swampert, Charmander, and the others. He had once promised to take them onto the greatest stage and make everyone cheer their names.
When would he ever be able to do that?
Had some of his choices really been right?
He had hidden his abilities as a child, hidden them as he grew up, and was still hiding them now.
Somewhere along the way, it seemed he had lost that confidence.
Once, he had been every bit as confident as Lance.
"Steven, tell me, why are there