We accept mediation

Su Bai lay in the... um... lounge of J City's Pokémon Law Enforcement Division?

Perhaps that was what you could call it.

Su Bai lounged on a fragrant pink sofa, picked up a grape, and tossed it into his mouth, utterly untroubled.

An hour earlier, Su Bai had beaten up that bastard surnamed Liu.

The guy's face had been battered black and blue. While Su Bai was pummeling him, he had even tried to fight back with his Pokémon.

The guy really was loaded. His first Pokémon was actually a Pawniard, and it looked close to evolving into Bisharp.

Then Growlithe had lunged at him.

Both the guy and his Pokémon had gotten thoroughly thrashed.

Growlithe even seemed to have learned Thrash in the process.

Zhang Shu had certainly earned his position as manager of the Pokémon Day Care. His first move hadn't been to break up the fight, but to delete the surveillance footage.

In the end, a passing customer had called the police, and Su Bai had been brought here.

Pikachu and Growlithe had been left in the temporary care of the teachers at the Pokémon Day Care.

As for Old Ghost, Su Bai had told him to go find somewhere cool and hang out for a while.

After all, Old Ghost's presence wasn't exactly within the rules.

"Fuck, that son of a bitch deserved it! If they really punish me for beating up someone like him, I'll just wait two years, finish the system mission, and take Pikachu, Growlithe, Old Ghost, and little Eevee straight to Sinnoh to get married!"

Inside the mediation room, Xiao Liu sat on a sofa with his bruised, swollen face, receiving treatment.

His father, Liu Dahai, stood there with his belly sticking out, cursing in a fury.

"Is there no law anymore? That brat must be punished! He dared to hit my precious son! I'm going to sue him!"

"Mr. Liu, that's not a fair way to put it."

Qi Shijun sat opposite Liu Dahai and his son. Zhang Shu had called him immediately, and he had hurried over as soon as he received the call.

After learning exactly what had happened, Qi Shijun had secretly used Gardevoir's power to coordinate his story with Zhang Shu before coming here.

Honestly, a fight between young people could be treated as either a major incident or a minor one.

But Xiao Liu had taken a completely one-sided beating this time, and his father, Liu Dahai, was a man of some standing, so the necessary preparations still had to be made.

"I heard your son took a fancy to our student's Growlithe and tried to take the Pokémon by force. My student was only acting in self-defense to protect his Pokémon."

"That's fucking bullshit!"

Liu Dahai was deeply displeased. His family was used to throwing their weight around. They didn't even leash their Stoutland when walking the Pokémon, and the neighborhood children hid whenever they saw them. Now his son had clearly been the one beaten up, yet these people were turning the tables and accusing him of trying to steal a dog?

"Who is my son, and who is that little bastard? You think my son would steal his mangy mutt?"

Smack!

Qi Shijun slammed his palm onto the table. At the same time, his Machamp emerged from the Poké Ball, and those powerful muscles and that suffocating presence left everyone there afraid to move.

Officer Jenny, who was handling the mediation, also stood up. Her two Growlithe rose and bared their teeth, but neither dared approach.

Looking into Machamp's kindly eyes, Liu Dahai finally realized that the man he was mouthing off to wasn't merely a family friend or elder of Su Bai's. He was a member of the Dragon Nation's Elite Four.

The leader of the Elite Four, at that.

To put it bluntly, if Qi Shijun wanted to crush Liu Dahai to death on the spot, nobody present could save him.

But people like him were used to being rich local big shots, and he didn't want to lose face in front of his son.

"What are you doing? Trying to get violent? The Dragon Nation is governed by law!"

"Mr. Qi, please don't do anything rash!"

Wang Officer Jenny also kept frantically signaling to Qi Shijun with her eyes.

Come on, my dear old friend, calm down! I didn't even put your precious nephew in a holding cell. He's eating grapes in my dorm room!

"And Mr. Liu, please watch your language."

As Wang Officer Jenny finished speaking, Machamp slowly turned around, went to the water dispenser, and poured Qi Shijun a cup of water.

Qi Shijun took a sip and looked around at everyone with feigned puzzlement.

"What's wrong with you all? I was just having some water. Let's continue."

"Hmph. In any case, I demand that the brat who hit my son be punished according to the law."

Liu Dahai turned and sat down. After Qi Shijun's show of strength, he had toned things down a little.

Qi Shijun snorted, refusing to give an inch.

"In that case, we can also discuss your son Liu Feng's abuse of a Pokémon, attempted abandonment of a Pokémon, and attempted fraud. And as I already said, your son was the one who tried to steal someone else's Growlithe."

"You!"

Liu Dahai swallowed his anger and fell silent.

In the Dragon Nation, abusing a Pokémon was a serious crime, even if it was your own Pokémon.

After Eevee lost a duel against Scolipede, his willful idiot of a son hadn't taken Eevee to a Pokémon Center in time. Instead, he had tried to abandon the Pokémon outright.

As a result, Eevee had missed the best window for treatment and gone blind. The Pokémon abuse was an undeniable fact.

Qi Shijun sneered.

"And we can discuss your family's habit of walking a dog without a leash. Not only is walking a dog off-leash illegal, it'll get you struck by lightning. Stoutland is a third-stage evolution, so that's three strikes."

"Pfft!"

Officer Jenny couldn't hold back her laughter.

"Sorry, I remembered something funny."

"Hmph! Son, we're leaving!"

Knowing he was in the wrong, Liu Dahai tried to leave with Liu Feng, only for Machamp to block their way.

"Qi Shijun, what else do you want?"

"Nothing much. Let's settle this here. Since your son failed to steal my student's Pokémon, we're willing to accept mediation. Your son hasn't signed the mediation agreement yet."

Qi Shijun couldn't even be bothered to look at Liu Dahai.

"Also, your son has already released Eevee. You'd better keep him under control and make sure he doesn't come pestering us. I seem to recall you've been doing charity work lately? Let me remind you: this student of mine is the orphaned child of fallen heroes."

At Qi Shijun's words, Liu Dahai's knees nearly buckled, and cold sweat broke out all at once.

He knew his own affairs best. If the things he'd done when he first started his business hadn't ruined his reputation, he never would have donated so much money.

The Dragon Nation offered considerable protection to the orphaned children of fallen heroes.

Liu Dahai had only managed to build up a decent reputation over the past two years, and everything said during this mediation was being recorded. If word got out that his son had abused a Pokémon, that he himself had insulted the child of fallen heroes, and that his family had been struck by lightning for walking their dog without a leash...

"Fine, I'll sign! I'll sign it!"

"Your son will."

After Qi Shijun corrected him, Liu Dahai gritted his teeth and kicked Liu Feng.

"What are you staring at? Go sign it."

Under his father's threats, Liu Feng had no choice but to sign his name on the mediation agreement.

Once he had put away the agreement, Qi Shijun acted as though nothing had happened.

People said a heroic father raised a brave son. Liu Feng was a bastard, and his father, Liu Dahai, was a coward.

If I told you the person you were making trouble for was also the fiancé of Cynthia, the Sinnoh Champion, wouldn't you be scared to death?

After they left the division building, Liu Feng seethed with resentment.

"Dad, we're just letting it go? That little shit beat me up, and I'm supposed to take it for nothing?"

"Shut up!"

Liu Dahai swung his hand back and slapped Liu Feng across the face.

"I've spoiled you too much! Haven't you learned your lesson yet?"

"But I can't just swallow this!"

Liu Feng clutched his face, feeling wronged. His head had already been ringing from the beating, and that slap sent him straight down onto the ground.

Looking at his aggrieved son, Liu Dahai sighed helplessly.

"I remember now. I thought that name sounded familiar earlier. A tournament I'm sponsoring starts this weekend, and there's a contestant named Su Bai. I'll get you the best Pokémon and sign you up too."

If he wanted revenge, he would have to beat his opponent down himself.