You're an Elite Four Member, Act Like It

Inside the private training room of the Battle Tower, the "friendly match" between Gary and Bruno was about to begin.

"Then I'll make the first move!" Bruno confidently took out a Poké Ball and threw it out.

Snap! The Poké Ball opened mid-air, and an imposing tiger-striped Pokémon appeared on the field.

"Electabuzz!" The Electabuzz raised its fists high, making a show of force to the entire arena.

Gary had a peculiar look on his face. "You're actually not using Fighting-type?"

Bruno raised his head with a crooked smile. "Ha. I guessed you'd assume I was using a Fighting-type Pokémon, so I pulled out an Electric-type straight away. How will you respond to that? Come on, kid, bring out your big bird!"

Gary's expression shifted. "Um... let's keep it clean..."

Lorelei shook her head with a light chuckle. Such a mischievous little brother!

Bruno also noticed his slip of the tongue and awkwardly changed the subject. "I meant a Flying-type Pokémon. Well? You definitely picked a Flying-type, didn't you? Bring it out, hahahaha..."

Gary helplessly tossed out his Poké Ball. "My choice is this one."

"Chansey~" A pink, round, plump Pokémon smiled as it took the stage.

"Chansey?!" Lorelei cried out in surprise, saying, "That's a bit of a gamble~ But little Gary guessed right!"

Gary shrugged. "Actually, I didn't try to predict your choice at all. Chansey's stellar dual defenses mean that even if the opponent is a Fighting-type, they can't bash through it~"

"Chansey~" Chansey very gently revealed an angelic smile.

Bruno felt as though he could currently dig out a three-bedroom apartment with his toes; it was just that awkward. He had spent all that time second-guessing, only for Gary to pull out a Chansey. It was absolute social death...

"If it's Chansey, you can probably use the Minimize strategy. Gary, you wouldn't be planning to torture Bruno with Minimize too, would you~" Lorelei watched the battle arena with interest.

"No way..." Bruno's face darkened.

"Rest assured, it's not the Minimize strategy. We're going to play with something a bit different." Gary waved a hand.

"Phew~ That's good. Let's begin." Bruno breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

"Alright. I'm ready." Gary nodded as well.

The referee checked the status of both sides from left to right and raised a hand. "The match begins! One-on-one!"

"Electabuzz, Thunder Wave!" Bruno initiated the attack first.

At the exact same time, Gary issued his command: "Rock Tomb!"

Rumble-countless boulders plummeted from the sky, and Thunder Wave's feeble trickle of electricity was blocked completely and cleanly by the rocks.

"Jump up and use Brick Break!" True to being one of the Kanto Elite Four, Bruno counterattacked the very instant his initial move failed!

Gary tensed his nerves slightly. Battling a trainer of this caliber truly left zero room to relax. "Chansey, use Protect!"

Bruno frowned. If he had used Reflect or Light Screen, this hit would have shattered the barrier straight away, but unfortunately Gary went right for Protect.

When there was no massive chasm between both sides' stat values, this move was basically absolute defense!

Snap! With the strike failing, Bruno immediately pulled back. "Electabuzz! Fall back!"

"Too late!" Gary immediately launched a counterattack: "Use Rock Slide!"

Snap! A massive boulder rapidly formed in the sky, and then straight up slammed a brick right onto Electabuzz's head.

Electabuzz froze in place, directly entering the Flinch state!

"That's a secondary effect? What kind of luck is this!" Bruno curled his lip. "Still, based on Chansey's pathetic offensive power, the damage won't swing the match!"

However, in the interval while he waited for Electabuzz to snap out of it, Gary's next move arrived.

"Follow up with Zen Headbutt!"

Chansey ran with all its might, Chansey leaped into the air, Chansey's headbutt from the heavens!

They saw a layer of blue psychic energy condense like an eggshell atop Chansey's head, followed by a vicious headbutt straight into Electabuzz.

Boom! This time, Electabuzz staggered back several steps, and hilariously, it flinched again...

"Is this~ Zen Headbutt's secondary effect?!" Lorelei asked in surprise, her eyes lighting up afterward. "Could it be~"

Gary continued speaking: "Next, use Rock Slide again..."

Bang! Another brick slapped across the face, and Electabuzz didn't dare make a single move, standing in place and taking a beating~

Taking advantage of this window, Gary shrugged at Lorelei. "That's right, this Chansey's Ability is Serene Grace."

Gary called this strategy the Serene Grace infinite bullshit flinch-lock.

Watching as Electabuzz was about to snap out of it, Chansey delivered yet another Zen Headbutt.

Electabuzz continued its prison sentence right in place.

Bruno felt his fists hardening-yes! Gary didn't use a Minimize team to disgust him, but Gary's method was even more outrageous!

At least Lorelei's way caused massive damage and extreme insult, whereas Gary's was purely, intensely insulting.

As the boy fought toward the end, he even felt Zen Headbutt was too much trouble, plus it easily knocked opponents out of bounds, so he simply kept using Rock Slide...

Brick after brick, without dealing much damage, just continuously disgusting you.

"Classmate Gary, would you consider changing up your moves?" Bruno asked with displeasure.

"No~" Gary flatly refused. "If you give me another ten minutes, I'm sure I can cheap-shot Electabuzz to death..."

Bruno's face twitched as he directly hurled his Poké Ball to the ground and turned to walk away...

Watching Bruno's retreating back, Gary raised a hand, hesitation in his gesture: You're an Elite Four member, Master Bruno, you have to maintain some standards... Speaking of which, you won't beat me up to vent your anger afterward, right?

The referee also speechlessly announced, "Bruno threw his ball to forfeit, so Gary wins this match."

Chansey was still over there energetically knocking on Electabuzz's forehead, not expecting the match to end so sloppily...

"Tsk tsk~ Little Gary, you really do amaze me. Serene Grace paired with Chansey-truly an exquisite strategy." Lorelei applauded Gary from the side.

Gary scratched the back of his head. "Sister Lorelei, do you think Master Bruno and I will still be able to ask him for pointers on Fighting-type knowledge in the future?"

Lorelei rolled her eyes with alluring charm. "If you're free recently, you'd better not see him. After all, he's dabbled in taekwondo black belts, judo black belts, Jeet Kune Do, Chin Na Kung Fu, the whole lot..."

Gary swallowed hard. "Never mind, I'll ask other Fighting-type masters for pointers in the future."

"Phew~ But it's finally over. Let's go, let's get some seafood. Vermilion City is a famous port city after all, and the seafood here isn't any worse than what we have in the Sevii Islands." Lorelei walked up and gently tugged on Gary's sleeve.

A refreshing, subtle fragrance drifted into his nostrils, and Gary instantly focused his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, silently warning his little brother in his heart: Behave yourself and don't make a fool of me...

The two walked out of the Battle Tower and headed all the way toward the seaside restaurant.

However, when the two of them arrived at the planned restaurant, what they saw was an endless, snaking queue.

Gary turned to look at Lorelei. "Sister Lorelei, you definitely booked a table, right?"

Lorelei slowly shook her head with three parts helplessness, six parts regret, and one part Charm?-"I've never had the habit of booking tables."

Looking at the throngs of people, Gary let out a sigh. "I reckon if we wait twenty-four hours, we should be able to get a table~"

Just as Lorelei was preparing to think of a solution, her cell phone rang.

"Yo, glacial-faced old hag, I heard you beat Bruno and even fished up a cute young hunk?" -Lance.

Lorelei instantly blew her top, her fingers hammering against the texting keys in a furious clatter: "Lance, drop dead, you bastard! See if I don't go bomb your family's Dragon's Den later! If you have the guts, roll on over to the Sevii Islands and I'll grind you into paste!"

Lance, who had received the reply, wore a blank expression. He was just making a joke-did Lorelei have to throw such a massive temper...

Tightening his cloak around himself, Lance mounted Dragonite, raised his voice, and roared, "You two Team Rocket scum up ahead, squat down on the spot and put your hands on your heads, or I'll grind you both into paste!"

Dragonite cast a disdainful glance at Lance. Why don't you dare use that big tone with Lorelei...

Watching the fuming Lorelei, Gary smiled playfully and offered comfort: "Um... the seafood market should still be open right now. How about we go buy some ingredients and I'll cook?"

Lorelei instantly cleared up from cloudy to sunny, directly taking Gary's hand. This lady is just going shopping with her little brother, what are you gonna do about it?

Lorelei: This young miss is in her early twenties, the pride of Kanto, rushing around working hard for the Kanto Region-can't I even enjoy life a little?

Flattered, Gary glanced at Lorelei's right hand, then calmly followed Lorelei as she headed toward the seafood market.

As for whether he would be secretly photographed by the media and make the front page of an entertainment magazine or something, Gary didn't care at all.

Joking aside, just how did those thirteen ex-girlfriends of his come to be...

Before Gary made the front page of academic magazines, he had already made the front page of entertainment magazines, alright?

He still remembered the headline back then: Kanto Region's Most Desired Teen Idol Ranking for Romance!

Young Master Mao successfully captured the No. 1 spot on the charts thanks to his family background, career, and good looks!

At the time, Young Master Mao was only eight years old, and countless young girls had already expressed their willingness to wait for him to come of age...

So, entertainment headlines-Just so, so~

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