A banquet was underway aboard the enormous luxury cruise ship, with all kinds of delicacies spread out. As the League's special guest, Gongping attended alongside Lorelei. His expression shifted involuntarily as he used his knife and fork to eat his first piece of meat.
"This isn't synthetic meat?"
"This meat comes from Tauros. From legally operated farms approved by the League, of course."
Since ancient times, Pokémon had served as food for humans, though there had also been cases of Pokémon preying on humans. Since the League's founding and the advent of synthetic protein meat, however, eating Pokémon had come to be regarded as a backward custom in many regions. Still, several large farms in the Kanto Region specialized in supplying premium meat.
Last year, Lorelei had submitted a report to the League proposing an expansion of the farms' operations. Synthetic meat offered relatively limited nutrition and was not cheap, and she hoped to provide a greater variety of food at some Pokémon Centers in Kanto.
The Joy family had vehemently rejected the proposal. Their representative had even denounced Lorelei as a man-eating monster. Their staunch opposition had created a feud between the Joy family and Lorelei, opening a rift between two parties whose cooperation had once been seamless.
The League's senior officials found these matters quite a headache as well. On the one hand, Pokémon meat genuinely tasted better than synthetic meat and was cheaper, but ethical considerations obliged them to respect the opinions and ideas of Pokémon advocates. In the end, the proposal remained shelved to this day.
Most of these farmed Pokémon were bred through cloning. According to the breeders' claims, most possessed neither intelligence nor sentience, which was why the League had approved their use as food.
Cloned Pokémon had no intelligence?
Gongping seemed to recall something, but fifteen years since his transmigration had made him forget many things. Still, he silently set down the meat before him.
"I'm still more accustomed to synthetic protein meat."
Lorelei smiled and said nothing more, simply picking up a glass of wine and drinking. Her original proposal to expand the farms had merely been made in the League's interests, without any selfish motives. Seeing that Gongping disliked the meat, she did not say anything more.
The banquet offered an extensive variety of dishes. Besides Tauros steaks, plenty of fish and shellfish dishes stood on the tables. Foods ordinary Trainers rarely saw, or even dared to imagine, were openly displayed.
The guests chatted and laughed, their eyes filling with admiration as they ate. Though Gongping disliked the scene, he had no standing to say much. Had he not been just such a meat eater in his previous life? It was simply that, after spending so much time with Pokémon in this life, he could not bear to eat them.
"If you don't want to eat this food, have a glass of juice."
A gentle voice rang out. Looking up, he saw a glass of vivid red juice placed before him. It gave off a delightful fragrance, and Gongping readily took it and gulped it down. The instant he finished, the fragrance enveloped him, as though his body and mind had both been liberated.
"Thank you."
Only after finishing the juice did Gongping notice the beautiful blonde woman before him. Her expensive evening gown accentuated her slender figure, and her exquisite face exuded a powerful warmth, as though she were the most dazzling light in the venue.
"You're welcome, Mr. Sandstorm King."
The blonde woman picked up a glass of the same juice and drank it, then slowly walked away with a smile before Gongping could say anything else.
Rather than the beautiful woman, Gongping was still savoring the fragrance of that glass of juice.
"Excuse me, what is this juice?"
After drinking that extraordinarily fragrant juice, Gongping felt as though his entire body was covered in countless scents, so he specifically approached an attendant to ask where it came from.
"Bounsweet juice. It's a specialty of the Alola Region."
The attendant looked distinctly embarrassed at the mention of the juice. This guest apparently still did not know its true origin.
"Bounsweet? Is that some kind of fruit?"
Wiping away his sweat, the attendant gave an awkward laugh. "It's a distinctive local Pokémon. The fragrant liquid it leaves behind can be mixed with water to make delicious juice. What you drank, sir, was made in the traditional way: pure, freshly squeezed Bounsweet juice."
"What's wrong? You look angry."
After chatting with several clients for a while, Lorelei spotted Gongping drinking a glass of plain water by himself, looking glum.
"Nothing. I just feel like someone made a fool of me."
"Haha, who would dare make a fool of our Sandstorm King?"
"It's just a little depressing."
After listening to Gongping's account, Lorelei smiled, her eyes narrowing. "I see. That woman just now must have been your next opponent, Shali, the Coordinator from the Hoenn Region."
"Isn't she a Coordinator? Why would she drink that stuff too?"
"That, I don't know-"
Before Lorelei could finish, her phone rang. After answering it, she could not help frowning.
"What's wrong?"
"Take a look at the news."
This world's internet was highly developed, and even the slightest stir would be reported immediately. Now, several of the largest newspapers in the Kanto Region had published news stories almost simultaneously.
"Sandstorm King's shocking cruelty: drinking freshly squeezed Bounsweet juice!"
"Alola's treasured Bounsweet fall victim to the appetites of League officials."
"Are legally farmed Pokémon truly legal?"
Gongping had been photographed throughout the entire time he drank the juice. Even his approach to the attendant to ask for juice had been recorded. The coverage also included the process of freshly squeezing Bounsweet juice. In the pictures, adorable, unconscious Grass-type Pokémon were rapidly sliced open and tossed into juicers, becoming glasses of vivid red juice.
There was no denying that Gongping had become famous. This time, not only Kanto but even Trainers in other regions knew of a Sandstorm King who enjoyed drinking Pokémon.
Some condemned him, while others posted in support. The chaos was overwhelming.
Countless internet users voiced their opinions. One post was even highlighted and pinned: "This Sandstorm King is practically a demon king. No wonder he was so crazy during the last tournament. He's a vicious monster to begin with. I can't believe the League recruited a lunatic like this to serve as an Elite Four member!"
The post then exposed information on the various farms in the Kanto Region, explicitly stating that certain senior League officials were shielding these farming companies.
More and more internet users called for Miss Shali to defeat this Sandstorm King, saying that she would then be the more qualified candidate to become an Elite Four member in the Kanto Region.
A flood of videos from Miss Shali's Coordinator competitions was released. There was no denying that these dazzling move videos, along with her various portrait photographs, truly won her countless fans.
The enormous public uproar thrust Gongping straight into the eye of the storm. After a moment of silence, he looked at Lorelei, a trace of steadiness in his voice. "If I lose to Shali in the upcoming exhibition match, does that mean she'll successfully replace me as the new Elite Four member, with 'everyone's support'?"
"Heh. She's dreaming."
There was a cool stillness in Lorelei's words that sent a chill down one's spine.
Shali was one of the shareholders of this cruise ship, as well as the daughter of the owner of the largest farm in the Kanto Region. In a sense, she needed the status of a League Elite Four member even more to maintain her family's business.
However, she had misjudged Lorelei's attitude from the very beginning. From her perspective, since Lorelei had once supported expanding the farms, she was naturally a friend on her side and would gladly see Gongping ousted.
But the Elite Four had their own rules. An Ace Trainer who had never even won a regional tournament was trying to force her way in through her wealth and a Coordinator championship from another region, exploiting loopholes like that?
Did she think she was Wallace?
Wake up!
Wallace was first and foremost the League's Champion, and only then a master Coordinator!
We had only just elevated a Sandstorm King, and you were already rushing to trample him. Where would that leave the dignity of Kanto's Elite Four?
Without your family, Shali, were there no other farming companies?
After being fawned over all these years, you had forgotten what you really were, you vixen!
Lorelei quickly made several calls to newspaper offices. Soon, online discussion shifted toward whether companies such as artificial breeding farms should exist, along with various other bits of gossip and inside information about Trainers. The attention on Gongping immediately diminished considerably.
"You know what to do in the match later?"
"I understand."
Gongping was no saint who would repay malice with kindness when someone schemed against him. Giving as good as he got was his style. Since Shali had been so confident in plotting against him, he would show her what the true Sandstorm King was like.
With that thought, Gongping quickly opened his personal computer and adjusted the data for his Pokémon in the League's care, transferring three of them over.
These three Pokémon...
A trace of gravity entered Lorelei's eyes beside him. According to the information the League had originally sent over, they were even crazier and more vicious than Swampert.
It seemed this fellow had made up his mind to play a terrifying demon king.
Such boundless potential.
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