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Outside the arena.
The crowd blocking the entrance consciously stepped back, making a clear path, and watched with focused attention.
Li Xiang and Greninja walked along this path, their expressions exceptionally calm.
He had originally intended to recall Greninja. However, the guy was thoroughly enjoying the silent but utterly bewildered and incredulous stares from the crowd outside.
It insisted on him walking through like it was a red carpet.
'What is this? Evolved chuunibyou? A show-offy chuunibyou?'
Li Xiang had no choice but to go along with its wish, enduring the gazes of others as he walked to the public bicycle parking area.
Swipe card, take bike, step over and sit down.
Greninja very consciously sat sideways on the rear rack, arms crossed, back straight, exuding an air of lonely superiority, but combined with the bicycle, it looked utterly ridiculous.
"You, this…"
Li Xiang glanced back at it. Greninja narrowed its pupils, its vibrant red tongue scarf fluttering freely in the air.
'If you really want to show off, why not stand on it! What's with this girly sitting posture?'
"Ninja?"
Seeing Li Xiang remain motionless, Greninja showed a confused expression. Then, as if realizing something, it uncrossed its arms, wrapped them around his waist, and rested its head sideways against his back.
"Ninja!" (Let's go~)
It called out softly.
'Dammit! That's not what I meant! And you're male!'
Li Xiang's face darkened, but he didn't dare linger any longer. If he delayed further, someone might take a photo and post it on the forums.
He hurriedly pedaled away.
A streak of vibrant red swayed casually in the wind, tugging at the heartstrings of many students watching from behind.
Someone silently took a photo of Li Xiang riding his bike and uploaded it under a pre-determined thread title.
—[The Unseen Opponent, The Unfathomable Li Xiang].
"The fools need to face reality now."
The person sighed, tucked their chin into their collar to hide half their mouth from the bleak spring wind, turned, and left.
The others looked at each other and then dispersed.
...
The stir caused by Greninja was far greater than anticipated.
If yesterday's was like surging waves stirred by a strong wind over a deep, overcast sea, then today's was a towering, ship-capsizing tsunami amid a storm with thunder and lightning.
The number of replies on the forum thread doubled compared to the previous one.
Even a teacher's account replied within it.
Naturally, the thread was pinned and highlighted, placed where anyone visiting the forum could see it.
More and more people replied, their numbers swelling.
Even Song Jie, who basically only used his phone for calls, specifically downloaded the forum app to log in and read that thread.
After finishing, he silently deleted the app again.
"The plan is proceeding quite smoothly."
He glanced at Li Xiang, who was curled up on the sofa reviewing handwritten notes, and spoke.
"Mm."
Li Xiang nodded, not even sparing a glance at the phone beside him.
Here at Mist City University, those who opposed and looked down on him far outnumbered those who supported and anticipated his performance.
Why?
Ultimately, it was because he hadn't demonstrated strength powerful enough to make those students shut up.
Take Su Qian and Chao, for example. They became Captain and Vice-Captain in their fourth year.
Abigail and the other two became regular team members in their third year.
None of this followed the usual rules or traditions.
Normally, only fourth-year students could join the main or reserve teams, and the Captain was almost always a sixth-year student.
There are no fifty-year Crown Princes in the world. Mist City University also didn't have Captains who served consecutive terms.
And yet, a fifty-year Crown Prince appeared.
A Captain serving consecutive terms naturally also appeared at Mist City University.
But was anyone opposing them now?
No, not a single one.
Because they were strong enough, strong enough to fear no student.
Oppose? You have to be able to beat them first!
And Li Xiang, who entered amid "great expectations," praised by the media and strongly supported by the school, failed to convince them.
Youth Training Camp?
Wasn't that just a summer camp run by the school?
National First Place?
Wasn't that just first place among the students of that session? Did it mean the strongest?
Not at all. Determining the ranking seemed to be based on something like credit points; the higher the accumulation, the higher the rank.
The more they learned about the details, the more they doubted Li Xiang's actual skill level.
A student whose strength was unclear, seemingly reliant on hype—why did he deserve such an unprecedented, ultra-high-level treatment?
The forums even hinted that Li Xiang could have directly joined the school team initially.
Although he didn't end up joining directly for some reason, it was still something they found hard to accept. Everyone else had fought their way up through hard work, starting from the same starting line at the very least. Suddenly, someone was standing at the finish line, and he didn't even seem that impressive.
Just because he was famous? How could that be?
Some people grew angrier the more they thought about it, which eventually transformed into hostility towards Li Xiang.
Thus, sarcasm and disdain swarmed around him, surrounding him completely. People waiting to see him fail were everywhere.
But then, today, the moment the Greninja battle video was uploaded, the voices of doubt receded like a tide.
Perhaps a few scattered voices remained, but they were gradually drowned out by the discussions of others.
Replies shifted from sarcastic and snide remarks to serious discussions about the strength of Li Xiang's Pokémon and why so many spectators and the opponent had all become effectively blind.
Too many people who were present testified that they hadn't seen how that Greninja moved.
And all of this was part of Li Xiang's plan.
He participated in the selection matches partly for the Candies, and partly to prove his strength and silence those annoying discordant voices.
While they didn't hinder his daily life, being constantly watched was genuinely annoying. If he didn't make a statement during the selection matches, these voices would probably persist for a long time.
Might as well solve it once and for all during the selections.
It turned out the effect was good. Just by the second match, the unpleasant voices had significantly diminished.
As time passed, with more battles and stronger opponents, the voices would grow fewer and fewer, until they reached a state like Su Qian and the others.
Thinking of this, Li Xiang opened his phone to check his third-round opponent.
'A fifth-year girl? Specializes in Fairy types?'
For a moment, he wondered if it was Su Qian, but she seemed reasonably strong.
"Rio?"
Riolu pushed its head closer, full of curiosity.
"Don't look. You probably won't get a chance to play tomorrow," Li Xiang pushed it away.
For a high-speed Pokémon like Riolu, the one move to fear was Dazzling Gleam.
This move was practically a full-area attack; unless you used a protective move, you couldn't avoid it.
To be safe, it was better to send out the usual veterans.
...
The next day.
As the morning sun rose, the third round of battles commenced.
More and more spectators gathered, standing at various distances. Watching Li Xiang approach, they cleared a path to the arena interior for him.
It was almost like a guard of honor.
Not many people spoke; there were only pairs of eyes in various colors, belonging to both boys and girls. At a glance, they resembled scarecrows wearing clothes standing in a field.
At this moment, Li Xiang felt as if he were under a spotlight, his nerves pricked by their gazes, his body feeling like it was on fire.
Fortunately, he had experienced this kind of situation countless times before; all those big and small competitions he'd participated in weren't for nothing.
He completely ignored their stares.
Li Xiang walked leisurely into the battle arena. Not far away, his opponent was already in position, wearing light sportswear, looking at him eagerly.
The referee began announcing the match rules.
The opponent also spoke up.
"Junior, seems like a lot of people dislike you, huh?"
So-called 'mentioning the very thing that shouldn't be mentioned'—this one clearly lacked tact.
Or perhaps, she said it intentionally to make Li Xiang lose his composure and become agitated during the battle.
Unfortunately, she got no response.
"It's impolite not to reply when your senior is speaking!"
She said another sentence, but Li Xiang still didn't respond.
Realizing her attempt had likely failed, she couldn't help but pout. Coincidentally, the referee finished announcing the rules.
Neither side hesitated, quickly throwing their PokéBalls.
Bang! Bang!
Two explosive sounds!
A pink Pokémon that looked like a large plush toy, with small wings and a large, fluffy tail, landed on the field.
The opponent's lead was a Clefable with the Magic Guard ability.
This Pokémon had an incredibly deep movepool, almost no attacking blind spots, making it an excellent all-around special attacker.
Apart from its somewhat low base stats.
On Li Xiang's side, there was no second choice.
Corviknight was sent out. Its Flying/Steel typing and excellent ability destined it to be the first one out.
"Calm Mind!"
"Beeeep!"
Both sides, separated by a vast distance and not yet within effective attack range, chose to boost themselves first.
Corviknight flapped its wings, stirring up a gust of wind that circulated around it, increasing its speed as it approached Clefable.
On the other side, Clefable raised its pink, delicate fingers, closed its eyes, and the sound of dripping water slowly became audible.
"Thunderbolt!"
With Corviknight actively approaching, Clefable naturally wouldn't let this chance slip. Encased in sparkling yellow electricity, it released a bolt of lightning at the rapidly approaching Corviknight!
However, before it even launched the attack, Corviknight had already predicted its trajectory. With a deft flick of its wings, it abruptly gained altitude!
The Thunderbolt missed completely!
"So fast! Is a Corviknight with Tailwind that quick?"
The opponent was slightly surprised but didn't panic. In her view, Corviknight would have to get close eventually.
And just as she thought, when Corviknight flew directly above Clefable, it tucked its wings in and plummeted downward like a meteor!
"It can't escape now! Fire Blast!"
"Clefable!"
Clefable responded loudly, tracing a shape in the air with its short, thick fingers. Flames roared to life in the air.
In an instant, the flames formed a giant 大 character shape, flying upward towards the descending Corviknight!