Chapter 258: Seeing the Middle Eastern Prince Again
After getting on the bus, the entire team for the exchange match was assembled. Besides the five freshmen and Bella Bai, Blaze had also come along, mainly to act as Bella's assistant.
The name "Centralis University" was a golden calling card. The guards at Saffron University didn't stop them, not even needing to open the bus doors for an inspection before letting them pass.
Following the signs to the parking lot, a tall, slender, and handsome young man was already waiting.
"Welcome, students of Centralis University, to Saffron. I am Konrad. I will be in charge of your entire exchange visit."
Konrad was handsome, with an elegant and refined temperament, and gave off a very good impression. But everyone knew from before that he was Bella Bai's arch-rival, so they just gave a perfunctory greeting and said nothing more.
Konrad walked up to Bella's side and said with a smile, "Bella, it must have been a long trip. Why don't I give you all a tour of the campus first, and then I'll take you to lunch? I've scheduled the exchange match for this afternoon."
"A tour isn't necessary, is it?" Bella raised an eyebrow. "Although the official match is in the afternoon, there's no reason our students can't start 'interacting' this morning. It'll be a good warm-up for the competition."
The meaning behind her words was clear. The freshmen from both sides were hot-blooded young people. If you put them together, they were bound to clash. Stoking the fire in the morning would lead to a bigger explosion in the afternoon, making the matches more exciting.
Hmm... this arrangement... is very reasonable!
"Well... I suppose that's fine." Konrad scratched his head, a little helpless.
Although he was the guy in this rivalry, he had a very gentle temperament. On the other hand, Bella, who looked like a refined lady, had an incredibly strong competitive streak.
Konrad had always just laughed off the comparisons people made online. But from the looks of it, had Bella actually taken them to heart?
Led by Konrad, the group from Centralis finally arrived at Saffron's school team training hall. But they didn't see the reserve team members. Instead, they ran into an unexpected friend.
"Huh? He's a student here?"
Basalt's eyes widened, staring at the man in the turban and robe. It was the Jangmo-o trainer.
Abdullah seemed quite cheerful. After greeting Konrad, he greeted the others enthusiastically in his clumsy Mandarin. "Hello, everyone. My name is Abdullah. Don't be fooled by the fact that I'm a foreigner. I'm actually a member of the Saffron University school team. You didn't expect that, did you? Hahaha..."
"Whoa! Saffron University's team has a ringer?" Basalt raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised.
"Tell me about it," Blaze sighed, then whispered, "Let me tell you, this Abdullah guy is from an oil-rich country in the Middle East. I heard he's a prince, and he's loaded. Take a guess at what Pokémon he has."
Blaze gestured with his lips, a glint of jealousy in his eyes.
"A pseudo-legendary? Metagross? Dragonite? Salamence? Tyranitar?"
At Blaze's prompting, the others naturally thought of pseudo-legendaries.
"You're halfway there," Blaze said with a shrug. He lowered his voice. "He does have a Metagross, but that's not all. Besides the Metagross, he also has a Garchomp."
"Holy crap! For real? Two fully-evolved pseudo-legendaries?"
"I'm speechless! The rich really are different. I'm so jealous."
"With our finances, raising one pseudo-legendary would probably bankrupt us. But this guy has two, and they're both fully evolved."
"If I had two fully-evolved pseudo-legendaries, I'd be the freakin' MVP of the pro league!"
...
Seeing the envious expressions on everyone's faces, Basalt's mouth twitched. "Two pseudo-legendaries? In a year or two, he'll probably have three," he thought.
At this, the others became curious about Abdullah's remaining Pokémon. They had to be impressive as well, otherwise they wouldn't fit his status as a prince.
Lana asked curiously, "Senior Blaze, what are his other main Pokémon?"
"A Lucario, a Volcarona, a Haxorus, and an Aggron..." Blaze listed off Abdullah's main team one by one, no longer keeping them in suspense. But with every name he mentioned, a new wave of gasps went through the group.
It couldn't be helped. Every single one of Abdullah's Pokémon was a symbol of rarity, coolness, and power. An ordinary person would wake up smiling if they managed to get just one of them, but this guy had a full team.
The gap between people really was sometimes bigger than the gap between a person and a Growlithe.
Seeing the looks of envy, Abdullah just smiled. He was used to it. But at the same time, a sense of loss rose in his heart.
Because while they were envying him, he was actually envying them, especially Bella and Konrad.
As a small country in the Middle East, the Sultanate League's foundation in Pokémon training was extremely weak. They couldn't even compare to the world's second-rate leagues, let alone the Five Great Nations. Although they were rich, their knowledge base was too thin. This was why he had come to the Alliance to study abroad, while his younger brother had gone to the Western League.
But unfortunately, as outsiders, they were destined to never learn the core training methods of the Five Great Nations. At most, they could only pick up scraps. The knowledge taught at the Alliance's top universities could, at best, produce a Gym Leader-level trainer. He would never be able to obtain the knowledge related to Master-level training and above.
This was why, even though he possessed so many powerful Pokémon, he was still pinned down by Konrad. Even when his Jangmo-o evolved into a Kommo-o, he would never be able to surpass him.
Even more precious than a rare Pokémon was the special, secret training method for that specific Pokémon. That was the true foundation of a strong nation.
"Captain Bai, long time no see!"
Abdullah greeted Bella with a cheerful smile, only to receive a single word in reply: "Get lost."
"Alrighty then!"
Abdullah didn't seem embarrassed at all. After saying goodbye to Konrad, he left.
"What was that about?"
Although the others didn't quite understand Bella's reaction, they were still greatly shocked. A prince from the Sultanate League, a handsome and filthy-rich guy, was told to get lost and he just... left?
And so, they all turned to Blaze again, hoping for an explanation.
Blaze carefully glanced at Bella. Seeing that she was distracted talking to Konrad, he suppressed a laugh and whispered, "You know how foreigners are, more open and direct. The first time Abdullah met the Captain, he fell for her. He confessed his love on the spot and asked her if she would be willing to be his wife. Um... his third wife."
"Gasp~"
The group sucked in a cold breath. They could just imagine the scene. Bella must have absolutely exploded.
After that little interlude, Basalt and the others finally met Saffron's reserve freshmen. There were five of them, four boys and one girl, all with arrogant looks on their faces. These were likely their opponents for the afternoon.
After arranging for the freshmen to meet, Bella and Konrad "naturally" had to go take care of some paperwork, dragging Blaze along with them.
And so, only the ten freshmen were left in the massive training hall. They began to stare awkwardly at each other, the atmosphere a little tense.
"Um... is there a student here with the surname Tang?"
Basalt raised his hand, breaking the silence.
At his words, the Saffron freshmen all turned to look at a fair-skinned boy with a baby face.
The baby-faced boy, "Mortimer Tang," looked completely baffled. "I'm Mortimer Tang. Who are you?"
"Hello, hello, Student Tang. My name is Basalt. I'm here to say hello on behalf of an elder in my family."
Basalt walked up with a cheerful smile, took Mortimer's chubby hand, and shook it himself.
"Basalt? An elder in your family?"
Mortimer was even more baffled, completely clueless.
Only Basalt's smile grew even brighter.
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