Arcanine sprang in a blur, leaping straight for the Crobat hanging in the air.
Crobat startled. It had been ready to use the boost from Tailwind to peel away, only to realize—at the exact instant Arcanine left the ground—that Tailwind's effect had already winked out.
Without Tailwind's support, Crobat was still fast, but not faster than an Elite Four–class Arcanine.
All the more so when that Arcanine was driving in with Extreme Speed.
Arcanine smashed headlong into Crobat. As the two of them dropped, Arcanine opened its jaws mid-fall and followed up with a biting Crunch.
By the time they hit the ground, Crobat's eyes had already spiraled into dizzy swirls. Arcanine, off to the side, still looked every inch the picture of power—majestic despite the occasional flicker of purple light along its fur.
Auron's mouth twitched as he watched, the thought rising unfiltered:
"This… you've gotta be kidding me. That's just bullying. Way too much!"
After spraying Arcanine with an Antidote, Su Qianyan strode over to Auron with a big laugh.
"Haha! Nice showing out there, Auron. But your attention to detail in battle is sloppy. Fix it next time, yeah?"
Auron muttered inwardly, If Arcanine doesn't one-shot me, I can stall it out till it drops.
Even so, he had to admit: he couldn't have timed Tailwind's end the way Su Qianyan had. If you asked Auron to judge the exact instant Tailwind would end, he simply couldn't do it.
Su hadn't just guessed either; he'd given orders to land right on the seam between "Tailwind about to end" and "Tailwind finished," so Arcanine's attack hit the moment the wind died.
To pull that off, you had to know precisely when Tailwind would expire, and also understand your own Pokémon's reaction speed, your synergy with it—everything.
"Su," Auron asked, honestly curious, "how do you tell when Tailwind is about to end?"
One of his team cores revolved around Tailwind; if there was a trick to it, he wanted it.
Grinning, Su Qianyan ruffled Auron's hair. "Haha. About a second before Tailwind ends, the wind hangs for a beat—like it stalls in place. That stall is your tell."
Auron nodded, pensive. Game experience could be a good stand-in sometimes, but not for everything.
Like this: the sign right before Tailwind ended. Once you knew it, you could read the clock on the move cleanly.
And probably not just Tailwind. Sunny Day, Rain Dance—any move that lingered for several turns might have its own little tells.
"Hey, Auron," Su leaned in to whisper at his ear, "since I just gave you my Tailwind trick, shouldn't you tell me how to evolve Sneasel?"
Auron's face darkened. Before the battle you were the one who didn't want to hear it. And then you bent the rules and beat me up on top of that. And now you still want me to tell you? No way.
He pretended not to hear and kept walking for the hotel's exit.
Su fumed behind him. "Auron! That's too much! If you won't tell me, I'll ask your dad. He'll definitely tell me!"
Auron's lips curled and he glanced back, smiling. "Su, I always thought you were more of a kid than me, and I guess you still are. I'm not telling. Ask my dad all you want—he doesn't know either. Try and be mad about it. Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh~"
He pulled a face at Su—tongue out, a quick taunt—then spun and bolted.
Su sputtered behind him, helpless to do anything else.
After a few moments of impotent fuming, an idea seemed to strike him; a sly smile crept over his face.
—
At the Pokémon Center, Auron's friends had come along to heal up and let their teams recover some stamina.
Jace Rowan looked toward the doors—still empty—and, seeing Su hadn't followed, turned to Auron. "Auron, what's your deal with that guy? How do you two even know each other?"
Seeing the curious faces around him, Auron chuckled and said, "You guys know about the Pokémon stampede in Vantora City decades ago, right?"
Everyone nodded, eyes bright with interest. Auron went on.
"When a secret realm went out of control, the stampede basically swept all of Vantora. In the end, it took more than half of Longguo's Elite Four members and countless Trainers to finally put it down."
"But Su's father died in that stampede. And not only that—Su was grabbed by a Mandibuzz and carried into the sky."
"In the end, it was my dad who got him out of those talons. But that stampede left a mark. In Su's mind, 'Pokémon' turned into a word for 'terror.'"
"He was only seven then. Of course he ended up with a shadow on his heart. He was planning to avoid Pokémon forever—just become a network engineer and live a quiet life."
"But when he was sixteen, out shopping, he ran into my dad in the middle of picking up an errand for me. He recognized him on the spot."
"And not just recognized him—Su is… well, he's kind of a character."
Auron's mouth tugged at the memory. He had barely been old enough to form lasting memories then, but he remembered this perfectly: Su Qianyan's spectacularly over-the-top move.
Right there in the supermarket, in front of everyone—and with Auron's dad frozen in shock—Su dropped to his knees and banged his forehead to the floor three times, sharp and loud, then boomed:
"Thank you for saving my life, benefactor! Su Qianyan kneels to his savior once more! Whatever you command, I will obey without question!"
The scene turned Auron's dad—still young then—beet red on the spot. He rushed to pull Su up and hurried him outside.
That stunt left a shadow on little Auron's heart, too. Because while Dad didn't forget his son as he dragged Su outside, Auron's painstakingly curated cart—mountains of snacks and toys he'd picked out with so much care—got left behind. The cart just receded, farther and farther, in the widening gulf of Auron's despairing gaze.
He glanced at his friends' faces—pure, undiluted curiosity—and decided maybe he shouldn't recount Su's "glorious" deed in full detail.
"Anyway," he said instead, "after that, my dad learned about the shadow on Su's heart. To help him out, he let Su tag along on his research."
"In those two years with my dad, being around our family's Pokémon and the ones at the Day Care every day gradually eased that shadow."
"When he finally got better, my dad was thrilled. It also happened to be time for Su to pick his first partner. Dad said he'd prepare one for him—he recognized Su's talent. Honestly? Su was way stronger than I was at seventeen or eighteen."
"But Su refused. He felt he'd already troubled my dad long enough and didn't want to owe him more. In the end, Dad still brought him three Pokémon Eggs and told him to pick one."
"And yeah—what you're thinking is right. Su's Haxorus? It hatched from one of those three Eggs my dad gave him."
Seeing the doubtful looks, Auron spread his hands and added, helpless, "Don't worry. I really am my father's biological son. And Su is not his secret child. I mean, come on—my dad didn't have the ability to father a kid at nine."
"As for why he didn't prepare an Egg for me back then—partly family tradition, partly my grades. They figured that even if I had a Pokémon, I wouldn't go far."
"So the plan was to let me pick out an Egg on my own. Money wasn't a problem. I'd test into some nearby university, live safe and sound, worry-free, and just pass an entire life that way."
Auron sighed. He understood how his dad had felt. Accepting your child's ordinariness—maybe that's the hardest thing in the world.
What Auron didn't know then was that their "pick your own partner" tradition could be quietly steered—like his grandfather had done.
But Dad had been left in the dark about that, too. And so… there was no "so." Auron lost the chance to get steered toward an exceptional partner, plain and simple.
(End of Chapter)