Returning to Masago Town, Lu Ye looked at the completely renovated villa.

He had a feeling of a ‘new house handover.’

“This time, no more letting the house get eaten away!”

Lu Ye scolded Larvitar, “If you’re hungry, just tell Haunter. It still has plenty of minerals stored.”

“Yo-ji~” Larvitar bowed deeply, its green blunt head leaning forward, both small hands pressed against its red scales.

Its attitude of admitting guilt was good, but next time it would probably still continue—

Lu Ye rubbed his temples, recalling the comments his elementary school teacher gave him.

Could it be that Pokémon and trainers are becoming more and more alike… not just a theory?

“Gengarrr~” Haunter stood on the ground, sticking out its long tongue and making a funny face to tease Togepi.

Togepi giggled non-stop, waving its fingers as a large number of gold coins fell from the sky.

“Ju-Jubao Skill!?”

Lu Ye’s eyes widened. The move he most wanted to see right now transformed into glittering gold coins tinkling down.

Unfortunately, these coins, unlike the pink diamonds condensed after Diancie’s Mega Evolution, quickly turned to dust.

“Chaji duyi~! ξ(✿＞◡❛)”

Ignoring the disappointed Teacher Lu, Togepi ran back to the living room to play with a game console, looking for Mew.

Sylveon jumped onto the treadmill and ran a few laps before slipping out the cat hole door.

“Yo-ji~” Larvitar followed Sylveon outside to forage for food.

Lu Ye assumed today was Sylveon’s turn to take care of the kids and shouted:

“Don’t run too far, be gentle!”

“Bui~”

Sylveon had clearly become the big sister of this area, with a fierce yet adorable Larvitar following behind.

Especially notable were the two black stripes under Larvitar’s eyes, looking just like scars.

Sylveon: (▼皿▼#)

Larvitar: (▼へ▼メ)

The two little ones walked along a country road and encountered a little penguin delivering newspapers.

Delibird carried its backpack: o((⊙﹏⊙))o

Maybe I should just quit?

The two little ones headed toward the Canalave City Gym.

Sylveon planned to solo the Gym;

Larvitar also wanted to visit that delicious ‘restaurant’ in Canalave City once more.

…

Teacher Lu stayed home, looking around the fully renovated facilities.

Blastoise’s beloved aquarium was still the same one.

Inside were piled Water Stones, mysterious Purification Water Drops… the glittering crystal was Manaphy’s Purification Water Drop.

“Ka-mie…ヾ(⌐■_■)”

Blastoise slowly sank into the water like a titan descending into the ancient empire of Atlantis.

Lu Ye’s mouth twitched… the feeling of a giant dragon guarding treasure was too strong!

As long as the turtle was here, it was the best security measure for this home!

Given Ducklett’s outstanding performance in recent days, Lu Ye decided to satisfy its desire to grow stronger by purchasing some Metallic Sheets from Donggua of the Steel Gym.

If it were other little ones, Teacher Lu naturally wouldn’t be so proactive as with Ducklett.

But seeing Ducklett’s performance with his own eyes…

Letting Ducklett continue cutting through iron and keeping the daily sword-swinging habit would surely not disappoint Ducklett’s hopes!

“Gah! (´థ౪థ)σ” Sirfetch’d teared up.

Maybe I should find a pot and just lie inside myself?

Lu Ye stroked Ducklett’s smooth feathers, clicked to place the order, and smiled slightly.

“Gah! (´థ౪థ)σ” Sirfetch’d raised its head, tears uncontrollably rolling down.

Lu Ye: “You don’t need to be this touched.”

Sirfetch’d: “……”

Lu Ye: “After all, you performed so well last time. This is what you deserve.”

Sirfetch’d: (:∇:) (I’m having such a hard time, gah!)

…

Canalave City, Canalave Gym.

Wearing a construction hat and glasses, Roark was talking with his rugged father, Donggua.

“You mean you just closed a big deal a few days ago?”

Donggua stroked his stubble: “With Teacher Lu?”

Roark nodded: “His Larvitar happened to need high-quality minerals. The output from Canalave Coal Mine was just right.”

Donggua scratched his head: “He came to see me today as well and bought a few Metallic Sheets.”

The father and son exchanged a knowing smile.

No need to be overly cautious with Teacher Lu… negotiating with him was quite pleasant!

“Roark, Gym Leader, Mr. Donggua!”

A Gym apprentice hurried over to report: “Teacher Lu’s Sylveon is at it again, challenging the Gym!”

Donggua was stunned: “You mean it’s come many times?”

Roark adjusted his glasses, then said silently: “Yes, and the key point is…”

“I can’t beat Teacher Lu’s Sylveon,” Roark said sincerely.

“But it has no trainer commanding it!”

Roark was silent for a long time, then sighed softly: “That’s the problem.”

Donggua was surprised but then patted Roark’s shoulder to comfort him:

“It’s okay, son. After all, that’s Lu Ye’s main Pokémon.”

Suddenly another trainee ran up to report: “Sylveon doesn’t seem to intend to challenge the Gym… should we chase them away?”

Hearing this, Roark breathed out and smiled:

“No need. They’re probably just here to play.”

“I’ll call Teacher Lu to come pick them up.”

The trainee looked hesitant.

The father and son, laughing and chatting, arrived at the dusty Gym.

Roark and Donggua were both stunned.

“Yo-ji! (￣～￣)” Larvitar was digging holes in the rocky area, yawning leisurely.

Sylveon crouched on the ground, lazily stretching its front body: “Bui~”

Today it was up to Sylveon to watch over Larvitar… after it finished eating, they’d come back next time.

Donggua looked at Roark: “You call this playing?”

Roark wiped the cold sweat and forced a smile: “Probably training moves, right?”

“Did the ground shake, or was that an illusion?” Donggua asked.

“Not an illusion.” Roark looked up at the trembling Gym and said absentmindedly: “The foundation is about to be eaten away by Larvitar.”

In an instant, the father and son snapped back to reality and shouted together: “Stop it now!!”

Dust flew everywhere as Larvitar jumped out of the ground and burped.

“Yo-ji~! (✪ω✪)”

So this was what a Gym challenge looked like!

This is way too delicious!

…

Watching Larvitar and Sylveon walk away,

Roark and Donggua, two miners, stood inside the Gym, dazed for a long time.

“What are you thinking, Father?” Roark asked.

“I’m thinking maybe I priced those Metallic Sheets I sold to Teacher Lu too high,” Donggua reflected.

Roark was stunned: “How dare you, Father!”

“How would I know? Teacher Lu said he needed them urgently!”

The father and son discussed and realized they could have Donggua’s own construction team help, and Canalave City certainly didn’t lack raw materials.

Because of busyness, Roark and Donggua often couldn’t meet.

In a strange way, they reunited again.

…

The sky darkened, 6:00 PM.

Lu Ye pushed a cutting Rotom after trimming the lawn all afternoon, sweating freely and comfortably.

This trip to Hearthome City… for at least a week, he didn’t have to worry about Rotom’s power supply.

Dinner was egg bread, vegetable salad, and fresh tree fruits.

He prepared a basin of organic soil for Larvitar… waiting left and right, but the little dinosaur didn’t return.

Until the night turned a dark purple, Sylveon and Larvitar finally came back late.

Larvitar: “Burp!”

“Did you eat your fill?!” Lu Ye was shocked.

“Yo-ji.” Larvitar shyly scratched its cheek.

“Bui~” Sylveon gracefully jumped onto the chair beside Lu Ye and started tasting the tree fruits.

After observing the two little ones and confirming they weren’t fighting,

Lu Ye breathed a sigh of relief and happily thought:

“Looks like Sylveon has quite the talent for babysitting.”

Haunter grabbed a spoon with one hand and held a cold cola with the other: “Gengarrr! (*⊙~⊙)”

Togepi sat in the baby chair, holding a big bottle of cola, gulping loudly: “Chaji duyi! (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ”

Lu Ye: “……”

Wanted to say drinking soda while eating isn’t good… but I do it too, so no convincing there.

“I’ll start the live stream soon.”

Lu Ye chewed bread and mumbled, “Rotom, remember to be my card counter.”

“Cannot understand, Rotom! (⊙x⊙;

)”

…

Tonight was the long-awaited tactical live stream.

Fans flooded the stream room, opening steaming hot takeout, getting ready to eat.

“Today’s stream is Pokémon: Battle? Nostalgia overload!”

“Quick, bring out that sunny team player, can’t wait.”

“Can’t hold back tears, I’ll cry first.”

The stream’s popularity soared to first place on the leaderboard within the first hour.

“As I previewed last time, today we’re playing the Rainy Day Bye Bye Song team.”

Lu Ye explained, “Everyone’s familiar with the Bye Bye Song team. Whether or not to Protect is a very simple math problem.”

“Against annoying teams, Bye Bye Song works well to counter and also creates a numbers advantage.”

While Teacher Lu commented, the bullet chat kept flooding.

“Strong immersion, already unplugging the internet.”

“It’s Bye Bye Song, but not completely.”

“Time for a textbook example of Bye Bye Song!”

Lu Ye glanced at the bullet chat and continued: “As for Rainy Day Bye Bye Song, it introduces Bye Bye Song tactics based on the weather system.”

“The main lineup is Politoed and Kingdra. Politoed is both the weather setter and Bye Bye Song user, while Kingdra is the main damage dealer, with power comparable to Kyogre.”

“The classic unit of measurement: Kyogre.”

“One Kyogre’s strength is terrifying indeed!”

“The Water Fleet members strongly condemn this and will continue to monitor the streamer’s disrespect towards Kyogre!”

“Wasn’t the Water Fleet wiped out? Now even the remnants come to watch the stream?”

Lu Ye twitched his eyelid and opened the team editor.

He dragged two Pokémon into the team;

his backup Pokémon were Gothitelle, Amoonguss, and Incineroar.

The key point of Bye Bye Song is to limit the opponent’s switching and reduce output to delay until the Bye Bye Song finishes.

Therefore, clapping surprise and Shadow Sneak restrictions were especially important.

For the last Pokémon, Lu Ye thought for a moment and still dragged the Haunter with the added Hypnosis into the team.

Although in the Gigantamax environment there was no Mega Haunter’s Shadow Sneak… Haunter was still Teacher Lu’s most reliable Bye Bye Song user.

As Mr. Lu Xun once said, confidence is peak. (Crossed out)

Without further ado, he pressed match, and the fans were ecstatic.

While waiting for the match, Lu Ye took the chance to play a few rounds of Dou Di Zhu.

Having bombs but not detonating them… it was to accumulate luck for the upcoming match.

Suddenly, the whole stream room exploded with excitement.

“The current version’s world number one?”

“Is that you, Steven-san!”

“Holy crap, that guy who uses Charizard!”

A golden glowing character card collided with Teacher Lu’s character card in midair.

The entire Gongmen City arena appeared before them, the four stands roaring like a tide of cheers.

The man wearing a hat stepped onto the grass, suddenly flipping his cloak and pointing to the sky with one hand.

Lu Ye was slightly stunned—it was the man who had just accepted the endorsement.

“Matched with… Dan Emperor.”

…