CHAPTER 704: "TEACHER LU TEACHES YOU BATTLE 018: BATTLE FACTORY"

Kanto region, Pallet Town.

Ash had finished his training on Mt. Silver under Green and was preparing to set off for the Kalos region to take part in the Lumiose Conference four months from now.

Thinking about new Pokémon and new adventures made Ash so excited he couldn't sleep;

even this morning he was still checking Kalos entries on his phone.

"Pikachu, when we get to Miare City, let's go visit Teacher Lu."

Ash stared at the phone on his bedside table and said, "He just smashed that meteor a few days ago—he's probably back in Kalos by now."

"Pika—chu…" Pikachu rolled over on the bed.

Outside the window, Aunt Delia called, "Ash—come down and help hang the laundry!"

"Got it, coming!"

As Ash was about to swing his legs out of bed, he caught sight of a push notification on his phone and paused.

[The livestream you follow, 'Is Teacher Lu Making Dinner Today?', is now live...]

Curious, Ash tapped into the channel.

The large subtitle blazed: "Dominate the Frontier!"

Popularity showed it as number one across the whole area;

the barrage of bullet comments filled the screen.

"Who are you? Why are you in my follow list?"

"Spread it! Teacher Lu's going to blow up the Frontier!"

"Two months, two whole months. Do you know I've been sleepless these two months? I could barely eat!"

"Dude, are they teaching with the Battle Frontier now? Also, this is the food category—seriously?"

"Next week Pokémon Company's PTCG World Championship is opening, don't miss it~ (moderator comment)"

"Oh man, Greta really is Mengmengda!"

The Rotom feed showed the Frontier facility—the Battle Arena's current challenge.

In just two hours, Teacher Lu had stormed through and claimed two emblems: 'Spirit' and 'Power'.

He was currently attempting the third emblem against a petite yellow-haired fighter—Greta—and her 'Emblem of Willpower'!

The Emblem of Willpower tested heart, technique, and body: consecutive attacks, critical hits, and endurance. The final score determined the winner.

Greta sent out a Heracross with the Guts ability.

Teacher Lu sent out a Sirfetch'd with the Braveheart ability!

"Ga!" Sirfetch'd stood with sword and shield, V-shaped brow sharp, gazing with cool, piercing eyes.

"Ducklett's so brave!"

"Shock! Teacher Lu brought a Sirfetch'd to counter 'bring out your will'!"

The battle erupted.

Watched by millions, Heracross’s insect wings fluttered and the horn on its head glinted white, looking as if it were about to use a flying-type return move! ⱤаɴȪʙĘṣ

"What the—Heracross doing Return?"

"As everyone knows, anything can be a Return!"

Heracross dove;

Sirfetch'd watched calmly, its gaze sharp but slightly unfocused.

"Predict! Night Slash! Wide Slash!" Lu Ye barked.

A flurry of question marks scrolled the chat.

"If he calls moves that fast, can he use a bunch of moves in one turn?"

"Honestly, Wide Slash isn't even a move—it's just a normal hit!"

The insect king's horn neared;

Sirfetch'd snapped back to attention and reflexively raised its shield.

Clang!!

Pushed back half a step, Sirfetch'd's leek slashed in succession, parrying the incoming Poison Jab bolts and sparking a shower of sparks!

Closing in, Sirfetch'd swung its leek in a wide arc. Golden light gathered along the blade like a screeching golden bird circling the sword!

"Sirfetch'd, Brave Bird, full attack!!"

"Ga!!"

The suddenly unleashed blade transformed into a screaming golden bird that dove at Heracross, the explosive shockwave sending both Pokémon flying!

Greta cried, "Bring out your willpower, Heracross! Use Revival!!"

"Keck!" Heracross covered its head with its forearms, its Guts belt snapping, its long horn blooming a brilliant white light as it charged toward Sirfetch'd.

"Ga! (´థ౪థ)σ" Sirfetch'd's expression froze.

Revival like that would make ten lives insufficient!

"The insect king's draining health!!" the chat shouted.

Ash's eyes brightened as if he could see his own Heracross striding forward.

"Really?"

Lu Ye sneered.

Facing an insect king known for willpower, how could he not have a counter!

"Sirfetch'd, Quick Attack!"

"???"

"Speed first? Can't handle that, huh!"

"Who would normally bring this move!"

Heracross's horn gleamed;

Sirfetch'd slowly bristled its leek.

The next instant, Sirfetch'd's leek stabbed out like lightning, hitting Heracross's abdomen before the horn could strike!

"Ga…"

Sirfetch'd's legs stiffened;

it looked calm as it slowly retracted its leek.

The scene shifted to red and black;

after a beat, Heracross collapsed with a thud!

Rotom's livestream progress showed:

[Frontier Emblems: (3/7)]

"ohhhhh"

"This lit up!"

"Cleared in half an hour? I fought the Frontier for two weeks and couldn't beat it!"

"This isn't the kind of food content I wanted to see!"

Ash muttered blankly, "Teacher Lu's progress... so fast."

When Ash had challenged the Frontier, it had taken him a whole month with many defeats.

In contrast, Teacher Lu was unstoppable—three emblems in a row!

Ash decided to stay in his room and keep watching the lesson.

The fourth emblem, called the Emblem of Tactics, was at the Battle Dome.

The boss was Hils, who looked feminine but was actually male—not at all Mengmengda.

The Battle Dome's format was 2v2 doubles.

Hils sent a combination of Arcanine and Quagsire, a tactic dubbed 'the fusion of fire and water'.

Teacher Lu sent out Pupitar, intending at first to rent Cynthia's Garchomp but ultimately choosing Togepi.

"Chajiduyi~ヾ(◍°∇°◍)ﾉﾞ" Togepi rode on Pupitar's neck.

"Bangii! (〝▼皿▼)" Pupitar lifted both arms to protect Togepi on its head, baring a ferocious face at the bewildered Hils.

"This is inspired by your previous boss, Ash," Lu Ye said matter-of-factly.

"Pikachu can ride on a Staraptor, so Togepi riding Pupitar's neck is perfectly reasonable."

Hils: ???

Chat flooded the screen.

"Too ridiculous."

"A double-team fusion tactic!"

"I'll be the head!"

"There's one more important point," Lu Ye said calmly. "This way Togepi won't get hit by Earthquake."

Hils: "……"

I know he's talking nonsense, but I can't refute him!

"Pupitar, Earthquake;

Togepi, Helping Hand!"

"Chajiduyi~(´▽`)ﾉ" Togepi waggled its tiny finger.

Pupitar, as if divinely aided, roared and stomped, the quake crushing Arcanine and Quagsire's formation in a single turn!!

"Arcanine: I may not be human, but you're definitely a dog."

"Pupitar's gone berserk!!"

"Emblem of Tactics? More like the Emblem of Crushing Babies!"

Rotom's real-time stats showed:

[Frontier Emblems: (4/7)]

Back when Mirat set the speed record of clearing the Frontier in seven days.

It looked like Teacher Lu was going to break that record within 24 hours!

The livestream drew more viewers by the minute, bringing the Frontier huge publicity.

Ayshada wiped tears and, while packing items to be sent out, consoled himself:

"Teacher Lu's got a conscience... at least he brought traffic!"

The fifth emblem was the Emblem of Luck.

Its location was the Battle Pipeline.

The Battle Pipeline looked like a Seviper with its mouth open;

its 'belly' housed many rooms.

Those rooms could contain traps, challengers, or recovery items—140 rooms in total.

Even the luckiest trainer would typically spend two to three days to reach the final boss, Natsumi.

"This is a 72-hour nonstop stream challenge hhhhh"

"Teacher Lu: Emblem of Luck? I'll pass!"

Lu Ye stood before the Battle Pipeline and rubbed his chin before resolutely stepping into Seviper's open mouth.

"Togepi, lead the way."

Lu Ye said, "Go with your feeling. Don't worry about my instructions!"

"Du yi?" Togepi looked puzzled at Lu Ye, then obediently nodded.

Then the tiny egg took its small steps and waddled to the next room.

"Awsl!!"

"That's cheating, Teacher Lu!"

"The rules clearly state trainers may use their Pokémon's abilities and traits to challenge."

"All the way filled with recovery items, no traps!?"

Guided by Togepi, Lu Ye wound through rooms, picking up Full Recovery Potions and PP Restores as he went.

Natsumi, the Battle Pipeline boss, watched the monitoring screen in the final room with a strange expression.

They avoided both hidden and obvious traps and raced straight to the end?

This guy must be using X-ray cheats!

Next time I need to talk to Ayshada about banning 'super-lucky' Pokémon like Togepi and Chansey!

Teacher Lu charged ahead to the final room.

Chat filled with question marks.

"This is not like when I challenged the Battle Pipeline!"

"I get it now—the Emblem of Luck should be awarded to Togepi!"

On the livestream, it took only three hours.

Lu Ye stood in the final room facing Natsumi.

"...You're here."

"I still came."

"You even cleared all the treasure boxes along the way."

"There were some low-quality berries;

I put them back."

Natsumi choked up, her face weathered: "Tired... okay, start. The emblem is yours."

Ten minutes later.

Lu Ye walked out of the Battle Pipeline with a gleaming golden badge pinned to his chest: the Emblem of Luck!

"Could it be... Teacher Lu is the genius trainer Ayshada has been searching for?"

"I feel like Teacher Lu is about to bankrupt the Frontier with how he's sweeping through it?!"

"Business has wins and losses—there's still one more: the Battle Factory!"

The Battle Factory used a rental system. Challengers randomly selected and rented three Pokémon to face other trainers.

If the challenger won, they could swap one of their team members with one of the opponent’s Pokémon.

After 41 consecutive wins, on the 42nd match, the Battle Factory's head Noland would confront the challenger with a random team!

The rules were completely different from when Ash challenged it.

To boost popularity and cut costs, Ayshada had revised the rules multiple times, increasing the difficulty.

The challenge of the Battle Factory lay in the fully random rental roster—testing the challenger's tactical pairing and Pokémon knowledge.

Full randomness made for dramatic and entertaining matches!

Chat debated.

"Is Teacher Lu just steamrolling?"

"I bet he'll clear it in three hours."

"Rename it 'Dominate the Frontier! Fastest Clear!'."

Under the world's gaze, Lu Ye arrived at the Battle Factory to pick and rent his initial three partners.

"Just choose from these five Poké Balls," the staff smiled.

The factory was fair;

they wouldn't intentionally make difficulties for challengers.

Lu Ye surveyed the five Poké Balls before him and froze.

Five choose three—his random choices were:

[Remoraid, Rhyperior, Cherubi, Magikarp, Sunflower Seeds]

Their base stats were 300, 390, 290, 200, 180 respectively.

Lu Ye: "……"

"Is there a problem, Mr. Lu?" the staff asked tentatively.

"Do the Pokémon you randomize here always have...character?"

"Yes, they randomly draw from Kanto and Hoenn," the staff smiled. "So sometimes on the first round you might get a rare Pokémon like Dragonair!"

Lu Ye hesitated.

Lu Ye: "Pick Remoraid, Rhyperior, and Sunflower Seeds for me... thanks."

It felt like returning to his rookie days.

Chat erupted in 'hhhhhh'.

"There are no weak Pokémon, only weak trainers!"

"Show us your tactics, Teacher Lu!"

Tactics are like water and trainers are containers;

water takes the shape of its vessel.

To Teacher Lu, the water in that vessel might be black.

Time to show the trainer's mettle!

Lu Ye cleared his throat and calmly analyzed:

"This Remoraid has the Dream World ability 'Wonder Skin'—very useful."

"Besides, we have Rhyperior as an ultimate sacrificial weapon with Explosion... we should win."

He released the three Pokémon: Rhyperior, Remoraid, and Sunflower Seeds looked at their trainer.

"Pleasure to meet you," Lu Ye nodded. "Let's work well together in the upcoming battle."

"Roar!" Rhyperior grinned endearingly.

These Pokémon, as longtime Battle Factory veterans, had seen many trainers;

one who chatted with them like this was a first.

Rhyperior's eyes sharpened.

If that's the case, then this old fellow won't slack off—I'll give my all!

First round.

Teacher Lu's team: [Remoraid, Rhyperior, Sunflower Seeds]

Opponent's team: [Lapras, Qwilfish, Nidorino]

"Teacher Lu... nice to meet you, please take care of me!"

A JK girl in a super short skirt—also a viewer—smiled shyly.

Lu Ye nodded lightly: "Can I ask—did you pick Lapras in the first round?"

"Yes," the girl Naiki answered innocently. "There was also a Scyther among the five but I didn't pick it. I regret it now."

Lu Ye: "……"

The gap between bad luck and extraordinary luck can be bigger than that between people and Pokémon!

"Feels right, bros!"

"Bon appetit~"

The first battle was fierce.

The difficulty rivaled facing Primal Groudon.

Rhyperior battled Nidorino with stone-like will, enduring a double kick, then slammed Nidorino down and gave Lu Ye a thumbs-up with a grin, its white teeth flashing.

Lu Ye's eyes moistened;

facing the girl's Lapras, he ordered through tears, "Rhyperior, use Explosion!"

Rhyperior's body began to shine white, its face calm.

No regrets, stranger.

Some Pokémon are born with battle blood coursing through them.

I'm not asking you to feel guilty;

I'm asking you to win!

Boom!!!

"Touching."

"Rh-Rhy-perior—"

The light of Explosion lit the path forward.

Then Lu Ye used switching and commands to the fullest: Sunflower Seeds planted Leech Seed on both Lapras and Qwilfish, bravely falling in the process.

Lu Ye was left with only Remoraid.

Naiki still had Lapras and the lightning-fast Qwilfish!

"Let me show you my ace, Naiki," Lu Ye said calmly.

Naiki blinked: "A-ace?"

"I Choose You!"

Lu Ye fixed his gaze and threw a Poké Ball: "Remoraid!!"

Remoraid's dorsal fin turned into a suction pad anchoring it to the ground as it glared sharply at Lapras.

"The trainer of Remoraid really took the short end of the stick!"

"Don't underestimate any Pokémon, you jerk!"

"What's Remoraid good for? It's totally useless."

Among countless losing paths, there is only one path of hope.

Lu Ye closed his eyes briefly and recalled why he picked Remoraid.

Dream World ability: Moody.

At the end of a turn, one of Attack, Defense, Sp. Atk, Sp. Def, or Speed randomly rises by two stages, and another randomly lowers by one stage.

In practice, that meant Remoraid's Speed could surge suddenly, surpassing Naiki's Lapras and Qwilfish!!

"Lapras, Ice Beam!"

"Remoraid, Protect!"

Lapras opened its maw and icy radiance descended, striking the green shield;

Remoraid's eyes were sharp.

At this moment, the meeting of Lu Ye and Remoraid—life with life—birthed a new Bond.

On his shoulders rested the hopes of Rhyperior and Sunflower Seeds!

"Please, Remoraid!"

Lu Ye gambled on water pulse's confusion chance: "Use Water Pulse!!"

Anchored like a turret, Remoraid expelled a surging wave that slammed into Lapras!

"Is it my imagination, or did Remoraid get faster?"

"What the—this is Remoraid's Dream ability, Moody!"

"?? Someone explain!"

"Moody can dramatically boost stats. Even Remoraid could beat Lapras!"

"Uu~" Lapras was struck by Water Pulse and seemed bewildered, letting out a plaintive cry.

Under everyone's watch, Remoraid fired foam beams at Lapras, which had the Solid Rock trait, and...

Bang!!

Lapras fell!

"Did its Special Attack get buffed?"

"No, this is strategy!"

Naiki's switch to Qwilfish couldn't withstand Remoraid's consecutive foam beams and was knocked out immediately.

"I lost, Teacher Lu," Naiki sighed.

After a brief silence, the chat exploded.

"ohhhhhh"

"Learned something—I’m going out to catch a Remoraid!"

"Trust your Pokémon—even fleeting meetings can form shining bonds!"

Gifts and donations flooded the chat in the sensational livestream.

Lu Ye expressionlessly executed a trade: he swapped Remoraid for Lapras.

"???"

"This feels so real."

"Remember this Lapras—traitor incoming!"

After the grueling first victory, Teacher Lu continued through the Battle Factory.

Lapras lived up to its reputation as an inner enemy: it missed Water Pulse twice in a row, and an enraged Lu Ye almost exchanged it again.

"The essence of battling (lol)."

"Battle Factory, eternal rival!"

After a full ten hours, exhausted, Teacher Lu defeated Battle Factory head Noland.

He obtained the Emblem of Knowledge, leaving only one step to dominate the Frontier!

"This was more tiring than facing Primal Groudon..." Lu Ye wiped his forehead.

The sun set.

Lu Ye stood at the Battle Factory's entrance and looked at his initial teammates Rhyperior and Remoraid.

Rhyperior grinned;

Remoraid's eyes glistened with tears.

"Goodbye," Teacher Lu said sincerely. "Both of you, it was a pleasure working with you!"

"Roar!" Rhyperior raised its outer arms and gave a thumbs-up.

Meanwhile, Haunter defeated the substitute head at the Battle Pyramid to claim the final Emblem of Courage.

Since Brandon was still in Snowpoint City tending the shrine, the substitute head faced Haunter alone—his courage was admirable...

Within just 24 hours, Teacher Lu dominated Hoenn's Frontier, setting the fastest clear record!

As the chat congratulated him, a blonde beauty appeared on screen and the chat's color shifted to lemon yellow.

"Where shall we go for dinner?" Cynthia asked.

"I plan to borrow a restaurant and treat two friends to a meal."

"The Rhyperior and Remoraid from earlier?"

"Mm..." Lu Ye nodded.

Lapras—no need to invite!

...

When Ayshada learned Teacher Lu had dominated the Frontier in a single day, he was stunned.

But when he heard the Battle Factory had gone viral and the official site gained tens of thousands of hits in a few hours, he relaxed.

"I didn't expect the Battle Factory to be what troubled Teacher Lu the longest," Ayshada muttered. "I thought it might be the Battle Pipeline, the Emblem of Luck..."

After that day's livestream ended,

the chat filled with 'see you next month', 'see you next year', 'great' and many other comments.

No need to wait until next year.

Lu Ye's trip to Hoenn was temporarily over—he planned to return to Miare City to prepare for next week's PTCG World Championship.

He heard Ash would also be visiting Kalos then.

Lu Ye looked up at the sky:

"Make sure Professor Sycamore keeps an eye on Ash... he shouldn't jump off Prism Tower again..."

…