"Uncle Dax? Uncle Dax?"
"Hm?"
Dax looked at Jace, who'd moved closer, with confusion, then snapped back to reality. "Sorry, zoned out again."
Then he turned to look at Auron with a serious expression. "Can I report this to the officials?"
Auron nodded. "Of course you can."
He then shot a reassuring look at the somewhat anxious Jace and Peter.
"Mm. Your matches should be done tomorrow, right? After I watch the finals tomorrow, I'll go to the officials and fight for another reward for you."
Dax stretched lazily. These past few days staying at Auron's place had been way too comfortable. Time to reciprocate—add some extra bonuses to Auron's existing rewards.
"Hehe, thanks Uncle Dax."
"Small matter, small matter."
Once Dax had excitedly walked ahead, Jace and Peter quietly asked from behind:
"If the officials start promoting this, will we still get our first-mover advantage from being the weather team innovators?"
Seeing their worried expressions, Auron patted Peter's shoulder reassuringly.
"Don't worry—you'll still have your advantage. The officials are really slow."
Only then did Jace and Peter relax. Why were they being pioneers in the first place? To catch opponents completely off-guard, of course.
It's supposed to be a sunny weather team—the opponent is about to send out a Water type to use Rain Dance as a counter, and bam! Venusaur enters with Solar Beam and teaches them a lesson.
But their fear was precisely this: once the officials announced it, everyone would be on guard against their surprise Venusaur play. The difficulty would jump several levels.
Watching the two of them relax, Auron smiled bitterly to himself.
The officials—they really were incredibly slow. Just the Milotic evolution research alone—both the method and results had been submitted ages ago, but the officials still hadn't announced it.
This was something Auron had finished before the college entrance exam. Now Auron had been in university for several days already, and still no announcement. From this, you could see—the officials really were slow.
Though the officials' slowness was understandable. Even with the method and results presented, the officials pursued one thing above all: no mistakes.
So being slow and carefully verifying everything was reasonable. As long as the rewards were deposited as promised, it was fine.
"Hm? Rewards—speaking of which, don't I still have official rewards I haven't claimed?"
Thinking about rewards, Auron suddenly remembered the official rewards for his Pokémon evolutions and Mega Evolution discoveries—he still hadn't collected them. They were still accumulating.
"Whatever, I'll exchange them together with the weather team rewards. Saves me an extra trip."
With that thought, Auron cheerfully caught up with the main group and headed toward school together.
......
The night passed without incident. The next morning was once again an early start.
"Morning, Little Ze."
"Uh... morning, Uncle Dax."
Seeing Dax's appearance, Auron couldn't help but freeze. Getting up this early was one thing—but what was with this suddenly appearing perm hairstyle?!
"How's it look? Pretty cool, right?"
Seeing Auron's stunned expression, Dax couldn't help but run his hand through his hair and strike a pose.
"Uh... cool, cool. Let's eat first."
Auron really didn't have the heart to criticize. A perm paired with that pure white athletic outfit (think middle school gym uniform)—it looked awkward no matter how you looked at it.
Fortunately, in the end, Dax didn't go out wearing that pure white athletic outfit.
Because his girlfriend, Ji Qianyi, had yelled at him.
And Auron also learned the reason for the sudden perm.
Who could have imagined that in the middle of the night, instead of sleeping, he'd specifically run out and bang on a hair salon's door until they opened, then threw money at them to give him a perm overnight.
In the end, it was only after Ji Qianyi's exasperated voice—and after making Dax at least somewhat presentable—that he and Auron successfully left the house.
Well, casual wear with an ion perm... that was at least passable. Fortunately, Dax's build was similar to Auron's—otherwise he really would have had to go out in athletic wear.
After arriving at the arena, Dax headed toward the VIP box while Auron went to the contestants' waiting room.
After the four of them chatted for a bit, the matches officially began.
Coincidentally, the first match was Auron's—Auron versus Wang Siyuan, who had Snorlax and Greninja.
Auron stood up, nodded at the chubby, harmless-looking Wang Siyuan, and the two of them headed onto the field together.
"Please give it your all."
Auron turned to look at Wang Siyuan. Seeing his serious expression, Auron couldn't help but nod.
"I will."
Only then did Wang Siyuan break into a smile and extend his hand toward Auron. "I really hope I can battle your Snorlax."
Auron smiled and shook Wang Siyuan's hand. "There'll be opportunities in the future."
"Mm."
"Both contestants, release your Pokémon."
After both took the field, the referee swung the flag and addressed them.
"Go, Greninja!"
"Go, Charizard!"
Both sides simultaneously released their Pokémon. Both Pokémon stared at each other with intense fighting spirit, electric sparks seeming to flash between their locked gazes.
Pokémon: Greninja
Gender: Male
Type: Water / Dark
Ability: Battle Bond (If the Pokémon with this Ability is Greninja, it will transform into Ash-Greninja after knocking out an opponent's Pokémon through attack damage. It reverts to its original form when it faints or the battle ends.)
Aptitude: Gold
Basic Moves: Water Shuriken, Dark Snipe, Haze, Role Play, Mat Block, Quick Attack, Lick, Water Pulse, Smokescreen, Shadow Sneak, Spikes, Sucker Punch, Surf, Ice Beam, Dark Pulse
Inherited Moves: Bestow, Mind Reader, Mud Sport, Water Sport, Power-Up Punch
"Battle Bond?"
Auron froze when he saw his opponent's information. Battle Bond—wasn't that the cheat the anime staff gave Ash?
Could it be? Was his opponent Ash-tard?
"A protagonist."
Auron's eyes narrowed, staring intently at his opponent, seemingly trying to see if Wang Siyuan had anything different about him.
"Protagonist? So what if he's a protagonist? Without a Pikachu, does he really count as a protagonist?"
"Swish!"
The flag dropped. The battle began!
"Charizard, Mega Evolution!"
Auron held nothing back. The instant the flag fell, he had Charizard Mega Evolve.
So what if he's a protagonist? I've got cheats too—and even if they're not that strong, I'll still beat you down!
"Graow!"
Mega Charizard X roared, glaring at the opponent's Greninja. The wings on his back couldn't help but beat slightly, ready to charge at his opponent at any moment.
"Charizard, Air Slash!"
"Greninja, Water Pulse!"