Just as Aaron was about to leave, he suddenly stopped.
A sly grin spread across his face as he turned to Selena and said,
"Oh, right..."
"There's something I forgot to tell you."
Selena looked puzzled by Aaron's strange smile.
"What is it!?"
Aaron glanced at the Gardevoir in Selena's arms, then put on an unusually solemn expression.
"I... approve of you and your Gardevoir."
He gave a firm nod.
"Wishing the two of you a lifetime of happiness."
The moment he finished speaking, Aaron turned and ran for his life.
Left behind was Selena, frozen in place like she had been struck by thunder.
Her face instantly turned crimson.
Shock. Shame. Panic. Embarrassment.
Every emotion imaginable crashed into her at once.
She hugged Gardevoir tighter in her arms, too flustered to say a word.
Even Gardevoir awkwardly averted his gaze.
From that day on, the city gained one more emo girl.
…
With Selena's last Pokémon losing the ability to battle, and with the mountain peak losing one-third of its area, the battle between the first- and second-ranked students of the college entrance exam finally came to an end.
Brutus excitedly raised the flag in his hand and shouted:
"Contestant Selena's three Pokémon have all lost the ability to battle!"
"The winner of this Pokémon battle is contestant Aaron!"
"Come on, everyone... give him a round of applause!"
After shouting that, Brutus also wanted to clap, but suddenly remembered he had already lost an arm.
He could only smile awkwardly, though a deeply buried trace of loneliness flashed through his eyes.
Clap clap clap!
The crowd burst into thunderous applause, showing respect to both Aaron and Brutus.
"Aaron, you're the best!"
"I'm already your fan! I love you!"
"I want to have your babies!"
"Hualis's strongest young genius can only be you!"
"Aaron, can I date you!? If not, I can switch teams!"
"Damn... bold move."
"How shallow. If I could have Aaron, I'd do anything."
"You're unbelievable..."
…
The once-proud boys and girls had now all become Aaron's fans, shouting wildly at him.
Those outrageous comments nearly made Aaron stumble.
"You're something else, kid!"
"Just what I'd expect from my junior. Well done!"
Brutus walked over with a huge grin and punched Aaron hard on the shoulder.
Aaron didn't move an inch.
At Brutus's current level, that kind of "attack" was no more than a tickle to Aaron, a human-shaped Pokémon.
Aaron smiled awkwardly, scratched the back of his head, and said:
"Heh... just lucky, just lucky."
Brutus rolled his eyes.
Lucky!?
"You think people are blind?!"
Still, Brutus couldn't help feeling impressed by Aaron's calm and humble attitude.
A rare look of approval appeared in his eyes as he watched him.
If Brutus's close friends had seen it, they would've been speechless.
A meathead like him showing genuine warmth?
Now that was a once-in-a-lifetime sight.
…
Just then, Braveon, Blaze, Liora, Drake, along with Lilith, Sylka, and the others walked over.
"Aaron... you're really strong. I'm looking forward to our battle."
A trace of fighting spirit flashed in Braveon's eyes.
"Aaron, when are you going to battle me? I'm so fired up I can barely contain it!"
Flames nearly danced in Blaze's eyes as he spoke excitedly.
"Aaron... you're amazing!"
Liora looked at Aaron with stars in her eyes.
"Aaron... I think highly of you. You'll catch up to me soon enough. I'll be waiting for you on the Champion throne."
Drake patted Aaron's shoulder and smiled.
"Aaron... you're incredible. I am almost falling for you. What am I supposed to do?"
Lilith's soft, seductive voice drifted into Aaron's ear, making him shiver.
This virgin couldn't handle it.
Sylka opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out.
Aaron smiled and responded to each of them one by one.
After that, everyone went their separate ways.
Aaron then climbed onto Flygon.
…
Across the endless sky, beneath blue heavens and drifting white clouds, Flygon sped through the air at incredible speed.
Standing on its back were two people.
Aaron and Sylka.
Aaron happily opened the System backpack and checked the rewards he had just received.
One held item and one Rare Candy.
[Name: Flame Orb]
[Type: Fire]
[Effect: When held by a Fire-type Pokémon, increases the power of Fire-type moves by 25%...]
Aaron's eyes lit up.
This was a great item.
He immediately gave the Flame Orb to Charizard to hold.
Now Charizard's Fire-type moves were even stronger.
As for the final Rare Candy, Aaron fed it to Beedrill.
Its strength also rose to Late Elite level.
Why not give it to Sceptile?
Because after the recent battle, Sceptile had already leveled up once and also reached Late Elite level.
Now the strength of his six Pokémon was:
Elite (Peak Stage): Charizard
Elite (Late Stage): Greninja, Snorlax, Gyarados, Sceptile, Beedrill...
They were basically all at similar levels now.
As long as Charizard broke through one more level, Aaron would become a Gym-level Trainer.
An eighteen-year-old Gym-level Trainer.
That was simply unbelievable.
…
"Aaron..."
At that moment, Sylka's voice sounded beside him, pulling him out of his thoughts.
Aaron blinked and asked curiously:
"Teacher... Sylka?"
"You were calling me?"
He looked a little awkward, unsure what he should call her.
"I... I'm sorry."
"I treated you badly before."
A faint blush appeared on Sylka's face as she apologized awkwardly.
Aaron froze for a moment, genuinely surprised that this woman would apologize to him.
Still, he smiled and said:
"It's fine."
"I didn't really mind."
And he truly didn't.
He never expected everyone to like him.
As for people who disliked him, Aaron usually couldn't be bothered with them.
It wasn't worth it, and he had no interest in wasting time on them.
Flygon was extremely fast, and before long they arrived at Aaron's home.
Aaron jumped down from Flygon's back, thanked Sylka, and headed inside.
Only Sylka remained standing on Flygon's back, silent for a long while.
She knew Aaron still held a poor impression of her.
But who else could she blame?
Not everyone would tolerate pretentious behavior.
In the end, she had brought it on herself.
Regret now was already too late.
Sylka let out a long sigh.
Then Flygon soared back into the sky and disappeared beyond the horizon.