"Then let's hit his rain team — I heard on the grapevine that guy's got another rain team specialist."
Sui Yan wore a wicked grin as he said it.
Lu Ze could only laugh helplessly. "Where do you get all these rumors from?"
"Leave that to me. This show of force is going to happen. Just have my back, okay?"
"Have your back?"
"Yeah, you think I can count on Fugui? His Sanglar hasn't evolved yet."
Fugui: ?????
"Hey, hey, my Sanglar hasn't evolved yet — what, you think less of my Drilbur and Alakazam?"
Fugui shot back, face contorted in indignation. His quasi-Legendary just had a longer evolution cycle. Was that so unreasonable?
"Fine, fine, let's see when they get here. You've got Charizard and Mega Evolution — you can take on just about anyone."
"Heh, that's exactly what I was thinking. Word is they'll be arriving this afternoon. We should…"
The four walked on. Autumn leaves scattered across the road behind them. The remaining sunlight caught the sides of their faces, and the youthful energy radiating from these boys and girls was practically spilling over.
"Anghura, do you have to be this excited?"
On the plane, a blond-haired, green-eyed young man watched the girl beside him practically vibrating with enthusiasm, her eyes gleaming. His tone carried a helpless sigh.
"Garcia, you wouldn't understand. The Dragon Kingdom is a mysterious land of the East. I'm wondering if I'll finally meet my destined one this time."
Garcia's mouth twitched. What did the Dragon Kingdom being a mysterious Eastern country have to do with whether she'd find her true love?
"Dragon Kingdom people? Anghura, I'm telling you — aren't Americans better than those barbaric Dragon Kingdom folk?"
"Skorelsky, drop that outdated nonsense already. The Dragon Kingdom has already risen."
Garcia frowned. Skorelsky was plenty strong, but his racism was insufferable. His worldview placed everyone except white people in the lowest tier. And even among white people, Americans stood at the top — other countries' white people didn't measure up.
Skorelsky curled his lip dismissively, but didn't argue. After all, Garcia was the team leader. And Garcia was a pure-blooded American white man, so there wasn't much room to push back. Still, the abnormally pale skin of his face flickered with a trace of resentment.
Anghura looked at Skorelsky with undisguised contempt in her eyes.
This guy always acted so superior. Where did that confidence even come from?
But the girl's emotions came and went quickly. After dispensing Skorelsky with a single withering look, she was right back to fantasizing about meeting her destined one in the Dragon Kingdom.
............
Closing the Pokémon breeding textbook, the morning class finally ended.
"Let's go, Mini Dragon. Time to head home."
Lu Ze ruffled the drowsy Mini Dragon, who had been napping its head on the desk.
"Chirp~"
Mini Dragon lifted its head, blinked sleepily, let out a cry, then flopped right back down onto the table.
"Honestly, you're impossible."
Lu Ze smiled fondly, tucked the textbook into his backpack, and then bent down to scoop Mini Dragon up into his arms.
"Big brother, could we have a battle?"
" Sure."
Lu Ze had barely stepped out of the classroom when Lu Zhengjie, who had been waiting to the side, spoke up eagerly.
Lu Ze agreed without hesitation.
After all, Lu Zhengjie was family now.
After returning last time, they had compared genealogy. Lu Xing Guo had also sent someone to look into Lu Zhengjie and his parents' situation.
The conclusion: they really were the same family.
Once the connection was confirmed, Lu Xing Guo had offered to let Lu Zhengjie stay at their house. But Lu Zhengjie said he was still in school, so staying at the dorms was more convenient for now.
On top of that, he had been working part-time this whole time and wasn't short on money, so he turned down Lu Xing Guo's financial support as well.
The kid was stubborn. Lu Xing Guo couldn't do much about it — he'd just quietly help out where he could and leave it at that.
Of course, Lu Zhengjie called Lu Ze "big brother" simply because his registered birthday was nine days later than Lu Ze's. That was the only reason he had to call him ge.
"We really are family now. Gotta call people by generational rank."
That was exactly what Lu Ze had told Lu Zhengjie after checking his ID.
"Come on, let's go to the backyard mountain first. All my Pokémon are there."
"Alright."
Lu Zhengjie nodded and followed obediently behind Lu Ze.
If you had to say it, the Vale family had pretty solid genetics for looks. Lu Xing Guo was an aging handsome man. Lu Ze's father had that refined, scholarly uncle charm. Lu Ze and Lu Zhengjie, meanwhile, were the fairytale-prince type — the kind you'd see in period dramas.
The difference was that Lu Zhengjie took after his mother, so his features were softer, less sharp-edged, with a lingering hint of baby fat that hadn't quite faded.
Standing next to Lu Ze, whose jawline was clean and angular, Lu Zhengjie came across as gentle and handsome rather than boyishly bright.
"You've got four Pokémon now?"
"Four — Lucario, Machamp, Lopunny, and a newly hatched Baloon."
Lu Ze nodded. "Hmm, doesn't that put you at a disadvantage for next month's five-on-five tournament?"
Lu Zhengjie smiled ruefully. "I've been thinking about that too. I've already received seven challenges this month alone."
"Don't worry too much. Most people are probably in the same boat — their fourth and fifth Pokémon were just caught. You should be fine."
Lu Zhengjie relaxed slightly at that. "True. So, big brother, how many Pokémon do you have now?"
"Well, nine total, but only six are battle-ready."
The main battle team: Crobat, Snorlax, Charizard, Crawdaunt, Electabuzz, and Sirfetch'd.
Mini Dragon was the team mascot and group pet.
Klefki was the juice-maker.
Deoxys was the guardian.
That left six battle-ready Pokémon — not quite a full roster, but at least Lu Ze wouldn't have trouble filling a team for next semester's all-Pokémon matches.
"So, big brother, which Pokémon should we use for today's battle?"
The moment he heard Lu Ze had six main battle Pokémon, Lu Zhengjie lit up.
What he really wanted was to battle Lu Ze's strongest Pokémon — just to see where the gap was.
But then, hearing that Lu Ze also had a recently caught Pokémon, another idea struck him.
He couldn't win against Pokémon Lu Ze had trained for a long time. But if he could beat a beginner-level Pokémon? That would feel pretty good too, wouldn't it?
"Whichever you want. Today's your call."
Lu Ze smiled and nodded. His Pokémon needed a battle too, to see how much they'd improved lately.
———
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