Garcia glanced at Skorelsky but said nothing.
Letting this guy go test the Dragon Kingdom university students' strength wasn't a bad idea.
Though that intelligence level…
"Tsk, tsk."
After casting a dismissive look at Skorelsky, Garcia turned to the people behind him and said,
"Let's go. First to Shangqing. We'll be living here for the next year."
"Alright, my destined one, here I come～"
Since they were already on Dragon Kingdom soil, Anghura switched her language to Chinese automatically.
Behind Anghura, Garcia gave the enthusiastic girl a helpless look. There was nothing he could do with this mischievous girl.
The reason he'd been made the leader of the exchange students to Dragon Kingdom wasn't just because his strength was the highest — his family was also quite a force in America.
But compared to Anghura's family, that force seemed utterly insignificant.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
"Already thought about what your next Pokémon should be?"
"I have, kind of."
Lu Zhengjie scratched his head ruefully. "But it doesn't seem very interested in me, so I've been trying to build a relationship with it."
"Oh? Which Pokémon?"
At hearing Lu Zhengjie say that, Lu Ze immediately perked up. "Tell me. Let me give you some advice."
"You've probably met it before. It's a Slakoth at Auntie's breeding garden."
"That Slakoth?"
Hearing Lu Zhengjie say that, Lu Ze remembered too.
His mom's breeding garden did have a Slakoth, but Lu Ze only had a vague impression of it and didn't know it very well.
He actually quite liked Slaking, its final evolution.
But that was on the condition that Slaking didn't have the Truant ability.
Back when he played the games, he could hack a Strong-Style Truant Slaking into existence.
But that obviously wasn't going to work in the real world.
After all, he didn't have a system that could change a Pokémon's ability.
And Slaking in the real world wasn't the type that only moved after being hit twice.
In reality, Truant was ingrained into Slaking's bones. Not only was it lazy in battle, it was also extremely lazy during training. So it basically didn't qualify as a main battle Pokémon.
And because the ability was so ingrained, even if a move like Role Play could technically be used, the Slaking that resulted would still be that lazy slouch. It wouldn't help at all.
And if someone really loved Slaking, Lu Ze would start training it from the egg stage and extend the half-asleep phase as long as possible.
Trying to get Slaking to overcome the Truant ability.
After all, in the anime, Chiyono's Slaking managed to barely overcome the negative effects of Truant during battle, pushing itself to unleash its tremendous fighting power.
"Why do you want to pick that one? Truant really does have a big impact."
Lu Zhengjie scratched his head. "I don't know, but my Aura is telling me it might not be the same as other Slakoth."
"Your Aura told you that?"
Lu Ze immediately got serious. Could he also have a system? One that could change a Pokémon's ability?
After all, his own cover story for the system was "my Aura told me."
And thinking about it more carefully — parents suddenly entering a Secret Realm before claiming their Pokémon and disappearing, then having Aura — so having a system wasn't exactly an unreasonable thing either.
"Can you change Slaking's ability?"
"Slaking's ability… isn't it impossible to change?"
Lu Ze had his Aura fully activated, carefully observing Lu Zhengjie's expression.
After confirming there was nothing off about his face, he continued.
"Have you ever heard of something called a System that can change Slaking's ability?"
"Bro, does the system you research institute people made actually change Slaking's ability?"
Lu Zhengjie suddenly asked with delight. If there was a system that could change Slaking's ability, he'd go right now to build a relationship with that Slakoth. He'd do whatever it took to capture it.
Lu Ze still couldn't find anything suspicious. He could only wave it off.
"We've thought about it, but it's too difficult."
"Bro, I'm cheering for you!"
Lu Zhengjie pounded his own chest and said to Lu Ze. "You have to crack it! I've already decided I'm capturing that Slakoth."
Lu Ze watched Lu Zhengjie with great interest and probed again.
"What if I can't figure it out?"
Lu Zhengjie scratched his head and said awkwardly, "Well, I don't actually know. But after seeing Crawdaunt's fighting style, I was thinking — if I trained Slaking kind of like how Crawdaunt fights, that might work too. Just hit once, one hit to take the opponent down in one shot. That could work too."
Looking at Lu Zhengjie's earnest, slightly longing expression, Lu Ze felt a hint of disappointment.
He'd basically confirmed it now — Lu Zhengjie most likely didn't have that kind of system.
He'd been thinking — if Lu Zhengjie had that system, he'd beg Lu Zhengjie to help him change Deoxys's ability.
Pressure was somewhat useful against ordinary Pokémon.
But once the battle was at the same level, the ability might as well not exist.
And against ordinary Pokémon, Deoxys didn't need to step in anyway. That was the awkward part.
Plus, if this world really did have a protagonist, and that protagonist was in their family — then Lu Ze would be even happier.
That was the mindset of a lazybones. As long as someone was holding the line up front, he'd just laze around in the back.
After all, if you're the protagonist, you'll definitely succeed in the end, right?
So all I'd have to do is follow you, and I'd succeed effortlessly too?
That was exactly why Lu Ze felt disappointed after basically confirming that Lu Zhengjie didn't have a system.
"Um, bro, why do you look so disappointed?"
After Lu Zhengjie finished speaking, he saw Lu Ze sigh and asked with concern.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about what I said earlier — the machine that can change Slaking's ability. Looks like it's probably not going to work out."
Lu Ze waved his hand and made up a casual excuse to brush past it.
"Want to hear my thoughts?"
"Sure."
Lu Zhengjie nodded excitedly. He was just worried about not knowing how to train Slaking. If someone could share some ideas with him, he was all for it.
It had to be said — after watching Crawdaunt's fighting style, Lu Zhengjie was even more invested in that Slakoth.
Before, it had just been that he wanted to capture it. If he couldn't capture it, then fine. He'd tried.
But after seeing that battle against Crawdaunt, his attitude had shifted to:
I have to capture that Slakoth. I want to end battles in an instant, just like Crawdaunt does.
———
Please give me Power Stones!
Support me on Patreon @ patreon(dot)com/SorenEclipse
Read 15 Chapters Ahead on Patreon!