Deep within the forest—
A tall young man whose face could not be clearly seen hurled a Poké Ball toward a large tree.
The Poké Ball bounced off the trunk.
A flash of white light erupted.
A Pikachu sprang out from inside the Poké Ball. Its round little body rolled several times across the ground before finally coming to a stop.
"Pika pika…"
As though smelling something, Pikachu followed the grassy trail forward.
Before long, it discovered a green caterpillar-like Pokémon standing on the opposite side of the field.
Caterpie.
The trainers stood behind their respective Pokémon.
The instant their gazes met—
Battle erupted.
String Shot, Tackle…
The fierce exchange of offense and defense continued until Pikachu leapt high into the air and unleashed a Thunder Shock.
Then—
Following the dazzling electric current, the scene shifted toward a Spearow.
Without a single word—
Another battle began.
Forests, lakes, mountains, rivers…
Different locations flashed rapidly across the screen one after another.
At the same time, Pikachu's opponents grew progressively stronger with each transition.
"BOOM!"
Accompanied by a brilliant golden bolt of lightning that seemed capable of piercing through the world itself—
Silence fell.
"Thud."
Something heavy collapsed onto the ground.
Then—
Amid the darkness, noisy cheers and whistles began ringing out.
Points of light emerged from the void.
The blurry world gradually became clear.
A massive circular arena appeared before the viewer's eyes.
All around it sat countless spectators, desperately shouting and cheering for their favorite trainers and Pokémon.
At the center of the arena—
Two figures leapt into the air simultaneously.
One was a Pikachu glowing with blue and golden sparks like a descending thunder god.
The other radiated a terrifying aura, both divine and demonic at once—a three-headed Hydreigon whose mere presence imposed crushing pressure.
The two Pokémon roared as they slammed into each other.
Very quickly—
The image blurred once more.
As an exhilarating background track reached its climax, a line of fiery text appeared on screen.
[Reach the summit. I'll be waiting for you at the peak.]
The advertisement ended there.
"Garchomp…"
Sitting on the sofa, Gible stared at the Pikachu Cup promotional commercial on the television.
Its eyes sparkled intensely.
"Pika pika~"
A small yellow paw gently rested on Gible's shoulder.
Turning around—
Gible saw Pikachu wearing an incredibly smug expression.
Its face practically screamed:
Pretty awesome, right?
Gible's eyes filled with admiration.
"Garchomp garchomp!"
(Senior, you actually fought such a terrifying opponent—and even defeated that giant three-headed dragon! That's amazing!)
At first, Pikachu looked very proud hearing the praise.
But once Gible mentioned defeating Hydreigon—
Pikachu's eyes immediately began darting around guiltily.
"Pika pika…"
(J-Just barely…)
At that moment—
A voice suddenly came from nearby.
"They actually did a pretty good job."
"Especially that final scene. If I didn't know the truth, I'd really believe Pikachu defeated Hydreigon."
"Still, it's a bit exaggerated. Making Hydreigon the final boss opponent is way too over-the-top."
"But the production quality's definitely worth praising. At least all that money we spent wasn't wasted."
While muttering to himself, Chen Mo nodded repeatedly in satisfaction.
Then suddenly—
As if sensing something, Chen Mo shuddered violently.
Turning around—
He found a pair of pitch-black eyes full of resentment staring directly at him.
"P-Pikachu?"
Chen Mo looked utterly confused.
Then—
He glanced at Gible nearby, whose face was now full of disbelief, as though saying:
Senior Pikachu… you were lying to me!?
Chen Mo immediately pieced together what had just happened.
Letting out a soft sigh—
He patted Pikachu on the shoulder.
"I'm not trying to criticize you here, Pikachu, but honestly…"
"I don't know where you learned it from, but while it's fine to fool Electabuzz and the others with random motivational speeches sometimes…"
"You really shouldn't—"
"PIKA… CHUUU!"
Before Chen Mo could finish speaking—
A long-forgotten electric shock suddenly burst from Pikachu's body.
The current traveled directly through Chen Mo's hand resting on Pikachu's shoulder and instantly spread through his entire body.
"..."
June 19th. Monday. 3 PM. Clear skies.
Ever since June began, every day seemed hotter than the last.
But even under such scorching weather, Anping City's streets remained lively with trainers and Pokémon practicing around nearby parks.
"For Teddiursa, it's a Pokémon that specializes in close-range combat, so for daily training, you can…"
While out with all the Pokémon from home, Chen Mo was quickly recognized by trainers around the city.
Faced with their eager requests for advice, Chen Mo didn't put on any airs.
Based on each Pokémon's species traits, he gave basic training suggestions to the best of his ability.
"Thank you for the guidance, Teacher Mo! Me and Teddiursa are definitely going to win the championship! Please wait for us!"
The final trainer who sought advice from Chen Mo was a little boy only seven or eight years old.
At that moment, the child looked at Chen Mo excitedly while speaking his dream aloud.
Chen Mo gently rubbed the boy's head and smiled.
"Alright."
"I'll be waiting for you in the arena."
"YAY!"
Receiving Chen Mo's response, the boy raised both hands excitedly.
For a moment, he seemed to already envision himself standing in the arena as champion, preparing to challenge Chen Mo heroically.
Meanwhile—
The Teddiursa at the boy's feet had similarly immersed itself in its own little world.
One paw pressed thoughtfully against its mouth, Teddiursa stared fixedly at gengar, Pikachu, and Gible behind Chen Mo.
Well—
More accurately—
It was staring at the ice cream in their hands.
Seeing this immature trainer-and-Pokémon duo, a smile appeared on Chen Mo's lips.
Perhaps because children possessed purer hearts and therefore attracted Pokémon more easily—
According to previous statistics from the Countermeasure Bureau, among all current Pokémon owners, minors under eighteen accounted for nearly one-third of all trainers.
Hm.
Minors…
Chen Mo frowned slightly.
Something suddenly felt wrong.
Wasn't today Monday?
"Little buddy, does your school have the day off today?"
The excited expression on the boy's face froze instantly.
Then—
He glanced at Teddiursa.
"I took sick leave today. Teddiursa seemed like it wanted ice cream."
"Teacher Mo, thanks for the advice! I'm gonna take Teddiursa to buy some ice cream now!"
The moment he finished speaking—
The little boy dashed away with Teddiursa, whose eyes instantly lit up upon hearing the words buy ice cream.
Chen Mo: "..."
That running speed definitely doesn't look like someone who's sick…
"Kids these days aren't as innocent as we used to be…"
Chen Mo shook his head helplessly.
Then he turned toward the Pokémon behind him.
"Come on."
"Let's go shopping too."
Pikachu, gengar, and the others immediately lit up with excitement—just like the Teddiursa from earlier.
As compensation for previously offending Pikachu—
And also because of the things gengar said during the earlier Mega Evolution experiments—
Chen Mo decided to bring all his Pokémon, including the newly hatched Gible, to a newly opened department store downtown and let them freely pick out whatever gifts they liked.
Along the way—
The Pokémon were all in exceptionally high spirits.
Chen Mo felt that—
Compared to things like the Soothe Bell or Mega Stones, which carried strong practical intentions—
Items chosen purely for happiness without any hidden purpose truly counted as real gifts.
Of course—
Chen Mo also knew that if he personally handcrafted something, Pikachu and the others would probably be even happier.
Unfortunately—
He had absolutely terrible hands and couldn't make anything decent.
So instead, he chose to let them shop freely at a department store full of interesting things.
"Welcome."
Because it was Monday—and due to both the heat and the Pikachu Cup craze—the department store wasn't crowded.
Still—
The moment Chen Mo entered with an entire group of Pokémon, he immediately drew enormous attention.
Fortunately, once customers learned he was simply there to buy gifts for his Pokémon, nobody bothered him excessively.
Most only stood at a distance whispering among themselves.
Pokémon generally possessed childlike personalities.
Therefore—
Chen Mo directly brought everyone to the children's section of the department store.
"Pika!"
Very quickly—
Pikachu spotted a giant Pikachu plushie.
Then—
It was immediately drawn toward nearby Magikarp and gengar plush toys as well.
An agonized expression appeared on Pikachu's face.
Seeing this—
Chen Mo laughed.
"If you like something, just take it."
"And if you like everything…"
"Then buy everything."
At present, the Poké Balls, Potions, and Pokémon Centers sold on the market all used blueprints and formulas provided by Chen Mo.
Thus, from the very beginning, Professor Zhou had already established that Chen Mo would receive a portion of the profits generated from their operation.
By now—
Although Chen Mo rarely paid attention to his own wealth—
It was increasing at an astonishing speed every single day.
Buying a few extra gifts was nothing.
Even purchasing the entire department store wouldn't be an issue.
"Even with gengar helping carry things, if you really plan on emptying out the whole department store, that might still be a bit troublesome."
At that moment—
A voice suddenly came from behind him, sounding as though it had completely seen through Chen Mo's thoughts.
Turning around—
Chen Mo saw a young man in a white lab coat walking toward him with a smile.
At the man's feet waddled a Psyduck happily licking an ice cream cone.
"Brother Chuan?"
After instructing the Pokémon to continue picking out gifts on their own, Chen Mo looked back toward Zhou Yichuan.
"Brother Chuan, what are you doing here?"
"It's because of this gluttonous little troublemaker."
Zhou Yichuan glanced helplessly at Psyduck beside him.
Then he turned back toward Chen Mo.
"You probably don't know this, but this newly opened department store is actually connected to the Countermeasure Bureau."
"We're currently promoting a new service you once mentioned before."
"Machoke Moving Services."
"If you end up buying too much stuff, the employees can arrange delivery straight to your house."
Chen Mo nodded.
"That works."
Following the huge success of Pidgey Express, the authorities had continued steadily implementing their earlier plans to integrate Pokémon into human society.
Although the government's focus had recently shifted more toward cultivating elite trainers—
Their overall direction remained unchanged.
Machoke Moving Services was one such project.
"Psyduck, go play with Pikachu and the others."
After sending Psyduck away, Zhou Yichuan turned back toward Chen Mo.
"Because of the Pikachu Cup, more and more tourists have been arriving in Anping City these past few days."
"We've also been trying our best to show them what a city where humans and Pokémon coexist actually looks like."
"In the next few days, several previously planned projects will officially launch too."
"Oh right."
"The number of Pikachu Cup registrations is about to break ten thousand."
"What do you think?"
Hearing this, Chen Mo froze.
"What do I think about what?"
"You really…"
Zhou Yichuan shook his head helplessly.
"Looks like I was right when I told Chengliang earlier."
"You really haven't figured out how to handle this yet."
"What do you mean…?"
Chen Mo looked confused.
"Wasn't the plan already decided? Registration lasts one week, and once registration closes—"
Before Chen Mo could finish—
Zhou Yichuan raised a hand to stop him and continued calmly.
"Plans can't keep up with reality."
"Honestly, we underestimated things before."
"Look how little time has passed since you revealed the tournament rewards. Registration numbers are already close to ten thousand."
"At this rate, by the time the one-week registration period ends…"
"We might hit twenty thousand participants."
"And do you understand what twenty thousand competitors means?"
"The new arena we built only has a little over fifty thousand audience seats."
"If we rely solely on a single arena, then according to our original main-event schedule…"
"There's absolutely no way we can finish all the matches."
Chen Mo froze.
That was true.
With twenty thousand trainers, there was no possible way to fit every battle into the original format.
"Looks like you get it now."
Zhou Yichuan smiled.
"Chengliang and I discussed it and came up with a new approach."
"We were planning to video call you tonight to discuss it properly, but since we ran into each other here, I'll explain it now."
"As for the arena itself…"
"There are too many participants."
"Plus construction still needs a little more time, along with final setup work."
"So scheduling is becoming tight."
"That's why Chengliang and I think the early preliminary rounds shouldn't take place inside the arena."
"Instead, they'll be held at several simple battle venues we've already prepared around the city."
"At the same time, the preliminary rules will also change."
"Specifically, here's the idea."
"..."
As Zhou Yichuan continued explaining—
Chen Mo's expression gradually became stranger and stranger.
Why did this somehow feel…
Like a Pokémon version of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Kingdom?
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed.
Go check it out and dive into the full experience.
Claim early access here: [email protected]/plotwired
🔓 You hold the keys to bonus chapters:💬 10 reviews unlock 1 bonus chapter🔷 100 Power Stones summon another
🔥 Your power determines how fast the tale unfolds.