"Kirlia!"
At Gu Qiu's words, Kirlia's entire body flushed red with excitement.
Already a shiny variant, the rosy blush made her look even more enchanting.
The water temperature was ready.
"Alright, Kirlia, you can get in."
Splash!
Kirlia jumped straight into the tub, sending water everywhere.
Even Gu Qiu's hair got soaked.
He sighed helplessly. "Don't rush. Take it slow."
"Kirlia!"
She secretly giggled, pretending to lean back casually against the tub with her eyes closed—
Though her whole body was stiff with nervousness.
"You really are something."
Gu Qiu shook his head with a smile and began brushing her gently.
Kirlia let out a soft, comfortable sound.
(He deliberately controlled the strength to avoid any awkwardness.)
After brushing once over, he applied foam with his hands. He could clearly feel how tense she was.
"Relax a little. Otherwise it won't wash clean."
"Kirlia…"
"Is it really that comfortable?"
It was just a bath.
Gu Qiu genuinely didn't understand why she reacted so strongly.
Kirlia mischievously splashed water at him again, soaking his clothes.
"Oh? You dare ambush your master?"
"Let's see how you handle tickling!"
"Kirlia, kirlia!" (It's itchy! I surrender! I won't do it again!)
The playful chaos lasted half an hour before Gu Qiu finally shooed her out.
Because he needed to shower too.
After a full day of battling, a hot shower before bed felt incredible.
Kirlia returned to her room to wait—
But once Gu Qiu finished and lay down in the real world, she immediately came out as well, climbed into his bed, and snuggled against him.
The next morning.
Gu Qiu woke up to find Kirlia wrapped around him like an octopus.
"…Kirlia, time to wake up."
"Kirlia…" (I'm sleepy… let me sleep a bit more…)
Mostly, she just didn't want to leave the warmth.
After letting her cling for a while, he finally coaxed her up.
"Today is the second round of preliminaries. It'll be much harder."
Each division would narrow down to eight people.
Eight divisions → 64 finalists.
Rankings would be determined by performance weight.
Rank 1 vs 64, Rank 2 vs 63, and so on.
So better performance in preliminaries meant easier matchups later.
Gu Qiu didn't mind much.
He just wanted more training battles.
He browsed online information about competitors.
His own ranking had dropped from 6th favorite to 10th.
Then he spotted a familiar face.
Zhu Bing.
Ranked 11th — dark horse.
Very little background information.
Only notable record:
Former teammate during the Cerulean Gym event.
The "lucky girl" who drew into Gu Qiu's group and won an Upper-grade Water Stone.
Back then, people thought she was just lucky.
Now?
Her strength was terrifying.
She had only used one Pokémon so far:
Glaceon.
Every opponent—one move KO.
Regardless of type.
Reported level: 46.
"So her name is Zhu Bing."
Cynthia's Chinese name was Zhu Lan.
Seems she really is Cynthia's sister.
He read his own public profile.
It was absurdly detailed.
Even childhood events he barely remembered.
"Didn't know I was this outstanding as a kid."
He smirked.
Main content:
He owned six Pokémon.
Greninja – strongest, level 44 half a month ago, capable of fighting quasi-Champion level.Milotic – most beautiful Pokémon.Violent Goddess Kirlia.Ice Vulpix.Eevee.
All reasonable.
But then—
Pikachu.
Strength: Unknown.
Level: Unknown.
Never used in battle.
Likely the weakest Pokémon.
Team mascot.
"Group pet."
"…Group pet?"
Gu Qiu's expression twisted.
Pikachu.
Weakest?
Mascot???
That was the strongest one by far.
Stronger than Greninja by a huge margin.
Gu Qiu laughed.
"Looks like in the finals, you'll need to show your strength."
"You've been labeled my weakest Pokémon."
"Pika." (Doesn't matter. Let my foolish little brother enjoy the spotlight for now.)
Pikachu didn't care about reputation.
But Gu Qiu did.
Now that he had enough self-protection ability—
There was no need to keep hiding Pikachu's power.
[Ding!]
Mission triggered:
Let Pikachu's brilliance bloom.
In the city qualifying finals, have Pikachu fight three beautiful battles.
Reward will scale based on Pikachu's performance.
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed.
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