At the entrance of Rustboro Academy, a stretched black luxury car pulled up in front of the academy’s main gate.
Director Yuvsk, who had been waiting at the entrance, hurried forward to welcome them.
He helped open the car door, carefully shielding the top with his hand, terrified of bumping the person coming out of the car.
“Mr.
Stone, you are too kind.”
“Not at all, Mr.
Stone.
We are honored by your visit to our academy, and I apologize for troubling you to come here in person.”
Director Yuvsk, who had just shown a sour face to Roy, was now smiling so hard the wrinkles on his face bunched up, showing none of the indifference he had displayed toward Roy a moment ago.
Mr.
Stone, the current president of Devon Corporation and one of the sponsors of Rustboro Academy, was the academy’s true financial backer.
Many Pokémon belonging to commoner students at the academy who didn’t have their own were sponsored by Devon Corporation, though most were Pokémon like Geodude, Sandshrew, or Diglett.
But even this made many commoner Trainers grateful; after all, going to the mining areas to catch these Pokémon would cost them half their lives.
Therefore, Devon Corporation’s charitable acts were deeply popular throughout Rustboro City.
But whether it was a charitable act or a way to win hearts, who could say for sure?
Regardless, those students who received Pokémon knew their first Pokémon had been donated by Devon Corporation.
Following Mr.
Stone out of the car was a young man wearing a custom suit.
He had a handsome face and an air of nobility, yet he showed not the slightest interest in the Rustboro Academy before him.
“This is my son, Steven Stone.
Like me, he loves Stones.”
“So this is the eldest son of Devon Corporation.
I have long heard that Young Master Steven has extraordinary talent as a Trainer, and his future achievements will surely be remarkable!”
Mr.
Stone looked very pleased to hear the praise for his son, while Steven just nodded politely in response.
It could only be said that the flattery had missed the mark.
Led by Director Yuvsk, the group entered the campus.
The first thing they encountered was the academy’s central standard building: the battle arena.
“This is the battle arena newly built by the academy the year before last, used for student battles and training.
It is thanks to your investment that we were able to build a battle arena of this scale.”
Steven, walking beside them, felt it was incredibly boring, especially the Director Yuvsk who was flattering his father; he felt it would be better to go look at rocks.
Just as Director Yuvsk was introducing it, a large crowd of people suddenly surged outside the battle arena.
Since Mr.
Stone had requested a low-profile visit, he hadn’t notified anyone that he was coming today?
What was going on?
Could it be organized spontaneously by the students?
To Director Yuvsk’s surprise, this group of students didn’t even look at him, directly flooding into the battle arena.
Some were even muttering words like “Ghost-type”.
Confused, Director Yuvsk stopped a student who was about to enter the battle arena and, after asking, learned that there was an unusual battle taking place in the arena today.
It turned out that earlier that morning, the battle between Roy and Roxanne had aroused the curiosity of many people thanks to Little Fatty’s publicity.
Some had never seen the Ghost-type Pokémon from urban legends.
So, upon hearing that there was a battle involving a Ghost-type Pokémon in the arena, they all flocked there.
The number of people wanting to watch the battle was rising rapidly.
Tsk…
He should have known why his grand-nephew came to find him in the morning.
If he had known, he wouldn’t have said that extra bit.
Roxanne, who had arranged the battle with Roy, also entered the battle arena surrounded by a group of people.
“That girl is the most talented lower-grade student in our academy, her name is Roxanne.”
Director Yuvsk explained, feeling somewhat awkward.
“Then let’s go take a look.”
Hearing about a battle, Steven finally gained a little interest.
Although it wasn’t as interesting as Stones, it was better than chatting with this bald fatty.
The four of them walked into the battle arena.
Director Yuvsk hurriedly asked the teacher in charge of the arena to help arrange two good seats.
However, Mr.
Stone politely declined, instead taking Steven to sit in the most inconspicuous spot in the spectator stands.
Director Yuvsk sat nearby to accompany them.
On the field,
Roy stood at the command podium.
Looking at the crowd continuously pouring into the spectator stands, he naturally hoped for as many spectators as possible, so that his popularity could increase faster.
Accompanied by the referee’s whistle,
“Go, Onix!”
Roxanne was the first to throw out her Poké Ball.
With a flash of red light, an Onix, about 3 meters long, with a body composed of multiple huge gray rocks, a long rock horn on its head, a pair of black eyes below, and a figure formed by connected giant rocks like a giant snake, appeared in the battle arena.
“Roar!!!”
As soon as it appeared, the Onix let out a heaven-shaking roar to declare its absolute power.
“Go Big Sister!
Flatten him!”
Off the field, Roxanne’s lackeys cheered excitedly after seeing the Onix appear!
Steven, in the spectator stands, felt calm on the surface but excited inside; he was also very fond of Steel-type and Rock-type Pokémon.
System Scan
Pokémon: Onix
Level: 27
Gender: Male
Ability: Sturdy (Even if hit by an opponent’s move, it will not be knocked down in one hit.
One-hit KO moves are also ineffective.)
Moves: Bind, Tackle, Harden, Rock Throw, Rock Tomb, Rage, Stealth Rock, Smack Down, Slam, Gyro Ball
Held Item: None
Egg Moves: Rock Climb, Rollout
Individual Values: 18
TM/Move Tutor: Facade
A level 27 Onix?
Roy looked disdainfully at the noise on the field.
What era was this?
Still believing that size was king?
“Litwick, go play with it.
Use Haze, then use Minimize!”
Receiving Roy’s command,
Litwick jumped off Roy’s shoulder and hopped into the battle arena.
The arena went silent instantly.
Weren’t Ghost-type Pokémon supposed to be terrifying?
Why did Roy’s little candle look so cute?
Is this really a Ghost-type Pokémon?
People in the spectator stands saw the little candle Roy released and all expressed that they were charmed by it.
Some of the timid ones opened their eyes to look at the little candle on the field.
“Wow!
What a cute Pokémon, what is it called?
I really want to hug it!”
“Exactly, Ghost-type Pokémon don’t seem that scary.”
Litwick’s appearance instantly attracted the gazes of a group of girls in the spectator stands; in their eyes, cuteness was everything.
“Cuteness is useless!
Can it beat Big Sister’s Onix?
Big Sister doesn’t even need to do anything for this little guy; my Roggenrola could take it out with one punch.”
Seeing the girls who originally supported Roxanne turn against her because of a candle, Little Fatty looked at Litwick on the field with disdain.
Let’s see if it’s still cute when Onix flicks its tail and sends this candle flying.
Even Roxanne herself couldn’t help but be stunned for two seconds by the cute little candle in front of her.
Only Roy stood at the command podium with a slight curve to his lips.
He wanted to laugh just thinking about what he was going to do next.
Cute?
No, no, no.
Once you actually encounter it, you won’t think it’s just cute.