Pokémon: Trainers Returning from Monster Hunter

By the time Grand arrived with Daigo, Oreki's "treatment" had already ended.

The office was spotless, just as it had been when Grand left.

If I absolutely have to say something...

There was a dignified young woman lying on the sofa.

Beside the girl, a Ralts was crouching.

At this moment, a wisp of flame was rising from its fist, as if it were practicing a horse stance or warming the girl.

"Um... what's going on now?"

After processing the current scene, Grand asked uncertainly.

"As you can see, Director, I actually knew Gadriya a long time ago, otherwise she wouldn't have come to find me right after registering. We were just fooling around just now."

Oreki then uttered the words he had prepared.

"Oh, I see. And what about Cattleya?"

Grand wiped away non-existent sweat from his forehead and continued to ask.

"She used too many superpowers this morning to say she wanted to sleep here for a while, so I asked Ralts to keep her warm, so she wouldn't smell... ah, I mean, catch a cold."

"If the director doesn't believe me, he can look at this."

As he spoke, Oreki stood up and showed his phone to Gorō.

Daigo, standing to the side, politely pointed to himself. After receiving Oreki's permission, he was about to look down to see what was going on.

As a result, after Grange glanced at the phone, he immediately pushed it back.

"Of course I trust you. You're a scholar personally invited by Dr. Solans. I have some things to take care of, so I'll be going now."

Grand came and went in a hurry, leaving Daigo completely confused.

What does that mean?

He shouted "It's a matter of life and death" and asked me for help, but then he ran away without doing anything?

What exactly is on Oreki-sensei's phone?

The unknown is always tempting, but as a student, Daigo was too embarrassed to ask directly.

Not to mention Daigo, even Oreki was surprised.

Director, do you also have the "escape" trait?

All I did was share Gadalia's sleeping face with Zhulan, and use this as a way to prove that Gadalia and I do know each other and have a mutual friend like Zhulan.

Is it really necessary to be so nervous?

Oreki couldn't figure it out, so he simply ignored it and demonstrated the same action to the inquisitive Daigo.

Daigo is, after all, the future champion, and he didn't discuss anything shameful with Rin, so he probably won't be nervous and run away anymore.

The moment the thought crossed my mind, I saw Daigo's face stiffen, and his expression began to look unnatural.

"Oops! I suddenly remembered I forgot to wax Skarmory's wings today, so I'll be going now, Oreki-sensei!"

"Huh? No..."

Oreki reached out to grab Daigo, but saw the other frantically gesturing with his fingers to something.

"What's wrong with your phone?"

Oreki flipped the phone over.

"Holy crap, Daigo! This is all the work of your Devon Corporation!"

Oreki was so angry that he swore.

at the same time.

"Hahaha!"

A hearty laugh came from the phone.

"When did the call connect?"

Oreki asked irritably.

"Was it around the time you handed your phone to your director?"

Zhu Lan rested her chin on her hand, thought for a moment, and replied.

"So why doesn't video calling even have a 'connect' button?"

"Huh? I remember that feature was updated last year, right?"

Zhu Lan suddenly realized, "So you clicked into my chat window just now, and I happened to make a video call, that's why this happened?"

Oreki stood there awkwardly for a while before saying, "Okay, it was a misunderstanding, I just don't have the habit of updating the software..."

"Don't be afraid. Not only did you misunderstand Dewen, you also knocked out the young lady of the Sinnoh family."

Zhu Lan squinted, looking rather gloating.

Oreki Yoshino declared righteously, "I did this to help her control her superpowers!"

He didn't tell Zhu Lan about the "beating up" part, only that he would treat her through deep sleep.

"Is this how you control people?"

"From the perspective of Pokémon breeding, I think it's possible."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Lan pondered for a moment, then smiled even more broadly.

"Okay, let's make a bet. If you help her fully control her superpowers, I'll grant you one request; if you can't, you grant me one request, whichever is within your power."

Oh? Now that you say that, I'm really excited.

Putting everything else aside, Oreki is actually quite confident about this matter.

Especially after the treatment just now...

After carefully reviewing the entire process, Oreki discovered that Cattleya's super-energy ray at the end must have been intentionally controlled.

Therefore, this proves that she is capable of controlling her superpowers when she is out of control; it's just that no one or nothing has ever pushed her to the brink.

Following this path, there's no need to adopt the conservative approach initially mentioned on "Pikachu"—"make her stronger so she loses fewer matches and thus gains control over her superpowers."

"No problem, I definitely won't lose."

Wow! Didn't Ash say that too?

Zhemu seemed lost in thought.

"Alright, it's a deal then. I'm going out to capture a group of Pokémon hunters right away, so you'd better take good care of Cattleya."

"Okay, be careful."

"Don't worry, with Garchomp around, the ones who should be wary are the poachers."

"That's true."

After hanging up the video call, Oreki immediately updated the software, then took a deep breath and looked out the window.

Pokémon hunter...where is J making his fortune now?

I wonder if Zhu Lan has ever met her. Their battle must have been quite interesting.

"Ralu!"

suddenly

Ralts's crisp cry interrupted Oreki's thoughts.

I turned around and looked.

Ralts clenched her fists and assumed a fighting stance.

On the sofa opposite it, Cattleya was glaring angrily at her, her superpowers, which had been restored somewhat, were waiting for another opportunity to strike.

Seeing this, Oreki was not nervous at all; on the contrary, he was amazed.

"Oh, so the Super Queen is able to control herself a little now?"

"If you keep teasing me, I'll... um? You can control yourself now?"

Cattleya looked down at her slender hands in disbelief.

Normally, if I were this angry, my superpowers would definitely go out of control.

She was well aware of this.

But for now, it's just a tentative move, still under her control.

This is partly due to the excessive depletion of his superpowers, which have only been partially restored so far.

But she knew better than anyone else how much control she had over herself.

Actually.

She wasn't lying about the point that "she usually only loses control after losing a match."

This is just a brief summary.

Because in most cases, no one can make her angry—except for Zhu Lan.

So she usually only gets angry when she loses a battle, which causes her superpowers to go out of control.

In other words, did he become more self-controlled after being severely beaten?

Cattleya's little face immediately scrunched up like a bitter gourd.

She felt two flower buds whispering in her ear.

The red one said: Don't listen to his nonsense, he's definitely trying to fool you and use you as a punching bag, run away quickly!

The white one said: Facts speak louder than words, you have indeed become stronger! Besides, you're already here, are you willing to give it a try?

The red one then said: "If you keep doing this, you'll get beaten up eventually. You might as well focus on training your Pokémon and just make sure you don't lose the competition."

The white one retorted: I will never tolerate cowardice! Running away is shameful. Think about how much control you had when someone beat you up, and then think about what Orchid would do!

The stalemate lasted for quite some time.

a moment.

Both flower buds disappeared at the same time.

As if she had made up her mind, Cattleya lowered her head, stretched out her hand, and shouted loudly.

"Oreki-sensei, please beat me up again!"

……