Pokémon: Starting as a Farmer Instead of a Trainer

Chapter 316 The Bright Stone Exhibition: Team Rocket is back! (Seeking monthly votes)

The night the Round of 16 ended, inside the hotel.

"Shark~"

Garchomp and the others surrounded Lucario, all very curious about the power it used to defeat the Z-Move, since they had all been offline due to the controller's effect last time and hadn't seen it.

Meloetta was also gathered around, which made Lucario, who was receiving a lot of attention, a little embarrassed. Up until now, it was still just a child who wanted to become an adult but was not very mature yet.

"Shark~"

Garchomp was quite envious.

It suddenly realized that its companions seemed to have surpassed it one by one. Even though it was only the fourth Pokémon of Naruto, the only ones ahead of it were Ponpo, Fatso, and Urshifu.

It wasn't jealous, nor did it feel it wasn't working hard enough. Of course, it would be happy if its companions could become more capable, but it didn't want to always lag behind until it became completely useless.

It's unclear whether it will get a chance to play in the upcoming matches. Lucario was quite excited about its opponent's strength today, but it wasn't confident it could defeat them. The next opponent is even stronger, and even Snivy can only watch from the sidelines...

At this moment, Mingyou and Pengpeng came out of the network world and checked on N's condition. The other party's injuries were recovering well, but he had not yet woken up.

"Hopefully I'll wake up before the youth tournament ends this weekend..."

He shook his head slightly, then looked up at Xiao Zhao, who was studying the Z bracelet and Z crystal on the sofa not far away. He didn't hide anything about Mei Yue giving him these things and explained it simply.

But even after coming out now, he couldn't avoid being glanced at by Xiao Zhao, who deliberately teased him with her voice.

"A girl gave me a Z-Bracelet... I remember the Maxim Band was also a gift from another girl. It's so nice to be liked by cute girls~ Hmm... I think only the Taikijutsu was a gift from him, right?"

Mingyou's lips twitched, and she stepped forward to reply, "Don't talk to me like that, okay? I really feel like you're going to..."

"Fine, that's a really annoying way to talk. And stop being so subservient, it makes it seem like I'm bullying you, and it makes me feel inexplicably guilty..."

Xiao Zhao glanced at him with a hint of complaint. She wasn't the kind of person with a strong personality; she just liked taking care of people. She might be strict at times, but most of the time she was tolerant and wouldn't deliberately blame them.

She then returned the Z-bracelet and three Z-crystals to Mingyou, and then asked curiously, "Why did you tell me now when you could have kept it as a trump card and given me another surprise later?"

"It won't be a surprise then..."

Mingyou knows Xiaozhao too well. Although she always acts as if nothing is wrong and is considerate of you, saying that she doesn't care, she actually remembers it all the time. She's just waiting for the day when you really make a mistake and make her angry, so that she can explode all at once.

As for Xiao Zhao's purity as a trainer and a super-pure green man, he doesn't think he can stop the other party if they get angry. He will always be the one being pinned down, including in bed... meaning being pinned down on the bed by the other party with one hand and having no power to resist.

"Cough cough..."

Xiao Zhao gave an awkward but polite smile, coughed twice, and changed the subject, asking, "By the way, has Xiao You contacted you? The last match is between the two of you the day after tomorrow."

"No, she's just participating in the competition to avoid the limelight, but I feel..."

Mingyou was just about to ask if she should consider calling over the Pokémon from the manor to participate in the competition.

After all, Xiaoyou is not Meiyue. She is a proper student of Master Ma from Armor Island and the junior sister of Dan Emperor. That martial arts bear master is not easy to deal with.

But before he could finish speaking, Ponpo, holding her phone, suddenly ran towards them with a smile, as if something had made Ponpo very happy...

"Nair~"

During the video call on Rotom's phone, Kirlia was waving and greeting them, but Latias and the others rushed out to steal the spotlight, causing a commotion.

"Haha, the manor is as lively as ever... Wait a minute, it's nighttime in the Unova region, but it should be early morning in Kitakami Township, right?"

"Nai..."

"You guys stayed up all night? Where's the turnip?!"

"Don't rush, I'm grilling."

Because of the screen, the Crowned King's telepathic communication was not possible; it could only communicate by holding a writing tablet to show its response.

"..."

Mingyou clenched her fists. Xiaozhao wasn't as strict as the other person in this regard. Maybe she stayed up all night watching the live broadcast of the game? So there was no need to be so rigid.

Then she waved to the Crown King, showing that she was quite interested in turnips.

Unfortunately, Calyrex was too timid to show its face, so they didn't get to see her. However, it took out its writing board again, on which it wrote their request to come to the Unova region to watch the game.

"Are you coming?"

"Nair!"

Kirullian nodded. Iron Warrior could now take charge of the manor's affairs. He was exceptionally good at management; Turnip always dumped his work on Iron Warrior.

The innocent little guy had just finished speaking when the flustered Rachel King pulled him away. But Mingyou's fist was completely clenched. No wonder the manor was so busy. How could Turnip still have the mind to ask Latias to find Lillie and the Ether Foundation to make connections and attract investment? It seems that all the manor's affairs have been left to Iron Warriors.

"There's nothing I can do to help you with that..."

Xiao Zhao originally wanted to say a good word for Lei Guan Wang, but now it seems unnecessary. She even somewhat supports Ming You taking the more serious approach.

Fortunately, Calyrex knew the situation was hopeless. After releasing Kirlia, it completely disappeared from the camera's view. Naruto sighed helplessly, then returned to the previous topic, smiling as he said, "Come back tomorrow. There are many new companions you can meet. You should all get some rest. There's a time difference between the Unova region and Kitakami Village, otherwise it will easily affect your performance."

"Nair~"

Everyone is really looking forward to it!

After ending the video call, Mingyou looked forward to tomorrow and said to Pengpeng and the others, "Get some rest early tonight, let's go out and play in the streets together tomorrow."

"Mmm~"

Silent all night.

The next day.

Due to the holiday break today, Kagome Town has set up many amusement facilities and cultural promotion activities to cater to tourists who have come from afar, including an exhibition at the Komaki Stone Museum.

Museums aren't usually places that people like to visit. Compared to historical artifacts, Pokémon battles are more appealing to them.

However, since Orchid was invited by Adek and it was revealed that Cattleya deliberately came to the museum, it still attracted many tourists who wanted to take photos with her. Fortunately, the police next door were responsible for maintaining order, so the scene was not too chaotic.

At this moment, Mingyou and Xiaozhao, along with Ponpo, quietly lined up behind them. Because they were worried that the exhibits might be accidentally damaged due to overcrowding, there were some restrictions on the number of people allowed inside the museum.

Others had been invited as well, but Danyu said she was going to take Wuli to buy new clothes at the mall, Xiaozhi was still preparing for tomorrow's competition with his teammates training with him, and Sally couldn't come because she had been blacklisted by the museum after what happened last time...

Xiao Zhao observed the tourists around her and sighed softly, "Miss Zhu Lan is really popular. All the tourists around her are talking about her. On the contrary, no one is talking about that Adek at all. There is a difference between the champions."

"That's how Adiwang is..."

"How come no one recognized us? We were in the quarterfinals of the youth cup, after all. I was even thinking of wearing a mask when I went out."

"That's a bit of wishful thinking on my part."

"You talk too much..."

Xiao Zhao frowned slightly, feigning anger, and glared at Ming You, who was deliberately chuckling, before asking, "When are Kirlia and the others coming?"

"At noon, we'll just go to the Pokémon Center and wait for them to teleport over."

As she spoke, Mingyou glanced around, intending to see how long the queue would last, but then she seemed to catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye.

Not far away, in another queue to enter the museum, there was a man and a woman who seemed to be with a child. Despite the hot weather, they were all dressed in black, but their sideburns under their hats showed one was blue and the other was red.

"I was wondering why Ash and Pikachu were here, but I hadn't seen them. They were definitely following me... Haha, my old employees."

"Huh? What did you say?"

Xiao Zhao looked at him with a puzzled expression, and Mingyou replied softly, "It's nothing, I just saw a few familiar faces that I haven't seen in a long time. Why don't you stand here for a while, I'll go say hello to them and come right back."

"Then you go ahead, I'll save you a seat."

"Hmm~"

Mingyou nodded slightly, then left the group and walked towards the three people. At the same time, she noticed that there seemed to be no sign of Guo Guoweng here.

The three people in line also felt an unusual gaze and turned to look at each other. When they saw Mingyou with a kind smile, they all visibly trembled slightly.

"Oh ho ho~ It's been a long time. I didn't expect to run into you guys here."

"..."

The Rockets trio fell silent for a moment, not expecting to meet each other here. "We're here on a mission, what are you up to now!"

This mission was quite important, and they didn't want any complications, so the task of communicating was given to Kojiro. However, he noticed that the atmosphere among the group wasn't as lively as before, and he also noticed something was wrong.

Just before Kojiro was about to speak up and try to trick him into leaving, Naruto suddenly lowered his voice and said with a smile, "Is my top ten employee going back to work? No problem, you're welcome anytime!"

"Who would still sell your fruit? The past is the past, and the present is the present. You no longer have any leverage to threaten us."

Hearing this, Mingyou nodded slightly: "I understand. Since you're not cooperating properly, then you prison staff... you don't want Ms. Cynthia in the museum to find out that you're members of Team Rocket, do you?"

"..."

The Rockets trio fell silent again. Why did those threatening words sound so familiar?

……

(End of this chapter)