Pokémon, but cultural invasion.

...

Hua Lan Dojo, top floor.

Xiaoxia looked at the figures swimming in the water below and the dense crowd in the stands, and couldn't help but sigh.

She had already received a reply a few days ago when she asked her older sister, Sakura, to let her participate in the water performance, but she was refused!

"Your swimming style is terrible, and you're not pretty enough either. You won't improve the situation at all."

Sakura's reason for refusing made Xia very angry.

Her intentions were clearly for the benefit of everyone, yet she ended up being personally attacked.

In recent years, water ballet has attracted fewer and fewer audiences.

The three older sisters believed there was nothing wrong with their performance; it was simply that the people of the Kanto region were experiencing aesthetic fatigue.

After some discussion, they made the outrageous decision to travel the world and perform in various places.

Do they even know that Cerulean City, as a coastal city, is entirely supported by tourism?

Unlike Dark Grey City, which is rich in minerals, or Vermilion City, which is located at an important crossroads of international shipping.

Without the three sisters' performance, the number of tourists to Cerulean City would plummet.

The city's development might even regress, and Xiaoxia, as the dojo owner, doesn't want that to happen.

So she offered to participate in the performance, and upgrading the name of the three Hua Lan beauties to four sisters might be more eye-catching.

The result, naturally, was rejection.

Xiaoxia wanted to question it, but her three older sisters retorted that "you are not a professional in acting."

"Since you're good at battling, you just need to focus on doing a good job with the gym battles."

"If you think you're more professional than the three of us, then let's have a competition and see who can attract more viewers."

"If you don't have that confidence, then don't question our judgment."

Sisters who know how to talk to each other are more likely to inflict real damage.

Xiaoxia certainly lacked confidence in defeating her three older sisters, but those words were just too harsh.

She got angrier and angrier the more she thought about it.

"It's just a ballet performance, I could do that too," Xiaoxia muttered to herself, leaning against the railing on the top floor.

Do you want to make a name for yourself and impress your three older sisters?

"How could I not want to be insulted by them repeatedly?"

Xiaoxia answered instinctively, then immediately realized, "Wait, who's speaking?"

The open design of the top floor makes it impossible to pinpoint the source of the sound.

"Who I am is not important. Just think of me as the old man in the protagonist's ring from a street storybook."

"I've never heard of that kind of storybook."

"..."

Quanshu stepped out from behind a promotional banner and said, "I'm a game developer who works out of passion."

Xiaoxia looked wary and asked, "What do you want from me? And what did you mean by what you just said?"

"I'd like to collaborate with your Cerulean Dojo. This is a stage play script I've carefully prepared; you'll understand once you read it."

Izumi took out the abbreviated version of the fairy tale that he had just written down with paper and pen he bought at the entrance of the dojo.

"script?"

Xiaoxia paused for a moment, then asked with a hint of doubt, "You know that Cerulean Dojo is considering improving its performance?"

Of course I know, because that's what it says in the friends panel.

Quanshu glanced at the newly appeared friends list; naturally, he couldn't say that.

He spread his hands: "I don't know, it's just a coincidence. Anyway, you'll understand when you see it."

Xiaoxia was skeptical, but when she took the script and opened the first page, a few lines immediately caught her eye.

A moment later, Xiaoxia was completely immersed in the world depicted in the thin script.

Quanshu waited patiently for about three minutes.

"This is just like me."

Xiaoxia's eyes reddened, and she said sadly, "My eldest sister, Sakura, is a vicious stepmother, and Acorus and Peony are my adoptive sisters who torment me."

"Oh my god, I'm just like Cinderella!"

It was undoubtedly a script tailor-made for her; everything fit perfectly.

"and many more!"

Quanshu interrupted her, "Sister Xia, can we stop trying to make ourselves look good?"

"I picked up the wrong script, this is the one."

Quanshu then handed her a small booklet.

Xia looked down and saw four large characters written on the cover of the booklet.

The Little Mermaid

Chapter 33 Don't underestimate a young girl's poverty

Far out at sea, the water is so blue, like the most beautiful cornflower petals, and so clear, like the brightest glass.

The king who lived in the sea had six daughters, the youngest and most beautiful of whom was a mermaid princess. She loved listening to stories about the human world on land.

Xiaoxia turned to the next page without blinking. The script was similar to the theme of her sisters' performance today; both were about the Little Mermaid.

After all, the way performers dance gracefully in the water easily reminds the audience of mermaids or siren-like creatures.

As Xiaoxia continued reading, she discovered that the story in the booklet was completely different from what she had imagined.

The Little Mermaid traded her voice to the sea witch in order to reach the land, but ultimately failed to win the prince's favor and turned into sea foam before dawn.

From the perspective of underwater ballet performance, this script is too narrative, and it would be too difficult to express the story simply through choreography.

She certainly couldn't complete such a difficult choreography on her own, but her three older sisters might be able to.

But Xiaoxia had absolutely no intention of asking them for help.

She was determined to prove herself, even if it meant sacrificing her dignity. Within seconds of seeing the script, she made up her mind to make her three older sisters, who constantly humiliated her, look at her with new eyes.

"If you think you're more professional than the three of us, then let's have a competition and see who can attract more viewers."

After being rejected, these words kept echoing in Xiaoxia's mind.

She was so angry at those words that she almost agreed several times, but then she felt that it would be humiliating.

The three sisters were convinced that she couldn't attract more viewers, so they casually put on airs in front of her younger sister.

"What if I actually do it?"

Xiaoxia secretly thought that her three older sisters' expressions at that time would definitely be quite interesting.

Recalling how many times she had been verbally mocked and called an ugly duckling since childhood, she felt a surge of anger and became even more determined to accept the challenge.

Slap them in the face hard, crush the three of them under your feet.

The thought of the cathartic scene of killing her three older sisters made Xiaoxia unconsciously curl up her lips into a twisted smile.

"What are you laughing at?" Quanshu asked, puzzled.

So, would people in the Pokémon world laugh out loud at the misunderstanding of the Little Mermaid turning into sea foam because of unrequited love?

He couldn't help but wonder if people from the two worlds also had different aesthetic preferences when it came to stories.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something happy."

Xiaoxia composed herself and coughed twice before saying, "Could we revise this script? Although it's a good story, an overly complex story isn't really suitable for underwater ballet performances."

She remembered that Sister Changpu had once tried to incorporate the classic hero-saves-the-damsel storyline into aquatic ballet.

Unfortunately, the response was lukewarm. Perhaps people were tired of it, or perhaps they valued the artistic aspects more, and in the end, it fizzled out.

Hua Lan's underwater performance style has since leaned towards light storytelling and prefers to use background music to create atmosphere.

"Is it possible that this wasn't a ballet performance at all, but a stage play? At worst, the performance would just be underwater."

Just over ten minutes ago, Izumi was watching the performance. The actors from the Clarion Dojo could do handstands and splits in the water. Wouldn't it be easy for them to put on a stage play underwater?

"Stage play?"

After a brief moment of surprise, Xiaoxia's mind suddenly cleared.

She had to admit that the path of water ballet had been pushed to its limit by her three older sisters, and it would be difficult to defeat them without finding a new way.

Modifying the script and reducing the storytelling might backfire.

"But stage plays require changing the setting, right? The Cerulean Gym doesn't have those large-scale installations, and they have very few song copyrights. I don't even know if the Pokémon in the gym can adapt..."

Xiaoxia muttered to herself about the various problems that came with switching performance styles.

"These are things that can be resolved gradually later. Right now, the most important thing is to talk about the cooperation model."

As he spoke, Quanshu rubbed his thumb and forefinger together.

Although she had never seen this action before, Xiaoxia could sense its meaning.

"So you wanted money?"

"Otherwise what?" Izumi asked back.

Does this guy really think he's some free old man who came out of the ring to help out?

Xiaoxia shook her head and sighed, "What I mean is... you're so young, you should have more ideals, instead of working for those big companies."

In her eyes, making money is something that only middle-aged people who have lost their dreams do, like the evergreen patron Sakaki.

"Forget it, how much do you plan to sell this script for?"

Xiaoxia recalled her bank account balance. Having been the head of the dojo for many years, she naturally had her own little savings.

“I don’t plan to sell the copyright to the script. I will grant the performance rights to the Cerulean Gym story and take a portion of the ticket revenue as compensation.”

With tickets priced at 150 each, heaven knows how much money the three Hua Lan sisters have actually made off the teenagers of Kanto.

Quanshu prefers a long-term, stable flow of water to a one-time transaction.

"As for the specific percentage, it depends on how popular 'The Little Mermaid' is. We'll discuss it after it achieves its success."

He worried that if he took too much of a cut, the Cerulean Dojo wouldn't agree; if he took too little, Izumi wouldn't be satisfied.

However, whether he earns a lot or a little won't affect Quanshu's plans; he sees this stage play as practice before filming the movie.

Whether successful or not, it's a valuable experience to accumulate.

With Hua Lan Dojo providing free manpower, resources, and facilities, it's the perfect place to practice.

"Taking a cut from ticket sales... fine, I have no objection."

Xiaoxia thought this plan was good, as it would allow the other party to do their best to attract viewers, and the goals of both parties were at least aligned.

"In addition, I own the online broadcasting rights for the stage play."

Hua Lan Dojo has never paid much attention to the internet; its main customers for water performances are offline clients, so Xia readily agreed.

"Don't rush to leave after the performance. The performance at Cerulean Dojo isn't something I can decide on my own."

Quanshu understood what she meant; cooperation still required the consent of the three sisters.

He also wanted to meet his future partner.

...

With a practice session in sight, Quan Shu returned to the audience feeling refreshed.

The brown-haired boy with the camera observed him, becoming even more certain of his thoughts.

"Hey bro, wanna watch a movie?"

He patted the camera in his hand.