Chapter 362: Sakura Country Trainers with Malicious Intent
T0—Serperior (???)
After coming out of the preliminaries, while telling stories to Mew, Hikaru had asked Mew to deliver energy cubes to Serperior.
Firstly, talent-enhancing energy cubes, secondly, special attack energy cubes, and now, stamina energy cubes were added.
As his future Pokémon.
How could Hikaru possibly mistreat it?
According to Mew, Serperior was a bit wary at first, but gradually gave up resisting.
It lost its defenses against Hikaru's food strategy.
As a free and proud Serperior, how could it not know that these were gifts from the human who had saved it?
But there was no helping it; he gave too much...
So much that Serperior simply couldn't refuse.
"Perfect!"
After making these records, Hikaru fed his Pokémon for a while, then came out, preparing to conserve energy and meet tomorrow's main tournament!
But the moment he came out,
His phone rang.
The sender of this message made Hikaru's pupils shrink subconsciously, his expression turning grave.
[Randa]: Little brother's fame is truly reaching its zenith.
[Hikaru]: Cut the crap, what is it!?
[Randa]: Don't be so aggressive. The item you asked me to find, I have some leads on it. I just didn't expect that what little brother is looking for would have such a story behind it...
This sentence made Hikaru frown.
Was this guy bluffing him, or did he really know the function of the Plate?
But he quickly reacted.
This was a bluff.
If he knew the function of the Plate, with its heaven-defying power, would he still be looking to trade Charizard's blood for it?
[Hikaru]: What's so special about a secret treasure that's very efficient for Pokémon's energy circulation?
[Randa]: Little brother must be joking. This stone isn't that simple. It even has a Normal-type symbol carved on it...
[Hikaru]: Uh... right, it's a bit more effective for Normal-type Pokémon. You guys should have investigated me, right? You know I'm a Breeder and a Researcher, don't you?
[Randa]: So little brother found out. What does it matter?
[Hikaru]: I want to raise a Slaking. This kind of Pokémon is innately strong, but its ability is a big problem. So, you understand, right?
In some dark, underground place.
Randa toyed with the stone in his hand, looking at Hikaru's reply, lost in thought.
He was also a researcher.
After obtaining this stone, he immediately conducted various tests on it.
He finally discovered that if this stone was worn by a Normal-type Pokémon, it could greatly enhance the efficiency of energy circulation within the Normal-type Pokémon's body, its effect no weaker than a typical S+ rank secret treasure.
What Hikaru said didn't seem false.
A teenager, no matter how scheming, how far could he go?
Just an S-rank secret treasure in exchange for research material, it was well worth it.
[Randa]: Perhaps my subordinates made a mistake. When do you want to make the exchange?
Kyoto side.
Seeing this message from Randa, Hikaru's heart relaxed.
Clearly, the other party had let down their guard.
Then, next, he couldn't show that Arceus's Plate was very important to him.
The other party was a high-ranking executive of Team Rocket, and also a researcher.
Very cunning and calculating.
He naturally needed to be extremely careful.
[Hikaru]: Let's wait a while, I'm busy right now.
[Randa]: Specifically when?
[Hikaru]: No rush. We should at least wait until the Youth League is over, right?
[Randa]: Alright, I'll contact you then...
The chat ended there.
Hikaru didn't reply further.
Replying again would be impolite.
However, Team Rocket indeed lived up to its name; their efficiency was fast.
In just one or two months, they had helped him find a Plate.
The effect of the Plate...
One could only say it was truly immense.
It was worth mentioning that Lucario's talent had now risen from Champion to a Third-Tier Deity!
Bulbasaur's talent had also changed from Master to Elite Four level!
And this was just a fragmented Plate. If he collected enough to form a complete Normal Plate!
The effect would surely be even better!
...
December 15th.
The sky was still dimly lit, but the atmosphere throughout Kyoto was already buzzing.
The main tournament of the annual Youth League was to be held today!
Before heading out, Hikaru rarely bothered to fix his hair, but then Sakura pulled him out.
The procedure for the main tournament was no different from the High School League.
It was still Kyoto's largest arena.
Only, there was an additional commentator, a beautiful older sister in a qipao, who was the host from the Dazzling Dance Cup Pokémon Contest.
It seemed the organizers knew very well what the audience wanted to see.
As soon as he walked onto the display platform with the other contestants, following the familiar path.
Hikaru was taken aback by the enthusiastic crowd.
"Woo, Hikaru, Hikaru!"
"I love you, Lin Bao!"
"Lin Bao, go for it! Try to get into the top four!"
"You're so handsome, Hikaru! That Yamamoto Nika, that's how he should be beaten!"
"Hikaru, I also have a Charizard, can it breed with yours?"
...
Standing on the stage, Hikaru had originally mentally prepared himself for his popularity to be high.
But he truly hadn't expected it to be this high.
In the audience, almost half the spectators were chanting his name.
And most of it was some rather bold and suggestive words from female fans.
"Sob sob sob, my Lin Bao is so gentle, so good to his teammates, I want to be his wife..."
"The preliminaries were too easy for Lin Bao, right? Take me with you to the next Youth League, I can wear a swimsuit too!"
...
Words like these made the surrounding contestants turn their gazes towards him.
Wanting to know why Hikaru was so popular.
Of course, there were also some different kinds of gazes among them.
Under [Malicious Target],
Hikaru quickly noticed some contestants who harbored ill will towards him.
For example, the seeded team from North China University.
After they came out, they had immediately watched the live replay.
They knew who had angered that Onix, ultimately leaving them to clean up the mess.
Their malice was yellow. Only that Zhu Yuyu's malice was deeper, reaching dark yellow.
And as his identity became known, most contestants on the stage held varying degrees of shallow yellow malice towards him.
Hikaru quickly guessed the reason: because he had pocketed most of the secret treasures from the preliminaries...
However, this was all shallow-level malice.
Hikaru only felt a little sheepish looking at it.
After all, this time, he had indeed gone a bit too far.
However...
There were three contestants whose malice reached red and deep red.
A quick Aura check,
Hikaru soon identified them – trainers from Sakura Country!
It seemed the other side was also "united by a common hatred"!
At this moment, the commentator lady from above flew down on a dedicated hoverboard.
"Alright, we can see that all contestants are in position. Let us look forward to what kind of matches they will bring us?!"
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