Chapter 774 Christmas Eve Gathering Part 3
Previously, Lu Ye had worked as an instructor at the Trainer School affiliated with Yuhong University.
This ti, Professor Oak invited Lu Ye to take a position in Alola partly because of his deep tactical foundation and solid Pokémon knowledge.
Besides, this newly minted legend had just finished a world-shaking battle.
He truly needed a relaxed, easy job and Alola’s sunshine and beaches to recuperate.
That said.
"I’m still kind of a student, right… Is being principal appropriate…" Lu Ye scratched his head.
Whatever, it was Professor Oak’s invitation, and he did love Alola’s warm, island atmosphere.
If only there were no Ultra Beasts to handle, and no Earth Defense Squad fighting alien invaders…
Miare City, December 24, Christmas Eve, light snow.
The weather turned cold, with snowflakes drifting down.
Lu Ye had put on thicker clothes and was all the more eager to take a break and travel to Alola with ngngda.
The trip was tentatively scheduled for early January, right after the Lumiose Conference finished — Teacher Lu had accepted the invitation from the Miare City organizing committee to attend the semifinals and finals as a special guest.
When the champion made an appearance, it would undoubtedly send the crowd into a frenzy.
After all, following the Super Demon incident, this champion’s popularity in Miare City far surpassed the local champion Karine…
Outside the shop, the sky was a gray, overcast day. Lu Ye looked up at the sky and said:
"Haunter, there’s a gathering tonight, we can start getting ready."
"Gengarrr~(￣▽￣)／"
The plump Haunter waved, wearing an apron and carefully arranging the tableware.
Bamboo Lan wore an elegant black cashre sweater with cutouts at the collarbone and sleeves, revealing white skin.
She sat at the wooden table, cradling a mug with delicate hands. A laptop sat before her, steam dispersing from her coffee as she sipped:
"Whew… Fumiko and Caitlin will be visiting too."
"Do you really think Caitlin won’t blow up the café?" Lu Ye fretted.
"She won’t." Bamboo Lan chuckled, "I’ll keep an eye on her."
Lu Ye thought for a mont and said, "Ash and Clemont will co, Hoopa will be free today and will cross over from Genesis Valley… it’ll be pretty lively."
"What do you think about Professor Sycamore’s suggestion, that Ash and his Greninja might undergo Bond Evolution?" Bamboo Lan’s beautiful gray eyes looked toward Lu Ye through the rising steam.
"I actually like Greninja." Lu Ye pondered for a mont and said, "I hope Ash and Greninja get a good ranking."
"Why aren’t you entering the Lumiose Conference this year?" Bamboo Lan teased.
"The Kalos Baby Cup isn’t worth my effort." Lu Ye replied proudly.
There was a rustle at the shop door. The two looked over;
the cat flap at the threshold was pushed open and a snow-white Sylveon squeezed inside.
"Bu…" Sylveon tried hard, "Bu-bii! Whew…"
Sylveon shook her bows and ribbons, flicked off the snow, and looked at Lu Ye with sky-blue, innocent eyes.
"I know you went to the Prism Tower to grind against AI opponents."
Beats grinding gym leaders solo… Lu Ye said hoarsely, "Take a break, we’ll get dinner ready."
"Bu-bii~" Sylveon lightly wiggled her pink-and-white ears and flashed a cute little fang.
If Clemrobot were here, it would shout at the top of its voice:
Don’t be fooled by that appearance! It’s a demon, a pink demon!
When winter arrived, Arcanine beca a great help for temperature control, filling the room with warm sunlight.
Besides, Arcanine didn’t shed.
Togepi was curled up in Arcanine’s soft belly fur playing gas;
whenever tired, it rolled over and quickly fell asleep.
Arcanine lay on the floor, its wise eyes pondering the aning of life.
Should I use Holy Fire to burn the Rainbow Wing…
If I burn it, my trainer will have one more trump card…
Rainbow Wing: o(╥﹏╥)o
Blastoise retracted into its shell, rock-solid. Victini sat on top of the shell, happily eating a macaron.
"Pangii…(￣～￣)" Pupitar chewed the pink crystal, inspiration striking.
The energy for Precipice Blades has finished charging!
And I think… I’m even more skilled than last ti!
Darkrai floated in from the backyard shade and said coldly:
"Lu Ye, you still haven’t settled the paynt from the last incident…"
"I know, I’ll get Little Rotom to go full throttle right now."
Lu Ye turned, planning to use Rotom in Appliance form to process things, and paused as he looked at Darkrai.
"What are you staring at?" Darkrai wore a Santa hat, face all cool and aloof.
"Pfft… it… it suits you." Lu Ye suppressed a laugh, "Who gave it to you?"
"Delibird." Darkrai replied.
The Little Penguin unit had handed out lots of Santa hats, so Darkrai had stuffed one into its bag and brought them back to share with teammates, so everyone got one.
Teacher Lu hadn’t received one, because only Pokémon had them.
"Darn, I want one too." Lu Ye childishly went to look for the Delibird in the courtyard.
After a while, Lu Ye returned sheepishly.
"Delibird didn’t give you one?" Bamboo Lan raised her eyes from the laptop.
"Garchomp and Lucario were covering it, I didn’t dare ask." Lu Ye said.
Bamboo Lan smiled gently and continued scrolling through the on-screen material, her gray eyes focused.
"Research on Alola’s Overlord Aura" by Professor Kukui.
That paper argued ordinary Pokémon could also utilize overlord aura to enhance their strength;
the source might be related to the island gods’ Z-power…
The illustration showed an Alolan demi-god, a foto of the overlord Dracovish-like.
Bamboo Lan rested her hand on her chin, arms crossed as she stared at the Dracovish-like on the screen, deep in thought.
The Dracovish-like actually fits well with my team… too bad it can’t be a main fighter.
With the World Championships approaching… Bamboo Lan turned to Lu Ye, love and battlefire intertwining in her eyes.
To beat him, I must take this seriously too!
Lu Ye rubbed his chin, thinking about the feasibility of one-on-one fighting Garchomp.
The answer: try it if you want to die.
Right now Teacher Lu’s body strength equaled that of a typical gym leader-level Pokémon.
Bruno subdued a Giant Onix with his bare hands;
with the Sacred Ash enhancent, Teacher Lu could do it too.
As for Ash and Red… Ash’s physical strength was probably even tougher than Red’s.
Teacher Lu’s mind wandered:
"I wonder who’d be stronger in a sumo match, Bewear or Ash…"
…
As night fell, Lu Ye received a report from the Trio.
They’d received paid leave approved by Giovanni and planned to finish one last job before heading to Alola to "wash their hands of it."
Lu Ye: "One last job, aning…"
owth laughed: "Of course at the Lumiose Conference, gotta make a good haul, ow~"
Teacher Lu was very pleased. To implent the action plan he proposed the following:
"Don’t forget, the Triple Princess competitions are perfect for setting up stalls!"
In the chat group.
Red, Green, Ash, and The Girl were dining with Professor Oak in Pallet Town.
Aunt Lorelei and her friend Misty went shopping together;
Bruno was training deep in the mountains;
Koga snuck back to Fuchsia Gym to keep an eye on his daughter Janine.
Old Man Kukui still hadn’t forgiven Professor Oak… though his diary was full of Professor Samuel Oak’s pictures.
Flint and Aru went over to Lucian’s house to stir up so noise.
Lucian read quietly while tolerating the ruckus of the two shouting during their ga.
"Lucian, co play!" Flint shouted.
"Yeah, I stole this combo from Teacher Lu, it’s dirty and strong!" Aru called.
Lucian sighed. Is my rare break going to end like this…
Ash and company arrived at the café to join the gathering and snag dinner at Teacher Lu’s place.
The warm air greeted them as soon as they entered.
"Great, it’s Arcanine!" Bonnie, riding on Dedenne, ran straight into Arcanine.
"Awooo?" Arcanine lowered its head and looked at the little girl nestled in its chest fur.
"Hei hei~ so warm."
Dedenne’s face went pale;
it lifted its head and saw Arcanine bare its teeth in a smile.
"Awooo! ᕦ(･ㅂ･)ᕤ"
Intimidate activated.
Dedenne’s eyes spiraled, and it toppled off Bonnie’s head, caught by Serena.
"Alright, Bonnie, don’t trouble Teacher Lu." Clemont said.
Lu Ye prepared food at the open kitchen behind the bar: "No trouble… tell what you want to eat."
"Hoopa wants donuts!" Little Hoopa popped up from behind Ash and called out loudly.
"Whoa!" Ash was startled, "Where did you co from!"
Little Hoopa covered his mouth and giggled, "Hehe, scared?"
"You did… Did you finish your training in Genesis Valley, Hoopa?" Serena asked with a smile.
"Of course I did~" Little Hoopa floated about, "So I rushed over to eat good food… Lu Ye, I want donuts!"
"Since you called by the right na, I prepared so for you."
Lu Ye smiled and said, "By the way, Serena, there are bofurets made with Alcremie cream, they might inspire you, want to try?"
[Bofurets Making] was an important event in the Triple Princess competitions.
Serena nodded earnestly: "Please let taste them, thank you~"
Bamboo Lan glanced up and watched Lu Ye in silence.
"Ice cream, right? I’ll decide the flavor." Lu Ye said.
Bamboo Lan smiled faintly and nodded with satisfaction.
Before the main al ca so desserts. Bonnie and Serena sampled the bofurets, cheeks full of happy bubbles.
Ding-dong… wind chis sounded.
"Gengarrr~" Haunter floated to the door and peered up at the two figures in the snowy night.
Fumiko wore warm black stockings and a purple scarf, pushing up her round glasses, looking a bit nervous: "We’re late… terribly sorry…"
Caitlin was a head shorter than Fumiko but the white tall hat made up for it;
her long golden curls reached her ankles. She looked indifferent, as if half asleep, and said:
"Good evening… Haunter."
"Gengarrr!ヽ(￣▽￣)ﾉ" Haunter welcod them, "Please co in."
The two Elite Four mbers entered the café and the energy in the room clearly grew denser.
Caitlin felt uneasy and watched Teacher Lu with guard up.
But Bamboo Lan soothed her, and Caitlin lowered her head in mild dejection, glancing sideways at Lu Ye.
He really is an excellent trainer, and a battle legend.
I’ll grudgingly agree to this marriage then, hmm…
Fumiko took out her pocket notebook and, in reporter mode, asked:
"Teacher Lu, could you tell the story of Super Demon Hoopa again? I want to write it into a novel!"
"Uh…"
Given the champion’s deeds, it was valuable material.
Lu Ye: "First, you need to know which legendary Pokémon were present then, for that I have to open my diary…"
Teacher Lu glanced at his diary and slowly closed it.
"What’s wrong?" Fumiko asked curiously.
There was only one na written in the diary.
Lu Ye: "Nothing, I’ll tell you about the Flightless One… I an, the story of Primal Groudon."
Night deepened and snow fell in the courtyard.
Everyone was again amazed by Teacher Lu’s cooking.
As the gathering wound down, Sirfetch’d stood on a low stool washing plates, humming a tune:
"Ga~(๑¯∀¯๑)"
Happy Duck~ getting ready to go on vacation to Alola~
Greninja crossed his arms, standing silently and staring at Sirfetch’d with a cold face.
What a terrifying aura.
How much does my strength lag behind this senior… but…
Greninja narrowed his eyes.
I still want to give it a try.
I want to challenge the senior, to spar using Iaijutsu Strike!
"Kugga!" Greninja called to Ash.
"Greninja…"
Ash looked at his partner, a little stunned at first, then smiled: "I get it, that’s what you an!"
"Kugga!" Greninja bobbed his head hard, eyes burning like flas.
"Champion Bamboo Lan, Teacher Lu…"
Ash clenched his fist, eyes alight with fire: "Could we have a training match with and Greninja? Please!"
Challenging a strong opponent is the fastest way to master Bond Evolution.
In the ani Ash once challenged Champion Karine with Bond Greninja and nearly beat her.
That might have been because Karine held back.
But Karine’s performance did seem odd…
"Imdiately jumping into a challenge…" Lu Ye thought, "That is very Ash’s style."
"A Greninja that has mastered Bond Evolution."
Bamboo Lan smiled faintly: "My Garchomp’s style is similar to Greninja, but its damage output is too high, and it’s not good at coaching others."
Lu Ye’s eyes twitched;
a bad feeling rose in his chest.
"Why don’t you challenge Teacher Lu instead." Bamboo Lan suggested, "I’d like to see what this once-in-a-millennium Bond Evolution truly is like."
Ash and Greninja turned to look at Teacher Lu.
Even ngngda vouched for it… and it’s only against a baby Pokémon anyway…
Lu Ye sighed:
"Alright, I’ll accept your battle request."
"But." Lu Ye said sternly, "My coaching will be harsh, be ntally prepared."
"Thank you, Teacher Lu!" Ash said earnestly.
Lu Ye turned and walked toward the courtyard: "Follow ."
Snow drifted down from the night sky as Lu Ye looked up.
Since it was a training match, Greninja shouldn’t be seriously hard, and it should also provide proper guidance…
Two Pokémon in his party were suitable.
One was Togepi;
but Togepi had just been enhanced by Arceus, and he worried Togepi’s trono would accidentally obliterate Greninja.
Lu Ye closed his eyes briefly.
Since Greninja was both a battle-hardened swordsman and a reliable senior who could point the way…
"It’ll be you, Sirfetch’d!" Lu Ye called out.
"Ga?！Σ(っ°Д°;
)っ" Ducklett was shocked.
I’m not— I didn’t— don’t say that!
Lu Ye threw the Commorative Poké Ball. Red light flashed and Sirfetch’d stood bewildered on the field.
Greninja, arms crossed, face stern: "Kugga!"
Senior, please instruct !
"Even if it’s against a baby, don’t underestimate it!" Lu Ye intuited.
"Ga! (´థ౪థ)σ" Ducklett held sword and shield, calm and collected.
I didn’t plan to underestimate it either, duck…
"Beep beep… I’ll act as referee—"
Little Rotom raised a flag, then dropped it:
"Battle start, Rotom!"
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