A peaceful night, after a hearty dinner.
Sylveon rolled over on the couch and lazily swayed her ribbons.
Because Sylveon’s Ability is “Pixilate,” her strength scales with her size... probably.
Of course, that’s mostly thanks to Mr. Lu’s ridiculously luxurious meals.
At least Sylveon still had her treadmill for some exercise.
As for Arcanine... since he was banned from wrecking the house, he had no choice but to play “rolling the yarn ball” with Togepi.
“Duu~ii!” Togepi pushed the yarn ball toward Arcanine.
“Woof~” Arcanine shoved the ball back with his hind paw and gave a toothy grin.
“Cha-duu-ii~˚‧º·(˚˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅)‧º·˚”
This dog is full of mischief!
“Beep beep, Dishwasher Rotom, activ—”
Before he could finish, Gengar yanked out the power plug and spread his hands smugly.
Rotom switched to backup power, now totally frozen in confusion:
“Does not compute, Roto! (⊙x⊙;)”
According to Mr. Lu’s plan, tonight was for livestreaming a new battle strategy.
But virtual command and turn-based games don’t exactly play the same.
Before testing new strats, he had to warm up a bit.
Since there was still time before going live.
Lu Ye opened the group chat to see who was in the mood to get wrecked.
Mr. Lu: “Anyone wanna play Pokémon: Battle? Gonna try out tonight’s ranked team.”
“Oh! It’s ‘cause the season’s ending, right?”
Old man Ironspin, dressed in a floral shirt, stroked his chin and said:
“Heard that rankings reset next patch... quite a few folks I know are grinding now.”
Mr. Lu blinked: “That’s a thing?”
Devon Corp’s Pokémon: Battle was one of the world’s true technological wonders.
Using VR and AR tech, it simulated real-time battles, borrowing from the Ferralida Institute’s research too.
Its user base was massive — like the net-addicted Master Mustard on Armor Island, that Sinnoh Champion, or the unemployed Gold...
With an update coming, the leaderboard battles were brutal.
Gold hollered: “Master Mustard’s already world #2, you gotta step up!”
Lu Ye was shocked: “@Steven, didn’t he get caught account sharing last time?”
“Master Mustard said…” Steven smiled helplessly, “that Charizard was a gift from a friend.”
Lu Ye’s heart skipped.
I’m logging in right now to ask Leon for a 6IV Charizard!
Mr. Lu mostly used public Pokémon data... but some Trainers uploaded their own to Devon Corp.
Like Whitney’s Miltank — clearly larger than the rest.
At the end of the day, Mr. Lu won by using dirty strats, not raw stats.
“If you don’t log in soon, you’ll lose even your third place.”
Marshal teased, “There’s a guy in Seaside City named Denji... he’s been grinding all day in his Gym and he’s hit world #4!”
Mr. Lu: “You know all this... wait, did you lose to him?”
“Lose— Electric-vs-Electric doesn’t count, okay? I just let my guard down!” Marshal growled.
Lu Ye looked to the sky.
Denji’s that guy who looks like Fourth Hokage... rumored to be stronger than an Elite Four.
On the Pokémon: Battle leaderboard, it wasn’t just that look-alike — Caitlin was also there, crashing servers daily.
If he didn’t climb soon, he’d be stuck only matching with Gold...
Lu Ye coughed, then logged into his main.
As soon as he went online, his friend “Gold V” messaged him:
“I made it to Master Rank too!”
Gold bragged: “Sun Team’s easy… just need Boom Bro and Torkoal!”
Gold even made it to Master Rank...
I’m sorry, I’ve let myself down.
I haven’t used Gold for content lately!
Mr. Lu: “Let’s do a few rounds, I need to warm up.”
Gold: “If you use your new team right away, you’re underestimating me, Mr. Lu!”
Mr. Lu: “Sigh, my luck was awful. Missed so many moves.”
“Gold, did you log off? Why aren’t you replying? Gold?”
“Oh, not logged off — dropped from Master Rank. Can’t queue for Ranked anymore...”
Muttering to himself, Mr. Lu saved the match recording.
Sun Team was a common setup both in-game and in real battles.
Using it was a good benchmark for the new team, and helped explain tactics to viewers.
This was why Mr. Lu often used Gold for content — a sacrifice for science.
Lu Ye sighed, glancing at his phone.
Mr. Lu logged into the streaming platform.
Sinnoh, Canalave City.
“This Azumarill is for you.”
Paul looked at the child in front of him and coldly handed over the Poké Ball.
The boy’s eyes lit up.
“I don’t need weak Pokémon,” Paul said flatly.
The little boy didn’t mind at all. He held the Poké Ball like a treasure and beamed:
“Thank you, big brother!”
“I’ve always wanted a Pokémon.”
He stammered, “But my mom told me Trainers are too dangerous... that Pokémon are dangerous too.”
“But! If it’s Azumarill, I’m sure... it’ll be a good one, just like you!”
Hands in pockets, Paul’s mind flashed to a boy carrying a Pikachu on his shoulder. He fell silent.
He turned to leave, as the boy shouted behind him.
“Thank you, big brother!”
As he walked off, Paul pulled out his vibrating phone, glanced at the screen, and murmured:
All this time, he had seen Mr. Lu’s aggressive strategies as his guiding light.
Among Paul’s Pokémon were Spikes Drapion, Poison Heal Gliscor… top-tier competitive picks.
But the one recognized by Mr. Lu had been Ash...
“Tch.” Paul clicked his tongue and gripped his phone tighter, tapping into the livestream.
He muttered, then his eyes suddenly widened at Mr. Lu’s team.
“Just… those two Pokémon?!”
As soon as Mr. Lu started the stream, viewers flooded the cafeteria.
The title of the stream was: “Today’s the day I seriously climb the ranks.”
“Just from the title, I wolfed down three bowls of rice.”
“Mr. Lu, hold up — my takeout isn’t here yet!”
As everyone knows, the star of Mr. Lu’s stream was always Sylveon.
When Sylveon wiggled her pink ears in front of the camera—
A flood of “Awsl” spam shot across the screen.
Gift animations lit up the chat like fireworks.
Mr. Lu glanced at the screen:
“Thanks to ‘Wanna Hatch Eggs With Gardevoir’ for the big rocket… You shouldn't — at least, not like that.”
“Thanks to ‘Where’s Cute One Today’ for the plane… Soon. I’ll bring her on stream in a few days.”
The comments instantly changed color as fans sobbed.
“How can the king of Pokémon go and fall in love o(╥﹏╥)o”
“No wonder there was no stream for days — he went to find Cute One!”
“Haha, Mr. Lu, you think I’ll get jealous? (Lemon Yellow)”
Because queue times were long—
Mr. Lu switched to chill chat mode while matchmaking.
“Is Snorlax a chubby shut-in… Snorlax is way too cute to be a couch potato.”
“Was Leon really boosting last time... It’s murky, those who know, know.”
As chat enjoyed the banter, no one paid attention to Mr. Lu’s team comp.
Until he double-checked his held items, and someone screamed:
“WTF! What’s Onix even here for?”
“Mr. Lu, did you pick the wrong lineup?”
“This baby-tier comp... it’ll get wrecked by stall and poison!”
Adorable Minccino, her silky white fur rippling as she struck a pose, her big eyes bright and charming.
And beside her, hulking, growling Onix, who looked kinda derpy next to her.
“Is this some sort of faith battle?”
“No way. These two Pokémon have such trash base stats... fighting a pseudo-legend is suicide.”
In the chat, Paul also stared at the two and frowned.
Can this... really win?
Just these two with awful base stats and terrible synergy...
Mr. Lu — are you trying to prove something?
Paul muttered to himself.
The queue stopped. Viewers stared, horrified.
“It’s him, the biggest boss of all!”
“He’s using this garbage team against the final boss?!”
“GG, this is a disaster. Mr. Lu’s in danger!!”
Mr. Lu’s face twitched.
Just how cursed is my luck...
I finally use a belief team, and I get matched with the final boss?!
A blue-haired man in a black suit smiled gently. His deep-set eyes gleamed like gemstones.
The breeze tousled his hair; the grass at his feet looked like a high-end CG movie—
Lu Ye: “Why does your intro animation even have special effects?! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻”
Just because your company made the game, you can cheat?!
Steven greeted in public chat, smiling: “What a coincidence, Mr. Lu.”
“It’s on — a showdown between two final bosses!”
“Mr. Lu’s luck is terrible... the one time he tries hard, he runs into world #1?”
“Steven-sama, Mommy loves you~Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ”
“??? Man-mommy, get lost!”
It was already too late.
Mr. Lu took a deep breath, locked eyes with Steven, and his expression hardened.
Come on, Togepi — give me some of that luck!
As long as it doesn’t miss, I’ll even slay Steven for you!