Chapter 98

Liyue Port, General Affairs Department.

Ye Lan, who was tired of traveling and had temporarily returned after receiving a message from the Layer Rock Abyss, frowned:

"Is there anyone in Qunyu Pavilion?"

Mu Ning, Commissioner of the General Affairs Department, hummed:

"Master Ye Lan, during your absence, Liyue Port has undergone drastic changes. I got accurate news. Lord Ningguang of Qunyu Pavilion has taken three secretaries to the Pokémon House store to watch a competition."

Ye Lan couldn't help but glance at Mu Ning's feet. An pokemon seemed to be attracted by her aura and timidly grabbed Mu Ning's trousers, hiding behind her.

Ye Lan observed with interest. It looked like a cat but had the characteristics of a fox, with gray and black body hair.

"Is this your pokemon?"

Mu Ning nodded, "Yes, I went to the Pokémon House a week ago and chose it. Its name is Zorua, and it has an ability—it can transform into humans or other elves."

Transformation...

This ability immediately made Ye Lan, who was in charge of intelligence and investigation, see the potential help and role of this kind of pokemon in espionage warfare.

"What about Yujingtai?"

Mu Ning replied, "Uh... Secretary Ganyu seems to have left temporarily too."

Ye Lan couldn't help but become more curious about the ongoing competition that had suddenly attracted all the senior staff of Liyue away.

"Come on, take me to Ling's house!"

Mu Ning led the way excitedly. He also wanted to see it, and the boss of the department happened to say that he could get paid to join in the excitement!

…

At this time, the arena had not been used for two weeks. There were two waves of people from Mondstadt and Liyue, coming in through different doors.

Led by Jean, she brought the entire Knights of Favonius. Ningguang, Keqing, and even Ganyu, who often claimed she needed to work overtime, had rarely skipped work. There was also the Beidou team, Kazuha, Yoimiya , Xingqiu, and Chongyun.

A bard walked through the door and looked around with a smile:

"Hey, is everyone here?"

Lumine and Paimon, who had just arrived, were also looking at the competitive space in surprise.

"It's you! Green guy!"

Paimon turned around and saw Mondstadt's Barbatos coming in from the Liyue passage. Venti waved his hand and said, "Hello, you've arrived in Liyue too."

At this moment, the lights in the passage flashed, and Zhongli stepped out.

"Is there a wonderful space that can bring guests from all over the world together?"

Zhongli glanced around and found a few "old friends": Xiao and Chansey. Auntie Ping and her son... a famous scene! There were also Yanfei and Granny Ping who had returned. There were two real people with three eyes and five manifestations present!

Granny Ping held her hands, studied step by step, and murmured, "It is infinitely more magical than the magic of the Serenitea Pot. It actually has multiple channels, allowing guests, relatives, and friends to ignore geographical distance and spatial isolation."

Yanfei was whispering to Xiangling, "Xiangling, Hu Tao just drew the second dragon pokemon?"

"Yes, um, a very strange little thing."

"Then... come on!" Xiangling said confidently, "If it's a head-on competition in martial arts, I can't do it. But compared to an pokemon competition, I, Chef Xiangling, never let anyone down!"

On the other side, except for Bennett and Fischl, who were on patrol as officers of the Adventurers' Guild and the Department of Environmental Protection, almost everyone in the group chat was present.

Everyone gathered around and claimed to have drawn the second dragon baby, standing near Hu Tao, who stood with her legs crossed and her chest puffed out confidently.

There was a lot of discussion about her Pokémon:

"Ah, this? Are you telling me this is a Dragon type? It looks like an egg!"

"You don't understand this; Dragon type refers to attributes, not species. Look at Gible—it's obviously a land shark, right?"

"There's also Kingdra, who's also a Dragon type. Who drew Horsea?"

"You may not believe it, but Beidou and I encountered a powerful pokemon in the ecological zone. At first, we thought it was some kind of Bug type. After scanning it with the Pokédex, we found out that it was called Vibrava, and it was a Ground/Dragon type."

"Goodness, please tell me where there are Vibrava in the ecological zone?!"

There was another burst of lights flashing at the entrance to Liyue. Tartaglia arrived, bringing Signora and Andre.

Bang, bang, bang!

Seeing the famous characters of Mondstadt and Liyue in the arena space, Tartaglia clapped with a moved expression, "A grand event, a grand event..."

The words trailed off. A slender white arm suddenly pushed Tartaglia aside, who was blocking the opening.

"You're in the way."

Ye Lan and Mu Ning finally arrived.

"Ye Lan!!"

Seeing this "ghost" from the General Affairs Department, Tartaglia took a breath and cast a warning look at Signora. It seemed to say that this woman was not someone to mess with.

"I smell the scent of Fatui," Ye Lan said, stretching out casually.

Takumi glanced at the scene from a distance and saw Ye Lan's composed demeanor.

Ye Lan's true identity is mysterious; her father is an older generation Qixing who is about to retire and owns Yanshang Teahouse. On the surface, she's a businesswoman, but when something happened in the Layer Rock Abyss, both Ningguang and the other Qixing obviously trusted her ability very much, sending her to investigate immediately.

"Almost ready..."

Takumi stepped onto the referee's stand and cleared his throat:

"Invite players Hu Tao and Xiangling! Since both sides have two Pokémon each, the rule this time is a two-versus-two battle. When all of one player's Pokémon lose their ability to fight, they lose!"

The words fell.

Hu Tao and Xiangling stepped onto the podium in a majestic and high-spirited manner.

"Hu Tao, if you want to be the champion of this group, you have to step over my body!" Xiangling took out her Pokéball and threw it out.

"Come out, the decision is yours! Burn, Larvesta!"

Hu Tao pouted, "This rule actually put me at a disadvantage. I just adopted my second baby... However, it doesn't matter at all; my Gabite is enough to push your whole team! Even if you get two more Pokémon, they will all be pushed aside!"

Whoosh—no need to throw the ball. The red light bounced out on its own, fell to the ground, and turned into a Gabite. This Pokémon was undoubtedly bred to be very strong. It was two meters tall, and its skin was oily and shiny.

Level 25 Gabite versus Level 24 Larvesta!

Seeing this, Takumi snapped his fingers. This was obviously a switch. In an instant, a group of holographic projected audiences descended on the large arena, and cheers and screams echoed in everyone's ears.

The strong and fanatical competitive atmosphere made Hu Tao and Xiangling, who were experiencing the battle for the second time, feel a surge of excitement.

"This is... the charm of a Pokémon competition."

Hu Tao narrowed her eyes. Compared to the last baby-level battle, this time her Gabite had evolved, reaching the intermediate trainer level at level 25. The most significant change was that it had mastered many new skills!

"Gabite, use Tackle!"

Pre-emptive strike. The same skill used by Gible as a baby and by Gabite was completely different.

Boom!

The impact of the instant burst was comparable to a car stepping on the accelerator. The speed, the power—seeing it for the first time, Ye Lan was surprised by the Pokémon's fighting power.

"Larvesta, use Bug Bite!"

Xiangling laughed, obviously prepared for the attack.

Boom—the sharp-toothed Gabite crashed into it, Larvesta cried out in difficulty, its insect body scraping a deep ravine in the ground as it was knocked back several meters. However, Larvesta didn't sustain much damage. Instead, it flicked its tail and ejected a flame that hit the defenseless Gabite.

But this damage was nothing to Gabite.

Hu Tao's face turned serious, "Stomp it hard!"

The strong Gabite roared, stomping the ground heavily with its legs, boom, boom, boom. Larvesta was within the stomping range, and the world suddenly spun.

Xiangling was a little nervous, stuttering, "Larvesta, continue to use Bug Bite..."

"Too slow!" Hu Tao shouted disdainfully, "It's time to decide the winner!"