"Woof woof~"
At Professor Mulberry's lab in Wood Rod Town, Yamper and Zacian were crouching side by side, both tilting their heads to the left.
One big and one small, perfectly synchronized, even their head-tilting angles were identical as they looked with puzzled expressions at Sonia, whose face was getting redder and redder, almost like a baboon's behind.
Too bad these two dogs weren't the same breed, otherwise it would've really given off that father-and-son vibe.
"Get out! Both of you, get out!"
Sonia's face flushed red as she gave both Yamper and Zacian a flick on the head and chased them out. You had to admit, having the guts to do that to a legendary Pokémon was something else.
Once alone in the room, Sonia cursed Sun Wuming and Lillie ten thousand times in her head.
Though she knew this day would come for these two eventually.
But damn it, couldn't they at least hang up the phone while doing it?
That's right, when Sun Wuming saw Lillie in her current state, he just picked her up, threw her on the bed, and started going at it.
He'd completely forgotten he was still on the phone with Sonia.
And they were still connected.
And Sonia, for some reason she couldn't explain, didn't hang up either.
Just listening to her best friend's "cries of distress."
Sonia felt her whole body burning up, her mouth going dry... she thought she was going to die.
Then, unable to help herself, she lay back in her chair, her hand moving toward her jeans...
...
...
"Stop it, are you trying to kill me?"
The next morning, Lillie had just woken up when she noticed Sun Wuming trying to get frisky again.
Sun Wuming claimed innocence - after all, who dressed like that and then blamed him?
What man could resist such temptation?
But Lillie didn't care, she just found a comfortable position in Sun Wuming's arms and drifted back to sleep.
At that moment, Sun Wuming noticed the phone that had fallen on the carpet.
"Kitty, help me grab the phone."
Sun Wuming said with a yawn.
Lying on the couch to the side, Mew, who had just returned, rolled its eyes and used psychic power to move the phone to Sun Wuming's hand before going back to its deep slumber.
These two bipedal creatures had been fighting all night until midnight, leaving it unable to sleep well either.
Sun Wuming picked up the phone and saw that last night's call with Sonia had lasted three hours before disconnecting.
Well well...
Sun Wuming just remembered he'd forgotten to hang up the phone yesterday.
Though this three-hour call duration... was quite intriguing.
Sun Wuming glanced at the sleeping Lillie beside him, then thought of her best friend who was getting taller and fairer.
If he could have them both, one on each side... ahem, better not continue that thought, or it won't pass censorship.
"Kalos City Suffers Devastating Attack"
"Clash of Legends, Champion-Level Confrontation"
"Mysterious Masked Figure, Champion Wallace Speculates They Possess Legendary Master-Level Strength!"
"League's Top Champion Defeated by Crime Boss, Strongest Champion Title Undeserved?"
At this time, Sun Wuming discovered his phone had received many more notifications.
As expected yesterday, they were all about the battle that took place in Kalos City.
Sun Wuming immediately clicked on the most trending post.
The one about Lance's defeat by Giovanni.
After all, the three characters that spelled "Lance" represented the biggest traffic draw in the Pokémon continent.
During the last battle in Viridian City, although Lance had suffered the embarrassment of being kidnapped by Giovanni,
At least only League internal personnel were present, and it was their home turf of the Kanto League.
Mr. Pokemon and the others would naturally find ways to preserve Lance's dignity and prevent the incident from leaking out.
The situation in Kalos City this time was completely different.
Lance's defeat by Giovanni was witnessed by many Kalos City citizens!
With so many people, trying to silence them all
Wouldn't be an easy task.
Moreover, Steven Stone, the Hoenn League Champion, probably had no interest in helping Lance keep it secret.
He might even be secretly enjoying it.
Hmm... Sun Wuming wasn't sure if Steven Stone was enjoying it or not.
But he was certain that Rose, the Galar League Chairman who had always wanted to supplant Kanto, was definitely beside himself with joy.
And the situation was exactly as Sun Wuming had predicted.
At that moment, in Wyndon City, Galar Region, at the League headquarters.
"Hahaha!"
Rose, who was usually composed, couldn't help but laugh out loud, quickly waving his hand to give orders to his secretary Oleana:
"Oleana, take action immediately."
"Yes, Chairman."
Having served as Rose's secretary for many years, Oleana naturally understood what Rose wanted her to do.
Without another word, she began drafting press releases and hiring internet trolls.
What were they going to do?
Trash Lance!
Trash him completely!
...
...
As a result, under these trending news articles' comments section, you could see—
[Hahaha! Some 'strongest champion' he is, getting taken down by a wanted criminal]
[He's lost all face!]
[Our Leon is the strongest champion, Lance should just get lost!]
[Is Kanto really still the strongest region? Their strongest gym leader is a criminal, and now their strongest champion has suffered defeat. I don't think Kanto deserves the title of 'strongest region' anymore]
[That's right, Galar should be the strongest region!]
[How dare you! Are you ignoring us in Hoenn?!]
[Oh please, a champion who spends all day in contests dares to show his face?]
...
...
The comments section was absolute chaos.
Of course, some were trolls hired by Rose and his people.
But there were plenty of genuine haters too.
Most trainers from Kanto and Johto naturally idolized Lance.
But trainers from other regions didn't think the same way, they generally worshipped their own region's champions.
Even mid-tier champions like Cynthia, Wallace, and Alder.
Local trainers would support their own.
Now that Lance had suffered defeat, trainers from other regions were naturally delighted.
They were all frantically posting online.
While Kanto and Johto trainers were also frantically arguing back.
It sparked an unprecedented flame war online.
But Kanto and Johto trainers alone ultimately couldn't match Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Galar.
After all, it was two against five.
Well, only Alola remained neutral, since they hadn't joined the League yet.
And there was one important and unavoidable objective fact.
Lance had lost.
The losing side naturally lacked confidence and couldn't win the argument.
...
...
At the Indigo Plateau, Kanto League Headquarters.
"Lance, for a trainer, victory and defeat are temporary things, you should understand this."
Mr. Pokemon was earnestly trying to counsel Lance.
Honestly, Lance had really messed up big time this time.
Not only did he enter another region without submitting an application, more importantly, you came back with a defeat!
And the person who defeated you was a wanted criminal!
This was really serious.
It was like Sun Wuming's previous life's national soccer team losing to Vietnam.
"I'm not unable to accept defeat, I'll settle this score with Giovanni."
Lance said coldly with his head lowered, his voice deep.
He wasn't a sore loser, but losing to Giovanni had indeed hit him hard.
Being defeated by the person he looked down on the most, and twice at that!
For someone as proud as Lance, this was worse than death.
"From now on you're under house arrest, you're not allowed to leave Blackthorn City without my permission, understand?"
Mr. Pokemon said sternly:
"The investigation of Team Rocket will be taken over by Agatha, understood?"
Confining Lance wasn't just to help him cool down, but also to prevent him from interacting with the outside world.
After all, many people online were now criticizing Lance as worthless.
Internet trolls existed in every world.
"...Yes."
Lance remained silent for a while before responding.
He knew clearly how much trouble he had caused.
It was all Mr. Pokemon cleaning up after him.
...
...
After returning to the Dragon Clan in Blackthorn City.
"Cousin, um..."
Clair, the Blackthorn Gym Leader, saw Lance and was about to speak, thinking about how to comfort her cousin.
But before she could get more than a few words out, Lance walked past her without looking back, heading straight for the study.
Clair shuddered, feeling that her cousin's aura had become even colder.
In the study.
Lance was browsing through the clan's research records on Dragon-type Pokémon, muttering to himself:
"Rayquaza, the sky god, Zygarde, the land's overseer... both excellent dragons..."
That's right, Lance was now researching legendary dragons!
After the battle in Kalos City, seeing Giovanni with Mewtwo and Sun Wuming with Mew,
Both showing power far beyond his own,
Lance had also developed the desire to capture a legendary.
Although that masked person had defeated Celebi with just an unremarkable Corviknight, undoubtedly possessing master-level strength,
Lance had been unable to break through this bottleneck, and in this situation, he could only rely on seeking legends to forcefully increase his strength.
However, neither Rayquaza nor Zygarde seemed easy to find, let alone capture.
The former lived in the ozone layer, beyond reach by normal means.
The latter's whereabouts were mysterious and impossible to track.
Lance continued reading through the records, and found another entry that interested him:
"The Dragon of Truth... The Dragon of Ideals..."
Lance narrowed his eyes, vaguely remembering.
Recently something had happened in the Unova region that was giving Alder's group a headache, perhaps he could...