Chapter 39: Pikachu: I Kinda Remember This
With a single command, Turtwig’s gaze immediately became determined.
Taking a deep breath, icy blue energy gathered at the beak’s position.
“Piplup!!”
Crystal-clear icy blue bubbles sprayed from Turtwig’s mouth, heading straight for the diving Fletchling!!
The bubbles, which looked like they would burst on touch, caused Fletchling’s body to pause upon contact. Quick Attack shattered a few bubbles, but the diving momentum was hindered as a result.
Continuous bubbles flew toward Fletchling. With a flap of one wing, Fletchling changed direction in the air, dodging the bubbles.
The offensive rhythm was disrupted, and Quick Attack was slowed by a beat. Both Turtwig and Zuo Rou gained reaction time.
“Piplup! Retreat and dodge!”
Quick Attack was interrupted by the bubbles, losing speed. Piplup took a step back. If Fletchling continued charging forward, the most likely result would be crashing headfirst into the ground.
That was what Turtwig thought, but reality gave him a rude awakening.
White flowing light suddenly lit up on Fletchling’s wings. In the instant before crashing into the ground, it flapped its wings, a downward airflow holding Fletchling steady, and at that moment, the defenseless Turtwig was standing right in front of Fletchling!
“—Pa~” With a swing of its wings, Fletchling lightly patted Turtwig on the head, then immediately took to the air.
The earlier dive was all an act; Fletchling wouldn’t really strike hard.
Not only that, the speed of Quick Attack was deliberately slowed by him.
The purpose was to help Zuo Rou overcome the gaze of others, not to really fight. Hang Hang had instructed beforehand to go easy, and to do it skillfully!
Fletchling circled in the sky once, and Zuo Hang extended his hand. Fletchling landed on the knuckle in the middle of Zuo Hang’s index finger.
“Well done”
“Great job! Zuo Rou!”
Zuo Hang was just about to praise when Xingye beat him to it from below the stage.
“Yeah, well fought~” Jiang Xia echoed Xingye. Lin Ping didn’t speak, and Heichuan Nagi stood dazed beside Lin Ping, lost in thought.
Zuo Hang was stunned for a few seconds by the situation but suddenly felt this atmosphere wasn’t bad.
Whether it was him or Zuo Rou, being alone for too long wasn’t great.
“Is the fight over? If it is, can we start?” Lin Ping suddenly spoke, already holding Swablu’s Poké Ball in his hand.
Zuo Hang smiled, suddenly feeling mischievous. “Pikachu, you’re up for this one.”
Lin Ping: “???”
*
That evening.
Training Hall No. 5.
Xingye and the others left one after another. Zuo Rou wanted extra practice, but Zuo Hang firmly vetoed it.
Extra practice is out of the question.
Zuo Hang sat in the back row of the classroom, with Zuo Rou sitting diagonally across from him. He knew she sometimes dozed off during theory class.
And you still want to do extra practice at night?
Forget it.
Zuo Hang figured if he let his sister train until 12 a.m., she might fall asleep standing during combat class the next day. Zuo Rou’s old schedule was staying up until 3 or 4 a.m., then sleeping until 3 or 4 p.m. the next day—typical shut-in routine.
This was unhealthy, so Zuo Hang was determined to fix her schedule. He sent Zuo Rou back to the dormitory at 10 p.m.
Fletchling was practicing against Alloy Mannequin A as usual. He still couldn’t produce sparks, and after seeing Turtwig’s bubbles today, he felt a bit envious.
Last time Zuo Hang took Darkrai to the small forest for training, the Electric Mouse secretly shared some special attack release techniques with him. He wasn’t sure if Electric-type and Fire-type methods were compatible.
“Class Monitor. Class Monitor.” Zuo Hang had the terminal’s memo open and was writing the manuscript for Monday’s speech.
He’d never run for Class Monitor before. What should he say at the podium?
Zuo Hang directly opened Baidu to search.
【Class Monitor Election Speech Manuscript】
Less than a second later, “Baidu has found 112,929 search results for you.”
Zuo Hang clicked on the first result.
【Dear teacher, dear classmates, hello everyone. The position I’m running for today is Class Monitor. I am a cheerful boy with many hobbies, such as football, basketball, helping others, and so on. I am brave.】
“Fuck!” Zuo Hang couldn’t help swearing.
This was too stupid. Even for elementary school Class Monitor election, this wouldn’t work.
Baidu was never reliable!
Time passed bit by bit.
“—Hoo~~~~”
A flame suddenly flickered on Alloy Mannequin A Mister’s body. Fletchling excitedly flew around in the sky.
Success!
The flame succeeded!
Fletchling flew to Zuo Hang’s shoulder. Pikachu and Darkrai were training outside, so he could stay here for a while.
Looking down, Zuo Hang’s memo still had not a single word.
“—Chirp chirp~~”
Fletchling indicated that he had finally produced a flame, yet Zuo Hang’s manuscript still had zero words.
Somewhat sarcastic.
Sigh.
Writing a manuscript is a bit different from practicing skills, after all.
“Any ideas yet?” Zuo Rou suddenly sent him a message.
Zuo Hang glanced at the time: 23:25.
Good grief! Still not asleep at 11:30!
“No! Go to sleep now!” Zuo Hang typed.
“Huh? Sleep?? No way someone in 2025 still goes to bed before 12, right? And tomorrow’s Sunday! Good sister is sacrificing her gaming time to chat with little brother, and not only is he ungrateful, he’s chasing me away?”
Only when communicating with Zuo Hang did she show her cheerful side.
Zuo Rou typed: “Why aren’t you replying? Am I annoying? No way, right? No way, right? No white-eyed wolf would disregard his sister’s concern, right?”
“Hold on, I need to think about the manuscript. Let me be quiet.” Zuo Hang rubbed his brow, feeling a headache.
“You’re great at lecturing big truths. Why struggle with a manuscript? That thing… Didn’t you tell me a few days ago about giving your all and striving…”
“A diligent trainer can only pass; one who goes all out can excel.” Zuo Hang typed.
“Oh! Right, that’s it! And all those things you used to educate Pikachu when he was little aren’t they ready-made?”
Zuo Rou had just sent the message when Pikachu and Darkrai returned.
Little Darkrai was still scorched all over from the electricity today, but the dejection in his eyes was gone. The confidence-building training from the past few days had worked.
“Pikachu! Come here!” Zuo Hang waved at the Electric Mouse.
“Pika??” The Electric Mouse ran over from afar, glanced at Fletchling on Zuo Hang’s shoulder, and vaguely felt something was off.
Zuo Hang picked up Pikachu and said, “When you were little, do you remember the things I taught you?”
“Pika~~” Pikachu nodded, then shook his head. He remembered, but only a little.
“A little is fine! What did I say back then? Just one memorable line.”
（ps: Sure enough, 4000 is humanity’s limit）
Collections~, recommendation votes~, rewards~, any will do~~
