Chapter 20: You Little Punk, Are You Trying To Rebel?
Huohuo’s expression changed, her eyes showing obvious shock.
To… to death do us part?!
Intimacy reaching 90 or above can also be called absolute trust; exceeding 90 means the trainer and Pokémon have that kind of relationship where they can exchange lives with each other.
Huohuo has never seen a trainer whose intimacy with a Pokémon exceeds 90.
Intimacy is not a one-sided effort from one party; if Pikachu trusts Zuo Hang, but Zuo Hang doesn’t trust Pikachu, then the intimacy between them won’t be too high.
Reaching 99 means there is unconditional trust between Zuo Hang and Pikachu; no matter which one encounters danger, the other will step forward without hesitation.
Huohuo quickly recovered from her shocked state.
Zuo Hang’s terminal was in her hand, and opportunities to get someone else’s terminal were rare; Huohuo’s thumb swiped below the screen, quickly turning off the intimacy test and opening the battle power evaluation system.
Personal Pokémon information is certainly encrypted; only the owner’s own terminal can scan it out—this was a rare opportunity.
The camera captured Zuo Hang and Pikachu’s avatars.
【Battle power test in progress, do not move the camera away.】
The progress bar was halfway when Zuo Hang suddenly snatched the terminal back.
“Secretary Huohuo, we’re not familiar enough for us to check each other’s Pokémon strength yet, right?”
The battle power test was interrupted, but Huohuo didn’t show any extra emotions; she seemed to have guessed this outcome already. She put on her ‘calm and gentle’ senior student facade again, her somewhat stiff face from the previous second immediately curving into an alluring arc.
“Just a quick look~, it won’t cost you an arm or a leg.”
If it were any other boy, he would probably be moved by Huohuo’s seemingly casual smile.
‘What a tough woman.’ Zuo Hang revised his judgment of Huohuo in his mind; at least he hadn’t seen any 16-year-old girl who could manage her facial expressions so reasonably. This was a terrifyingly mature one.
“I thought you might get bored, so I sent you to a really awesome school.” Zuo Hang now somewhat understood why Old Man said that. White Dragon High—he might really not get bored at this school.
School Pokémon Center.
It was class time now, so there weren’t many people in the Pokémon Center.
Zuo Hang spotted Wang Wenchuan and his group sitting on the benches at a glance.
“Is Riolu okay?” Zuo Hang asked.
He needed to confirm the little guy’s condition; in his view, Riolu should have lost combat ability when thrown onto the tree trunk, but it had managed to use Quick Attack and Counter in a near death state.
Although Zuo Hang was a cold and adamant person, he genuinely liked Pokémon from the bottom of his heart.
If Riolu had any issues from the previous battle, he would likely blame himself; although it wasn’t his own Pokémon, Zuo Hang had developed a talent-scouting heart.
It could face Darkrai fearlessly—this wasn’t something an ordinary Pokémon could do.
“It’s fine, not dead.” Wang Wenchuan glanced at Zuo Hang and also noticed Huohuo behind him.
“No need to pretend to care; I initiated the match, and I willingly accepted the loss. Besides, our relationship doesn’t seem close enough for you to come to the Pokémon Center to visit.”
Zuo Hang was stunned; why did these words sound so familiar?
Wang Wenchuan clearly had some hostility toward him, which was understandable; after all, beating his Pokémon like that, no trainer would give him a good look.
Compared to Wang Wenchuan’s composure, the little brothers around him instinctively moved a bit farther away from Zuo Hang.
Who was kidding.
This was the ruthless guy with Darkrai.
They, as newly enrolled trainers, didn’t dare provoke this evil god; who could handle being thrown into a Dark Void by Darkrai while sleeping at night?
This reaction wasn’t hard to understand.
Wang Wenchuan didn’t move, so he could be the boss, while those who backed away could only be little brothers.
Zuo Hang didn’t continue chatting with Wang Wenchuan; the other seemed like an even colder type than him.
Walking to the Pokémon treatment area, Zuo Hang glanced inside through the glass window.
There were also few Pokémon being treated; Riolu lay on the small bed closest to the glass window, its right arm in a cast, eyes tightly closed, looking not so good.
This world’s Pokémon Centers didn’t have machines where you just throw in a Poké Ball and the Pokémon comes out fully recovered.
When Pokémon are injured, they need treatment just like humans; their advantage over humans is just slightly stronger self-healing ability.
If Riolu grows up, it might really be able to go a few rounds with Darkrai; Zuo Hang suddenly thought that personally witnessing his opponent’s growth was a nice option.
Huohuo followed Zuo Hang to the treatment area; the empty corridor had only the two of them.
“No one would want to check Darkrai’s intimacy after seeing Electric Mouse’s, right?” Zuo Hang directly brought up the topic.
Huohuo spread her hands, “President’s orders, no choice~, a strong one with Darkrai—Student Union definitely won’t let it go without thinking.”
The deserted corridor had no one around, so releasing Darkrai again wouldn’t be a problem.
A red light flashed, and Darkrai appeared at Zuo Hang’s side.
This time, without handing the terminal to Huohuo, Zuo Hang used the front camera.
【Intimacy test in progress.】
【1s2s10s】
【Intimacy: 60】
【Intimacy evaluation: Relationship above strangers】
Zuo Hang was stunned.
Relationship above strangers?
Huohuo leaned close to Zuo Hang and sighed in relief after seeing the number on the screen.
It couldn’t possibly be 99 intimacy with Darkrai too—that would be too perverse.
Intimacy for newly captured Pokémon is around 50; higher ones can reach 60, lower ones won’t go below forty.
As long as intimacy is 50+, the evaluation is above strangers.
Exceeding 60 gets evaluations like close intimacy or inseparable; as long as it’s over 50, it basically proves the Pokémon is yours.
Those trainers entering school with family Pokémon, no matter how good their relationship with their parents’ Pokémon, can’t get an evaluation over 50.
This is the special thing about White Dragon Academy’s “Black Terminal”—no matter what, you can’t measure 50 or above if it’s not your own Pokémon.
An app that tests intimacy just by taking a photo seems unreasonable on the surface, but the data it gives is convincing.
At least in the year Huohuo has been at school, she hasn’t seen the terminal make a mistake.
The time Zuo Hang captured Darkrai seems less than a week; he could accept this test result, and Dark Type Pokémon are indeed a bit hard to raise intimacy for.
However
This “relationship above strangers” evaluation was really intriguing.
Zuo Hang glanced at Darkrai, and Darkrai instinctively backed away, putting distance between it and Zuo Hang.
‘This kid wouldn’t also have that innate rebellious streak like other Dark Types, right?’ Zuo Hang thought.
‘Hang Hang isn’t going to throw me to Gardevoir for training again, is he?’ Darkrai thought.
Zuo Hang felt that just having Gardevoir and Darkrai train together wasn’t enough anymore; from now on, he should have Electric Mouse and Gardevoir go together—Dark Type Pokémon needed more tempering.
Darkrai suddenly felt the Pokémon Center was very cold; the disinfectant smell made it a bit anxious, and it had a feeling its trainer was plotting something terrifying.
Another day of begging for votes~
