Chapter 57: The Choice of the Third Spirit

Xia Chi didn't notice the strange look in Lin Lange's eyes, but suddenly a thought crossed his mind.

"Speaking of which, we're going to choose our Pokémon tomorrow. Do you have any ideas yet?"

Among the top three rewards for the Shanghai Baby Cup was a selection quota for an elite Pokémon cub produced by the Shanghai Breeding Base.

Xia Chi hadn't decided on his next Pokémon yet, so he simply decided to ask Lin Lange first.

"Me?"

Lin Lange pondered for a moment and said, "My next Pokémon will probably be the offspring of my dad's Sceptile."

Xia Chi: "......"

He forgot that she was a Gym Leader's daughter; ordinary Pokémon probably wouldn't catch her eye.

Lin Lange thought for a moment and added, "If you want it, I can give you my quota."

Xia Chi refused, saying, "Forget it, I don't have that in mind. One by one is fine."

There was still a [Giant Golden Egg] waiting to be hatched in his system inventory, and if he got another Pokémon, his equipment wouldn't even be enough to go around.

That wasn't how you built bonds.

Rather than blindly stacking numbers, Xia Chi preferred to carefully nurture each Pokémon.

Returning the favor, Xia Chi, who had turned down Lin Lange's kind offer, suggested, "I think you might want to rethink your team-building strategy moving forward. It doesn't have to be purely Grass-type."

"The era of single-attribute specialists dominating is over. Look at the newly emerged Champions from other regions, like Cynthia and Leon—they all develop multiple attributes."

"Of course, I'm not saying single-attribute specialization has no future, just that it's good to have another option."

Lin Lange nodded seriously and mentally noted it down.

Xia Chi was somewhat surprised that he had somehow ended up in this kind of dynamic with Lin Lange.

Still, it was no big deal. Ash and his Infernape's former trainer, Paul, were rivals too.

After thoroughly impressing Lin Lange on the battlefield, taking on a little apprentice probably wouldn't be an issue.

After lunch, Lin Lange still wanted to continue training with Xia Chi, but the latter decisively refused.

"I only took a half-day leave for the morning. I still have a class on Paldean History in the afternoon."

Xia Chi offered a righteous and sufficient reason.

After a brief moment of shock, Lin Lange remembered that this guy wasn't even in the Battle Department.

She couldn't help asking, "Have you ever thought about transferring departments? Your battle talent is wasted staying in a non-battle department."

Xia Chi firmly refused, saying, "Just like Pokémon, trainers need to keep some of their own hobbies. Does being in the Battle Department or not affect a trainer's strength?"

He really hadn't considered transferring to the Battle Department to participate in school team tournaments or anything like that.

Lin Lange suddenly said, "Students in the Battle Department don't need to ask for leave."

Xia Chi paused and asked, "Uh... what do you mean by not needing to ask for leave?"

Lin Lange said flatly, "It means you don't need to report when leaving the school. You can go on a journey, or spend an entire semester training outside, and it won't matter."

Seeing Xia Chi's hesitant expression, she added, "And you don't have early morning classes."

Xia Chi's psychological defense completely collapsed.

He gave a light cough, forced a smile, and said, "Sister Lin, I admit I was speaking a bit loudly just now. Um..."

"How do we transfer to the Battle Department?"

Lin Lange: "......"

I lost to a person like this?

And twice, no less?

…………

"When discussing Paldean history, the Great Crater of Paldea is an absolute core element that cannot be bypassed. Modern geology suggests that as early as one million years ago, this massive crater, which occupies one-third of the Paldea region, had already formed..."

The teacher's lecturing voice rose and fell rhythmically on the podium, while down below, Xia Chi twirled his pen as thoughts raced through his mind.

Tomorrow he was heading to the Shanghai Pokémon Breeding Base to claim his new Pokémon. Which one should he choose?

Thinking about which specific one to pick was probably getting ahead of himself, after all, the number of specific Pokémon was limited, and there might not be one that caught his eye.

He might as well think about the attributes instead.

The top choice would definitely be Dark-type. After all, stacking up Dark-type bonds could speed up his development.

Besides, there were plenty of Dark-type Pokémon worth nurturing.

Tyranitar, Hydreigon, Urshifu...

Well, expecting to get any of these as a champion reward from the Baby Cup was pure daydreaming.

But stepping down a tier, the Dark-type still had excellent Pokémon.

For example, Greninja, which also possessed the [Protean] Ability, could be considered.

As for Cinderace, who was also a starter, forget it.

If he really adopted another little cat, Meowscarada definitely wouldn't be happy.

If he really couldn't find a suitable Dark-type Pokémon...

Never mind, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

——————

The next morning, at the entrance of the Shanghai Pokémon Breeding Base.

Xia Chi looked at Lin Lange stepping out of a luxury car and fell speechless.

Seriously, does this young lady show up everywhere?

Are you some kind of game rival?

"Didn't you say your next Pokémon was going to be that Treecko your family prepared for you?"

As they entered the breeding base, Xia Chi couldn't help asking Lin Lange, who was walking beside him.

Lin Lange looked straight ahead and said calmly, "I think what you said yesterday made sense."

Xia Chi asked in confusion, "Huh?"

What did I say yesterday?

"Actually, I didn't really want to follow the Grass-type specialization path. That was just the path my dad arranged for me."

Lin Lange said, "So after going back yesterday, I talked to my dad."

Xia Chi curiously asked, "And then? Did he agree?"

He wasn't just needlessly worrying.

What if Gym Leader Lin flew into a rage, declaring that if she didn't inherit his gym legacy she wouldn't be his daughter anymore, and froze all her credit cards?

What would he do if his rent suddenly shot up to fifty thousand a month, and the promised fifty-thousand monthly salary flew out the window?

"Of course he supports it."

Lin Lange's answer made Xia Chi let out a sigh of relief.

Good thing he wasn't caught in the crossfire.

"What do you think of me raising a Beldum?"

Lin Lange suddenly asked.

"Pretty good. Metagross is very strong, and it can form good defensive synergy with Servine, but..."

Xia Chi asked in surprise, "Didn't you say the rewards for the Shanghai Baby Cup couldn't reach pseudo-legendaries?"

Since the runner-up's reward included a pseudo-legendary, could he as the champion also raise a Deino or a Larvitar?

Xia Chi felt a stirring in his heart.

Lin Lange said, "Well, it doesn't, but I can buy one."

Xia Chi: "......"

Capitalism, you win!

Accompanied by several staff members, Xia Chi, Lin Lange, and the third-place winner of the Shanghai Baby Cup entered the sprawling breeding base.

"The signature Pokémon of our Shanghai Breeding Base is Squirtle. One particular bloodline is within three direct generations of the ace Blastoise belonging to the former Huangpu Gym Leader. Are any of you three interested?"

The staff member began pitching.

Xia Chi and Lin Lange had no particular interest, but the third-place winner seemed somewhat tempted.

After some communication, he followed a guide off toward the Squirtle habitat.

"What about the two of you? Feel free to tell us what you're looking for."

A middle-aged man who looked like a supervisor at the breeding base said, "The sponsorship agreement we had with the Shanghai Baby Cup offered Pokémon valued at 500,000 for the runner-up and third place, and 1,000,000 for the champion."

Generally speaking, 500,000 was more than enough to buy a starter with great talent.

Yet Lin Lange dropped a bombshell: "Do you have any Beldum?"