The weather was clear and the breeze, gentle.
After mooching food and drinks from the real protagonists, the Team Rocket Trio, Fang Yuan then came to Xiaozhi and his group to mooch some more.
Invited by Xiaozhi's group, Fang Yuan unceremoniously took a seat and picked up a glass of freshly served orange juice to drink.
Eevee also leaped down from Fang Yuan's shoulder and ran over to Pikachu and the others to try out the food.
Though it had already eaten its fill just before, the well-presented special food Brock had prepared for Xiaozhi's Pokémon was too tempting, so Eevee reluctantly tasted a few dishes.
Pikachu: QAQ
"Brother Fang Yuan, how come you're in the Orange Archipelago? Weren't you going to participate in some Pokémon Championship?"
Xiaozhi's way of addressing Fang Yuan had shifted from the unfamiliar "Mr. Fang Yuan" to the friendlier "Brother Fang Yuan".
"There isn't a fixed location for the Pokémon World Championship, my next battle just happens to be in the Orange Archipelago."
Fang Yuan put down his orange juice and looked at Xiaozhi and his friends with a smile.
"Really? When is it? I must come to watch!"
Xiaozhi's eyes lit up.
"Sure, three days from now, on Citrus Island. If you guys have time, you should come and see," Fang Yuan nodded.
"Well... we should have time, right?" Xiaozhi turned to Misty and Brock.
"We don't mind, we'd be accompanying you to challenge the Gym anyway," Misty turned away, showing her disinterest towards Xiaozhi with a flip of her hair.
"Um... oh..." Brock was still looking at a poster, head bowed.
"Brock... what are you looking at?" Seeing Brock distracted, Xiaozhi asked discontentedly.
"Heh, this," Brock picked up a poster, saying, "Kena, One of the Elite Four is holding a lecture and a public demonstration battle!!"
"It's on this very island, and it's this afternoon."
"Ah, I really want Miss Kena's autograph..." Brock eyed the poster with drooling anticipation.
"What—"
No sooner had Brock finished speaking than Misty snatched the poster from his hands, scrutinizing the female Trainer depicted on it.
"Master Kona is actually doing a public demonstration battle on this island, Brock, why didn't you say so earlier!"
For Misty, who aspired to be a Water Master and who admired how elegantly Kena, the King of Ice, wielded her Ice and Water-type Pokémon in battle, Kena was nothing short of an idol.
"Kona... Master? One of the Elite Four?!" Xiaozhi also suddenly perked up, as if he had heard something incredible.
"I only found out myself after getting this poster," Brock said with a helpless expression.
"Right! Let's go watch Master Kona's demonstration battle! Shall we?" Misty stood up suddenly, thinking it was an opportunity not to be missed.
"Alright..." Xiaozhi agreed, finding the idea very appealing. The Elite Four must be very powerful, just like Master Xiba, who effortlessly defeated an Onix barehanded.
"Great, let's all go together," Brock was wholly in favor.
"Hey, hey, hey..." Meanwhile, Fang Yuan looked on with an expression full of awkward lines.
Weren't we just talking about whether to come and watch my public battle?
How come now there's suddenly a public battle featuring Kona?
And what's with your clearly more excited reactions?
Can we still be good friends? Kona's battles can't be more exciting than mine.
"But..."
Misty was a Water Type Trainer, obviously looking forward to Kona's battle more, and Brock was an old pervert, also keener to see Kona. As for Xiaozhi, even though he knew Fang Yuan was very powerful, the title of the Elite Four intrigued him more; after all, his most admired Trainer, the Invincible Dragon Envoy Du, used to be one of the Elite Four of Kanto, a colleague of Kona's.
In comparison, Fang Yuan's battle?
Definitely next time, as they were not on the same day anyway, so it was not a problem.
"But it seems we don't have tickets to see the battle... The ticket sale activity obviously stopped now," Misty pointed at the sale time on the poster, and then suddenly exclaimed.
"This——" The three of them felt as if thunderstruck.
On the side, Fang Yuan, with resignation, looked at these three fools and said, "Kena's battle you want to see, huh? Never mind, I've got nothing else planned, let's all go together, I'll take care of the tickets."
"Brother Fang Yuan... you have tickets??" Xiaozhi exclaimed in surprise.
Brock and Misty also raised their heads, looking at Fang Yuan with hopeful eyes.
"Tickets are nothing."
"Aren't they something you can have as many as you want if you wish."
......
Outside the large stadium where Heavenly King Kena was giving a lecture and a public demonstration battle.
Under Xiaozhi, Brock, and Misty's dumbfounded expressions, Fang Yuan purchased four consecutive seats at five times the original ticket price from a passerby.
"See, as long as you have money, even buying out the whole stadium isn't a problem. Have you learned your lesson?" Fang Yuan waved the four tickets in his hand with a laugh.
"We're ruined, we're ruined——" the three murmured.
Is this what they call the capriciousness of the wealthy?
"Bwoo..." Eevee perched on Fang Yuan's shoulder pouted, thinking that all this money was what it had earned playing games at Game City.
Spending it so extravagantly... darn it.
Having secured the tickets, Fang Yuan and his company entered the stadium with no trouble. The stadium was referred to as large, yet Fang Yuan felt that it wasn't even as big as the field at Pingcheng No.1 Middle School.
The venue might not be huge, but it could still accommodate a thousand people, and it also had a battling field, so it was well-equipped.
Since it wasn't time for Kena's lecture and public demonstration battle yet, there weren't many people in the stadium. Having settled down, Fang Yuan and the others began to chat idly.