Chapter 157: The Wild Brawl Between Chen Ou and Ajin (Part Two)

The news that Chen Ou and Gold were going to have a no-holds-barred street battle spread within a certain circle, sparking quite a bit of interest.

After all, neither of the two participants was a nobody.

Gold was no obscure figure. As the Pokédex holder of the Johto region, Gold himself was a renowned Trainer and a rising star of Johto. Although he still had many shortcomings, Gold's talent and strength had been validated by the public.

As for Chen Ou, he was a rookie Trainer who had shone brilliantly during major incidents. However, his reputation was widespread and rather mystical: rumors said he engaged in hand-to-hand combat with legendary Pokémon, that he didn't even look human anymore, that he could use Fire Punch and Flamethrower, and that he could conjure Hyper Beams with his bare hands...

All of the above... were true.

Of course, most people just took them as rumors. After all, shaping a Aura Sphere with one's bare hands was already subversive enough to cognitive understanding, and it had been many years since a Wielder of Aura had last appeared.

But conjuring a Hyper Beam with your bare hands was truly going too far! Did he really think he was a Pokémon?

One had to understand the mindset of ordinary people. After all, the vast majority of people in this world were completely ordinary. They had no supernatural powers, couldn't manifest the power of Aura, and had never even heard of the Viridian Forest's touch...

After all, this kind of power was appearing for the very first time. Anything discovered for the first time possessed research value. When Professor Oak first met Chen Ou, he even drew blood for testing.

It was only after taking the blood sample and analyzing it that Professor Oak finally believed Chen Ou was a human and not a Pokémon.

Though in a sense, if testing had revealed that Chen Ou wasn't human back then, it might have held even greater research value.

After all, the research value of a human's novel special ability versus a Pokémon capable of taking human form was somewhat different. At least for Professor Oak, who studied the relationship between Pokémon and humans, the importance of these two research subjects was completely incomparable.

However, by now, if Professor Oak were to draw Chen Ou's blood for testing again, he would discover that the nature of Chen Ou's blood was already different from that of ordinary humans. Of course, the same went for Cynthia. Both of them had completed a leap in the hierarchy of life.

Naturally, as everyone knew, eternal youth was not necessarily a good thing...

At the same time, the stronger and greater an immortal person was, the worse it tended to be...

Therefore, Chen Ou himself had his reservations...

We shall leave these matters aside for the moment.

Let us return our focus to the upcoming battle.

The No-Holds-Barred Battle Arena at Saffron University.

This was a dome-shaped structure enclosing a simulated urban area. It was quite sizable, roughly a third the size of Pallet Town—truly not small at all. Moreover, there was more than one such battle arena; there was also a woodland type and a desert type.

Unfortunately, they were practically never used.

A crowd had already gathered in the spectator stands of the battle arena.

Aside from the professors who had arrived yesterday and chosen to stay, others who lived nearby or traveled quickly had also made it.

For instance, Lance, stealing a moment from his busy schedule; Karen, loafing on the job; Bruno, also loafing on the job...

Nazuna had arrived as well; such a short distance was merely a matter of teleportation for her. The moment she teleported into the venue, she glanced around and naturally spotted Cynthia and Leaf sitting side by side in the courtside seats, chatting and laughing.

The two of them were momentarily baffled when they noticed Nazuna looking over. They politely greeted her, but Nazuna responded with a cold expression, then sat down next to Cynthia with an air of great familiarity.

Cynthia and Leaf first looked at the grim-faced Nazuna, then at each other, completely at a loss.

Unusually... Red had come as well.

"How do you have time to show up?" Blue leaned against the railing.

"There are some matters at the Cerulean Gym, so Misty went back first. Yellow went along with her to help handle things..."

Red's face bore a rather profound look of liberation...

Blue rolled his eyes and shook his head. He really didn't understand what was so great about women. Look at Red: he was dancing between various women and couldn't choose one. As for Chen Ou, even after making his choice, he still had a crowd of women lingering around him... It was simply absurd...

"Just watch the match. If Gold loses in a moment, I'll step down."

Red's words were flat, but Blue detected a murderous undertone. Clearly, Red really did want to give his good-for-nothing friend Chen Ou a thorough beating.

"I really don't advise you to play no-holds-barred with Chen Ou..."

Blue said flatly.

Red said nothing, only gazing at the arena below, looking very much like someone who wouldn't shed a tear until he saw the coffin.

Blue shrugged and fell silent as well.

On the other side, Lance stood alongside Bruno and Karen, watching the two figures entering the arena below.

Bruno smiled and said, "I didn't get to see Chen Ou make a move during the last major incident, but today I'll finally get my wish."

Karen paid no mind to this, instead looking at Chen Ou with a rather regretful expression. "Another of Kanto's handsome men has been snatched away by someone from another region."

Lance rolled his eyes at Karen. "Then why didn't you go after Chen Ou back then?"

Karen shot him a disdainful look in return... Did he really think she hadn't tried? But back then, he had been an absolute blockhead who refused both soft and hard tactics!

Just how on earth had Cynthia managed it???

Karen leaned against the railing, tilting her head to glance at Cynthia in her seat, a trace of inquisitive scrutiny in her eyes.

"The match is starting."

Bruno had no intention of entertaining their topic of conversation.

From their vantage point high above, the crowd observed the opening moves of the two figures below through the large overhead screen.

Once the two released their Pokémon, Bruno frowned and asked, "Gold's Typhlosion is his ace, but isn't Chen Ou being a bit too presumptuous? That Chimchar... it was probably born not too long ago, right..."

Karen was equally puzzled, failing to understand what Chen Ou was aiming for.

Lance, however, looked completely unfazed. Are you kidding me? Fighting a no-holds-barred street battle... Chen Ou wouldn't even have a problem not sending out a Pokémon at all...

"Let's wait and see..." Lance yawned and said.

"Speaking of which, Lance, why did you suddenly show up? Don't you have work to do?"

Karen asked out of the blue.

"Students still get a ten-minute break between classes... It'll be over soon anyway..." Lance projected a feeling of utter exhaustion. In fact, he wished Chen Ou would drag things out with Gold for a little longer.

But... it looked like Chen Ou was trying to establish his dominance this time. Establishing it for whom to see?

Lance scanned the surroundings, taking in the figures of everyone present, then closed his eyes, pondering who knows what.

Suddenly, the entire large screen was flooded with crimson flames...

"What the hell? Why is Chen Ou blocking the camera?"

Karen, looking up at the screen, said with mounting impatience.

Yet her question received no reply...

She noticed Bruno's expression of utter shock. Muttering 'What's going on?', she followed his line of sight and looked down.

Then, she froze...

Down in the arena below...

Where were the urban buildings anymore... it was nothing but a sea of fire...