Chapter 160: The End of the Incident and Reunion

When Chen Ou and Gold emerged from the training ground, they found themselves facing a crowd staring at Chen Ou as if he were a monster.

Professor Oak had just finished explaining Chen Ou's special abilities to everyone, which helped set their minds at ease. Of course, it was a heavily sanitized version of the truth.

Chen Ou's real secrets could obviously never be revealed to others.

Such as the fact that he was fundamentally a person from another world.

All this information that could easily provoke covetousness from anyone was firmly suppressed by Professor Oak. In the eyes of the onlookers, the young Chen Ou of back then was simply a boy blessed with extraordinary abilities, brought from parts unknown by Celebi.

And the Chen Ou of today... the rising star of the research community, the beacon of hope for the future of Trainers, one of the public faces of the Oak family, a humanoid divine beast...

In short, while Chen Ou looked like just one person, he had long since become a central figure with immense power and influence pooled behind him. There were already many people following in his footsteps, and there would be even more in the future.

In truth, many people had never quite understood why the Oak family chose to groom an adopted child as the future head of the family instead of the already accomplished Green.

Now, however, Professor Oak's choice seemed to have been completely, flawlessly correct. A leader of this caliber might well propel the Oak family to even greater heights.

Seeing the two of them come out, Professor Elm hurried forward to support Gold, whose legs still felt somewhat weak, and asked with concern, "Are you alright, Gold?"

Then, he glared at Chen Ou and said, "Xiao Ou, why didn't you give a heads-up beforehand? At least I could have told Gold to be more careful."

Chen Ou looked entirely innocent as he replied, "I told you during lunch today, didn't I? I said to let Gold be careful because I was going to play for keeps this time."

Hearing this, Professor Elm was momentarily choked for words, and after a long while, he could only gaze up at the ceiling in helpless resignation.

Heaven knows who could have guessed that your "playing for keeps" would be so utterly absurd!

Erika and Sabrina, standing nearby, shared a simultaneous wave of relief that the League regulations mandated standard official battles for Gym challenges. If wild, unrestrained combat were permitted... they wouldn't even need to battle Chen Ou; they could just hand over their badges on a silver platter and spare themselves a brush with death. Who could guarantee that while Chen Ou had managed to hold back this time, he wouldn't accidentally hurt someone the next?

Joking aside... even with just a one-in-ten-thousand chance of an accident, nobody was willing to gamble on that. There was simply no point in taking unnecessary risks.

Cynthia also walked over, looked at Chen Ou, and said, "Would you like an early opportunity to challenge for the title? If it's no-holds-barred street fighting, you should already be strong enough to become Champion."

Lance's eyes went wide instantly!

No way! Don't do that! That was his designated successor! That was his ticket to early retirement! That was his key to slacking off on the job!

Cynthia! You young people have no martial ethics! Using your looks! Launching a sneak attack! Trying to steal his successor!

Lance was nearly panicking; this wouldn't do! His prized peach was about someone else's to pick!

"No."

Chen Ou refused decisively.

Lance instantly felt a wave of relief wash over him. As expected, his buddy was reliable and knew how to be considerate of his hard work.

Just as he let out a sigh of relief, however, he failed to notice Agatha casting a peculiar glance his way.

"I want to defeat you on the battlefield, under proper rules. Only then will succeeding you be entirely legitimate and justified, otherwise people will say you threw the match or ran away."

Chen Ou looked straight into Cynthia's eyes, smiling as he spoke with earnest sincerity.

Lance: ...I misjudged him; the real clown was me all along...

Cynthia paused to think about it, and realized it did make sense. The main reason she had blurted out those words earlier was simply because the impact Chen Ou had just made on her was too overwhelming.

"Fine then, I'll listen to you." Cynthia flashed a smile as gentle and stirring as a spring breeze.

Chen Ou took her hand, making no attempt to hide it from the crowd. Friendly smiles bloomed on everyone's faces. Leaf's smile carried a faint trace of loss, while Sabrina's face darkened instantly before she vanished in a flash of teleportation.

She could tolerate watching Cynthia and Chen Ou act all lovey-dovey, but tasting Chen Ou's romance firsthand... if she hadn't suspected she couldn't beat him, she would have gone right up to fight Cynthia, thrashed her soundly, and then thoroughly tormented Chen Ou to let him know who was boss.

Seeing this, Cynthia's smile remained unchanged, though she gave Chen Ou's palm a sharp pinch.

Wincing in pain, Chen Ou managed with great effort to control his facial muscles, though his smile still stiffened for a second. In the privacy of his own mind, he thought:

[I can explain... wait, no, I don't even need to explain, I really don't have anything going on with Sabrina...]

[Mhm, my Chen Ou is just so charming, isn't he? Sabrina, of all people, the famous iceberg beauty. And Sister Leaf, what a wonderful person. Even Elite Four Lorelei's expression looked a bit off just now, didn't it? Is there a story there?]

Cynthia's voice echoed directly inside Chen Ou's mind.

This was a byproduct of their bond—telepathy between the two parties, which not only allowed conversation but also served as a lie detector...

[There's no story at all! You know how I was back then, my heart was entirely set on going home, and just as I finally made up my mind to stay here, I got captured by you. Heaven and earth as my witness, I am truly not a flirt!]

[Hmph!]

Cynthia rolled her eyes at him.

[I'll settle accounts with you later.]

The two stopped their encrypted telepathic conversation. After all, there were still so many people around. The Trainers who had watched the match had mostly slipped away quietly, abandoning any thoughts of issuing challenges.

Yes, Bruno, they were talking about you.

The Professors also came over to exchange pleasantries with Chen Ou before departing one by one. After all, they still had their own research to attend to. Though they were all intensely curious to study Chen Ou himself, the nature of the matter made it awkward to bring up, so they could only bury the thought deep in their hearts while plotting how to sneakily draw a vial of Chen Ou's blood.

Before leaving, Professor Felicia pulled Cynthia aside to offer some parting advice: "Cynthia, you saw it too—Xiao Ou is in high demand. Seize the opportunity and stay here in Kanto for a couple more days."

"I still have work to do, Grandmother." Cynthia sighed inwardly, feeling quite helpless. She wasn't the least bit worried that Chen Ou would slip away from her; ever since their minds connected, Cynthia understood Chen Ou's temperament even better than she understood her own.

Seeing her granddaughter acting so unconcerned, Professor Felicia quickly stepped closer to continue her persuasion.

Lines like "Work can be postponed, romance cannot" and "You can just make Lucian work a few extra days of overtime, right?" came tumbling out.

Lucian: ??? What did I do wrong?!

Meanwhile, Red and Green had walked over to Chen Ou's side as well.

"Long time no see, Red. Well? Have you made your choice?"

Chen-Ou-the-expert-at-touching-raw-nerves asked the moment they met.

The sentimental mood Red had felt upon reuniting with an old friend vanished instantly. He rolled his eyes at Chen Ou and said, "Look at the mess you've made! Hurry up and get stronger! So I can beat you to a pulp!"

Green looked at the two of them starting to bicker and could only shake his head in resignation.

"Hello, Dr. Chen Ou."

Suddenly, a female voice echoed directly within Chen Ou's mind.

Chen Ou was startled for a fraction of a second, and then a complex mix of emotions welled up in his eyes... excitement, sympathy, joy, and sorrow...

"I've heard a great deal about you, Mewtwo."

Chen Ou said in a voice tinged with deep emotion.

"I heard about what happened with you, and wanted to come see you."

Mewtwo was silent for a moment before replying.

"I've wanted to meet you for a long time too, Mewtwo."

Chen Ou looked toward the spot beside Red where Mewtwo was gradually materializing, and murmured softly.

ps: If anyone has other favorite characters they'd like to see, please leave a comment in the review section, and I'll update the character cards over the weekend. I hope everyone wouldn't mind dropping a like for the characters as well.

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