Chapter Ninety-Two: Wu Song Arrives in Guandu

Wukong stood on the Quartz Plateau, at the gates of Alliance Headquarters.

He lifted his head and gazed toward the distant sky. Following his line of sight, a tiny black speck was racing closer at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The weather was rare and fine; the sunlight was just right, and even the air seemed to drift along in a languid haze. Wukong narrowed his eyes, savoring a moment of leisure that came all too seldom. The speck in the sky was Moon Orchid, the Sinnoh Champion who had come from afar. Originally, receiving a foreign guest should have been Kokona’s job, but when Wukong heard that Moon Orchid’s purpose was Chen Ou, he took the assignment on himself. First, the task was indeed fairly easy, and might as well count as a holiday. Second, was this perhaps a mess he himself had stirred up...

Wukong was uneasy as well. When he had been fanning the flames in the group chat, he had guessed that Cynthia would step forward to testify for Chen Ou. He had not anticipated that Karune would speak up too, but the outcome had been good.

He had vented his urge to make things difficult for Chen Ou, and no one had actually been hurt for it.

But now Moon Orchid had come...

Could this fellow really be here to challenge Chen Ou? Then he had better be careful and tell him in advance not to sell him out. Otherwise, that bastard Chen Ou would absolutely seize the chance to settle accounts with him.

[Still, maybe not,] Wukong stroked his chin. [Perhaps the Champion of Sinnoh has come because the flower of Sinnoh was plucked by Chen Ou, and he wants to size Chen Ou up.]

Thinking of it that way, it did seem reasonable...

A rather lewd smile spread across Wukong’s face. He seemed already to foresee Chen Ou, in order to prove himself worthy of Cynthia, summoning Entei and then facing Moon Orchid in a no-rules battle.

Tsk tsk tsk. Too bloody. He just hoped Chen Ou would go easy.

While Wukong was lost in fanciful thoughts, Moon Orchid was drawing nearer and nearer.

He sat atop a rented Staraptor, with a travel bag slung over his back in a way that rather spoiled his image.

He looked somewhat weary, which suited the appearance of someone who had journeyed a long way.

As he looked at the Kanto Alliance Headquarters coming closer and closer, he too let out a breath of relief, and a smile appeared on his face.

[Thank heavens, at last. If I’m delayed another two days, that egg will probably hatch. Then Cynthia would tear me apart...]

Though he did not know exactly what it was about Dr. Chen Ou that attracted Cynthia, Moon Orchid was nevertheless genuinely glad that his good friend had found a boyfriend.

And that boyfriend also seemed to be a formidable figure, accomplished both in literature and martial arts.

That would be good for the Sinnoh Alliance too! Hopefully, in future it would be this great figure who came to work in the Sinnoh Alliance, so that their workload could be shared by one more person.

Given Cynthia’s personality, as long as no one in the Sinnoh Alliance emerged who could defeat her, she would not step down from the Champion’s seat.

For Cynthia, or rather for most Champions, the title of Champion was not merely an honor, but a responsibility.

Everyone who sat in that position did so with the conviction that they would die in it.

Thinking of it that way, if Dr. Chen Ou wanted Cynthia to go home and raise children, he would at least have to defeat Cynthia head-on. Good heavens! Was that even a possible task?

He might as well hope that Dr. Chen Ou could capture Arceus!

Moon Orchid was amused by his own thoughts. Then he composed himself, looked toward the increasingly near Kanto Alliance Headquarters, and wore the solemn air of a Sinnoh Champion.

A moment later, Moon Orchid landed. He gently patted the neck of the Staraptor that had carried him tirelessly all this way, then recalled it. Though it was a rented Pokémon, the little fellow had truly been of great help throughout the journey.

After that, Moon Orchid turned around, smiling at Wukong, who was watching him with an equally courteous smile, and extended his hand.

“Hello, Champion Wukong. I am Moon Orchid, the Psychic-type Elite Four of the Sinnoh region. A pleasure to meet you. I hope we can get along well.”

In truth, everyone found Wukong’s title rather awkward. Wukong was the Dragon Elite Four of Kanto, yet he was also the Champion of Chengdu, so people generally regarded him as the Champion of both regions. But he was firmly held in check by Kokona...

For so many years, he could defeat Bruno and suppress Agatha, yet every time he ran into Kokona, he would be flattened.

As for Kokona, she could only beat him; Agatha’s experience and battle style were indeed difficult for her to handle. Bruno needed no explanation either, since Fighting beats Ice, and that was that.

But Bruno really could not beat Wukong, the “Dragon” Elite Four. After all, he was a Flying-type...

Agatha, meanwhile, simply had no such intention, so she never won all the way through. Every time, she lost to Wukong, or Kokona, or Bruno.

A rotating cycle of defeat.

Anyway, with the degree of internal competition among the Kanto Elite Four, so long as Agatha did not suddenly grow wild with youthful passion, there would never be a true Champion.

And as everyone knew, for something like a Champion, better to have none than to settle for a poor one.

Every Champion had climbed there step by step through battle.

And a Champion at the League Conference could challenge the Champion of the Elite Four and, by winning, become the Champion, or one of the Elite Four. The capable rise, the mediocre fall, the inferior are eliminated.

At its core, this was still a world where strength did the talking.

So Wukong truly thought highly of Chen Ou. He was simply waiting for Chen Ou to come and flatten all four of them, then become the Kanto Champion, and take on the heaviest work.

Of course, this was only because Wukong did not yet know what Moon Orchid was thinking. Otherwise, these two men, both called “model workers,” would surely have come to blows.

One could see how scarce high-level labor really was.

Thinking of it that way, if Chen Ou really did become Champion, he would truly have a mountain of work to do. At present, what Wukong and Moon Orchid were doing was still human work.

Chen Ou, however, would have to do inhuman work.

After all, he was an employee of Arceus’s boss!

Wukong had never been very concerned with titles. He would rather not be the Champion at all... fortunately, the Elite Four over in Chengdu really did plenty of work, sparing him a great deal of trouble.

Of course, how much work one had to do depended not only on personal sense of responsibility, but more importantly on strength.

If you could win, of course you had less work.

If you could not, then you did more. Thinking of it that way, Cynthia was also a model worker. With her strength, she could easily have the Elite Four do all the work while she loafed around everywhere.

That was exactly how Karune and Adrek did it!

[Corrupt officials.]

“No need for courtesy. Just call me Wukong.” Wukong shook Moon Orchid’s hand and said with a smile. Then he withdrew his hand and looked at the large bag on Moon Orchid’s back. “You’ve had a hard journey. Would you like me to carry that bag for you? It doesn’t look light.”

Moon Orchid shook his head with a wry smile. “No, thank you for the kindness. I’ve been carrying it all the way here anyway, so I might as well carry it to the end. This is the Pokémon egg Cynthia exchanged for Dr. Chen Ou using her Champion privileges. That’s the main reason I came.”

Wukong felt an indescribable sourness well up in his heart...

“And what’s the secondary reason?” Wukong changed the subject.

“I intend to have a talk with Dr. Chen Ou,” Moon Orchid said solemnly.

Wukong’s eyes lit up all at once!

[Here it comes? Here it comes? Is this the legendary duel for love? I’m fired up!!]