An abstract trainer who taught Charmander the Incinerate move

Chapter 203 Bamboo Orchid's Hybrid Training Program (No traitors, some blueprints)

As she spoke, Zhu Lan, as if by magic, pulled out a high-end ball with an extremely fine workmanship, a yellow and black paint job, and a high-tech feel from who-knows-where.

She turned her gaze to the aloe vera, and though she felt apologetic, she pressed the capture button without hesitation.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Aloe, please cooperate. This is just a small verification experiment."

Aloe felt enveloped in the red light emanating from the Poké Ball, and a sense of offense and displeasure just began to rise within her.

But as soon as this thought arose, she was immediately suppressed by the absolute sense of oppression emanating from Zhu Lan, which stemmed from a level of life itself.

She could only stand frozen in place, her face a mixture of humiliation and confusion, watching helplessly as the red light swept over her entire body, and then…

Like a gentle breeze sweeping across a hillside, nothing happened.

Zhu Lan held up the unresponsive advanced ball in her hand and showed it to Mo Zhen, a calm smile reappearing on her lips, a smile that carried the air of academic victory.

"See? Ms. Aloe is still standing here unharmed. That's an undeniable fact! Now, you should believe me, right?"

Mo Zhen stroked his chin, staring at the high-grade ball and the aggrieved aloe vera, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Zhu Lan breathed a slight sigh of relief, thinking that he was finally beginning to accept reality.

However, the next second, Mo Zhen suddenly clapped his hands, his face showing an expression of sudden realization as if he had just solved a magic trick. He pointed at the advanced ball and solemnly drew a conclusion.

"Oh—! I see! Sister Zhulan, you've really gone to great lengths to promote your... well... rather subversive amateur scientific research!"

He adopted a serious expression and began to lecture the other person.

"But you really didn't need to resort to such tricks! This ball of yours... it's just a prop, it's fake, isn't it? It doesn't have any taming function at all, right? Oh dear, using such marketing tactics to promote your theory is beneath your dignity as a rigorous mythologist!"

Zhu Lan's smile froze instantly, and her arms, which were on her hips, paused slightly.

She never expected that the other party would question her from this angle.

"Heh, how could that be?"

She tried to keep her tone steady as she attempted to explain the value of the high-grade ball in her hand.

"This is the highest-grade Poké Ball I have right now. It's basically not available on the regular market. Theoretically, it has an extremely high success rate for catching wild Pokémon below level 70! If you don't believe me, feel free to try it with your Pokémon..."

Her gaze swept over Xiao Huolong, who was curiously watching from the side, and the canned yellow peach's entire body of fat immediately trembled in fright.

"Oh really?"

Mo Zhen raised an eyebrow, unceremoniously snatched the high-grade ball from Zhu Lan's hand, and with an innate confident smile on his face, turned around and pressed the capture button on Xiao Huolong's fat, round belly, which looked like it would be difficult to capture.

"Xiao Huolong, cooperate with me, stand still and let Sister Zhulan see what kind of Poké Ball she has."

"Oh~~"

Although Xiao Huolong didn't understand why, he still obediently let out a signature Tang-style trill and puffed out his belly.

A beam of red light shot out from the advanced sphere and precisely enveloped Xiao Huolong.

The light flickered a few times, as if it had tried, and then...

The red light, imbued with the power of Palkia's space, was violently repelled as if by some even more powerful dimensional barrier, instantly vanishing without a trace.

Xiao Huolong remained standing in the same spot, even curiously reaching out his paw to pat the unresponsive advanced ball.

"Huh?! This...how is this possible?!"

Zhu Lan's composed smile completely crumbled, her icy blue eyes filled with disbelief and astonishment!
She has always had great confidence in her equipment, and this high-grade ball is a special product with absolutely no possibility of malfunction!

Unless... this mutated little fire dragon's energy level or life form is special enough to make it immune to high-level orbs?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Based on her years of research in mythology, only four beings in the entire Pokémon world can reach this level of existence.

The canned yellow peach in front of him didn't seem to be of that level at all; its energy level was at most around level 30. Mo Zhen smugly stuffed the "invalid" high-level ball into the inside pocket of his suit jacket with a smooth and effortless motion.

Then, he turned to Zhu Lan, who was clearly in doubt, and adopted the posture of an experienced person advising a lost soul to return to the right path, and earnestly gave her some advice.

"I'm not trying to criticize you, Sister Zhulan. It's good to do academic research and pursue the truth, but you must follow the right path! To prove your... well... rather advanced views, you use questionable props to create a false sense of mystery. That's really a low-class approach! It really damages the reputation of a renowned scholar like you!"

Seeing that not only had her experiment failed, but she had also been mistaken by the other party as a fraudster who engaged in academic fraud, Zhu Lan was really angry this time!
On the surface, she maintained a peaceful smile towards Mo Zhen, but in her heart, a raging storm was brewing. She cursed the name of a certain black-hearted dragon who controlled the space countless times through gritted teeth in her heart.

Palkia, you damned assembly line worker, how dare you cut corners on my custom-made Poké Ball! Looks like I really have to use the [Red Chain] to control you!
Despite her burning murderous intent, Zhu Lan's strong ability to control her emotions allowed her to quickly regain her composure in front of Mo Zhen.

She coughed lightly to cover up her momentary embarrassment and turbulent inner turmoil, deciding to take a different approach and present another piece of evidence that she considered irrefutable.

"Well... even if the identity of this Ms. Aloe Vera is somewhat... uh, controversial, and cannot be perfectly verified at the moment."

She skillfully evaded this failed argument and steered the conversation in another direction.

"So, you must have witnessed everything that happened to that boy named Gongping, right? That extraordinary burst of physical strength, and the strange phenomena that followed... Isn't that enough to prove that some individuals do indeed possess bloodline traits that transcend the realm of ordinary humans and are similar to those of elves? You can't possibly say that it was all fake, can you?"

Although surprised that Zhu Lan knew so much about Gong Ping's affairs, Mo Zhen's instinctive rebuttal, based on facts, immediately prevailed.

He chuckled and waved his hand, as if dispelling some unrealistic fantasy.

"Hey! You mean that loser Gongping? What kind of hybrid talent explosion is that? It's a miracle brought down by the True Dragon Zekrom!"

His tone was resolute, as if he were stating a universal truth.

"He's essentially just an ordinary, repressed, power-hungry turtle who doesn't know how to use it! His performance was purely due to Zekrom's possession by a demon. He wasn't chosen because of any hybrid physique; it was purely a blessing he earned in his past life by being the protagonist and saving Unova. This is a bit complicated to explain, and it can't be put into a few words, but anyway..."

Mo Zhen stared at Zhu Lan's beautiful eyes, as if making a final judgment, and said with great certainty.

"Sister Zhulan, you must have read too much of my novel 'The Turtle Clan.' You see everyone as a chosen one with a hidden bloodline. Let me tell you, it's all artistic embellishment. I don't even believe what's written in it myself. It's just to fool those low-income people and those suffering from severe sexual repression, to let them project themselves onto the story and have fun..."

Zhu Lan opened her mouth, recalling the satisfied look on her face when she read "The Tortoise Clan," and began to tremble with doubt about life.

What?! I...I'm a person with low self-esteem, low social status, and low libido?! I'm a patient with severe sexual repression?!

She looked at Mo Zhen's smug expression, her eyes filled with endless resentment.

Zhu Lan glared at Mo Zhen with a deep look, her tone becoming stubborn and firm, as if she were making a vow.

"Hmm... very good! My argument wasn't rigorous enough! You wait, Mo Zhen, I'll come back to you again. When enough irrefutable evidence is laid out before you, one by one, you'll one day have to believe that this world is far more vast, more bizarre, and more... interesting than you realize."

Mo Zhen felt a little uneasy under Zhu Lan's persistent, almost obsessive gaze. He turned his head slightly and communicated with Xiao Mengzi, who was floating on his shoulder, through his eyes.

【Hey, what's going on here? Are we being pestered? This Ms. Zhu Lan seems determined to prove her academic worth to me...】

Xiaomengzi immediately replied using her telekinesis, her tone filled with a smug satisfaction that she had expected this.

"Ugh! I told you a long time ago that this woman seemed weird! I felt something was off about her ever since the Witch's Cafe! Now you believe me, right? I seriously suspect she's been following us all along, otherwise how could she know so much about that loser Gongping, how he suddenly unleashed his power in the warehouse... This is a detail that can't be obtained through normal intelligence channels!"

Just as the two were secretly exchanging glances and using telepathy to vent their frustrations, Zhu Lan seemed to suddenly remember something, interrupting their internal conversation.

“Oh, by the way. It’s quite a coincidence, I didn’t come to see you alone this time. There was someone… well, I should say your ‘old friend,’ who came with me. It seems to have something very important to tell you. It…”

As Zhu Lan spoke, she naturally looked down at her feet, as if expecting some small thing to be there.

However, all she could see was the rough cement ground of the construction site and a few scattered pebbles.

Mo Zhen tilted his head and teased with a mocking expression.

"What? You brought Mr. Air with you? That's really my old friend, I don't know how I'd breathe without it..."

A hint of suspicion flashed in Zhu Lan's eyes. She slightly furrowed her delicate eyebrows and muttered to herself.

"That's strange... It was just sitting obediently by my feet a moment ago, how come it disappeared in such a short time?"

(End of this chapter)