Pokémon: Did you play Pokémon today?

Chapter 213 "Little Green: Tsk! I just can't do anything with you guys!"

"We've arrived in Viridian City! Let's grab a quick bite first—oops! Let's get the last Gym Badge!"

Bai Zhou forcibly corrected his slip of the tongue that had inadvertently revealed his true feelings, and controlled Xiao Bai to focus the view on the somewhat old-looking Viridian Gym in front of him.

To showcase it to the viewers in the live stream.

"As everyone knows, the Viridian Gym is closed year-round in the game's setting, and the gym leader is nowhere to be found."

Bai Zhou used a teasing tone.

"So under normal circumstances, we almost have no way to obtain the Viridian Badge here through formal challenges—"

"Huh!? Is that right?"

Red joined the conversation at the right time, playing the role of the curious child, but halfway through his question, he suddenly recalled his own experience from back then.

"I remember when I came back with all seven badges, he seemed—well, he hadn't officially taken over the gym yet, I was—"

His words came to an abrupt halt, as if he realized that he had sneaked in back then, only to be caught red-handed by Sakaki, who seemed to have been waiting there all along.

It doesn't seem very honorable to talk about this—

"If we don't collect all eight badges, we're not qualified to challenge the Pokémon League champion!"

Crimson quickly changed the subject, her tone tinged with "anxiety".

"Does this mean we have to sneak in and borrow a badge?"

"Ahem! Green and healthy! Green and healthy! Watch your mouth when you speak!"

Bai Zhou quickly interrupted Chi Hong's dangerous statement, his tone serious.

"Don't you dare corrupt the kids! Let me finish what I have to say!"

Good guy!

A legendary battle arena, offering online tutorials on how to illegally obtain gym badges?

This live stream might get shut down by the cyber police any second now!

"That's why I said that's under normal circumstances."

Shiro patiently explained to Akane and the audience, while simultaneously guiding Shiro towards the tightly closed main gate of the Viridian Gym.

"Once we collect the first seven badges, return to the Viridian Gym, and you'll find—"

He clicked the interact button.

"Just in time to run into our formidable rival—Midori—coming out of the Viridian Gym."

A meaningful smile appeared on Bai Zhou's lips.

"And it was he who 'gave' us the last Viridian Badge."

As soon as the words were spoken, the imposing gate of the Viridian Gym creaked open from the inside in the game screen.

A figure with a flamboyant spiky hairstyle and an arrogant expression strode out from inside.

He even impatiently shoved Xiaobai, who was blocking the doorway, a few steps away, perfectly interrupting Xiaobai's preparation to enter the dojo.

Little Green: Hey! I didn't expect to meet you guys here.

In the game, Little Green spoke in a slightly provocative tone, scratching his hair in a showy manner, his eyes scanning back and forth between Little White and Little Red next to him.

A faint smile played at the corners of his lips, as if he were anticipating something.

"Little Green: Are you here to get the last gym badge too? Too bad, the gym leader isn't here, so you're destined not to get it."

"Attention, family members!"

Bai Zhou emphasized into the microphone, his tone slightly mocking.

"At this point, if we choose to continue interacting with our rival, Green," according to the usual storyline, he will challenge us to a battle. If we defeat him, he will reward us with an Everlasting Badge!"

Looking at the formidable rival, Little Green, whose face practically screamed "Hurry up and keep asking me questions!" and "Come challenge me!", I felt a surge of admiration.

Bai Zhou did not immediately press the interaction button to advance the plot.

"So that's how it is—"

A crimson voice came through, tinged with a sense of sudden realization.

"Speaking of which, isn't Qinglv the Gym Leader of Viridian City in real life? It makes sense for him to bestow the Viridian Badge."

He watched as the game character on the screen, whose demeanor, tone of voice, and even the smallest gestures became more and more like his arrogant childhood friend in real life as the story progressed.

A strange urge welled up inside me to immediately pull out a Poké Ball and beat him up in the game.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Crimson urged, his fighting spirit seemingly ignited even outside the game.

"Let's beat this arrogant guy up, get the badge, and then head to the Pokémon League!"

"~Don't rush me—"

Bai Zhou drawled out his words, his knowing smile hinting at "you're still too young," as he stopped him: "To obtain the Tokiwa Badge, we actually have a more orthodox and authentic method, which doesn't necessarily require going through Little Green."

As he spoke, he controlled the little white creature in the game, completely ignoring the little green creature standing in front of him with expectant eyes.

I walked towards the gate of the Tokiwa Dojo again, trying to go straight in.

"As long as we ignore our rival, Green, completely treat him like he's invisible, and insist on entering the Viridian Gym—"

Little Green: Hey! You two! Are you even listening to me?!

When Little Green saw that Little White and Little Red were ignoring him, he immediately frowned and spoke with obvious anger, taking a step to block their way.

"Little Green: There's no one inside! You won't get the Viridian Badge even if you go in!"

He changed the subject, his tone becoming somewhat condescending.

"Little Green: Well—I happen to have some extra Viridian Badges on hand. If you're willing to ask me for one, I might consider it—"

"Crimson, let's ignore him and just walk around him."

Bai Zhou completely ignored Xiao Lü's "suggestion" and calmly instructed Xiao Bai to lead Xiao Chi around the side.

This made Little Green panic!

He strode forward, grabbed Xiaobai and Xiaochi's arms with one hand each, and forced them to stop!

The movements were so fast they were almost frantic.

Little Green: Tsk! I just can't do anything with you guys!

His tone carried a sense of frustration, as if he had made a huge concession.

"Little Green: Alright! I'll give you a chance! Challenge me! If you can defeat me, I'll give you an Everlasting Badge! Is that alright?!"

"Feel sorry."

Bai Zhou answered the microphone on behalf of the game character in a completely emotionless voice.

"We have more important things to take care of, so we don't have time to play with you. Keep the extra Viridian Badges as souvenirs."

These words were like a thunderclap, instantly turning their formidable rival, Little Green, into a red-hot situation!

His characters all seemed to be trembling slightly with anger.

"That—Teacher Salty Fish."

Red looked at Green on the screen, whose face was flushed red and looked like it was about to explode at any moment, and seemed a little reluctant.

"Is it a bit unfair of us to treat him like this—he seems to really want to fight us—"

Upon hearing this, Bai Zhou's expression turned quite strange, and he asked with a hint of amusement, "What? You really think of him as Qinglu in real life? You're starting to feel sorry for him?"

"No way! What are you talking about, Salty Fish Teacher! What does this have to do with green?!"

Crimson, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly bristled and retorted angrily.

But—the boy's blush said it all.

Little Green: You! You all! You're awful!

Little Green, panting heavily as if deeply insulted, abruptly shook off Little White and Little Red's arms.

"Little Green: You'll regret this! If you don't collect all eight badges, let's see how you participate in the Pokémon League Challenge!"

He uttered these harsh words and turned to leave.

He took long strides, his back view resolute.

But after taking only a few steps, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and added aggressively to the two of them, as if afraid they hadn't heard him clearly.

"Little Green: Even if you kneel down on Highway 22 and beg me, I will absolutely not give you the badge!"

After uttering this half-threatening remark, Xiao Lü finally stopped lingering and left without looking back, her departing figure even carrying a touch of tragic resignation.

This series of reactions—a mix of feigned indifference, exasperation, and hidden concern—instantly caused the live stream chat to explode with gossip, analysis, and "auntie smiles."

"So you can choose not to battle Little Green to get badges here? That's something new! But if you don't fight him, where do you get the badges?"

"Salted Fish Teacher, you have no heart!!! Little Green was clearly waiting for us at the entrance of the Viridian Gym on purpose! Just to hand us the badges personally! How could you hurt such a tsundere's heart like this! He was so looking forward to it!"

"Case solved! Case solved! I always thought Green was here to cause trouble, but now that I see the plot, he clearly came here specifically to give me the badge! He was just too embarrassed to give it to me directly! He had to find an excuse like winning the battle!"

"He really—I'm so upset! Pay attention to his last sentence! He specifically emphasized Highway 22!" This means he'll be waiting for us on Highway 22 again! He'll still find a way to give us the badge then!

"You guys don't understand, do you? Do you know why Little Green is so obsessed with the protagonist? That brings us to the untold story between him and the prototypes of the player character, Cyan and Crimson!"

"Green and crimson, lock them together! I'll swallow the key! A haughty, sharp-tongued nobleman VS a passionate, simple-minded battle maniac! What an amazing couple! AWSL!!!"

"Wait a minute! Guys, I've found something important! Little Green said there's no one in the gym, so where did he get all those extra 'Everlasting Badges'?! And it sounds like there's more than one!"

"Now that you mention it—Holy crap! He came out of the gym! There's only one truth! He went in and took them!" And to avoid the protagonist being accused of "stealing" as well, he even "kindly" took a few extra, just so he could "justifiably" give them to the protagonist?! My god! What an amazing pair of best (and crazy) brothers!"

At the same time, in the Kanto region.

The main control room at the Rainbow Rocket Team base in Tokiwa City.

Since Chi Hong was pulled away by Bai Zhou to participate in the joint live broadcast, Qing Lü replaced Chi Hong as the person in charge of the base and handling daily affairs.

Inside the main control room, several floating electronic screens are monitoring and summarizing the progress of various tasks inside and outside the organization in real time.

On the surface, Qinglu appears to be diligently handling official business, but upon closer inspection, one can notice that his gaze occasionally drifts towards one of the shrunk split screens.

On it, Bai Zhou's live stream was playing silently, and—

The comment section next to it was scrolling by rapidly.

When he saw the barrage of comments in the live stream, which were becoming increasingly outrageous and especially mocking his relationship with Chi Hong, he was deeply moved.

His face darkened visibly, and the low pressure emanating from him almost made the temperature in the control room drop several degrees. Even Xiao Huang and Xiao Lan, who were idly chatting not far behind him, clearly felt the chill and shivered in unison.

Xiao Lan blinked her bright, lively eyes.

Looking at the comments on the screen that said "locked" and "got it", he secretly glanced at Qinglu, whose face was ashen.

A sly smile curled at the corner of his lips as he spoke in a tone as if he had discovered some earth-shattering secret: "Oh my, as expected of our young master Qinglu!"

She deliberately dragged out the last syllable, each word sounding like a small hammer striking Qinglu's taut nerves.

"In order to give Crimson the badge, but not wanting to seem too deliberate, she actually waited for him at the gym entrance~ and even used the awkward excuse of 'winning the challenge' as a condition~ She's so thoughtful and considerate~ She's practically the perfect partner~"

Although Xiao Huang didn't respond, her gaze involuntarily drifted to Qinglu's stiff back, her big eyes flashing with an undisguised envy.

if--

If only Little Red could be with me—

Hmm! What strange thing am I thinking!

Her cheeks flushed bright red in an instant, and steam seemed to rise from the top of her head.

But then, that blush turned into a faint sense of loss, and she murmured almost inaudibly, "I'm so envious of Little Green, being able to get along so well with Little Red—"

"That's just a game character! An NPC! Data created by Brother Bai Zhou with his twisted sense of humor! It's not me at all! Don't get confused, okay!"

Qinglu finally couldn't hold back and suddenly turned around. A swastika symbol seemed to materialize on her forehead, and her tone was filled with suppressed anger.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and retorted in a more "rational" tone, "Besides! Am I that kind of person? Arrogant? I wish that Crimson guy was lost in some cave and would never come out! Who would bother waiting for him to give him a badge! Ridiculous!"

"Mmm, mmm, I know, I know~ It wasn't you, it wasn't you~ It definitely wasn't something our proud and arrogant young master Qinglv would do~"

Xiao Lan spoke in a tone as if coaxing a child, her eyes darting around slyly before she immediately changed her angle and continued her "attack."

"Let's change the subject then—let's not talk about games anymore."

She tilted her head, her face full of innocent curiosity, as if it were just a casual question.

"Did you sneak around and steal that Everlasting Badge you got back then?"

Green: "!!!"

His body froze instantly, as if struck by an invisible "petrification ray," and the expression on his face solidified into a perfect "囧" (jiǒng, meaning awkward or embarrassed).

All the explanations and anger were stuck in his throat.

That doesn't count as stealing at all!

But—but there just happened to be no one at the Tokiwa Dojo that day!

The owner has disappeared!

I just—I just went in to take a look!

Yes! Look! And then that badge—just inexplicably—was in my hands!

Wait, why is Bai Zhou even including this kind of embarrassing past in the game?!

Destroy it already, I'm tired.

This world is full of misunderstandings.