NOVEL NEXT Chapter 331: Something Feels Off
Arthur had never personally experienced what Aaron had gone through.
Two hundred years ago, Pokémon were still a scarce resource, far from the common sight they were today, and they rarely circulated on the open market.
Arthur's Pokémon in his past life were either ones he had fought… and captured himself, or ones he had exchanged for with military merits. No one could take them away from him.
But as he looked at the Garchomp, which was currently having a spirited spar with his own little delinquent dragoness during the halftime break, an idea for how to comfort him suddenly came to mind.
"If you feel like no one cares about your performance in the arena, then why not think more about your Pokémon? As you said, this Garchomp was forced to be separated from you for a long time, but now it's still following you without any resentment, isn't it?"
In Arthur's view, Aaron's psychological problem was both very complex and, in a way, very simple.
To put it bluntly, he had been bullied by his family for so long that his spirit had broken, and he had given up.
No one cared about the competition he loved. All the effort he put in was casually dismissed.
His family only cared about when he would use his pretty face to trick one of the sisters into marriage so that the family business could climb to the next level. So he had just decided to lie flat, allowing Bianca to dislike him more and more.
This mentality needed to change.
But Arthur had no intention of thoughtlessly telling him to be magnanimous.
You haven't felt another's pain, so don't advise them to be kind.
Besides, whether Aaron forgave his parents or not had nothing to do with him. He just hoped this teammate could pull himself together on the battlefield.
"When you feel like no one in this world cares about your passion, why not look back at your Pokémon? They will always trust you unconditionally, won't they?"
To this, Aaron just gave a bitter smile.
"It's not as easy as you make it sound. All of my Pokémon were bought with my family's money. To make sure I stay obediently at the Starlight and Frost team, they even went so far as to have every single one of my Pokémon legally notarized, clarifying their ownership. According to the law, none of my current Pokémon belong to me. They are just temporarily leased to me by my family according to a contract."
They can do that?
Arthur was shocked.
"And the terms of the contract are?"
"Of course, it's for me to marry either Ivy or Bianca, or at least facilitate a business partnership between their family and mine. The contract is for five years. According to the notarization, if I can't do it within five years, all the Pokémon will be taken back by them."
"Hiss…"
Arthur sucked in a breath of cold air.
This family was truly ruthless!
Precisely because they knew Aaron loved competitive Pokémon, they were using the thing he valued most to threaten him!
And Aaron, not wanting to be manipulated like this, but unable to break free, had no choice but to give up.
Holding a thermos every day, sipping tea, guarding a water cooler with neither joy nor sorrow…
As if he had been purged of all worldly desires.
For a moment, even Arthur was stunned.
But after a moment of contemplation, he still hadn't given up hope.
"How much are all of your Pokémon worth in total?"
"At the time of the contract, the notarized value was over ninety million, based on their purchase price. Just under a hundred million."
Arthur stroked his chin—it seemed Gible were cheaper than Dratini. Aaron had eight Pokémon in total for only ninety million. He remembered asking Flora back in the youth camp, and her one Dratini had cost seventy million.
It was probably because Dratini mainly live in the deep sea, while Gible are found on land.
"This contract you're under, does it require you to pay a penalty if you break it?"
"Uh, no, it doesn't."
Hearing this, Arthur was no longer worried.
"Then what are you afraid of?"
"Huh?"
"Ninety million. You can earn that back by winning one championship, can't you?"
The prize money from a single championship certainly wasn't that much, but with the various endorsements, advertising fees, and the Rare Candies you get as a reward, if you sold them all, it wouldn't be hard to scrape together a hundred million from one championship win.
Competitive Pokémon battling was, after all, the number one sport in this world!
Top superstars in traditional sports like soccer and basketball have multi-million dollar salaries. It was natural that they would too.
But Aaron was clearly amused by Arthur's optimism.
"Wait, we haven't even made it out of the group stage of the Devon Cup yet, and you're already thinking about the championship?"
Aaron almost couldn't stop himself from asking: How much have you had to drink?
But Arthur just turned and flashed him a grin.
"You've always got to have a dream, right? What if it comes true? Besides, you probably don't know, but my debt is no less than yours. I also owe Ivy nearly a hundred million."
Aaron looked at him with an expression of utter disbelief.
"You… when did you owe that?"
"Just after I got here."
"But you've only been here for a little over a month?"
"Yeah."
"???"
Aaron felt a lot of question marks floating over his head right now.
What the hell do you mean, 'yeah'?! A hundred million in debt in just over a month… How the hell did you manage that?! You probably couldn't be that efficient even if you robbed a bank, right?
"Are you serious?"
"Of course. You can confirm it with Ivy. So you see, a debt of this level isn't that scary. If we all work hard together, win a championship, and pay it off, everything will be fine. How many years do you have left on your five-year contract?"
"Three years."
After answering, Aaron himself started to laugh.
What's wrong with me? Did I get infected? I'm actually answering him seriously. Did I have too much to drink too?
He looked at the thermos in his hands and fell into deep thought.
But Arthur didn't care.
"Three years, three chances. We only need to win one championship. A one-in-three chance is worth a shot."
At this point, Aaron was speechless.
You're a real genius of probability!
He could see that Arthur was deliberately trying to be silly to boost his confidence, but after having given up for so many years, his mentality was hard to change in an instant.
Until, in the distance, Garchomp was pinned down by Old Flame's daughter, who was viciously prying its legs apart. The sound it made startled the two of them.
"What the hell! What is your Charizard doing?! Stop it!"
"Uh…"
Even Arthur himself was shocked.
Wait, delinquent dragon, what are you doing prying its legs apart? It's also a female. Is there something wrong with your thinking?
After calming down this little incident, Aaron looked at Arthur with a profound gaze.
"If I don't agree, are you going to have your Charizard harass my Garchomp like this every day?"
The timing was a bit too coincidental, which made him mistakenly believe that Old Flame's daughter's actions had been on Arthur's orders.
"..."
For a moment, Arthur was speechless.
A misunderstanding! This is truly a misunderstanding!
He still didn't have much control over this rebellious little delinquent, Old Flame's daughter. Outside of training, she would often do things on a whim.
He could swear on his life he had never taught this little delinquent such… Yuri-esque things.
But to his surprise, Aaron's next words left him stunned.
"Alright. To stop you from continuing to harass my Pokémon, I agree. Let's train together from now on. Let's aim to win a championship within three years!"
"..."
Purely from a results perspective, this operation had been incredibly effective, successfully re-igniting the fighting spirit of the slacker Aaron.
It was just… the process felt a bit strange to Arthur.
Something felt… a bit off, didn't it?
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