"…The winner is Xu Hui!"
After briefly checking the condition of Ren Liangjun's Butterfree, the referee announced the result.
The arena instantly erupted into thunderous cheers.
"You worked hard, Butterfree."
"Mui…"
Butterfree looked utterly dejected.
Ren Liangjun sighed softly at the sight before taking out a Poké Ball and speaking gently.
"Take a rest for now, Butterfree."
"Mui…"
After recalling the injured Butterfree—
Ren Liangjun heard footsteps stop near him.
Only then did he rise to his feet and reveal an admiring smile.
"Brother Hui, you and Butterfree work together really well."
"We lost fair and square."
"Thanks."
Ah Hui gave a simple reply.
Looking at Ren Liangjun, he hesitated.
He remembered something Chen Mo had once said while explaining the profession of Pokémon trainers during a livestream.
Trainers are people who express their convictions through Pokémon battles.
Ah Hui felt he hadn't yet reached the level where he could fully understand another trainer's beliefs through battle alone.
Still—
Judging from the details during the match—
Ren Liangjun clearly cared deeply for his Butterfree.
That only made Ah Hui more confused.
What exactly had he meant by:
"Have you ever regretted choosing Caterpie as your starter Pokémon?"
But then—
Ren Liangjun suddenly grinned sheepishly.
"Brother Hui…"
"Haven't you heard of trash talk?"
"..."
In many sports—
Competitors often used taunts before or during matches to disrupt an opponent's mentality.
A form of psychological warfare.
And Pokémon battles—
In many ways—
Also heavily tested both trainer and Pokémon mentally.
But Ah Hui had never imagined—
That someone would bring trash talk and mind games into Pokémon battling so quickly.
"Can't help it."
Ren Liangjun shrugged helplessly.
"Compared to you and your Butterfree, our raw strength just isn't on the same level."
"So Brother Hui…"
"Don't blame me for playing dirty."
"..."
Ah Hui held it in for a long while—
But ultimately just waved his hand.
"It's fine."
"Brother Hui, you're such a good guy."
Ren Liangjun chuckled.
While handing Ah Hui an honorary "good person card," he extended his right hand for the post-match handshake.
"You brat…"
"You're honestly one hell of a character."
Ah Hui laughed helplessly and shook his hand.
Then—
The moment their hands met—
Ah Hui noticed something strange.
Ren Liangjun wasn't looking at him.
Instead—
His gaze lifted toward the blue sky above the circular arena.
"I really wanted Caterpie and me…"
"To keep walking farther on this stage."
Ren Liangjun muttered softly.
Then he looked back at Ah Hui.
Helplessness filled his expression.
"The Caterpie line evolves incredibly fast."
"You can usually reach the final stage in a very short time."
"But their natural species limitations…"
"Are something most Butterfree simply can't escape."
"Every day, Butterfree and I train hard."
"We want to grow stronger."
"But lately…"
"The improvements we can see are getting smaller and smaller."
"And Bug-types come with so many weaknesses."
"Toward the end of preliminaries…"
"I could already feel it."
"The opponents kept getting harder."
"At this point…"
"We've accepted reality."
"We'll probably stop at the group stage."
Outside the arena—
Ah Hui silently watched Ren Liangjun leave with Butterfree toward the treatment station.
Bug-type Pokémon had many advantages.
Easy to train.
Fast evolution cycles.
Take Caterpie—
Simply feeding on leaves allowed it to evolve into its final stage in a remarkably short time.
Providing strong early combat ability.
But—
Bug-types also had plenty of disadvantages.
Short lifespans.
Low species ceilings.
Especially the latter.
You could already see it from the trainers who reached the Pikachu Cup finals.
Near the lower ranks of the seed list—
Bug-type trainers appeared fairly often.
But the higher the rankings climbed—
Especially inside the Top 100—
Bug-type trainers became increasingly rare.
Rare enough—
That Ah Hui remembered every single Bug-type trainer by name.
Sensing Ah Hui's low mood—
Butterfree hovering overhead softly cried:
"Mui… Mui…"
Ah Hui looked up.
Meeting Butterfree's eyes—
Then glancing toward the direction Ren Liangjun had disappeared—
He spoke quietly.
"Bug-types have plenty of limitations."
"But one thing I'll never regret…"
"Is choosing Caterpie."
"Xiao Jun…"
"Just wait."
"I'll prove to you…"
"That Bug-type trainers can still go all the way on this stage."
"And maybe…"
"Even become champions."
The Pikachu Cup group stage used a double-elimination format.
Eight groups—
A through H.
Each group contained 128 competitors.
After brutal rounds of elimination—
Only two trainers would advance.
It was an extraordinarily cruel system.
Far harsher than preliminaries.
The morning match schedule had largely been arranged according to trainers' preliminary performances.
Using the circulating seed rankings as reference—
Morning matches generally paired lower-ranked trainers against higher-ranked ones.
That was precisely why Ren Liangjun had felt advancement was hopeless.
Now dropped into the losers' bracket—
Even if luck let him survive several rounds—
His opponents would only become stronger.
The format relied entirely on trainer and Pokémon strength.
Unlike preliminaries, there was no matchmaking luck involved.
Of course—
Luck wasn't completely absent.
Many things influenced battle outcomes.
And type matchups played a huge role.
If fortune favored you—
And your Pokémon happened to counter your opponent's type—
Even weaker raw strength might still lead to victory.
"Then why the hell is my first afternoon opponent a Graveler?!"
Standing on the battlefield—
Gao Tianming looked at the Graveler his opponent had released.
Despair instantly spread across his face.
Most Pikachu Cup participants used Pokémon that were easy to find and train—
Bug-types and Grass-types.
Gao Tianming's starter, however—
Was a Fire-type Charmander.
Against such opponents—
He had slaughtered his way through preliminaries.
Even stronger trainers often lost because of type disadvantage.
So far—
Gao Tianming had advanced undefeated.
Many thought he had absurd luck—
Never once encountering a bad matchup.
Yet because of his record and excellent battle decisions—
Seed creators still ranked him around 100th place.
After all—
Many finalists remained vulnerable to Charmander.
But—
Gao Tianming never expected—
That by only his third group-stage match—
He'd face a Pokémon like Graveler.
A Pokémon that both countered him by typing and vastly surpassed him in raw strength.
"Seriously…"
"I remember Graveler's last opponent was a Deerling."
"How the hell does a Grass-type Deerling lose to a Rock/Ground-type Graveler?"
"How did that guy even make finals?"
Gao Tianming grumbled internally.
Yet—
As his expression grew more serious—
The fighting spirit in his eyes intensified.
"I'm supposed to beat Teacher Mo and become the world's number one trainer!"
"There's no way I stop here!"
"If Graveler can win against a bad matchup…"
"Then my Charmander can too!"
He threw his Poké Ball.
"Go, Charmander!"
"Show our opponents the conviction we share!"
White light burst forth.
A remarkably well-developed Charmander appeared—
Its tail flame blazing fiercely.
Like its trainer—
Even against an overwhelmingly stronger foe—
Charmander showed no fear.
The moment it landed—
It roared defiantly at Graveler.
"Ka-na!!!"
Meanwhile—
At the official commentary desk—
Chen Mo prepared to explain the battle to audiences across the nation—
And the world.
"Alright."
"Contestant Gao Tianming has finally sent out his Pokémon—Charmander."
"The match should begin shortly."
The livestream chat exploded instantly.
[Charmander vs Graveler? Don't even need to watch—I already know the ending.]
[Seriously though, I checked the Pokédex multiple times. Charmander is listed as pure Fire-type. Teacher Mo… did you guys accidentally forget to add Dragon typing?]
[Gyarados: LMAO, so am I missing Dragon typing too?]
[Ever since Gao Tianming and Charmander appeared in Teacher Mo's stream, I've followed them. In prelims they fought nothing but Bugs and Grass-types. Guess luck finally ran out.]
[Teacher Mo, can you explain Charmander again? This makes no sense.]
[Gyarados I get—it's already Water/Flying. But Charmander? Single Fire-type? Why no Dragon?]
Chen Mo glanced at the scrolling comments.
Helpless amusement crossed his face.
No matter the world—
This debate truly never died.
After organizing his thoughts—
He spoke slowly.
"I've already explained Charmander before."
"But since many viewers still aren't familiar with it…"
"I'll go over it again."
"First—the type issue everyone cares about most."
"I can responsibly tell you…"
"The Pokédex is correct."
"Charmander is indeed a pure Fire-type Pokémon."
"The typing system originates from another world."
"Although we still haven't identified the precise mechanism…"
"Current observations suggest typing largely depends on the energy composition within a Pokémon."
"As everyone knows…"
"A Pokémon's body doesn't contain only one kind of energy."
"For example—my Pikachu."
"When he was still a Pichu…"
"He learned Agility because he sensed Psychic-type energy within himself and could use it to some extent."
"But compared to his overwhelming Electric energy…"
"That Psychic energy was negligible."
"So Pichu is classified as an Electric-type Pokémon."
"Charmander is similar."
"The overwhelming majority of its internal energy is highly refined Fire energy."
"That's why it's categorized as Fire-type."
"So don't assume a Pokémon that looks like a dragon is automatically Dragon-type."
"It may simply resemble one."
"Like Charmander or Gyarados."
"Dragon in appearance…"
"But lacking Dragon typing."
"Likewise—"
"Don't dismiss Pokémon as non-dragons just because they don't look the part."
"Some may contain unimaginable Dragon-type energy."
The moment Chen Mo paused—
The comments descended into chaos.
[Charmander & Gyarados: Is this classification fair?! We literally have 'dragon' in our names and still got excluded?!]
[Aerodactyl: Hey bros, don't forget me!]
[Teacher Mo once said Gyarados was considered the true form of dragons in ancient legends… and THIS is the result?! No Dragon typing? I'm dying 😂]
[Justice for Charmander and Gyarados!]
[I know the Pokémon Teacher Mo mentioned! Altaria! Looks nothing like a dragon but is Dragon/Flying!]
[Flygon too! Literal dragonfly and somehow Dragon-type.]
[Speaking of Dragon trainers—remember that girl Mo Yu from earlier streams? She brought an actual Dragon-type Pokémon, Axew, to Pikachu Cup. Pretty sure she's doing great.]
Watching the endless barrage of comments—
Chen Mo simply shook his head.
Dragon, yet not Dragon.
If he had to explain it from his previous life's perspective—
It all came down to bad luck.
After all—
Charmander and the others had simply been born in Generation One.
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