Pokemon: I refuse to be a supporting character!

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The training session between Corviknight and Frogadier came to a temporary halt.

The latter's ability to dilute its presence was downright unfair—even its own teammates struggled to pinpoint its real body immediately.

Aside from the fact that creating substitutes drained stamina, this strategy had almost no weaknesses.

As for Corviknight's pseudo-Mirror Coat ability…

Honestly, it wasn't quite there yet.

Maybe Ice Beam was too unique? After all, it could hardly be considered a true "beam" move.

Moves like Hyper Beam or Flash Cannon might be more straightforward.

Of course, Corviknight's physical durability, surface smoothness, and the type of move it endured all played a role in whether the pseudo-Mirror Coat would work.

'Too early, huh?'

Li Xiang sighed inwardly. He knew Pokémon training wouldn't always be smooth sailing. There would always be bottlenecks and obstacles.

Finally, it was Torracat's turn.

No partner was assigned to it—because it didn't need one. This guy was here to test and train its flame-absorption ability.

They'd talked about this a thousand times, but the skill had never fully materialized, remaining only a vague concept until now, when it finally showed some semblance of form. The main issue was the sheer difficulty—it required an immense amount of practice and testing.

If it were as simple as just coming up with the idea and Torracat instantly mastering it, the Flash Fire ability would be crying in a corner.

Even in a world as willpower-driven as Pokémon, things still had to follow certain rules.

You couldn't just will anything into existence. Like Corviknight's pseudo-Mirror Coat, this required time and accumulation.

To facilitate this, Li Zhehan had bought Li Xiang a flamethrower last year—along with a hefty price tag.

Raising Pokémon really drained your wallet at every turn, always ready to make you bleed money unexpectedly.

"My hand's out of commission, so Riolu, you'll have to handle the controls." Li Xiang taught Riolu how to operate the flamethrower.

With only one working arm, he couldn't even flip the switch—accidentally burning himself would be a joke.

As for Torracat's current flame absorption limit, Li Xiang wasn't entirely sure. Not that he didn't care—it was just that its endurance depended on two factors: flame temperature and volume.

Low temperature meant it could absorb more. High temperature meant it could absorb less.

An inverse relationship.

Temperature control was the foundation of pseudo-Flash Fire—the better Torracat could regulate it, the stronger the ability would become.

Li Xiang quietly observed from the sidelines as Torracat furrowed its brow, using its bell to draw flames into its body.

In the anime, Ash's Torracat had borrowed Incineroar's Inferno Overdrive, boosting its own move power to fight on equal footing and eventually win.

That had a similar effect to Flash Fire, but whether it could also restore its own energy reserves… that was unclear.

At the very least, Flash Fire didn't replenish energy.

After a series of attempts, when Torracat began showing signs of strain, its bell burning like a miniature sun, Li Xiang signaled for the flamethrower to stop.

Then—

Turquoise flames erupted from its chest, engulfing it in a raging fireball as it charged wildly around the field.

The intense heat forced Li Xiang back several steps until his other three Pokémon shielded him, blocking the scorching air.

Rotom, who had slipped back into the washing machine at some point, gripped the drain hose with an energy-formed arm, watching Torracat like a hawk.

'Way too overprotective.'

Li Xiang sighed slightly before refocusing on Torracat.

The cat had hit its limit for the day—any further would just strain its body for no gain.

In the past, Li Xiang might have pushed Torracat to break through its limits repeatedly, reaching new heights even if it meant days of recovery.

Back then, time had been on his side, but not now.

The priority was boosting Torracat's energy level to trigger its final evolution.

After all, pseudo-Flash Fire still needed a long time before it could be used effectively in battle.

Evolution, however, was just around the corner.

With luck, it could happen at any moment. This was a short-term gain too significant to pass up for long-term investment.

As for whether the pseudo-Flash Fire effect would disappear once the bell transformed into a flame belt post-evolution, rendering it unable to absorb flames…

Li Xiang wasn't worried.

The bell itself didn't inherently possess flame-absorption properties—it was just something Ash's plot-armored Torracat had pulled off, and Li Xiang had followed suit, training his Torracat to mimic it.

Who said a flame belt couldn't do what a bell could?

Weren't they both supplementary flame-emitting organs? If anything, the belt was the evolved version—more durable, more explosive.

If Ash's Torracat could do it, so could his.

As long as Li Xiang believed in it, Torracat would make it happen.

That said, Torracat's pseudo-Flash Fire had already improved by leaps and bounds.

At the very least, when facing Riolu's Blaze Kick, it could now absorb nearly half of the flames, mix them with its own, and retaliate.

A qualitative leap, no doubt.

Of course, bullying Riolu—who wasn't even a Fire-type—wasn't enough.

In Li Xiang's mind, the ideal test would be absorbing flames from Lin Feng's Charmeleon. That guy might not know how to regulate temperature or conserve energy, but his flames reached terrifying highs.

And their intensity fluctuated with his mental state—the more excited he got, the hotter they burned.

Just like Torracat's bell.

At its peak, that Charmeleon, in its berserker mode, had once unleashed flames so hot they turned bluish-white, its tail fire blazing like a miniature inferno.

Though it had only lasted five seconds—earning Lin Feng's self-deprecating "five-second man" joke, far from Torracat's mastery of turquoise flames—it was proof of just how high its limits were.

Li Xiang could already imagine the day Lin Feng's Charizard unleashed Inferno Overdrive, only for his Incineroar to suck it dry, convert it into its own power, and blast it right back.

That would be a sight to behold.

Over the next few days, Li Xiang immersed himself in training Frogadier and Torracat, temporarily putting his other Pokémon on the back burner.

He even experimented with switching their physique-focused diet to one that promoted energy-level growth.

But after his mother pointed out how ineffective it was—most recipes being scams, with the few legitimate ones barely making a difference—he abandoned that IQ-taxing endeavor and stuck to the original plan.

Still, he kept an eye out for items similar to Rare Candies. Surprisingly, the internet was flooded with related content.

The most notable was Shuckle.

This Pokémon stored berries inside its body, fermenting them into juice in the short term and, over years, a special liquid that could boost energy levels.

But since "long-term" meant years with no guaranteed outcome, and unlike the games where it granted a fixed level-up regardless of starting point, Shuckle-brand Rare Candies were somewhat underwhelming.

Yet people still tried to get rich off them.

Scams were rampant online. Despite repeated crackdowns and news exposés, fraudsters kept popping up, and trainers kept falling for it.

Li Xiang didn't dare dig deeper—he pretended he hadn't seen it.

Then one day, Song Jie, who usually preferred calling over texting, suddenly messaged him on WeChat.

First, he made small talk, then asked if Li Xiang had been to Saizhou and what had happened there.

Li Xiang paused, avoiding a direct answer and instead probing to see if Song Jie knew something.

Song Jie didn't reply.

After nearly ten minutes of silence, he sent a photo. It showed Li Xiang unconscious on a stretcher, being loaded into an ambulance.

He wasn't the focus—the stern-faced Mo Ye was—but his face was clearly visible.

Irrefutable evidence.

Li Xiang had never wanted to publicize the incident, so few knew what his family had truly endured. Even relatives only had a vague idea they'd been kidnapped.

The person who knew the most was probably his mentor, Duan Tianxing—and even that was limited.

So why did Song Jie have this photo? How much did he know?

Li Xiang: How'd you get this?

Song Jie: Someone asked about you—an uncle of mine in the police force…

'Police!?'

Li Xiang tensed. Why were the police investigating him? Hadn't they already asked everything they needed?

He'd told them everything he could.

After a moment, he typed: What did he ask?

Song Jie: Your reputation at school, grades, social circles, friends, daily habits… even your favorite foods.

Li Xiang: ?

Why did this feel like background checks for a blind date? And why would they care about any of this?

He asked as much.

Song Jie: No idea, but it probably wasn't malicious—they even asked about your food preferences. About Saizhou…

Li Xiang: Not a happy topic. Let's not go there.

Song Jie: …Sorry.

Li Xiang: No worries. Mind finding out why they're asking?

Since Song Jie had brought it up, he probably wouldn't refuse.

Sure enough, after sending a single "Sure", Song Jie vanished.

Li Xiang set his phone down, leaning back with his hands behind his head. For some reason, it felt like there was now a layer of distance between him and Song Jie.

Was it Song Jie's fault?

…No.

It was his.

Li Xiang knew something was off with his own state of mind, but he couldn't pinpoint what.

'Once school starts, I'll find a way to fix things. There's always a way.'

Right now, the priority was figuring out why Song Jie's uncle was digging into him—and what they were after.

"Ugh… When will this end?"

Li Xiang scratched his head as Torracat and Frogadier curiously approached.

"Nothing, nothing. Keep training."

He shooed them away.

Riolu was off playing "Corviknight rider"—apparently, maintaining the Three-Blind Perception Technique at high altitudes helped expand its Aura Sight.

Probably another one of Meowstic's "break your limits through extreme conditions" training methods.

Rotom had gone along as backup. Between Corviknight's agility, Riolu's Magnet Rise, and multiple safety measures, nothing should go wrong.