The news of Lu Ye defeating Sabrina at Saffron Gym spread like wildfire, sparking heated discussions in the group chat.

"Even with her psychic abilities giving her an unmatched advantage in battle command, Sabrina still lost."

Brock squinted his eyes, arms crossed, nodding with a wise expression.

"Teacher Lu’s fundamentals are truly unfathomable…"

"Agreed," Gold huffed, blowing his bangs aside with a smug grin.

"Even the gorgeous Gym Leader of Saffron City lost to Teacher Lu. The fact that I got completely shut down by him? Makes perfect sense!"

"Sabrina lost…?"

With her immense psychic powers, Sabrina was an opponent far trickier than other Gym Leaders.

Green stood with one hand in his pocket, deep in thought.

He recalled how Lu Ye had fought Lance to a draw just recently.

Perhaps Lu Ye’s strength wasn’t far from Champion level…

No—

If not for his nightmarishly bad luck, if I were to battle him right now—

Green shook his head, pushing his brown bangs aside with an arrogant smirk.

Damn… I’m actually starting to look forward to battling him, just like Red does!

Meanwhile, Lu Ye let out a bitter laugh.

You guys, let me explain!

Gengar was just applying for a coaching job!

I had no intention of challenging Sabrina’s Gym!

But a loss is a loss.

Even if she didn’t go all out, Sabrina wasn’t the type to make excuses—

Unlike a certain "Egg Hatching Expert."

Just then, a voice message from Sabrina popped up.

Her tone was both amused and teasing.

"Teacher Lu, you’re really amazing~"

Lu Ye: ?

Far away on Seven Island, a certain older woman sat in her home, surrounded by plush pillows.

Lorelei’s face flushed red.

Crap… why did my mind immediately go there?!

Maybe she had been reading too much shoujo manga lately…

Even her glasses seemed to have developed a permanent yellow tint.

She slapped her cheeks to regain focus and quickly typed:

"Ahem… Losing to Teacher Lu and giving him a compliment is only natural, right?"

Lorelei, you’re making this worse!

As one of the fateful "Spoon of Destiny" partners from before,

Blue joined in with a playful jab:

"Teacher Lu bullying another girl again?"

Bullying?

Lu Ye’s expression turned complicated.

Did you guys not see how she threw her ancestral Alakazam at me?!

It was only because I played dirty— no, I mean, because my skills were superior, that I barely avoided getting destroyed!

"Now that I think about it…"

Tokiwa Erika pondered for a moment before asking,

"Teacher Lu, why are you suddenly taking on Gym Challenges?"

"I’m quite curious about that as well," Liza nodded.

As a professor at Yuhong University, Teacher Lu could easily request a direct entry into the Pokémon League through the official certification system.

So why bother with the extra effort of collecting badges?

Unless…

There was a deeper reason behind it?

"I’ve got it!"

Brock, sharing the "Brotherhood of Poverty" with Lu Ye, suddenly slammed his fist into his palm.

"Teacher Lu is going for the Trainer Stipend Bonus after collecting all eight badges!"

Before obtaining badges and official Trainer rankings,

all expenses for travel, food, and training were out-of-pocket.

But once a Trainer collected eight badges,

the League Association would start providing them with a monthly allowance.

Given Teacher Lu’s personality,

he was absolutely the type to clear all of Kanto’s Gyms and then demand his rightful paycheck.

"W-Wait, seriously?!" Misty was stunned.

Far away in Johto, Whitney and Jasmine shuddered.

With the Quartz Conference and Silver Conference merging,

the League’s difficulty had skyrocketed.

If Teacher Lu swept through Kanto…

Was he coming for Johto next?!

"I-Is that really it?"

Liza blinked in confusion but nodded blankly.

"I’ve already prepared my badge. Teacher Lu can come collect it anytime."

"I feel the same, though…"

Brock nodded firmly.

"But I’d still prefer to have a battle between men first!"

"I don’t really care, I’m just training in the Orange Islands anyway," Misty said with a nervous chuckle.

"But if Teacher Lu wants a badge, please… take it easy on my three sisters…"

Lu Ye: ???

What the hell do you guys mean by that?!

I just got a badge, and I was feeling down about it for quite a while.
And now I’m about to collect all of them in one go?
You guys really out here backstabbing me with a combo attack?!

"So, if we put it that way..."
Kristal did some quick calculations and exclaimed,
"Mr. Lu, you might actually make it in time for the January League Conference!"

Collecting all the badges in just over a month—that's a pretty insane record!

Meanwhile, Sakaki Gin, who had been lurking, took a quick glance at the chat and remained silent.

Gym badges?
You actually need to go and challenge the Gym Leaders for them?
Wouldn't it be easier to just sneak in and take them while they're away?!

"Is this progress really that fast?" Safiya asked, puzzled.

Back then, she and Ruby cleared the Hoenn region in just 80 days, so she had no real sense of time.

"You can’t calculate it like that, Safiya," Ruby explained.
"When going up against a strong opponent like Mr. Lu, the Gym Leaders are bound to give it their all."

"Exactly," Steven added with a slight smile.
"If we compare it to a game… it’s like the difference between the first playthrough and the second."

"I get the logic..."
Old Man Ironspin crossed his arms, nodded slowly, then suddenly shouted,
"But when’s the new game coming out?! I can’t even pull an UR from that card game—this sucks!"

Gold: "You say that like I can pull one either!"

Blue: "Aren’t shiny cards just something you get on a casual draw?"

Steven chimed in, "I actually think the drop rate is pretty decent."

Of course, for billionaire Steven, spending just a hundred thousand or so to complete his collection was no big deal.
To him, that price was quite… reasonable.

Gold froze for a moment.
Damn Europeans!

Gold: Eat my Brave Bird Strike.jpg

The GIF showed a raging Togekiss diving in like a shooting star.

"Haha, I was just kidding,"
Steven smiled gently, "Don’t be mad, I’ll send you a red packet."

【Group member 'Last But First' has sent a red packet. Click to download the latest version to claim.】

Blue’s eyes turned into ￥ signs.
"Thank you, Boss!"

Gold shouted, "I didn’t even get one!"

Mr. Lu: Damn it, I can’t claim it either!

Gold: F***! Old Man Ironspin, did you cheat? You got it in 0.01 seconds!

Ironspin: "How could I?!" He grinned. "If you don’t believe me, send another one!"

【Group member 'The Battle Man' has sent a red packet...】

Gold: Oh, thanks, Aka-senpai!

Tokiwa Dianne excitedly said, "I got one!"

"Hmm?" Lance raised an eyebrow, staring at his phone. "What a shame… I was just a bit too slow."

Shibuki twitched. "Aren’t you a bit too much of a big shot to be scrambling for red packets, Champion?"

Lance: "Didn’t you see that even Mr. Steven was trying to grab one?"

"Hahaha."
Steven laughed heartily, "I’m still the king of luck!"

Once again, Old Man Ironspin claimed the fastest hands in the game.

Mr. Lu: Old man, you still wanna say you didn’t cheat?!

Ironspin: Running away now! Grinning.jpg

…

In the end, the night wrapped up with Old Man Ironspin treating everyone to milk tea.
The old man just enjoyed having fun, especially blending in with the younger crowd.

As for the other Gym Leaders, they all logged off after casually saying,
"Feel free to pick up your badges anytime."

Closing the chat window,
A very exhausted Mr. Lu let out a long sigh.

"Why does it feel like… everyone is just throwing badges at me?"

Come on, guys, keep them! Give them to someone who actually needs them!

But then again, Kanto’s Gym Leaders were undeniably strong.
Most of the badges Ash got in Kanto were gifts from Gym Leaders anyway.

After all, in this world, Brock and Misty both had Mega Evolutions.
For the sake of teaching, they would purposely use weaker Pokémon during Gym battles.

And Ironspin’s comment reminded Lu Ye—
It was time to put the new game project on the agenda.

"The next step… should be diving into online gaming."

Sitting in his bedroom, Lu Ye opened his laptop and started drafting a new plan.

"It’s best if we can launch it alongside the mobile game, cross-platform…"

The first thing that came to his mind was something like Hearthstone—an online card game.

Turning Pokémon cards into a mobile game and releasing it on both PC and mobile wasn’t a technical challenge.
But with the physical cards selling like crazy right now, there was no need to rush an online version that might hurt the hype.

It’d be better to wait until the real cards cooled down before launching a digital version.

"This plan… should work."

After a long moment of thought, Lu Ye typed in the name of the new game on his proposal...

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read