Chapter 349: The Asher Formula Is Still Working? (Membership Extra - )

Chapter 349: The Asher Formula Is Still Working? (Membership Extra Chapter)

The video continued playing.

After obtaining the Volcano Badge, Aurelia had finally collected all eight Badges.

So she headed for Indigo Plateau to participate in the League Conference.

Indigo Plateau.

Pokémon League Conference venue.

Aurelia stood at the entrance and stared at the sight before her in silence for a full ten seconds.

She had thought the cities she’d previously seen that had undergone "Sun-Moonization" were already ridiculous enough.

Indigo Plateau was somehow even worse.

The enormous archway at the entrance should originally have displayed a banner reading: INDIGO PLATEAU LEAGUE CONFERENCE

Instead, it had been replaced with: EXCLUSIVELY TITLE-SPONSORED BY THE SUN-MOON GROUP: INDIGO PLATEAU LEAGUE CONFERENCE & SUN-MOON GROUP COSMIC-CLASS POKéMON BATTLE CARNIVAL

The statues that normally welcomed Trainers on either side of the archway had been replaced by two gigantic Pikachu mascots.

Each one held a sign displaying chibi versions of Aurelia and Selene doing the now-infamous: Ciallo~ (∠?ω＜ )⌒★

Aurelia didn’t even need to guess who was responsible.

She took a deep breath.

Then walked inside.

Within the stadium, the enormous ceremonial flame burned brightly at the center of the field.

The stands surrounding it were already packed with spectators, countless banners fluttering throughout the audience.

But one glance was enough for Aurelia to notice that all of them read things like:

SUN-MOON GROUP · CHEERING FOR EVERY TRAINER’S DREAM!

THIS EVENT IS EXCLUSIVELY TITLE-SPONSORED AND BROADCAST BY THE SUN-MOON GROUP!

Ciallo~ (∠?ω＜ )⌒★

Aurelia suddenly felt that even if Selene someday outright bought the entirety of Kanto—

She probably wouldn’t be surprised anymore.

Aurelia swept through the preliminary rounds of the League Conference without difficulty.

Ninetales was practically invincible on the battlefield.

The moment Sacred Fire appeared, the opposing Pokémon barely even had time to react before being swallowed by golden flames.

Selene’s livestream team followed Aurelia throughout the entire tournament.

Jessie handled commentary.

James handled filming.

And Meowth was responsible for writing the production slate.

The quarterfinal slate read: Aurelia · Quarterfinals · Ninetales Preparing to Breathe Fire · Ciallo~ (∠?ω＜ )⌒★

The semifinal slate read: Aurelia · Semifinals · Ninetales Continues Breathing Fire · Ciallo~ (∠?ω＜ )⌒★

The final slate read: Aurelia · Finals · Ninetales Is Still Breathing Fire · Ciallo~ (∠?ω＜ )⌒★

The livestream comments had already completely lost it.

"FROM THE QUARTERFINALS TO THE FINALS, NINETALES HAS DONE NOTHING BUT BREATHE FIRE! IS THIS WHAT OVERWHELMING POWER LOOKS LIKE?!"

"LADY AURELIA HASN’T EVEN BROKEN A SWEAT! SAME EXPRESSION FROM START TO FINISH! THIS IS THE TRUE AURA OF THE STRONG!"

"GIVE THE CAMERA CREW A RAISE! THOSE PRODUCTION SLATES HAVE MORE SOUL THAN HALF THE COMMENTARY!"

The instant the final ended—

All of Indigo Plateau erupted into deafening cheers.

Aurelia stood at the center of the battlefield.

Ninetales sat elegantly beside her, its nine tails swaying gently while gold-and-crimson flames danced at their tips.

The host rushed onto the stage.

"Congratulations to Trainer Aurelia for becoming the Champion of this year’s Indigo Plateau League Conference!"

"Next, she will challenge the Kanto Elite Four!"

"Let’s welcome the Elite Four with our loudest applause!"

The four members of the Elite Four emerged from the passage one after another.

Lorelei walked at the front.

She pushed up her glasses and gave Aurelia a faint smile.

"We meet again, Aurelia."

"Back on Cinnabar Island, I said I’d test how much you’d improved the next time we met."

"I didn’t expect that next time to come so soon."

Aurelia gave a small nod.

"Aunt Lorelei."

"Please take care of me."

"If you call me Godmother, maybe I’ll go a little easier on you."

"Aunt."

Lorelei laughed and shook her head before moving to her position.

Bruno came out second.

He rolled his shoulders, his face full of excitement.

"I heard from Blaine that your Ninetales can manifest a phantom of Ho-Oh?"

"Perfect!"

"Let me see it for myself!"

Aurelia gave him a small bow.

"Please take care of me."

Third came Agatha.

Leaning on her cane, she slowly walked out and looked Aurelia up and down.

"Oh?"

"Asher’s little girl?"

"What a pretty child."

"Oh, right."

"When you go home, tell that father of yours to bring this old woman another two boxes of calcium supplements for seniors next time he visits."

Aurelia nodded seriously.

"I’ll let him know."

Lance came out last.

His Champion cape billowed behind him.

His expression was complicated.

He looked at Aurelia.

Then looked down at his own cape.

His mouth opened and closed—until finally, all he managed to say was: "...Your dad doing well?"

Aurelia paused.

"He’s doing very well."

"Good."

Lance took a deep breath.

"Come on, then."

"Let me see just how strong Asher’s daughter really is."

The first battle—Aurelia versus Lorelei.

The moment Lapras entered the field, it used Blizzard to turn the entire battlefield into an ice rink.

Gallade was forced to constantly smash apart sections of the ice just to create stable footholds.

Its speed visibly dropped.

Lorelei had clearly studied Aurelia’s battle habits beforehand.

Lapras continuously alternated between Ice Beam and Blizzard, suppressing Gallade until it was forced into the corner of the battlefield.

Blue light flickered within Aurelia’s heterochromatic eyes.

Her psychic power overlapped with Gallade’s mental field—forcibly tearing a path through the Blizzard.

In the end—

Gallade perfectly predicted Lapras’s movement.

Psycho Cut!

The blade struck cleanly across Lapras’s neck.

Lapras let out a muffled cry then crashed heavily onto the frozen battlefield.

"Not bad."

Lorelei paused.

"You’ve improved a lot."

Then she added:

"Still don’t want to call me Godmother?"

"Aunt."

The second battle—Aurelia versus Agatha.

Agatha’s Gengar began playing with invisibility the moment it entered the field, darting around the battlefield while hidden from sight.

Latios closed his eyes.

Psychic spread across the entire arena and forcibly dragged Gengar straight out of the shadows.

Gengar unleashed Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb one after another.

Latios dodged every attack.

Finally—

Dragon Pulse!

The blast smashed Gengar directly into the floor.

Agatha shook her head repeatedly while leaning on her cane.

"Young people these days..."

"You won’t even give an old woman enough time to warm up."

The third battle—Aurelia versus Bruno.

The moment Bruno’s Machamp entered the field, it used Bulk Up.

Then it met Ninetales head-on—smashing through both Fire Blast and Flamethrower with Dynamic Punch.

The longer the battle went on, the more excited Bruno became.

And the harder Machamp fought.

Repeated Close Combat assaults forced Ninetales all the way back against the wall.

In the end Aurelia finally caught an opening.

"Extrasensory."

Ninetales’s psychic power locked Machamp firmly in place.

Then—

Another Sacred Fire struck it squarely in the face.

Machamp struggled for five full seconds.

Then collapsed with a thunderous crash.

Bruno immediately turned toward the passage where Lance was waiting and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"LANCE!"

"I’VE FINISHED EXECUTING THE STAMINA-DRAINING STRATEGY FOR YOU!"

"THE REST IS UP TO YOU!"

Lance nearly tripped over his own cape at the entrance.

[VIP Chat Group]

[Diantha]: Hahahaha! I can’t take it anymore! Lorelei is still hung up on getting Aurelia to call her "Godmother"? Is the obsession really that deep?

[Lorelei]: ... That’s parallel-world me. It has nothing to do with me.

[Volkner]: Hahahaha! The Asher Formula is still working.

[Elesa]: The more you explain, the guiltier you look. The guiltier you look, the more you explain.

[Sidney]: I genuinely couldn’t handle Bruno’s line. "Lance! I’ve finished executing the stamina-draining strategy for you!" Good lord. So the entire purpose of one Elite Four member was just to drain her stamina?

[Bruno]: I give up. Parallel-world me actually has that much tactical thinking?! I didn’t even know I was capable of thinking that far ahead!

[Falkner]: So Lorelei went down, Agatha went down, Bruno went down... And now Lance is the only one left?

[Koga]: The final hope of the entire village. The Dragon-type Elite Four member. Kanto’s representative—Lance.

[Clair]:@Lance, don’t worry, Cousin. I believe you’ll at least lose with dignity.

[Leon]: I don’t think there’s any need to be that pessimistic. Lance’s Dragonite is still extremely strong. Surely it can at least beat one or two of Aurelia’s Pokémon.

[Volkner]: Dragonite: I’m fighting a phantom of Ho-Oh? Seriously?

[Flint]: Dragonite: I’m fighting Latios? Seriously?

[Raihan]: Dragonite: I’m fighting Mew? Seriously?

[Lance]: ...

...

TL: Thanks to Kyle Kalka for the membership!!