Facing the two Pokémon Eggs, Zhou Yuan was at a loss as to how to make a choice.
Liu Yongming saw Zhou Yuan stop in front of the two Pokémon Eggs, smiled, and didn't interrupt him, turning to find his Zhou Ge to chat.
“System, are you there?”
“Here.”
“Please, Host, don't ask if I'm here in the future; if you have something, please state it directly.”
“Are you an tsundere? You really must be a human reincarnation, like those light novels describing ‘What if I reincarnated as a System?’”,
“Please, Host, stop your baseless conjectures.”
“Alright, I won't discuss your origin for now. Can you help me scan these two Pokémon Eggs and provide detailed information?” Zhou Yuan made his first request to the System.
“Growlithe ♦”
“Current Hatching Status: Good”
“Ability: Intimidate”
“Egg Moves: Flare Blitz, Close Combat, Morning Sun, Double Kick, Crunch”
“Growlithe ♦”
“Current Hatching Status: Good”
“Ability: Justified”
“Egg Moves: Covet, Flare Blitz, Crunch, Double-Edge, Morning Sun, Double Kick”
“Hmm?” A light flashed in Zhou Yuan's eyes.
“So many Egg Moves? Although Growlithe can inherit quite a few Skills, the ones these two inherited are quite powerful. System, scan Big Red.”
“Arcanine ♦”
“Level: Gym Leader”
“Current Health Status: Healthy”
“Ability: Intimidate”
“Skills: Extreme Speed, Take Down, Crunch, Burn Up, Howl, Reversal, Play Rough, Flame Wheel, Retaliate, Agility, Thunder Fang, Fire Fang, Flare Blitz, Roar, Flamethrower, Sunny Day, Close Combat, Wild Charge, Iron Head, Psychic Fangs, Will-O-Wisp, Protect, Sleep, Solar Beam, Covet, Double-Edge, Morning Sun, Double Kick, Thrash”
Zhou Yuan felt his eyelid twitching.
“One can only say it lives up to being a retired police dog; its Skill set is overly luxurious.”
Although he said that, Zhou Yuan also knew that with such a Skill combination and Gym Leader level combat power, even among police dogs, it was considered elite. But even such an elite was severely injured and retired in a battle six years ago.
One could only say that this world was not as glorious and righteous as it appeared on the surface; in places where light could not reach, filth always bred.
Zhou Yuan silently kept this matter in his heart.
As for the choice of Growlithe, Zhou Yuan also had his own insights.
In Zhou Yuan’s opinion, both of these Growlithe were excellent choices, whether from their Egg Moves or Abilities. But when both were placed in front of him, Zhou Yuan seemed a bit hesitant.
From an Ability perspective, the hidden Ability Justified was undoubtedly rarer, and Justified could rapidly and significantly increase attack power through the Skill “Beat Up,” thereby allowing it to fight multiple opponents in battle, and even sweep teams.
However, the drawbacks of Justified were also quite obvious. When the enemy did not have Dark-type Skills or one’s own team was insufficient to support a Beat Up strategy, the benefits of Justified were almost nil.
On the other hand, the Ability Intimidate, while more common, was by no means weak in terms of strategy. Based on Intimidate, various tactical types could be developed, the most common being the Intimidate tank Arcanine, which, when paired with Morning Sun, could even stall, making it extremely difficult to deal with in battles.
After considering all factors, Zhou Yuan finally decided to choose the Growlithe with the Intimidate Ability.
After making his choice, Zhou Yuan left the room.
In an adjacent room, Zhou Yuan found his parents and Uncle Liu. The two grown men were chatting about who knows what, occasionally letting out bursts of hearty laughter.
Seeing Zhou Yuan arrive, they stopped talking and both turned their gaze to him.
It wasn't until Zhou Yuan felt a bit self-conscious that Liu Yongming burst out laughing.
“Zhou Ge, it’s been so many years since I’ve seen Xiao Yuan; he’s grown into a fine young man.” Then he turned to Zhou Yuan and said, “Xiao Yuan, your father was also a handsome man in the surrounding villages when he was young. When your father and I went out to explore, we met many beautiful Trainers who secretly gave him knowing glances and threw themselves at him.”
While Liu Yongming was still eloquently talking about Zhou Ba's romantic encounters in his youth, Zhou Yuan keenly noticed that Zhou Ba's expression was a bit stiff, probably like this (・ω・｀ ll).
Upon closer inspection, he realized that Zhou Mu’s hand had, at some point, moved to Zhou Ba’s waist.
Seeing this scene, Zhou Yuan remained silent, only chuckling to himself. This was a common ailment among men in Shuangqing City: being henpecked.
At the same time, Zhou Yuan also thought about himself. Would he be like this in the future?
No, absolutely not!
I, Zhou Yuan, would rather have no wife, jump from here, and die outside than become henpecked.
While Zhou Yuan was lost in thought, Liu Yongming also finished reminiscing about the past and asked Zhou Yuan:
“Xiao Yuan, have you made your choice? Which Egg do you want? If you haven’t decided, you can wait until Growlithe hatches before choosing.”
Zhou Yuan shook his head, then nodded, “Uncle Liu, there’s no need to go through that trouble. I’ve already chosen. I’ll pick the one on the left; it just appeals to me more.”
“Good, it’s good if it appeals to you. Actually, as Trainers, our interactions with Pokémon are all about fate. When fate aligns, it’s more important than anything else. I remember when Big Red and I first met… ”
On this side, Liu Yongming started reminiscing about the glorious years of the past, while on the other side, Zhou Ba held Zhou Ma's hand, explaining the past. Watching this scene, Zhou Yuan felt that his life was truly colorful.
…………
Lunch was prepared jointly by Zhou Tianqi and Liu Yongming, while Zhou Mu leisurely sat on the sofa, cracking melon seeds. Zhou Ba, while cooking in the kitchen, was still arguing with Liu Yongming.
“Yongming, let me tell you, don’t think your sister-in-law is resting outside now. Usually, at home, I’m the one in charge. I cook, I wash clothes, I clean. When I tell your sister-in-law to rest, she doesn’t dare to contradict me. See, that’s the authority of the head of the household.”
Zhou Yuan, who was helping out nearby, felt a mouthful of old complaints on the tip of his tongue, ready to burst out, but then he remembered this was his father and swallowed them back. He looked at Liu Yongming next to him, whose face was red from trying to stifle his laughter.
Zhou Ba looked at this scene and felt something was off. “Yongming, are you trying to laugh? Are you mocking me?”
“Zhou Ge, I’m not. Pfft, I’m not laughing, you heard wrong, hahahaha.”
“You clearly are laughing! You haven’t stopped!”
Seeing this, Zhou Yuan also couldn't hold back and burst into laughter along with Liu Yongming.
Zhou Ba's face turned red as he argued, “Loving your wife can’t be considered being henpecked… This is love!… Matters between husband and wife, can they be considered fear?” This was followed by a string of mumbles, such as “not henpecked,” “not wife-controlled,” which made the two laugh even louder. For a moment, the kitchen was filled with cheerful air.
At the dinner table, Liu Yongming brought up the matter again, Zhou Ba's face turned red again, and everyone laughed once more before it passed.
After lunch, Zhou Father and Zhou Mother prepared to go home. Liu Yongming told Zhou Yuan to pick up the Pokémon Egg himself, along with the incubator.
After Zhou Yuan entered the adjacent room, Big Red seemed to know that her child was about to be taken away, but she didn't stop him, nor did she Howl. She simply stood up and met Zhou Yuan's gaze.
Zhou Yuan looked at Big Red, and at himself reflected in Big Red’s eyes. For some reason, he had already picked up the incubator, but then, as if by some strange impulse, he put it back down.
He stood there, thought for a moment, and finally turned and left the room.
Once outside, Zhou Yuan asked Zhou Ba:
“Dad, can I not go back? I’ll just wait here with Uncle Liu. Big Red must be a mother for the first time, and I just feel it’s too unfair to her to take her child away like this.”
Hearing his son's words, Zhou Ba also fell silent. After a while, he spoke:
“You're more thoughtful. Your Uncle Liu and I didn't think of that point. We truly are two rough old men. But staying here isn't something I can decide; you have to ask your Uncle Liu's opinion. If it's inconvenient for him, then you'll come back with us and wait until it hatches.”
Liu Yongming, who was a little further away, clearly heard the conversation between the father and son and loudly said:
“What are you still asking for? It was my fault for not considering Big Red in the first place. Xiao Yuan is truly a good child. Stay if you want to stay. We haven’t seen each other for so long. How could Uncle Liu not let you stay? You just stay here with Uncle, and Uncle will make sure you eat and drink well.”
Hearing this, the worry that had been hanging over Zhou Yuan finally dissipated.
In the afternoon, Zhou Yuan went home with his parents, brought his laptop and changes of clothes, and began his several-day ranch life.
And just as Zhou Yuan returned home, in Yun Dian City, a neighboring city to Shuangqing City.
Meng Boguang, the Gym Leader of the Bug-type Gym in Yun Dian City, was enjoying his rare entertainment time of the day. After browsing Station A for a while, just as he finished watching a hot dance video and was about to exit the app, the homepage pushed a video titled “Meeting my Butterfree is your bad luck 【Pokémon Tactics 01】” to him.
To be honest, in the current general environment, it was very difficult to find a video with Bug-type Pokémon as the tactical core, because there were only a few high-strength Bug-type Pokémon, and other Bug-type Pokémon were hard to play creatively due to their own limitations.
With a mix of curiosity and doubt, Meng Boguang clicked on the video. He wanted to see how this video used Butterfree as its tactical core.
After the video ended, Meng Boguang fell into contemplation. Was this strategy difficult to understand? Frankly, it was nothing more than that. So why had he never thought of such a strategy before?
Thinking of this, Meng Boguang opened the comment section…
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