While the Pokémon were hard at work, Auron wasn't idle either—he was still doing his best to sweet-talk (and swindle) Su Qianyan.
"I'm telling you, Brother Su—Sneasel can evolve. But the price for that, well, tsk tsk…"
As he spoke, Auron rubbed his thumb against his index finger, a gesture Su Qianyan understood at once.
Su Qianyan blinked, pointed at himself in confusion. "Me?"
Auron grinned and glanced at the other three. "Any of you have a Sneasel that needs to evolve?"
The trio were all holding back laughter, but played along and shook their heads.
Auron smiled at Su Qianyan. "Then who do you think I meant?"
Su looked from Auron to Ashen Vale—who was pretending to be very busy with his work—then gave a helpless, wry shake of the head. He understood perfectly why Auron was putting on this little show.
"Fine. How do I bribe you?"
"Aw, 'bribe' sounds so ugly. Thing is, I need a few materials for Sneasel's evolution. And, well, you know me—I'm just a student. I don't exactly have the channels…"
Auron took a leisurely sip of water.
"I get it. So you make a list, and I'll gather everything you need—right?"
Su Qianyan cut him off with a lifted hand, half exasperated, half amused.
"Ehh—how could I impose like that? Dad, you got any paper? Bigger sheet?"
At that, Su Qianyan's face went dark. Was this really Sneasel's evolution material list? The three who'd come with him couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing.
"All right, knock it off. Just help him evolve it. It won't take much anyway."
Smiling, Ashen Vale walked over and cleanly interrupted Auron's little extortion plan.
"Okay, okay, fine."
Auron spread his hands in mock defeat and agreed.
In truth, he'd only wanted to tease Su a bit. After all, what kind of example was he setting? A dignified Elite Four, losing to a soon-to-be college freshman, and then—bringing out his main team?
What happened to decency? What happened to the rule of law?
"Okay then, no more kidding. For Sneasel to evolve, you need a Razor Claw. That all right, Brother Su?"
Su Qianyan thumped his chest. "No problem. Leave it to me."
"Leave what to you?"
Su Qianyan: ???
With the matter settled, Auron finally turned to the three in the back. They'd exchanged greetings when they first met, but he'd been busy spooking Su then and hadn't paid them much attention afterward.
"Uncle Mo, you don't have any assignments today?"
Auron looked at Dax Jonas with genuine puzzlement. In his mind, as an official messenger and fixer, Dax should have been busy.
"Nope. We were going to play games at Su's place today, but when I heard you'd come up to the capital, I thought I'd bring them to meet you. I've mentioned you to them a bunch of times anyway."
At that, Auron glanced at the beautiful woman beside Dax, eyes smiling. "So this must be Auntie, right, Uncle Mo?"
One line—and both of them flushed.
Dax cocked an eyebrow at Auron, helpless.
(You brat—other people may not know, but you do. Don't talk nonsense.)
Auron cocked one back in playful mischief, answering with his eyes.
(Relax, relax. Of course I know.)
Seeing the look they exchanged, the beautiful woman felt—instinctively—that they were hiding something from her.
She furrowed her brows, about to ask—
"You haven't introduced us yet, have you? Look at me, what a head I've got on my shoulders."
Before she could speak, Dax hurriedly slapped his own forehead and cut in. "Right, this here is my girlfriend—and one of our Dragon Nation's Elite Four—Elite Four Ji Qianyi, a Fairy-type specialist."
"Hello, little Auron."
Though the word girlfriend made Ji Qianyi shy, she recovered quickly and greeted Auron with a smile.
Auron had heard of the Fairy-type Elite Four long ago—Grandpa Flint had mentioned this very Elite Four in the messages he sent back then.
With amused eyes, Auron looked at Ji Qianyi.
From the look of it, this Fairy-type Elite Four wanted to make the pretend act into something real.
"Hello, Auntie Ji. I've heard Uncle Mo talk about you for ages."
Auron's answer made the Elite Four glow with delight. She cast Dax a honeyed look. "I've heard Qiancheng mention you so many times—saying you're a hero in youth. Now that I've met you, you really are extraordinary."
Under her gaze, Dax actually shivered and hurried to break up the flattery. He shoved the blond man beside him forward.
"This is another of our Dragon Nation's Elite Four—Yu Xiuzhu. He's the consummate master of sandstorm teams. He's also the one I told you about before—the Elite Four whose mainstay has only green aptitude."
"Hello, Auron. I've long admired your name."
Yu Xiuzhu stepped up as soon as Dax finished, hand outstretched.
Auron, slightly stunned, reached out and shook it. "Uh… what name is there to admire?"
They released hands, and Yu Xiuzhu's eyes lit up. He began ticking points off on his fingers, one by one.
"Qiancheng says your relationship with the Legendary Victini is very good."
He bent down a second finger.
"Qianyan says you're on good terms with the Legendary Manaphy."
A third finger.
"You successfully made a fool of Elite Four Yue Zhonghua. I take great pleasure in that."
"Hold on—I made a fool of an Elite Four? Since when?"
Auron heard something amiss and cut in at once.
"That time with the Shuihua Squad. Elite Four Yue wanted to see Manaphy, so as soon as the business was done, he rushed to the airport to fly to Vantora. But when he got there, Brother Lu wasn't home.
"Then he flew back, and I told him Manaphy had been sent to Brother Lu. He said he hadn't seen Brother Lu. Then I called you, and you said Manaphy had been transferred to Vantora, so he went again—but by then it was the next day. He ran back and forth and still never saw Manaphy."
After Su Qianyan's explanation, Auron could only laugh and cry.
"Why didn't he just get in touch with me?"
Su spread his hands. "Who knows?"
Yu Xiuzhu chuckled and put up a fourth finger. "Also—you've discovered a lot of evolutions no one had uncovered before. I admire that."
A fifth finger.
"And most importantly—you beat Su Qianyan under equal conditions! That's huge!"
Su's face went black. "I didn't lose. I won in the end!"
At that, everyone present gave him a synchronized look of disdain. Yu Xiuzhu rolled his eyes and jabbed back, merciless.
"You're not embarrassed to say that? You really don't know how you 'won'?"
Face flushed, Su shot Yu a hateful glare and stormed toward the door, leaving only one line behind him:
"I'm going to look for a Razor Claw. Don't call me unless it's necessary."
Watching his retreating back, the others laughed even harder.
Su quickened his steps and pretended he hadn't heard a thing.
After the laughter died down, Auron cast Yu Xiuzhu an approving look. This one's good to have around—give him a chance to roast someone, and he doesn't miss it.
"Elite Four Yu, may I take a look at your Pokémon?"
(End of this chapter)