"Commander!"
Julian had just finished breakfast when a series of urgent knocks sounded on the hotel room door. Slowking opened the door to find a furious Ella standing outside.
"Slo—"
Slowking was about to greet her, but Ella, stomping in high heels, stormed straight into the room without a word.
Slowking was left stunned.
Slowking: 'I, Slowking, greeted you, and you didn't even respond? That's disrespectful! I need to see what's going on.'
So it immediately followed Ella inside.
Seeing Ella's angry expression, Julian felt his heart sink, though his expression remained completely normal. He even casually picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth.
He asked nonchalantly, "What's wrong? Why are you so angry so early in the morning? Who provoked you?"
Ella slammed both hands on the table and leaned forward.
Julian glanced at her neckline. Alright, she was dressed so modestly—who exactly was she guarding against? After all, he was a gentleman.
Of course, his subtle movement didn't escape Ella's notice. She secretly regretted not wearing a low-cut top today.
But she quickly refocused on the matter at hand.
"Commander, you went to the red-light district yesterday, didn't you?"
"Nonsense! Absolute nonsense! Who told you that? I'll have Metagross crush them!"
Julian shot up from his chair, looking genuinely outraged, as if he had been falsely accused.
Slowking stared at Julian.
'Red-light district? He dared to go?'
"Commander, you're still denying it? There's photographic evidence!"
"Bullshit! I never went, so how could there be photos? If you don't believe me, ask Celebi and Jirachi. You two, tell her, did I go?"
The two little ones immediately shook their heads.
Ella laughed in anger, pointing at them. "They went with you. They were both captured in the photo too!"
"Where's the photo? Show me the photo," Julian demanded.
Ella then took out her phone, opened an image, and sure enough, there was a picture of Julian in the red-light district, holding Jirachi in his arms.
"It's photoshopped! Absolutely photoshopped!"
Julian refused to admit it, shaking his head so fast it nearly left afterimages.
Meanwhile, inwardly he thought: 'I had Metagross manipulate the magnetic fields to avoid all the cameras along the way. With such interference, even if someone saw me and tried to take a photo with their phone, the image should have been blurry. So how is this photo so clear? It looks like it was taken from less than three meters away, and from a high angle at that.'
"Commander, there's no use denying it. This photo was taken by Celebi. It was updating its TikTok account and uploaded pictures of the food it had these past few days. It must have clicked the wrong one, so this last photo got uploaded too," Ella said with a cold smile.
'Damnit, so it wasn't that my hiding skills were poor—it's that there's a traitor in my own team.'
Julian looked toward the spot where Celebi had been, but the little thing was already gone.
"Where's Celebi?"
"It just flew out the window," Jirachi said from the side.
"Jirachi, go catch that traitor for me. I'll reward you with a hundred bucks."
"Okay!"
Hearing there was money to be made, Jirachi immediately cheerfully ran outside to capture Celebi.
"Slow?"
Just as Julian was about to explain things to Ella, Slowking's voice came from behind him.
Slowking: "So you really did go to the red-light district? It seems my words mean nothing anymore."
Looking at Slowking's calm expression, Julian swallowed hard. This damn pressure—why did it feel even worse than facing a First-class Legendary?
"Slowking, let me explain—wait, wait, wait, don't come any closer!"
Before he could even finish speaking, he saw Slowking walking step by step toward him. Julian was now completely panicked and shouted, "Metagross, help me, help me!"
"Meta~"
Metagross transformed into a streak of light and retreated directly into its Poké Ball.
"Gengar, show yourself!"
Gengar from his shadows indicated that it was now "dead" and couldn't hear a thing.
'Don't you know what kind of family status Slowking holds in this household?'
"Slow~"
Slowking stopped right in front of Julian.
Slowking: "What were you doing there?"
"Nothing, nothing! I was just curious and went to see what it was like," Julian hurriedly shook his head. He really hadn't done anything—he'd just wanted to see what the red-light district looked like.
"Copy the 'Good Child Rules' a hundred times and give them to me by tonight."
"Slo—"
"Hmm?!!"
Slowking just glanced at Julian, and he immediately swallowed the rest of his words. He nodded vigorously to show that he would finish copying before tonight.
Watching Slowking walk away, Julian finally let out a sigh of relief.
Pop!
Metagross emerged from its Poké Ball.
It looked at Julian—untouched and unharmed—in surprise. "Slowking let you go?"
"Gen~"
Gengar emerged as well: "Nope. He has to copy the 'Good Child Rules' one hundred times."
Metagross nodded: "That sounds about right."
Gengar: "His hand will probably be sore after copying all that."
Watching his Pokémon gossiping, and seeing Gengar very thoughtfully take out pen and paper from its belly for him, Julian's face instantly darkened.
Grabbing Gengar's cheeks and pulling them apart, he roared, "Why didn't you come out when I called for you earlier?!"
"And you, Metagross—weren't you disrupting the magnetic field? How could Celebi still take photos?"
Metagross explained, "Celebi said it wanted to take a photo as a memento, so I withdrew the magnetic field. How was I to know it would be so stupid?"
"Commander, I think you should post an explanation on WeChat or TikTok. Celebi's account has tens of millions of followers. By now, the news of you visiting the red-light district has probably become a global headline."
Hearing this, Julian felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
He hurriedly took out his phone and opened the News app. The headlines he saw nearly made him suffocate.
---
[Champion Walker In The Red-Light District!]
[Champion Walker's History With A Woman!]
[This Is the Place Even Champion Walker Approves Of!]
[Shocking—Champion Walker Actually Prefers This Position!]
The online discussions were even more chaotic.
> "Champion Walker, the role model of our generation."
> "I run a business in the red-light district. Champion Walker, if you come next time, I'll give you free service."
> "Is Babath's red-light district really that good? Even Champion Walker couldn't resist going?"
> "If even Champion Walker went, what do you think?"
> "Champion Walker truly has courage. Last time I went to Babath, I was too embarrassed to go and ended up bringing back 2TB of "study materials" instead."
> "Bro above, DM me!"
> "Husband, even if you're like this, I still won't dislike you. sobbing"
---
Reading the comments, Julian couldn't bear to look any further.
Now, it was like having mud stuck to his pants—even if it wasn't shit, everyone would think it was. His lifelong reputation was ruined in an instant.
Slumping back in his chair, he stared blankly at the ceiling and muttered, "Metagross, how about you self-destruct and blow the entire country of Babath sky-high?"
Metagross: "How about I punch you sky-high instead?"
"Gengar, I have a mission for you: silence everyone who knows about this," Julian said with a grim expression.
Gengar shook its head: "There are too many. Way too many to silence."
*****
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