"Come on out, little Coffin."
Hutao shouted in an excited voice as she threw the pokeball towards the battlefield. Her Yamask left the pokeball and reciprocated her excitement with a loud cry "Yaaaa."
On the other side, Chongyun silently released his Vanillite. Both human and pokemon were awkwardly trying to ignore the crowd. They were introverted and felt shy to battle in front of so many people.
Observing the two contrasting duos, Loki smiled in amusement. Out of every pokemon he gave out today, Yamask and Vanillite resembled their owner the most.
Loki waited for a while for Chongyun and Vanillite to settle down before he announced the start of their battle. "Begin!"
Hutao immediately gave a command. "Little Coffin, use Astonish." Yamask raised his hands into the air as a ghostly face emerged from his mask and swallowed Vanillite.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye, so neither Chongyun nor Vanillite could react.
Facing the preemptive strike, Vanillite flinched and swayed in the air. When she finally recollected herself, Chongyun gave his command. "Vanillite, use Astonish as well."
Hearing his command, Vanillite quickly spinned in the air before a ghostly face appeared and flashed towards Yamask.
Looking at the ghostly face phasing through her pokemon, Hutao was filled with glee. "Disable." She shouted.
Even though the attack affected Yamask, he had barely flinched. So when he received the command, his eyes immediately glowed red. Under his piercing gaze, Vanillite also glowed in a similar red light.
Hutao began to laugh. "Chongyun, you are too careless. Do you think I would not expect that move? What will you do now? You have just lost the only move that is super effective on my little coffin."
Chongyun was immediately filled with worry. He didn't respond to Hutao's taunt as he decided on his next command. "Vanillite, use Icicle Spear."
Vanillite diligently followed his command as she opened her mouth and released sharp ice shards at her opponent.
"Protect." A barrier immediately appeared before Yamask and shielded him from the barrage of ice shards. When the attack stopped, Hutao quickly gave her next command. "Use Will-O-Wisp."
Yamask immediately created a blue ball of fire between his hands and threw towards towards Vanillite.
"Dodge it." Vanillite swiftly moved out of the way but the fireball followed her persistently. No matter where she went, Yamask was controlling the fireball so it was always following behind her.
It didn't take long for the fire to touch Vanillite. Her icy body instantly lit up with flames and she fell onto the ground with a painful cry.
Without giving Vanillite any time to recover, Hutao pointed at her fallen form and gave her next command. "Little Coffin, Night Shade."
Yamask immediately began to glow purple. His eyes also glowed brightly and numerous crismon rings were soon released from them.
"Get away." Chongyun shouted at the top of his lungs but Vanillite didn't manage to react in time. In the blink of an eye, the crimsom rings had already swallowed her and burst apart.
"Vanillite!" Chongyun shouted in worry as he watched Vanillite fall to the ground, listless.
"Vanillite is unable to battle. The winner of this round is Yamask and Hutao." Loki announced the end of the battle from the side.
Hutao immediately jumped onto the battlefield and began to celebrate her victory with Yamask. "We did it, little coffin. We won."
On the other side, Chongyun silently kneeled besides Vanillite and waited for Rene to complete healing her. Various self-deprecating thoughts passed through his mind.
Loki suddenly appeared behind him and patted his shoulder, bringing him out of his thoughts. He turned to Loki with a brief surprise before looking down with shame.
"Mr. Loki. Am I really fit to be a pokemon trainer? During the battle, I wasn't able to command Vanillite properly because I was too focused on the gaze of the surrounding people. I don't think I will every get used to such looks."
Loki looked at Chongyun with deep eyes as he patted his head with a reassuring smile.
"Don't think too deeply. You are a good pokemon trainer. If you are uncomfortable with the gazes of other people, just don't have a pokemon battle in front of a crowd. Nobody is forcing you to do something you don't like."
"..That..." Chongyun could not say anything in response. Even if Loki's advice was simple, it was true.
"Now, stop moping around and stand up."
Loki suddenly changed his attitude and chopped him on the head. He immediately clutched his head in pain and looked at Loki with a betrayed look in his eyes.
Loki ignored him and turned to Hutao. The bold girl had become even more bolder after her recent victory. She was now proudly advertising her merchandise to the audience.
"To celebrate my victory, I am going to do a special discount today. Buy one coffin, get two free."
Loki was amused and wanted to see what Hutao was going to do next. But unfortunately, he still had a job to do.
"Hutao, stop doing that."
Under his authoritative look, Hutao and Chongyun obediently walked to their friends and began to converse with each other.
Loki then turned his head to look at the crowd. He made eye contact with 2 people hidden at the back, and invited them to his stage with a simple gesture of his hand.
A while later, the Yuheng Keqing and the Tianquan Ningguang, jumped onto the central platform and stood before him.
The 2 Liyue Qixing immediately became the center of attention and everyone strained their ears to listen to their conversation. But Loki had already isolated the area from all sounds.
"What are you doing here?" Keqing asked in a strict voice, devoid of emotion. Loki spoke with a bright smile.
"Welcome, Keqing. Do you also want to join in the fun? And it is a pleasure to meet you, Ningguang."
"It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Loki." Ningguang greeted him with a slight bow.
On the other hand, Keqing repeated her question with a colder voice. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, can't you see? I am advertising pokemon to the people of Liyue." Loki answered.
Hearing his carefree voice, Keqing sighed in annoyance. She then asked another question.
"And what did you do to the Millelith in the harbor? When we questioned them about you, they seemed to genuinely confused."
"Oh that-" Loki suddenly looked like he had an epiphany. "For some reasons unknown, they believed that I received permission from the Liyue Qixing to host this event. I didn't even have to persuade them. I have to admit, the Millelith of Liyue are really kind and compassionate."
"You...?" Hearing him shrugging of his own crime so easily, Keqing was completely speechless. Ninguang was not faring any better.
"Rather than worrying about meaningless things, you should join the fun. I was originally thinking of ending this event for today but you are here now. If you join, we will have exactly 4 people and continue this Pokemon Battle until we crown a champion."
Keqing became even more speechless. After thinking for a while, she could only sigh and turn a blind eye to his crimes.
She and the Liyue Qixing still wanted to maintain an amicable relation with Loki and the group of pokemon behind him. They possess an unknown level of threat, so provoking them was a fool's errand.
Keqing made a compromise for his crimes but she was still not going to give him the satisfaction he crave.
"I will not have a pokemon battle. I believe what you just did should have been enough for your goals, right?"
"Indeed, my goal is already complete." Loki shrugged his shoulders. Then he made a disappointed expression. "But I still wanted to have some more fun."
Facing Keqing's deadpan glare, Loki finally stopped teasing her. "Oh well. At least I tried."
Saying that, he snapped his fingers and removed the barrier that isolated sound. He then addressed the crowd in a loud voice.
"Everyone, thank you for being such a brilliant audience. I am glad to announce that the first pokemon battle of Tevyat, is now officially over."
"If you are curious to know more about pokemon, please make sure to come to my humble store tomorrow when it opens. Who knows? I might even give a pokemon to a few lucky among you."
Loki paused and waited for his words to sink in.
A few seconds passed and several people among the crowd began to cheer loudly. The others didn't show much of a reaction but they were also filled with excitement and anticipation.
Everyone wanted to get a pokemon after the series of Pokemon Battle that just took place. Their intentions varied but their wishes were the same.
Loki relished in the cheers of the crowd for a few more seconds until he have had his fill. He then clapped his hands and spoke in an authoritative voice.
"All of you should head back to your duties now."
With his voice as the signal, the crowd slowly started to disperse obediently. Keqing and Ningguang immediately looked at him with shock and suspicion.
"What did you do? Why did they become so obedient so suddenly?" Keqing asked.
"What do you mean?" Loki feigned ignorance. "I just asked them to leave politely."
His lie was so blatant, but Keqing and Ningguang could not prove that he lied. One might consider arguing with Loki until he submitted and told them the answer. But that is exactly what Loki wanted.
Knowing that, the 2 Liyue Qixing did not start a debate with him. Instead, they sighed at their own powerlessness and remained silent.
Nearly a minute passed and the crowd had completely dispersed. Only 2 people remained behind. Zhongli and Yelan.
Loki gathered the 6 teens, 2 Liyue Qixing, and his pokemon family and friends, and approached the 2 people.
"Mr. Zhongli. You were also here?"
Hutao immediately skipped over to Zhongli and clung to his side. Zhongli ignored the rowdy girl out of habit and looked at Loki.
"I didn't know you had a talent for arranging shows."
"Well, what can I say? I am a man of many talents." Loki laughed loudly. He then turned to Yelan and addressed her.
"It is nice to meet you, Yelan."
Yelan maintained a stoic expression as she slightly bowed her head. "It is my pleasure, Mr. Loki."
This competent intelligence agent has already figured out the threat that Loki and the Pokemon Studio possessed. And she had reached a conclusion.
Don't mess with Loki or the Pokemon Studio, ever.
The large group then began to introduce each other. When everyone had introduced themselves, Loki brought up the important question.
"Ningguang, you came to find me because you want a pokemon like Keqing, right?"
"You are right." Ningguang admitted honestly. Loki nodded his head and turned to Zhongli and Yelan.
"What about the both of you? Do you also want a pokemon?"
Yelan didn't even wait for a moment before she responded. "I do."
On the other hand, Zhongli pondered for a few seconds before he spoke. "Why not?"
_____
(Some time earlier)
A group of 8 people gathered before the Pokemon Studio one by one. The streets were empty and they were hiding their features with a long cloak and mask.
One of them expertly messed with the lock and easily opened the door to the Studio.
"Steal anything of value and find out the secrets of this place as soon as possible. We have to leave before those monsters come back."
Another one relayed his orders with an authoritative tone. 2 of them remained outside as watchmen, while the rest entered the Studio, unaware of the 4 pair of eyes that suddenly opened in the darkness.
Needless to say, their fate was sealed on this day.
(PS: There are always some fools in every world. They have eyes but they fail to recognize Mount Tai.)
_____
Vanillite
Gender: Female
Type: Ice
Ability: Ice Body
Moves: Astonish, Harden, Mist, Icy Wind, Icicle Spear, Iron Defense
_____
Yamask
Gender: Male
Type: Ghost
Ability: Mummy
Moves: Astonish, Protect, Haze, Night Shade, Disable, Will-O-Wisp