Chapter 82: Steven Is Far Removed from Humanity
The video continued playing.
Flint looked at the tiny child holding Gible in front of him, then glanced at Infernape, who was pretending to admire the scenery beside him.
He took another deep breath.
Although Gible had only recently hatched, its mouth already contained dozens of teeth that were straighter and sharper than those of many fully grown Pokémon Flint had encountered.
"Uncle Flint."
Tiana tilted her head, her golden and purple eyes staring directly at him.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I’m wondering why I didn’t call in sick today."
"Are you sick, Uncle Flint?"
"...No. By the way, Tiana, where are your parents?"
Flint sighed inwardly.
He truly couldn’t control Tiana, so his only option was to find someone who could.
"Daddy said the League had a mission for him, so he left early this morning."
Tiana counted on her fingers.
"Mommy said there was an emergency at the research institute in Celestic Town, so she went out too."
Flint’s heart sank.
An extremely ominous feeling rose within him.
"So..."
He spoke slowly.
"Did you come here by yourself today?"
"Yes."
Tiana tilted her head.
"Mommy and Daddy are both busy, and I didn’t want to bother them. Daddy asked Salamence to bring me to the League."
Flint fell silent.
He stared into the child’s eyes.
Her mismatched golden and purple eyes were almost excessively bright beneath the sunlight. Their outer corners curved slightly, and combined with her black hair, she looked almost identical to her father.
At least she still made some effort to pretend to be innocent.
Had her father been in her position, he probably wouldn’t even have bothered.
"I understand now," Flint said slowly. "You’re doing this deliberately, aren’t you?"
"Uncle Flint, I don’t understand what you mean."
Tiana tilted her head, her innocent expression utterly flawless.
Flint stared at her for several seconds before standing up and addressing Infernape.
"Come on. We’re going back to the office."
Infernape released a relieved breath and immediately turned to escape with him.
"Uncle Flint."
Tiana’s voice drifted toward him from behind.
"If you won’t battle me, I’ll tell Salamence to set off fireworks above the League headquarters."
Salamence released a deafening roar from atop the statue.
Its blood-red wings spread wide, casting a shadow directly over Flint as he attempted to leave.
Flint turned around and pressed a hand against his forehead, staring at the little girl who had appeared perfectly obedient only moments ago.
So much for pretending.
Now she resembled her father even more.
[Regular-Seat Chat Group]
"Tiana has already conquered two members of the Sinnoh Elite Four."
"You think the other two will escape? Their turns simply haven’t arrived yet."
"That Salamence looks incredible! I’m going to catch one too."
"The commenter above should go to sleep. You can have anything you want in your dreams."
[VIP Chat Group]
[Lt. Surge]: I’ve been watching from the beginning. Is the Sinnoh League’s security system made of paper? A Salamence landed on your statue, and no one tried to stop it?
[Aaron]: You try stopping a Salamence with a four-year-old child riding on its back.
[Lt. Surge]: Why would I try? I’m not from Sinnoh.
[Flint]: Don’t stand there making sarcastic remarks, Lt. Surge. Weren’t you frightened by Raina’s Gyarados too?
[Lt. Surge]: That was different! Raina was only participating in a Gym battle. Tiana practically rode a dragon straight into your headquarters!
[Flint]: Oh, so I can’t win this argument? Come forth, Volkner!!!
[Volkner]: Flint, you—
[Flint]: There’s no time to explain! Use Bite! Keep biting!!
[Volkner]: I’ll Bite your—*
[Light Screen: Prohibited language detected. @Volkner has been muted for ten minutes.]
[Aaron]: It’s over! Volkner was defeated before the battle even began!
[Lt. Surge]: Heh. Winning today would hardly be honorable. We shall battle again another day!
[Koga]: We Kanto Gym Leaders are truly righteous and honorable! Unlike those Sinnoh people, who immediately started fighting among themselves!
[Flint]: ...
[Aaron]: ...
[Wallace]: Returning to the subject, Tiana truly does behave exactly like the real-world Asher.
[Steven]: She isn’t exactly the same. She’s the upgraded version.
[Iris]: Huh? Why do you say that?
[Asher]: It’s nothing more than meaningless slander.
[Asher]: Unfortunately, because I’m a man of such strong principles, I’m frequently subjected to this kind of defamation.
[Wallace]: How can you say something like that without feeling embarrassed? When we ask you questions now, you can’t even be bothered to pretend. You simply give up and refuse to answer.
[Asher]: Because I genuinely don’t know anything.
[Steven]: That statement has completely lost all credibility.
[Wallace]: Coming from you, those words have depreciated so badly that they aren’t worth enough to buy a Potion.
[Gary]: Good grief. Asher has both devoted fans and dedicated haters now. He could make his official debut immediately.
[Asher]: Everyone can rest assured. I may know nothing about those other parallel worlds, but in the real world, I am unquestionably a pure and honest man!
[Wallace]: From head to toe, Asher’s mouth is the only hard part!
[Steven]: I wouldn’t be so sure.
[Raihan]: ?
[Leon]: ??? Steven, what exactly do you mean by that?
[Lance]: Absolutely outrageous.
[Diantha]: I already thought Leon and Raihan were rather... but I never expected...
[Lorelei]: (╯°□°）╯
[Valerie]: (╯°□°）╯
[Elesa]: (╯°□°）╯
[Wallace]: Steven may still be a long way from godhood, but he is already far removed from humanity.
[Leon]: Hey, hey! That whole thing was nonsense Raihan made up! Don’t drag me into this!
[Cynthia]: What are all of you talking about? Why don’t I understand?
[May]: I didn’t understand either...
[Dawn]: Neither did I...
[Lorelei]: You don’t need to understand this.
[Daisy]: Won’t Misty become angry when she sees this?
[Misty]: Why would I be angry? They’re only joking around. I know what kind of man my boyfriend is.
[Lorelei]: That’s true. Asher doesn’t seem like that kind of person. Steven was merely causing trouble.
[Valerie]: Agreed.
[Viola]: Agreed.
[Elesa]: Agreed.
[Asher]: Thank you all for understanding. Please go drink some tea or take a short nap. Return to the livestream in ten minutes.
[Bonnie]: Huh? Why do we have to wait ten minutes?
[Clemont]: Bonnie, go and play somewhere else for a while.
[Bonnie]: Oh. All right.
[Asher]: Thank you for cooperating.
[Asher]: Steven, you $€%¥#£g* your $%* I’ll **&#¥$#$¥%#*%¥&*^%$€%¥#£
[Light Screen: Prohibited language detected. @Asher has been muted for ten minutes.]
[Gary]: Even though it was censored, you can still tell that his rant contained an extremely high concentration of insults involving Steven’s bloodline.
[Brock]: Being capable of swearing for that long without repeating himself is admittedly rather impressive.
[Lt. Surge]: Why was Volkner muted immediately, while Asher was allowed to swear for so long?
[Lance]: Perhaps the Light Screen has a rather wicked sense of humor too.
...
TL: Steven—femboy potential?