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Chandelure—a Fire/Ghost-type Pokémon.
With exceptional Special Attack, it was a classic long-range artillery Pokémon.
Unfortunately, it had once been quietly nerfed.
In Generation V, its Hidden Ability was actually Shadow Tag, not Infiltrator.
But by Generation VI, Game Freak deemed Shadow Tag Chandelure too terrifying—just like Levitate Gengar—and considered it game-breaking for competitive play. So, they removed it.
Adding to that, since Shadow Tag Chandelure couldn't be obtained through normal means in Generation V, Game Freak quietly scrapped it entirely, pretending it never existed.
But since it had existed, there was a possibility it could still appear in Li Xiang's world.
At first, Li Xiang hadn't recognized the girl standing before him. It wasn't until she introduced herself that he recalled seeing her in the intelligence files.
He remembered she had an older sister, and both had very little information available. Their full Pokémon teams weren't even listed. Considering they might become allies or rivals in the future, Li Xiang felt it necessary to figure things out now.
Who knew? Another inter-camp exam might pop up soon—maybe even a 3v3 singles match.
....
Battle Start
Incineroar roared, activating Intimidate—its secondary effect triggering as well.
An invisible pressure weighed down on Chandelure, freezing it for just a split second before it shook it off.
'This thing's willpower is strong.'
Li Xiang raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised but not worried. The one who should be worried was Lü Ling.
Even if it was just a fraction of a second, Incineroar had already seized the initiative.
"Taunt."
Almost simultaneously with Li Xiang's command, Incineroar curled its lip in a sneer and beckoned mockingly at Chandelure.
An unseen force surged into Chandelure's mind, flooding it with uncontrollable rage and temporarily sealing its ability to use status moves.
The move it had been trying to use was also interrupted.
'Probably Taunt as well.'
Li Xiang smirked. Lü Ling hadn't spoken, but it was common sense to Taunt a setup sweeper to prevent stat boosts. She wouldn't have let it slide.
Besides, Chandelure itself was a Pokémon that loved using status moves.
—"If I Taunt first, no one can Taunt me."
Both sides likely thought the same thing.
But Incineroar, thanks to Intimidate, had acted just a fraction faster—and landed its move successfully.
Half the battle was already decided.
Just like that.
Chandelure already struggled against Incineroar, and now its status moves were locked. Barring any surprises, this match was practically over.
Pokémon battles were full of variables. Sometimes, a single misused move could send an otherwise even match spiraling into defeat.
Sure enough, Lü Ling's expression darkened as she realized her Chandelure had been outsped, but Li Xiang wasn't about to give her time to think.
With a snap of his fingers, he commanded:
"Bulk Up."
"Grrr—ROAR!"
Incineroar grinned savagely, clenching its fists and shifting into a Beng Quan stance. Its muscles bulged, hardening like marble yet retaining flexibility.
A sharp twang echoed through the air, as if ropes were being pulled taut. Then, white steam billowed from its fur—like water splashed onto scorching stone, hissing relentlessly.
For a brief moment, Incineroar seemed to grow taller, as if undergoing Dynamax.
Meanwhile, Chandelure had no choice but to attack.
But none of its STAB moves would deal more than half damage.
In the end, it opted for Clear Smog, hoping to poison Incineroar and buy some time.
Thick, murky green mist spewed from Chandelure's eerie blue flames, rapidly spreading through the air. But then, a scorching, orange-red whirlwind erupted, carrying embers that scattered the noxious fumes!
At the heart of the gust was Incineroar, cheeks puffed as it exhaled Heat Wave.
Against fog-based moves, Heat Wave was the best counter—no contest.
But strangely, once the mist cleared… Chandelure was gone.
Only Lü Ling remained.
"Vanished."
Li Xiang was no stranger to this concept—in fact, he was quite familiar with it. He knew Pokémon could perform all sorts of miracles, but true "disappearance" wasn't possible.
What people called "vanishing" was usually just hiding, invisibility, or misdirection.
And as traditional ghosts, Ghost-types naturally excelled at "disappearing."
Most commonly, their method was—Invisibility.
But unlike moves like Camouflage, which consumed energy to turn invisible at will, Ghost-type invisibility had stricter conditions.
One of them was: They couldn't turn invisible in bright light. So, Chandelure had to be hiding in the shadows of the surrounding trees.
But with so many trees and no arena restrictions, who knew which one it was under?
Unless Incineroar burned them all down—and with some luck, it might find the right one immediately.
Which brought up something interesting—
Why was Incineroar's temperature control so precise it could adjust to single-digit accuracy?
Natural talent? Instinct?
No.
It was its acute sensitivity to ambient heat changes.
To Incineroar, even a one-degree shift was as obvious as night and day. Like how some people could distinguish between rose red and burgundy, while others couldn't tell the difference.
Thanks to mastering the Three-Blind Perception Method, Incineroar could pinpoint temperature shifts down to the digit.
So, for a Chandelure with ghostly blue flames—no matter how hot or cold they burned, to Incineroar, they stood out like stars in the night sky.
There was no hiding.
"Tch."
Incineroar scoffed, flicking a sphere of blue fire toward a distant tree.
The fireball shot forward—only to vanish mysteriously just before impact, as if swallowed by something unseen.
Lü Ling, who had remained calm until now, paled. She hadn't expected Chandelure to be exposed so quickly.
The battle had taken a nosedive, teetering on the edge of defeat.
'So it is Flash Fire.'
Li Xiang's hopeful expression fell. Flash Fire was common on Chandelure, but not what he'd been hoping for.
He really wanted to see Shadow Tag in action, even if it wasn't his own.
"End it."
Li Xiang sighed.
"Rrr…"
Incineroar growled low in its throat, bending its knees slightly as twin flames ignited around its claws, shrouded in dark light.
The wind howled. The air trembled.
A swirling vortex of black and red energy formed around Incineroar as it spun—like a genuine tornado—before hurtling toward the tree where the flames had disappeared!
"Darkest Lariat!"
In an instant, like a true storm sweeping through, the vortex tore across the battlefield, uprooting soil and dead leaves before slamming into a fleeing shadow!
BOOM!
A heavy impact echoed as the black-red whirlwind's centrifugal force sent a dark figure flying—straight into the sunlight!
Chandelure, was forcibly revealed!
Super effective!
Chandelure fainted—one-hit KO!
The ornate chandelier crumpled to the ground, its yellow eyes spiraling.
Lü Ling stood frozen.
"Thanks."
Li Xiang took the wooden token from Lü Ling.
The rules of the inter-camp exam differed slightly from regular matches—the focus was on tokens, not Pokémon. So even if a Pokémon fainted, it could return to battle after recovering, as long as its trainer still had tokens.
The rules were much more lenient.
What did that mean?
It meant the exam was another farming opportunity for trainers like Li Xiang.
Strong competitors could spend these three days harvesting tokens from weaker students. Right up until the exam ended.
'Ah… The training camp really is a place where the strong oppress the weak.'
Li Xiang clicked his tongue.
"Hong…"
Lü Ling's voice reached him.
"That's not my name. I'm Li Xiang. 'Red Scarf' was just a fake name."
He grinned up at her. "See you around."
Checking the time—
'Song Jie should've reached the rest station by now.'
He turned and left, moving so quickly Lü Ling couldn't react in time to follow.
"Li Xiang…"
She frowned, the name ringing a faint bell. Then it hit her—she'd seen it before, in the stack of papers her sister had given herm, but she hadn't paid it any attention, tossing it aside.
She never expected the real thing to be this strong.
She'd underestimated him.
Lü Ling sighed—not over the lost token, but over her own carelessness.
If she'd studied his intel more carefully, maybe she wouldn't have lost so badly.
'Being crushed by someone my own age… How long has it been since I last felt this?'
Her gaze lingered on the direction Li Xiang had gone, deep in thought.
.....
Northern Rest Station
The white-haired boy was indeed waiting at the entrance, glancing around.
"You're late." Li Xiang jogged over, complaining.
Song Jie: "???"
"That's rich, coming from you."
He scowled. "I've been waiting five minutes."
"Only by a hair."
Li Xiang waved it off, not wanting to waste time. "Anyway, I ran into one of the sisters from Yong City. The younger one. Interested? She probably hasn't gone far—go grab her token!"
The phrase "mercy for the fairer sex" didn't exist in Li Xiang's dictionary—especially not during exams.
With such a fast way to earn points, why hold back?
Song Jie shook his head. "No. My team needs to rest. Not worth the effort right now. Let's head inside first."
"Rest?" Li Xiang blinked. "You ran into someone tough? Who?"
Hearing rest from this guy was rare.
"Gong Xu."
Song Jie replied flatly. "I won, but he used Destiny Bond."
Destiny Bond—if the user faints while this move is active, the opponent faints too.
In this world, Destiny Bond had a chance to fail, and the success rate dropped further the wider the level gap.
'Ghost-types… really are annoying.'
Li Xiang grimaced.