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Bang!
A ball of light shot out from the ferocious maw atop Victreebel's head, coming to a halt near the ceiling.
It spun continuously like a small sun, emitting a brilliant glow. Bathed in this light, Victreebel's body began to glow with a faint, glistening emerald light, as if undergoing photosynthesis.
Li Xiang knew this was a sign of its Chlorophyll ability activating.
The Sunny Day setup was really fast; it must have been practiced relentlessly.
'However, setting up sun right in front of me? You're looking down on me a bit too much.'
In the opponent's eyes, the Riolu in front of Li Xiang shimmered and turned into a shattered afterimage, vanishing into thin air.
'Gone?'
The opponent blinked, then realized Riolu was simply too fast—he had lost sight of it.
If he wasn't mistaken...
"Protect!"
A green shield abruptly materialized in front of Victreebel, blocking a fierce, flame-wreathed kick.
Bang!
Sparks of fire flew as the green shield shattered. The small figure flipped back, putting about five meters between them.
"So fast!"
The opponent was stunned for a moment. They were over forty meters apart—a distance that would take slower Pokémon several seconds to cross!
Who was the one with Chlorophyll here?
"Razor Leaf!"
Victreebel lowered its center of gravity slightly. The leaves on its left and right sides flashed with light, becoming as sharp as short swords, reflecting a keen, cold gleam!
Then, it began to spin around its central axis like a top, slicing toward Riolu!
The wind whistled ominously, somewhat reminiscent of a Blademaster using Blade Storm!
Li Xiang's expression remained unchanged as he calmly said, "Double Team."
As Victreebel spun closer to Riolu, Riolu's figure shimmered, creating numerous illusory copies that surged forward.
Without exception, all these copies were shredded by this unique Razor Leaf.
But in doing so, Victreebel's move also reached its end, and it lost sight of its target.
"Ice Punch."
"Stun Spore!"
Victreebel contracted its body, storing golden-yellow powder inside, ready to release it all around. But just as it opened the leaf on its head, a phantom-like figure arrived at its side.
A chilling cold spread through the air, seeming to freeze its body.
The fist landed.
Thud!
A dull impact sound came from Victreebel as it flew sideways like an arrow from a bow, thumping against the wall at the edge of the arena!
Then, it slid powerlessly to the ground.
Fine golden powder spilled from its maw. On its chest, a frost-covered dent was strikingly obvious.
One-hit KO!
The opponent looked surprised, his gaze shifting to the Riolu in the arena, cold air still wafting from its fist.
He suddenly noticed that Riolu's body had the same intermittent, glowing emerald light as Victreebel's, though slightly fainter.
"Role Play?"
"Correct."
Li Xiang nodded lightly. At the start, when the opponent used Sunny Day, Riolu had used Agility.
Then, while Victreebel's Chlorophyll activated, Riolu dashed forward and copied it with Role Play.
The Blaze Kick was just a feint, which was why Victreebel's Protect blocked it.
After that, it tried to bait a powder move at close range, but the opponent didn't take the bait initially, attempting close combat with Razor Leaf instead.
Riolu had to dodge using Double Team. Fortunately, the next moment, the opponent realized Victreebel couldn't handle Riolu's extreme agility and grew impatient, trying to lower its speed with Stun Spore.
While it was gathering the powder, Riolu struck Victreebel's chest with an Ice Punch, taking it out instantly.
"Your Riolu is terrifying up close. One punch and it's down."
The opponent didn't seem upset about Victreebel's loss. Instead, he looked at Riolu with keen interest, as if he'd learned something.
Battles at the club were often like this. Friendly exchanges, sharing knowledge, and improving together.
Winning or losing was secondary; it wasn't an Association ranking match. If you could learn something from a battle, it was a win.
"I didn't even get to use Growth. With Chlorophyll and Growth, the firepower under sunlight would've been explosive."
The opponent sighed, recalling Victreebel, and complained.
"You're slower than me, so of course you didn't get the chance."
Li Xiang shrugged. Riolu was the team's primary speed attacker—even Greninja wasn't as fast or agile, let alone having its level of body control and dynamic vision.
Gorging on Speed Candies did that.
The battle continued.
Li Xiang didn't switch. The opponent sent out his second Pokémon.
A pink, somewhat adorable humanoid mantis Pokémon that covered its mouth with its claws, resembling a figure in a kimono.
—The Grass-type, seventh-generation Pokémon, Lurantis.
'A Grass-type specialist? Leaf Guard or Contrary?'
'Wasn't this a typical slow Pokémon? Sending a slow Pokémon against a fast one... is this...'
"Solar Blade."
Swish—Bang!
Like Excalibur charging and slashing down in an instant, a golden light blade struck the ground, leaving a thick, charred mark.
The affected area was quite wide, very much resembling a beam cannon.
"I...???"
Li Xiang and Riolu, who had successfully dodged, stared blankly. Across from them, Lurantis stood demurely, covering its mouth with a smiling, charming expression.
'That was way too fast! Even faster than that Aqua Cutter from before!'
'Is Sunny Day Solar Blade this broken? In the anime, there's at least a charging process! Slashing down directly is something else.'
Of course, the power was far less than the Aqua Cutter's—just the standard effect of a powerful type-based move.
"Wow, you're way too agile."
The opponent was also amazed. "You dodged the 'First-Strike Blade'? I practiced that for ages!"
'First-Strike Blade?'
Li Xiang's mind raced, recalling a certain Grass-type master's Lurantis.
"First-Strike Blade" was the signature technique of that master's Lurantis, fast as lightning and nearly impossible to react to.
He hadn't expected to see an imitation here, but it was a fairly successful imitation, at least.
It certainly gave Li Xiang a scare.
'Come to think of it, Aegislash can learn Solar Blade too... Huh, learned something new.'
"Riolu!"
Riolu let out a low cry, stamped a single foot on the ground, and lunged at Lurantis. Its form was as fast as lightning, dazzling to the eye.
A mid-air pivot!
The blue-and-black-furried puppy suddenly lashed out with a kick!
Blazing flames erupted!
Bang!
At the last possible moment, a green shield bloomed like a flower in front of Lurantis, successfully blocking the Blaze Kick. The flames and shockwave were mostly absorbed by the green shield, leaving only residual waves to scatter.
Then, a faint brownish-red aura rose from Lurantis's body, its pink scythes almost completely enveloped in brownish-red light!
'Superpower?'
'It seems the Contrary ability is confirmed.'
Li Xiang thought to himself, noticing that Lurantis's transition from Protect to Superpower was very smooth, as if there were no end lag or start-up lag.
By the time Riolu used the green shield to pivot and land, Lurantis had already stepped forward, swinging its scythe down in a slash!
Brownish-red energy streamed upward like tassels!
'The difference in training level....'
Li Xiang frowned slightly. Move linking relied on practice—the one thing that required time and accumulation.
The more you practiced, the smoother the move links became.
Fortunately, the blade wasn't falling too fast.
Riolu watched the ever-enlarging brownish-red giant blade, a faint blue light gleaming in its eyes.
At the same time, it shifted its body almost imperceptibly. The brownish-red giant blade swept down right next to its body, crashing onto the ground!
Boom!
The ground trembled slightly! Gravel flew! Dust billowed!
"Dodged again? Detect?"
The young man grimaced. "Not having Taunt is really a pain. Maybe I should switch."
He took out a PokéBall, intending to recall Lurantis, but Riolu wasn't going to give him the chance.
Amidst the dust, a flash of firelight appeared before Lurantis's eyes. It instinctively tried to raise a shield, but the blazing flames had already struck its abdomen!
Bang!
The fire exploded!
The terrifying impact sent it flying backward!
The smell of burning filled the air; From the young man's perspective, Lurantis's body thumped against the wall, then slid powerlessly to the ground, just like Victreebel.
"Another one-hit KO?"
The young man stared blankly, then looked at Riolu in the smoke.
"Did you use Swords Dance?"
"Nope. Sunny Day plus Fire-type power boost. You set it up yourself."
Li Xiang pointed at the light ball above, whose glow was gradually dimming; Sunny Day was almost over.
"Riolu's Attack... is that high?"
The young man looked at Riolu in confusion. "How long have you been training it?"
He suspected it had been trained for at least fifteen years, with super high Attack and Speed stats.
"About five years or so."
Li Xiang said offhandedly. Although he wasn't sure what rank this person was, based on the battle so far, his strength was even lower than the reserve members he'd faced in the first round on Sakura Island.
He was far weaker than the delinquent, too. At best, he'd just trained longer, giving him better move proficiency and linking.
The First-Strike Blade looked scary, but that was about it.
"Five years? How old are you? A student?"
Hearing Li Xiang's words, the young man was taken aback.
"Yep."
Li Xiang nodded, then added, "Sorry, could we speed this up? I have something urgent to attend to."
'I still need to grind for Candies!'
Across from him.....
'A student... probably from a higher education institute.'
The young man looked at Li Xiang with a complex expression, a hint of envy in his eyes. He uttered an "Oh" and released his third Pokémon.
The one that landed was a humanoid Pokémon covered in rhombus-shaped spikes, wearing a four-cornered pagoda-like hat, its body green all over.
—The Grass/Dark-type, Cacturne.
'A true Grass-type specialist.'
Aside from Victreebel, all the others were slow Pokémon.
Li Xiang fell silent.
The sunlight was gone. Cacturne couldn't use Solar Beam.
He had Riolu use Force Palm shockwaves to trade blows with Cacturne, finally ending it with an Aura Sphere for a clean victory.
Grass-type Pokémon had always been relatively weak, with many weaknesses and poor offensive coverage. If not for being easy to raise, few trainers would probably choose them.
After a friendly handshake, Li Xiang learned his rank and age.
Poké Ball Tier, 9th rank, twenty-four years old.
Being a trainer wasn't his main job. He was in the accessories business.
Non-full-time professional trainers... this was very common in Zhu Xia.
Basically, only trainers above the 3rd rank of the Poké Ball Tier would choose to be full-time trainers because by then, winning a single match could earn them five thousand Pokedollars.
Yes, just one victory paid five thousand Pokedollars.
And when the semi-annual season ended, there were also bonuses distributed based on rank.
That was enough to cover their daily Pokémon training expenses.
But for lower ranks... the income wouldn't cover the costs, eventually reducing battles to a hobby.
Like this person, who treated battling as a form of entertainment.