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In internal battles, Lucario's win rate was still quite high, close to Incineroar's, the gap between them small.
As long as the speed-attack style didn't encounter an overly absurd tank, it could still fight. Moreover, it was cultivating its fist, attempting to become a one-punch dog, taking down its opponent with a single strike.
Against Incineroar, needless to say, the win rate was around sixty percent, approaching fifty-fifty.
The Aura Shield couldn't block every one of Incineroar's attacks; neither Close Combat nor Aura Sphere could instantly knock out Incineroar.
As for Greninja, there was a rather funny thing. It was true that Substitute created a nearly perfect decoy of Greninja, but every creature's aura was different. Even Greninja's substitute did not share the same aura as its original body.
It was just that this difference was subtle and hard to detect.
Coincidentally, Lucario could detect it, and its concentration was terrifying, coupled with Accelerated Vision allowing it to observe closely. The phenomenon of something disappearing the moment after seeing it could not fool Lucario at all.
Greninja could not escape. It also had to play hide-and-seek.
At that point, it came down to reaction speed: whether Greninja could adjust its type change before Lucario, or Lucario could adjust its attack to ensure at least a one-times or super-effective hit. Because without Protean, either could knock out the other in one hit.
It was a fight between two glass cannons, where it was either you die or I die.
Fighting Corviknight, due to its even higher physical and special defense than Incineroar, the dog, who had not yet grasped the true meaning of One Punch, really had no answer for it.
Fortunately, Corviknight also had no real answer for Lucario.
Body Press had very high power, capable of knocking out Lucario—that was absolutely true. But the prerequisite was actually hitting Lucario.
Could a slow bird like Corviknight, even with Tailwind, really catch up to a high-speed attacking style like Lucario's?
That was a joke.
As long as Lucario wasn't caught by Corviknight, it was in no danger at all.
However, by the same token, it also dared not approach Corviknight, limited to throwing long-range Aura Spheres. But if it could use Nasty Plot, then use Aura Sphere, the chance of beating Corviknight would be much higher.
It could even trick Corviknight into using Roost, removing its Flying type, and then hammer it with Aura Sphere. The win rate was actually quite high.
But against Rotom, the powerful high-speed Lucario gradually faltered. Nasty Plot blocked its protection, Discharge blocked its movement and interrupted its moves, Thunder Wave and Electroweb slowed it down, and Overheat delivered the fatal blow. The powerful Flame Aura Shield could not block it at all.
Lucario tasted the bitter fruit of close combat. The fist momentum it had painstakingly accumulated was wasted entirely, forcing it to fall back on the same method as against Corviknight: long-range projectile exchange. This way, it could dodge Overheat as well.
Although Lucario was still far from matching a special attack specialist like Rotom, Aura Sphere had a tracking effect. With this tracking, Lucario could achieve reasonably satisfactory results.
A fifty-fifty chance of victory.
Facing Metagross, the simpleton was quite decisive. Relying on its thick hide, it would directly use Gravity to negate both of their electromagnetic levitations, then spam Earthquake relentlessly. It wouldn't bother with anything else; just Earthquake.
If Lucario approached, it would use Stomping Tantrum. If Lucario stayed back, it would use Earthquake. Lucario, the glass shrimp, was incredibly annoyed by it but dared not engage it at range. Its usual strategy was Swords Dance, approach, then Close Combat or Bone Rush to the head. The process was consistent.
Metagross often used Psychic Fangs, like a spiked club, to clash with Lucario. It was hard to imagine such a large crab being so skilled in weapon combat.
However, Accelerated Vision was unfair, giving Lucario ample time to feint and ambush Metagross, thus boosting its win rate.
If it failed, it was probably because Metagross stomped its head, or Earthquake sent it flying.
Finally, there was Aegislash. Foresight, a move Lucario never used, would appear in this matchup, allowing it to pummel Aegislash mercilessly. With its high speed, even though Aegislash's Sacred Sword could extend over ten meters, it still couldn't do much to Lucario.
Fighting this straightforward opponent was relatively easy. The record for the One-Punch Dog was farmed from this guy.
That was roughly Lucario's gains over the past six months.
But what hurt the most was that Li Xiang no longer allowed it to sleep in the covers. They used to sleep together, and Lucario would wake up in his arms in the morning.
Now, because of the radiation thorns on Li Xiang's chest and his height, he no longer shared a bed with Lucario. At best, they would snuggle together, but still sleep in two separate sleeping bags.
Lucario was deeply saddened, thinking this might be the trouble that came with growing up.
....
At noon, after meals, the Pokémon began their afternoon nap.
This habit was formed after arriving on Mist Island, because aside from training, there was really nothing else to do, and sleep helped conserve energy.
Li Xiang didn't feel sleepy; he was still sorting through his gains. His next goal was—
From the corner of his eye, he saw Greninja sitting on a tree branch, one leg bent, the other dangling, a twig in its mouth as it showed off. The chuuni frog deeply admired Mewtwo, finding its behavior very cool, especially when it was attacking. It subconsciously imitated Mewtwo.
'Mewtwo is younger than you, you know! Please read more books, kid!' Li Xiang was speechless about this guy.
Over these six months, Greninja's progress was naturally no less than Incineroar's or the others'.
Pokémon: Greninja
Gender: Male
Level: 55
Ability: Protean
Type: Water / Dark
Height: 165cm
Moves: Night Slash, Hydro Pump, Grass Knot, Aerial Ace, Smokescreen, Work Up, Taunt, Shadow Sneak, Haze, Camouflage, Water Shuriken, Rock Slide, Mud Sport, Double Team, Scald, Substitute, Low Kick, Protect, Extrasensory, Ice Beam, Hidden Power (Fairy), U-turn, Dark Pulse, Gunk Shot, Power-Up Punch, Rest
....
Ah-Gua had a relatively simple approach to learning moves: basically, if it could learn a move of a different type, it would, to expand the range of types it could change into.
Being one level lower than Incineroar and the others was almost standard by now, but level fifty-six was not far off. It hadn't skimped on candy.
The number of Water-type candies it consumed was about the same as Fighting-type, supplementing the rest with Dark-type. Without a doubt, it was the biggest beneficiary of this candy round because the increased durability from the candy made its substitutes more resilient and prolonged its field presence.
Regarding Substitutes, it had learned from Mewtwo how to multitask. Mewtwo was a natural at multi-tasking, easily controlling over a dozen different items to do a dozen different things, even managing to read a book simultaneously. It made you wonder if Mewtwo had a split personality.
Greninja couldn't compare to a chosen one, but after long practice, three-line operation was no longer a problem. It had long been able to do math with its left hand, language with its right, and spell English words with its tongue.
After prolonged training, splitting into three and moving freely was also well within its capabilities.
However, it had also noticed that after splitting into three, it seemed to have reached a certain limit. Splitting into four was extremely difficult to accomplish. So, it decided to consolidate the three-way split for now.
The biggest weakness of the three-way split was insufficient type energy; it couldn't allocate enough. Therefore, the decoys had to use energy sparingly, not daring to use moves unless it was a critical moment. It was truly a matter of being impoverished.
Additionally, sparring with itself using the Niten Ichiryū was one of Greninja's favorite activities. As its dual-wielding technique became increasingly skilled, it remained unknown when its moves would undergo a transformation. But many techniques were indeed interesting; Greninja could use them when engaged at close range.
As Li Xiang watched Greninja use the Niten Ichiryū, his mind was on the The Ten Forms of Ksitigarbha. The Eight Great Arts of Zhuxia were all masterful techniques; he had learned this from Mo Ye.
Taking advantage of his youth, not long after sparring with Mo Ye, Li Xiang had mustered the courage to ask for a sparring match. Mo Ye agreed quickly, as if he had been waiting for the chance to hit him.
Afterwards, spending five minutes, this Elite Four member, who was supposedly focused on raising Pokémon, thoroughly beat down the young and vigorous Li Xiang—using a sword sheath. Then, he ruthlessly scolded him.
Li Xiang was incredibly frustrated. He hadn't expected Mo Ye's Tidewater Sword to be so formidable. How strong, then, was the The Ten Forms of Ksitigarbha, hailed as a peerless sword technique?
If he could teach Greninja some of its contents— He couldn't help but ask Mo Ye, who said he didn't know. It was true that the The Ten Forms of Ksitigarbha had been lost for a long time, but he could help make inquiries.
With the connections of an Elite Four member, as long as the The Ten Forms of Ksitigarbha hadn't completely vanished, it should be findable. And so, Li Xiang began to look forward to it.
Returning to the main topic, Greninja's Vanishing was a special ability that made it disappear from this world. Li Xiang didn't know why it had this power, but he could understand that Greninja's Vanishing was still improving.
Last time, it affected sight and attention; if you didn't pay attention, you couldn't see it. This time, it had become hearing. Your ears, or rather, the auditory nerves in your brain, would subconsciously ignore and block out the sounds it made.
The sound waves definitely existed, but your brain ignored them. It was incredibly mysterious.
If not for the Three-Blind Perception Method, Li Xiang would have had a much harder time finding Greninja. Fortunately, the Three-Blind Perception Method made the Vanishing controllable, preventing Greninja from simply disappearing from the world.
Truthfully, this improvement was very effective. Many Pokémon, after losing the ability to track an enemy with their eyes, would use their ears to locate the enemy. However, Greninja ran into two freaks: Incineroar and Lucario.
One was sensitive to temperature, the other to aura differences. It drove Greninja crazy. Being overshadowed by Brother Tiger and Sister Dog, the poor little tree frog could never catch a break.
Another thing: the Giant Water Shuriken was a move Li Xiang had been having Greninja practice. Constrained by the nature of Water Shuriken itself, it had never been able to become particularly large.
Finally, the training on Mist Island allowed Greninja to achieve the size of the ordinary giant Water Shuriken wielded by Ash-Greninja in the anime.
When Greninja held it, it was like a kite, and its power was immense. A single blast was equivalent to the total combined power of multiple regular shurikens.
Li Xiang couldn't help but look forward even more to the power of a super-giant Water Shuriken.
If the golden Water Shuriken had no healing effect, then looking forward to it was fine. After all, the anime director themselves said the golden Water Shuriken's color came from surging energy.
"Surging energy" sounded like it would be explosively powerful.
As an aside, Greninja seemed naturally able to manipulate Water Shuriken with great flair; spinning them was a trivial matter. And after spinning, the range of the giant Water Shuriken increased, turning it into a long-range move with considerable power.
Greninja's "childhood" dream—to snipe someone from thousands of. meters away with a single shuriken—had been fulfilled, just a little bit.