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In internal battles, everything depended on Li Xiang shouting commands. How much fighting ability could such Pokémon truly have? If he were to lose his voice one day, this Pokémon would probably be completely useless.
It was exasperating.
The only thing worthy of praise was its "One-Sword Ascetic" state—the offensive stance it took when discarding its shield. Unlike the Magma Form and Accelerated Vision abilities, which consumed its own energy, "One-Sword Ascetic" granted the opponent the power to defeat it in a single strike.
By giving up its shield, Aegislash abandoned its defenses, dedicating itself wholly to the battle. If the opponent failed to take it down with that "one sword," then Aegislash would be the one to draw its blade and finish them off.
Therefore, "One-Sword Ascetic" was a boost that applied to both sides.
Aegislash's resolve in this regard was commendable. Once it discarded its shield, it would attack with the determination to fall in the very next second. Li Xiang especially praised this trait.
Unfortunately, its track record was simply too dismal to behold. Most of the time, it was on the receiving end of attacks. Instances where it came out on top were few, making its record the worst on the team.
Factors like arriving late, resulting in fewer candies consumed, insufficient level, lack of training, inherent Ability flaws, and emotional issues—all sorts of elements contributed to Aegislash's losses in internal battles.
Its goals for striving forward were very clear: to learn not to be provoked and to flexibly utilize its two forms. Yet, even just these two objectives could take a lifetime to master.
Theoretically, Aegislash could take on the entire team, but... as always, theory remained just theory. Lucario could theoretically outrun and exhaust everyone with its speed, but what was the actual result?
Overthinking things.
Additionally, Li Xiang felt that if this Pokémon were a bit more normal and didn't always need him to shout its opening poem, it probably wouldn't have ended up with such a poor record.
Shouldn't it at least break even? A seventy-thirty split was just absurd.
It wasn't that Aegislash lacked ambition. It was a very pure Pokémon, born to practice the way of the sword. As long as there was a poem, it could unleash one hundred twenty percent of its power.
The reason it lost to others was simply that its combat composition was deeply problematic. Environmental factors had a significant impact on it.
Enough to call it a problematic child.
But changing this wouldn't be easy. Channeling power through recited poems was Aegislash's habit during battle. Li Xiang had tried letting it recite the poems to itself. Since it couldn't speak anyway, reciting silently in its heart wouldn't bother anyone.
Its response was that its own recitations didn't feel as evocative as Li Xiang's.
Silent recitation lacked motivation. For poetry, it had to be shouted out loud to truly feel it.
"What the hell does 'evocative' and 'motivation' even mean in this context?"
To accommodate this Pokémon, Li Xiang had been shouting poems and "sword come!" all over the campus for days, nearly losing all his dignity. And now it was giving him this excuse.
He strongly suspected whether it truly loved hearing poetry or simply enjoyed watching him make a fool of himself in public.
But regardless, this was his Pokémon. He had no choice. The fact was, this was the only way it could fight. Its life's meaning was hearing him shout poems.
What could he do? He had to shout the poems out loud at certain moments. But the price of doing so was delaying tactical opportunities, leading to Aegislash's eventual defeat.
The more Li Xiang thought about it, the angrier he became. He couldn't resist lightly slapping its blade.
"Flip over!"
Aegislash, suddenly struck, was a bit confused with its single eye, but it obediently exposed its back. With a clatter, it also dropped its round shield.
Over the past six months, it had finally started to get used to a shield-bearing life, advancing irreversibly down the path of the "One-Sword Ascetic."
"You..." Li Xiang picked up the sword and shield, setting them aside, quite dissatisfied. However, his oiled hands didn't stop their motion.
If Aegislash were still Shimazaki Hitomi, this scene might have seemed somewhat unsuitable for younger viewers. But now, it was just a greatsword filled with poetry, probably having forgotten who it once was.
Li Xiang vividly remembered when he first encountered this creature. Just touching its tassel would make it so shy it would draw its sword to strike him.
Now... It had reached the point where a slap on its blade made it actively change positions on its own. They were too familiar.
Li Xiang somewhat missed the immature Honedge of the past, yet he also felt that this level of familiarity was good. After all, if it had remained unchanged, oil massage would have been quite troublesome.
"Alright! Go hang around somewhere else!"
Li Xiang, with oily hands, picked up the shield and began massaging that as well.
The comfortable Aegislash opened its eye and silently floated toward a large tree, swaying on a branch. This habit had never changed. It still acted like a roly-poly toy, loving to sway around in high places.
Over these six months, the seven Pokémon hadn't undergone major transformations. They were merely advancing continuously along their predetermined paths.
Even so, Li Xiang's strength was still in a state of explosive growth, changing day by day.
To what extent? To put it a little exaggeratedly: his classmates would weep at the sight, and the Elite Four would fall silent at the sight.
The latter had already been achieved. After he got out, he should be able to achieve the former, right?
Mo Ye, who sparred with Li Xiang every couple of days and taught him battle strategies, was very curious about how he managed it. This growth rate was something that even Xia Chunyu back in his day couldn't have hoped to match.
How old was Li Xiang this year? Oh, right, fifteen. Were all young people like this nowadays? Had he really become old?
After each sparring session with Li Xiang, discovering his Pokémon had grown again, this thought always crossed Mo Ye's mind. Looking at Li Xiang awaiting his guidance, Mo Ye truly didn't know what to say.
Indeed, the natural environment of Mist Island was greatly beneficial to Pokémon. Having stayed there for nearly two months, even Mo Ye's own Pokémon were continuing to grow at an accelerated pace.
But someone like Li Xiang was still a bit too exaggerated. He had covered in just a few months a path that took others several years. It was as if Incineroar and the others were slowly unlocking power they had always possessed.
Fortunately, this explosive period lasted less than four months of Mirage Island time. After four months, the growth rate finally began to slow down.
Yet even so, Mo Ye still felt this growth rate was irrational.
Was his compatibility with Phantom Island really this high? Or perhaps Mewtwo was sharing its power with Li Xiang's Pokémon?
Mo Ye found it hard to understand but had no intention of probing the secrets behind it. On one hand, it was out of respect for Li Xiang. On the other, he simply had no interest in so-called secrets.
For this Elite Four member, as long as a method wasn't harmful to Li Xiang's Pokémon, he wouldn't interfere. He was long past the age of being curious about everything. There were too many unsolved mysteries in the world for him to know everything.
Mo Ye had a very calm mindset.
In fact, he taught Li Xiang even more diligently: how to use Pokémon in battle, how to deal the highest damage at the most opportune moment. Li Xiang benefited greatly but also discovered that the trainers at the very top fought very straightforwardly.
What they loved most was pure energy clashes. Ignoring all the twists and turns, they aimed to deal the highest damage in the shortest time.
There wasn't much communication between Pokémon and trainer; everything was decided by the Pokémon itself.
Was this returning to basics? From novices who couldn't formulate tactics due to lack of means, to intermediate trainers who started developing and utilizing tactics, ultimately returning to a state of no longer being bound by tactics.
To some, that level of battle might seem very uninteresting. The lack of tactics made many moves lose their supposed value.
But Mo Ye called it the collision of souls between Pokémon and trainer.
In the heat of battle, neither side needed words, not even communication, to understand each other's intentions and choices. This near-consciousness-level communication filled Pokémon with the power to withstand impossible attacks and defeat impossible enemies.
It had a very anime feel. In the anime, moves weren't distinguished between physical and special, tactics were generally chaotic, output relied mostly on shouting, and damage absorption relied entirely on willpower.
But such battles had a unique charm. At least in the eyes of this world's audience, they were far more entertaining than the drawn-out matches where two crafty players constantly predicted each other, swapped Pokémon incessantly, and stalled for time to the point of bladder-bursting frustration.
Audiences loved it.
Li Xiang's feelings were inexplicably complex. He felt that under this kind of competition system, a cheat-like player like himself had a tremendous advantage. His favorite style was straightforward.
Thus, with Mo Ye's help, Li Xiang quietly forged ahead.
.....
Time passed.
The two-month deadline set by Uxie grew closer and closer. Li Xiang also noticed that Mewtwo's return time was gradually getting later, even to the point of missing dinner.
He guessed that Mewtwo was close to succeeding.
Sure enough, in the final week of the deadline, Mewtwo invited him to attend the routine meeting of the Museum of Knowledge. At the meeting, the Ranger Union and Mo Ye would both be present.
"It will decide whether I can achieve true freedom."
The powerful being appeared full of confidence.
Li Xiang didn't know exactly what had happened to Mewtwo. It wasn't that he didn't care, but that Mewtwo was unwilling to let these trivial matters interfere with his growth. It deliberately hid them.
It said that while the story along the way was certainly interesting, it would waste Li Xiang's precious time. Once everything was over, it would tell him personally.
And now was the critical moment that would determine whether Mewtwo would have to follow Uxie and wait another ten or so years on Phantom Island, or whether it would gain its freedom immediately.
Just hearing about it made Li Xiang a bit nervous. But he was curious about how Mewtwo had gained Mo Ye's trust, as he hadn't heard Mo Ye mention it.
With this question in mind, the day of the meeting arrived.
As an observer, Li Xiang was given a seat in the corner of the round table conference room. That spot happened to offer an unobstructed view of all the Pokémon and humans present. He guessed Mewtwo had chosen it.
He had come together with Mo Ye and the others. The representative sent by the Ranger Union was still Zhong Hai.
The main Pokémon themselves, however, were still nowhere to be seen.
Why?
As Li Xiang was pondering this, he saw the group of ten sages enter through the door. They didn't rush to sit but waited for something.
Then, Mewtwo emerged from the darkness. To Li Xiang's surprise, it sat in the seat belonging to Slowking—the head seat.
The ten sages had calm expressions, showing no reaction as they each took their own seats.
"Alright, let the meeting regarding whether I can go to the outside world now commence."
Mewtwo tilted its head, resting it on its right cheek, looking down at the Pokémon and humans below with eyes of disdain, issuing commands like a king.