"Elesa-nee, are you still going to fight?", Iono looked at Elesa with some concern.
As a good bestie, she had already noticed that something was off with Elesa now.
Normally, Elesa was more like a proud model, but now her chest was heaving violently, and her face was as flushed as if she had put on rouge.
If they kept fighting, she was afraid Elesa would go full rage mode, and that wouldn't be good.
"Fight, why wouldn't I fight?", Elesa glared angrily at Axel and muttered softly to Iono, "Isn't it just a gym-level Pokémon? I have one too!"
Iono widened her eyes, "Elesa-nee is going to send out her main force?"
"What else can I do if I don't send out my main force? Let this hateful guy 1v3 me?", The more Elesa thought about it, the angrier she became. She grabbed her collar with her right hand and yanked open her loose yellow windbreaker, revealing the dazzling model outfit underneath.
When the sound of bells rang out, Axel instinctively widened his eyes and looked toward the source.
Then he saw a scene that made his blood boil.
Elesa was now wearing a crop top and shorts, her graceful figure perfectly exemplifying the saying: everything below the neck is legs, everything above the neck is beauty.
'Great, an iconic scene, though delayed, has arrived...'
Axel only looked for a few seconds before forcefully shifting his gaze away.
'Trying to wear me down with your fair, long legs and then beat my Pokémon?'
'Dream on!'
"Nihilego, use the move Rest to recover. There's still another match coming."
Iono instinctively gave Axel a thumbs-up.
Ever since she met Elesa, this was the first time she saw someone who could move their eyes away from Elesa within ten seconds.
Even more outrageous, Axel even had the presence of mind to give his Pokémon a command.
'When it comes to slaying beauties, I admit, you're the king.'
Under the corrosion of Toxic, Zebstrika quickly lost all its strength and collapsed to the ground with swirls in its eyes.
Axel smiled at Elesa, "Miss Elesa, you may now send out your next Pokémon."
"Okay!", Elesa's gaze was sharp as she retrieved the collapsed Zebstrika.
She pulled a Luxury Ball from the waistband above her hot pants and hurled it hard into the center of the field.
A Zebstrika that was a size larger than the last one appeared in the arena.
This Zebstrika's fighting spirit was clearly stronger than the previous one. It didn't make a sound even when pierced by the sharp Stealth Rocks.
Its eyes locked onto Nihilego, electricity crackling across its body, battle intent soaring.
"Zebstrika, use your damage to shred all of your opponent's defenses!"
"High Horsepower, CHARGE!"
Elesa pointed forward with her right hand, looking down at Axel, "Challenger, I admit I underestimated you just now, I should have used my main force from the start."
"But now, my Zebstrika will still tear apart all your schemes!"
Axel nodded slightly, judging that this might deal significant damage to Nihilego.
'A Gym Leader-level Pokémon, plus a 4x type advantage...'
'Even with Reflect up, Nihilego might not be able to take this hit.'
Since that's the case, Axel lightly licked his lips.
'I'm already playing dirty, what's one more?'
'Elesa is a public figure; she's not going to run down and bite me like Shasha.'
"Nihilego, use Substitute!"
———
A few minutes later, Zebstrika let out a shriek and was whittled down to defeat by Nihilego.
Elesa trembled all over, her big aquamarine eyes subtly turning red.
Iono hugged Elesa tightly, "Don't be mad, Elesa-nee. It's just a gym challenge, not a life-or-death grudge."
Elesa glared angrily at Axel, "NO! This is a life-or-death grudge!"
"Who battles like that?"
Iono held Elesa back with all her strength, afraid she'd run down and fight Axel in real life.
"No, Elesa-nee, if you get angry, it'll ruin your figure."
"So what if it does? I'm gonna kill him anyway!"
Elesa struggled hard to break free from Iono's arms. Her long legs leapt over the barrier and agilely landed on the stage, "Axel, I want to battle you with no restrictions!"
"For real?", Axel touched Ho-Oh's Pokéball.
Elesa was full of fighting spirit, "Of course it's real!"
A few minutes later, Elesa lay sprawled on the ground in a comic-style sitting posture, trembling as she pulled out a badge from her chest.
Her eyes were dull, covered in a thick mist of tears, and she looked like she was about to cry.
Axel accepted the badge and waved his right hand in front of her eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"How about another match? This time I'll let you win, okay?"
"NO!", Elesa saw Axel approaching and, without hesitation, grabbed his hand and bit it hard.
Axel quickly backed away, but Elesa had no intention of letting go. Her long legs wrapped around Axel's waist, her teeth clenched.
Iono sighed helplessly.
'It's over, Elesa-nee has totally lost her mind.'
'You already lost this badly, and you're still... rewarding him?'
Axel could only look up at the sky in helplessness, then glance at Iono with a pleading look.
'Please control your bestie.'
If he hadn't spent these past few days fighting life-and-death battles with Pheromosa, this scene might've felt like a reward.
But now? As a sage, this handsome guy only felt bored.
The biting lasted nearly ten seconds. Elesa's saliva was even dripping onto the floor before she realized her posture was a bit improper and quickly landed on the ground to push Axel away.
Her face was flushed, but her words were as stubborn as ever.
"That... We're even now. You're not allowed to tell anyone I bit you."
Just as Axel was about to nod in agreement, he saw Elesa reach into her pocket with her right hand and pull out a black card.
"This is hush money. Consider it my way of taking responsibility for you."
Axel: "???"
'You just had to make me accept a favor, huh?'
———
Leaving the Thunder-type Gym, Axel said goodbye to Miss Iono and exchanged contact info, then headed toward the agreed-upon location with Raihan.
On the road, Iono sent a smiley emoji, along with a voice message.
["Axel, I returned the silver card to Elesa-nee for you."]
["She also said you're a good boy and told me to give you her contact info."]
["Elesa (business card), this is Elesa's contact. Add her."]
["Also, that game we were just talking about, I really like it too. I'm best at using Pikachu."]
["Once you're back on the ship, you have to find time to duo with me."]
Axel added Elesa, sent a smiley emoji, and then opened Iono's chat box, ["I'll definitely carry you when I have time."]
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