The night view in the Unova region was beautiful, the starlit sky reflecting above, and lights shining all across the distant land.
Axel lay on the deck watching the night for a while, when he suddenly received a message from Iono.
[Are you there, wanna play a match?]
[Emmm, wait a bit, I might still have something to deal with.]
After politely declining Iono, Axel opened Cynthia's chat window.
[Are you there, wanna play a match?]
Very quickly, Cynthia video-called him, propping her chin up with one hand, looking tiredly at Axel.
["Today was so exhausting... I request a day off."]
["If only you could come to Sinnoh already, I miss you!"
Seeing how tired Cynthia looked, Axel couldn't help but feel a bit of heartache.
It seemed like all his girlfriends were really busy.
Eva was like that, and so was Cynthia.
"Although a Champion's duty is very important, you have to take care of your body too. Don't work too hard, learn from the neighboring Champion Alder,"
Cynthia wrapped her windbreaker tightly around herself, nodded aggrievedly, and explained, ["It's not really that being Champion is tiring, it's mainly that there's a certain hot-blooded Elite Four in our region..."]
["That guy Flint acts like he has unlimited energy, and he challenges me almost every day."]
["I, a proper Champion, have actually been forced by that guy to feel like I'm working a regular job."]
Axel was surprised, "Your Garchomp knows Dragon Dance and he still fights you?"
"Does this guy have some sort of masochistic tendencies?"
["He totally does,"] Cynthia nodded seriously, looking helpless.
["Back when Garchomp didn't know Dragon Dance, he only fought once every two days."]
["But ever since Garchomp learned Dragon Dance, that hot-blooded guy's been challenging Garchomp basically every day..."]
As she said this, Cynthia rubbed her temples hard.
["And the worst part is, that guy's an Elite Four, so he already has a huge workload."]
["If something actually happened to him from all this battling, I'd be the one to cover his job... So I can't even let Garchomp go all out."]
'Hot-blooded, huh?'
Axel lightly licked his lips, this was exactly the kind of Trainer he loved to battle.
As one of the Sinnoh region's Elite Four, Flint was best known for his fierce, unrelenting offense.
He'd even mastered how to activate Blaze (Blazing Fire) at full HP, a very impressive heavy-hitter.
It wasn't unreasonable that someone like that would enjoy seeking out stronger opponents.
It's just... adding to Cynthia's workload? Now that's not right.
With that in mind, Axel decided to teach Flint a lesson.
"Help me arrange a battle with Flint. I'll remote battle him using your Spiritomb."
Cynthia glanced at the time, ["Now? It's already pretty late."]
"Yes, right now," Axel nodded.
["Well... okay then. I'll set it up for you. But are you sure Spiritomb can take on that guy Flint?"]
Axel grinned, "Relax. You still don't know my strategies?"
Cynthia blinked, suddenly remembering what it was like to battle Axel herself. She immediately looked seriously at her Garchomp, ["Garchomp, when the battle starts later, protect our Rotom!"]
———
A few minutes later, the door of Cynthia's villa was knocked, and a bright flame lit up the sky.
"Cynthia, I brought Infernape. Is Garchomp rested up yet?"
"I really appreciate it, I brought lots of Sitrus Berries for Garchomp too."
Cynthia's lips twitched as she looked helplessly at Axel in the projection, "You see... this guy's annoying but very polite. I don't even have a reason to punch him."
["No worries, I got this,"] Axel grinned wide. He loved Trainers with good manners.
At least this kind of Trainer wouldn't throw a fit after losing, like that girl Caitlin.
["Flint, let's have a match!"]
In the world of Trainers, no words were needed, one look was enough to begin a battle.
Sure enough, hearing Axel's words, Flint not only didn't refuse, but his eyes lit up.
Someone who can video call Cynthia, how could they be weak?
He, Flint, loved challenging the strong the most.
Flint threw a few excited punches into the air, his eyes blazing as he looked at Axel, "Then before I battle Garchomp, let's have our match first."
"But where's your Pokémon? Are you going to use transfer tech to send them to Cynthia?"
["No need,"] Axel smiled and shook his head, ["I'll just use Cynthia's."]
"Use Cynthia's?", Hearing that, Flint was clearly surprised.
"Using someone else's Pokémon, you won't be able to show a Trainer's full strength."
"And you're remote battling, you're already at a disadvantage. There's no way you can beat me."
["It's fine. We're just playing. If you've got no objections, shall we start?"]
Seeing that Axel was insistent, Flint didn't argue.
To him, getting to battle more was a win in itself.
Why worry about win or lose?
"Alright, then let's begin," Cynthia thought about what strategy Axel might use and couldn't help but want to laugh.
"Both sides will use a 1v1 battle mode. No switching Pokémon. No items allowed. Is that okay?"
"Okay."
"Then let's go!"
Axel and Flint both agreed without hesitation.
1v1 was the most common match format between friends, it revealed each other's skills without hurting the relationship.
The moment the match started, Flint instantly seemed like a different person, his presence surged.
"Let's go, Infernape!"
Flint's Infernape was extremely well-trained, with bulging muscles and intense flames radiating high heat, its body a whole size larger than an average Infernape.
"Garchomp, come on out already. My Infernape finally has a chance to beat you."
Cynthia crossed her arms, blonde hair covering her eyes, her demeanor returning to that cold and distant aura she showed outsiders.
"Who said Axel was going to use Garchomp to battle you?"
"Get past Spiritomb first, then we'll talk."
Cynthia brushed her hand across her waist and released Spiritomb in a flash of white light.
"Spiri~"
After being released, Spiritomb weakly greeted the Blaze Monkey, then just looked at the ground by itself.
Seeing Spiritomb like this, Axel couldn't help but chuckle, ["You're still such a social recluse, huh? You're in a battle, at least look at your opponent's Pokémon, will you?"]
"Spiri?", Spiritomb turned around at the sound, and the moment it saw Axel in the projection, it let out a joyful cry.
Ever since Axel's special training, it could clearly feel itself becoming much stronger, just hadn't had the chance for actual combat.
'Is this trainer here to give it a real fight?'
Seeing Spiritomb so happy, the corners of Axel's lips lifted.
["Feeling confident?"]
"Spiri!"
["Then let's show them what we've got. Make them look at you with new eyes, yeah?"]
Spiritomb's leaves swayed, and its fighting spirit instantly ignited.
'So excited!'
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y