After a brief silence, Okamoto let out a sigh.
It seemed he had no choice but to force his way through—he had to take down this Indeedee before Clawitzer lost consciousness!
"Clawitzer, Hydro Pump!"
"Indeedee, Protect."
Okamoto: ???
Watching Indeedee easily block his desperate all-in attack with Protect, while Clawitzer also fell fast asleep after draining its last bit of focus, Okamoto was completely numb at this point.
Surely not, Teacher Azure!
Aren't you just toying with me like a casual viewer? Do you even want people to pass this challenge—
On the other side, Aiden was equally puzzled, his gaze toward Okamoto carrying a few more points of investigation.
"You didn't bring any Berries?"
"Huh?"
Caught off guard by Teacher Azure's sudden question, Okamoto was confused again.
Looking at his expression, Aiden roughly understood the situation.
"You didn't read the battle rules for this challenge carefully, did you? Since you need to battle the Elite Four consecutively, you can freely use any battle items during the assessment."
"For example, Chesto Berries that can cure sleep, or Lum Berries that can cure all status conditions."
As Aiden explained, he laughed with relief.
These silly children were quite honest—actually thinking about fighting fair battles when fighting the Elite Four—
If it were him, he would have filled his bag with Berries ready for immediate use.
"—"
Noticing the clear "this batch of students isn't very good" meaning in Teacher Azure's eyes, Okamoto suddenly felt his face burning hot.
He indeed hadn't prepared any Berries. He hadn't even brought his bag, only carrying a few Max Revives in his pocket to use between Elite Four challenges.
He never expected that Teacher Azure would be the one to remind him to use items.
But since things had come to this, he could only attribute everything to lack of experience in his first Victory Road challenge.
I'll definitely use this for next time!
Okamoto shook his head helplessly, temporarily putting aside emotions unrelated to the battle, and began seriously thinking about how to break through.
There was definitely something wrong with the Psychic Terrain that Indeedee set up upon entering—because his Clawitzer only had the opportunity to be affected when making contact with the terrain.
Not losing much HP, only temporarily falling asleep—the problem wasn't too big.
After all, Teacher Azure had personally stated just now that this Indeedee wouldn't use any attacking moves, so hypnotizing it was meaningless—
There was no need to even withdraw it; he just needed to wait for it to wake up.
"Wake up quickly, Clawitzer!"
Okamoto opened with a healing shout, trying to use their bond to counteract the Pokémon's current status condition.
This move was actually quite common among Trainers and very practical—when it worked, it proved that bonds were real and they had established a very deep connection.
And if it didn't work, it could be explained by saying their bond wasn't deep enough yet.
As for this time, it clearly didn't have any good effect.
Clawitzer only barely raised its right claw before quickly losing all strength and falling fast asleep again.
While Okamoto was burning with anxiety, Aiden immediately followed up with a command: "Indeedee, Perish Song."
"Indee~"
Indeedee nodded, simply cleared her throat, and immediately began performing the "Hell Symphony" she had just learned.
Normally, Indeedee couldn't learn this move, but unfortunately, Aiden's household had too many illegal Pokémon.
Not only was there Mewtwo with inherited Mew genes who could learn any move, but there was also Sylveon who could break through her own limits through Sketch.
As long as Mewtwo dared to teach, the other Pokémon in his household dared to learn—
And the Perish Song used by Indeedee could truly be called "the student surpassing the master," combined with her completely off-key cute voice, successfully achieving dual physical and spiritual damage!
After giving the command, Aiden immediately put in earplugs while waiting with interest for Okamoto and his Clawitzer's reaction.
"Indeedee~~~"
When Indeedee opened her mouth, Okamoto subconsciously shivered, feeling as if his brain had turned to mush, with indescribable whispers filling his ears.
He subconsciously covered his ears in terror, trying to use physical isolation to reduce this move's interference with him.
What was going on? Did Perish Song affect Trainers too???
With some doubt in his heart, Okamoto looked at Clawitzer in front of him. Sure enough, the originally peacefully sleeping Pokémon was now furrowing its brow, seemingly transitioning from a beautiful dream to a nightmare, even breaking into a cold sweat on its head.
Was this a combination technique?
Okamoto didn't dare hesitate anymore and decisively took out a Poké Ball to recall Clawitzer.
Although Clawitzer couldn't cure its sleep status inside the Poké Ball either—in fact, it would sleep even more deeply due to the comfortable environment—he had no other options right now.
After listening to the entire Perish Song, even if it ate a Max Revive, it probably wouldn't be able to continue fighting—
"I'll leave the rest to you, Krookodile!"
Okamoto made another switch, and Krookodile, completely red with a thug-like appearance, made a dazzling entrance.
Indeedee was a Normal/Psychic type combination with weaknesses only to Bug and Dark—Krookodile could just barely exploit this to some effect with its Dark-typing.
If he could take down Indeedee, it could also trigger its Moxie ability, establishing an advantage for the upcoming battles.
Okamoto's idea was actually quite good. If this were a Gym battle, it might have actually worked.
Unfortunately, before it could even get steady on its feet, Aiden immediately followed up with a command: "Indeedee, continue using Perish Song!"
The moment it entered, Krookodile was affected by the song, taking serious spiritual damage.
At the same time, its remaining time began counting down.
"Krookodile, Crunch!"
"Indeedee, Protect."
Okamoto's time-pressing rush attack was immediately neutralized by Aiden.
And immediately after, Aiden taught him a second lesson.
"Krookodile, continue using Crunch!"
"Indeedee, Mean Look!"
Another somewhat illegal move appeared, catching Okamoto completely off guard.
His original plan was to exploit the time window of Teacher Azure's Perish Song to cause as much impact on the situation as possible, then time it perfectly to withdraw Krookodile before Perish Song took effect, completing a damage-free trade.
This way, even if he couldn't one-shot this troublesome Indeedee, he could slowly wear it down.
But with the use of Mean Look—
Everything began rapidly spiraling toward a timeline that Okamoto was completely unprepared for.
After barely withstanding Krookodile's attack, even with type advantage, Indeedee didn't seem to have taken much serious damage.
And the energy it threw back, while not causing any damage to Krookodile, successfully intimidated it, with a strange feeling enveloping Krookodile's heart.
If Krookodile couldn't take down Indeedee in one move, preventing her from singing ever again, then it would definitely be the one to fall.
Because Indeedee could be withdrawn at any time, while Krookodile was already locked down by Mean Look and could no longer escape.
Wait—
Okamoto suddenly realized a very serious problem.
Perish Song should theoretically affect the user themselves too, right? Why hadn't Indeedee fallen after all this time?
With confusion, Okamoto turned to look at Aiden's Indeedee on the other side.
Sure enough, between her somewhat drooping, croissant-like horns and cheeks, a pair of rather inconspicuous earplugs appeared before his eyes.
No wonder when Indeedee first entered, she didn't immediately trigger the Psychic Seed effect—
So she was using "physical" type items!
Having experienced so many trials in such a short time, Okamoto was already somewhat numb at this point.
This battle was clearly already a lost cause. Forget successfully challenging Teacher Azure—he might even have trouble taking down two Pokémon—
And reality was exactly as he thought.
"Krookodile, continue using Crunch!"
"Indeedee, Protect."
Okamoto's self-abandoning suicide attack yielded no results, and Krookodile also completely lost all strength and means after the attack, sitting on the ground with darkened eyes, unable to continue fighting.
About ten minutes later.
"I lost—"
After his last Pokémon Scizor also fell to Teacher Azure's Lucario, Okamoto's mood seemed somewhat low.
He had originally thought he had become much stronger. Even if he couldn't beat Chairwoman Geeta, he should at least stand a chance against the Elite Four, right?
But reality had taught him a very vivid lesson.
The facts proved that Teacher Azure was still Teacher Azure—the strictest instructor for Paldea's newcomers.
Throughout the entire match, he was almost completely dominated by Teacher Azure. Except for successfully scoring a point using his little trick when sending out Clawitzer, he had been led around by the nose by his opponent.
This exchange made him deeply understand the gap between himself and the Elite Four—
To become a strong enough Trainer, it seemed he still had a long road ahead.
Okamoto sighed silently in his heart.
His current self was no different from when he challenged the Sunlight Gym in the past and was broken by Teacher Azure—still equally powerless.
As expected, he still couldn't do anything—
But at least losing to Teacher Azure didn't seem too embarrassing.
And just as he was comforting himself in his heart, Aiden had already recalled his Pokémon, quietly came before him, and patted his shoulder.
"You fought well."
"I could clearly feel your strength has improved a lot in this battle. All the hardships along the way have become part of your strength."
"So, don't worry too much about the outcome of this battle. There are many more chances to challenge the Victory Road."
"Yes!"
After being comforted by Aiden, Okamoto's originally dejected expression clearly improved quite a bit.
Noticing his expression change, Aiden paused, then continued smiling.
"After you go back, remember to properly review with those Team Star students. They should have watched your entire battle outside."
"Many minds are better than one. If you can polish things up well, perhaps you'll be able to pass my challenge soon."
Okamoto: ?
At this moment, Okamoto, who had been immersed in the battle, suddenly remembered—
It seemed Teacher Azure had indeed said that this Victory Road challenge would be livestreamed to the other students the entire time. He had also seen a large screen with no image outside before entering.
So—
His clumsy performance just now was going to be seen by the entire school?!!!
Anything but that!
Social death was nothing compared to this!
If possible, Okamoto really wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Why did he have to be the first challenger? If he had realized this earlier, he should have played more conservatively!
Okamoto once again felt Teacher Azure's mischievous nature. When he looked up at him again, his eyes clearly carried much more intense fighting spirit.
Since things had come to this, to make the other students forget what just happened, perhaps the only way was to defeat Teacher Azure in his Elite Four form—
Was this also within Teacher Azure's calculations?
Okamoto took a deep breath, then solemnly spoke: "Teacher Azure, next time I will definitely defeat you!"
"I look forward to it."
Aiden nodded calmly, then watched Okamoto leave the field.
As expected, there were still many ways to inspire students' fighting spirit—
Outside the Victory Road.
After Okamoto, Aiden easily defeated several more students who came to challenge him.
And the students waiting outside were all staring intently at the large screen, afraid of missing any details of the battles between them.
Among them, the Team Star strategy group members were the most dedicated—every command Aiden made in battle was accurately recorded by them and immediately began in-depth analysis.
"Teacher Azure's Indeedee is suspicious. We must be especially careful of the Mean Look + Perish Song combination."
"That Lucario is also just like in the intel—its fists can directly shatter barriers formed by Protect, so we must find ways to limit its output—"
"And items too. Teacher Azure has explicitly told everyone to bring more Berries, which means there are definitely other nasty tricks coming later."
"Why does it feel like Teacher Azure's methods are getting wilder and wilder, much more ridiculous than during his Gym Leader days—"
Sitting among a group of students seriously taking notes, Nemona couldn't help but feel somewhat overwhelmed listening to their mosquito-like muttering.
"Geez, why so serious? It doesn't matter if you lose, just try again!"
—
"As long as we keep battling, we'll eventually win against Teacher Aiden someday~"
As an "experience-based" person, Nemona never worried too much about these theories. She preferred to make adjustments based on her own personal experience in actual combat.
Arven didn't respond to her, only giving a subtle look.
Truly talented people really lacked empathy. Nemona might never realize how ridiculous she herself was.
With Nemona's willful personality, even if she lost, she could continue pestering others for battles with a straight face until she got bored or defeated her opponent.
Truly worthy of being the battle maniac recognized by Big Brother Aiden.
Just as Nemona was focused on complaining, Arven was thinking to himself, and Penny behind them was secretly eavesdropping on Nemona's words, another battle came to an abrupt end.
And the next challenger for the Victory Road—
Was none other than Nemona, who had been waiting for a long time.
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