Facing the ocean of Sleep Powder raised by Red's Venusaur, Aiden suddenly recalled a rumor he hadn't paid much attention to before—apparently, Celadon Gym Leader Erika was also his loyal fan, and based on his introduction, she had developed an original playstyle for Kanto.
That is, the Sleep Powder and Spore combination forming a "sleep domain."
It had a similar wonderful effect to his Indeedee's "sleep terrain."
Previously, he thought it was just a joke made up by some student to mock him. He didn't expect it to actually be true!
Over this half year, his students distributed across various regions had frequently complained in the livestream chat, saying that because of his influence, Gym Leaders' difficulty had increased significantly.
This 'crime' that had nothing to do with him—initially, Aiden naturally dismissed it with contempt.
Even as the most popular streamer on Pokémon TV currently, his influence shouldn't have reached this level, right!
But now, seeing Red use this move, Aiden suddenly couldn't maintain his composure—no wonder Blue said he had lost half a month of memory when challenging Celadon Gym. So he was being hypnotized into unconsciousness every time he challenged it?
And Red had clearly experienced something too, which was why he had made this clearly wild battle technique his own.
In the end, raw sleep powder had become a boomerang, flying halfway around the world and smacking back into his own forehead?
Aiden couldn't help but feel some emotion in his heart.
No wonder he wanted to Mega Evolve. Mega Venusaur's flower on its back became even more enormous due to super energy, allowing it to store more pollen.
Even now, it was continuously spraying out sleep-inducing plant pollen—
This kind of clever thinking, was this really a ruthless move humans could come up with?
But now wasn't the time to praise Red.
What was more important right now was, of course, dealing with these sleep-inducing dust particles first.
Forget Lucario—even he might suffer!
Aren't you afraid I'll judge you for fouling right now? This is already attacking the Trainer!
And because it was an indoor environment, even if Salamence was still active on the field, he estimated he wouldn't be able to do anything about it—fanning away these dust particles could at most delay things a bit. There was no way to deal with the Sleep Powder. Eventually, it would cover the entire room and make everyone fall fast asleep.
"So ruthless, using this move against me—wait?"
While Aiden was thinking of countermeasures, he suddenly discovered that Red had at some point removed his baseball cap—which was practically part of his body—and taken out two items from his backpack—
Gas masks?
No, they should be called Go-Goggles.
No wonder he wasn't afraid of falling asleep himself. As expected, he came prepared.
Seeing Aiden looking at him, Red, who had already put on his goggles, gave a simple and honest smile, then threw the other toward him.
"Teacher Azure, this way it doesn't count as a wild battle anymore."
"I didn't attack the Trainer, so I didn't foul!"
"..."
After catching the Go-Goggles, Aiden momentarily didn't know what to say.
So this was how he solved the rule problem?
You thought it through quite thoroughly, huh. Do I even need to say thank you?
People really are speechless when they're speechless.
However, he actually had a solution to this move.
After all, adapting to circumstances had always been Teacher Azure's best combat style~
"Lucario, immediately use Rain Dance!"
His voice changed somewhat through the Go-Goggles, but for Lucario, it was enough.
"Lucario!"
Lucario, who had been spreading a Protect barrier to delay inhaling dust as much as possible, instantly understood. After retreating one step, it gathered a water-blue energy ball and blasted it toward the ceiling with full force.
For it, who had mastered Surging Strikes, using Rain Dance was just a variation of the move.
And with Lucario's action, a dark cloud suddenly appeared in the dry and comfortable indoor space above, contrary to common sense.
They quickly gathered and began to drizzle light rain, with a tendency to intensify.
Rain fell from the sky, filling the air before touching the ground, immediately forming an unbreakable cage that locked all the invisible pollen within.
Feeling the wet sensation from the soles of his feet, as his sneakers were slowly being soaked, Red looked stunned.
So that's how it is—you can actually use this method to neutralize Venusaur's dust?
Using water's inclusiveness to intercept all his Sleep Powder attacks and dissolve them into nothingness.
No, not just that!
His gaze suddenly turned toward Venusaur.
As Red thought, the rain didn't just fall on the ground. Under indiscriminate full coverage, a small portion happened to land right in Venusaur's flower core.
In just a few seconds, the key part spraying out pollen became damp and misfired, and even Venusaur's expression became somewhat strange.
For Venusaur, was having its stamen blocked equivalent to humans being—constipated?
That would indeed be quite uncomfortable.
No, now wasn't the time to think about these things!
Recalling that this was currently an intense Victory Road challenge, Red shook his head violently.
Since this move wasn't working, he could only carry forward the traditional art of the Kanto people.
From now on, full-force assault!
"Venusaur, Earth Power!"
Red immediately shifted to offense, deciding not to play so many tricks and honestly fight Teacher Azure head-on for initiative.
If he couldn't pressure Lucario, he would definitely be quickly closed in on by Teacher Azure and forced into close-range combat that Venusaur wasn't good at—only to see Mega Venusaur stomp its foot heavily on the ground, then a mass of energy secretly accumulated underground, launching toward Lucario's direction with great momentum.
Lucario didn't have many weaknesses, and ground-based attacks happened to be one of them, also one of the few moves Venusaur could use to threaten it.
Of course—
Actually, after the first wave of offense misfired, whether to fight head-on wasn't something Red could decide anymore.
"Lucario, jump up and use Aerial Ace to attack!"
"Lucario!"
As soon as Aiden spoke, Lucario stepped on the ground that had accumulated some water, splashing a puddle of water before suddenly leaping up and flying.
Strictly speaking, Lucario couldn't fly, but this didn't matter.
Because Aerial Ace's brilliant technique was enough to let it hover briefly and avoid Venusaur's underground attack.
And with Lucario's physical strength—
This one jump easily brought it right in front of Venusaur.
"Lucario!!!"
Without even needing Aiden's command, Lucario already threw out both fists, creating afterimages in the air.
"Venusaur—"
Red was just about to speak, planning to use Protect to delay as much as possible.
However, this instinctive reaction was immediately suppressed by reason.
The reason was simple—Teacher Azure's Lucario had mastered the extremely ridiculous Unseen Fist technique. Protect was completely useless against it.
So, he could only take the beating?
Watching Venusaur being beaten back step by step by Lucario's fist wind, Red's rapidly operating brain quickly came up with a last-resort solution: "Venusaur, Roar!"
Similar in thinking to the Dragon Tail used by Aiden's Salamore just now—since Venusaur couldn't block offensive moves, the most practical method was to remove the Pokémon using the practical move!
While Aiden and Lucario were "completely unprepared," Red's voice and Venusaur's movements were almost perfectly synchronized.
"Venusaur!!!"
After being pushed back several steps by Venusaur's roar, although Lucario wasn't directly roared out of the field, it also lost the best opportunity to attack.
"Lucario, Psychic!"
Aiden added another command at this time, trying to further lower the opponent's HP using his Pokémon's excellent mixed attacking ability.
However, Unseen Fist obviously couldn't work on special moves.
"Venusaur, Protect!"
Red didn't dare hesitate for a moment. Using the mental connection after Mega Evolution, he quickly spread a barrier, blocking another wave of attacks.
Although it looked somewhat pathetic, and Venusaur showed some fatigue from being hit by several of Lucario's punches, he had at least temporarily stabilized the situation.
From Aiden's perspective, being able to keep up with his commands and adapt to circumstances was enough to demonstrate Red's current level.
But—
If this was all, it wasn't enough to become the battle legend who would surpass the Kanto Elite Four including Lance and destined to shine brightly in the future!
"Lucario, continue rushing over. This time use Wicked Blow!"
For students, these two secret techniques from the Master Dojo were a bit too overpowered. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't easily use them.
But after all, this time the opponent was Red, whose pressure resistance must be excellent.
So Aiden decided to slightly raise the temperature to see if Red could break through himself again under adversity, showing even stronger resilience.
"Venusaur, use Power Whip to block it as much as possible!"
Unfortunately, this time Red's command seemed to be at his wit's end.
For Lucario's steel and iron bones, the Grass-type move Power Whip's power was nothing to worry about. It didn't even need to do much to block it—it could let Venusaur attack freely and it wouldn't matter.
After all, Venusaur couldn't keep up with its speed, so most of the vines missed.
And under such circumstances, its speed naturally wasn't affected at all, quickly reaching Mega Venusaur once again.
Of course, this time the prepared Lucario wouldn't be easily intimidated by Roar. Once it got close, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Red definitely understood this principle.
But he still did it, and as for the reason—
"Now, Venusaur!"
When Lucario had already entered attack range and secretly retracted its right fist preparing to quickly charge and swing, Red, with a serious expression, spoke again.
"Use all the vines you just swung out to entangle the opponent as much as possible!"
"Venusaur!"
From Aiden's perspective, Red's Venusaur's eyes suddenly revealed an indescribable courage, and its aura suddenly climbed—
Something was wrong?
But what was Red thinking?
Aiden didn't guess what they were going to do next at first, and Lucario was equally confused.
After Red spoke, the vines previously swung out by Venusaur suddenly tautened, then immediately bounced back at an extremely terrifying speed—so fast that it completely surpassed Lucario's speed just now.
"Lucario??!
Lucario subconsciously sensed something was wrong and immediately stopped to prepare to dodge Venusaur's counterattack.
However, because there were too many vines coming from various different directions, it could completely be described as an inescapable net. There was simply no space to escape.
Even Lucario could only instinctively protect its body with both hands, trying to minimize the impact of the attack.
But Venusaur's target didn't seem to be attacking it, but rather—
Countless thick vines suddenly tangled around Lucario's body, covering several layers like forming a cocoon, until its figure completely disappeared.
Although Lucario's fists never stopped, wanting to break through this almost airtight cage obviously still needed some time.
And during this time, it was naturally Red's turn to launch his offensive.
"Venusaur, use Earth Power!"
At close range, this Earth Power was something Lucario naturally couldn't avoid—it could only hard-tank this move.
But—
Aiden suddenly raised an eyebrow.
With both sides so close, wouldn't Venusaur's Earth Power also attack itself?
The answer was obvious.
"Rumble—!"
The earth began to roar wantonly. Besides Lucario, who was wrapped in vines, even the Mega Venusaur using this move clearly showed pain on its face.
Undoubtedly, this was a gamble of trading damage for damage, and the outcome would largely determine the direction of this battle.
While Aiden and Red's battle was in full swing, Geeta's office was also very lively.
"Oh my, this kid, playing so dirty?"
"Excellent fundamentals, and seems to have his own insights into raising Pokémon. Throughout the battle with Aiden, he's been trying to dismantle his style."
"And his adaptation is also very quick. His strength is probably not below Nemona's—"
The three Elite Four members besides Aiden sat on both sides of Geeta, watching the large screen above and clicking their tongues in wonder.
Before this, when Aiden told them a kid from Kanto wanted to challenge Paldea's Victory Road, they thought it was just a newcomer coming to practice.
Unexpectedly, he put on a show for them right from the start.
And he successfully got Aiden fired up. The two of them battled back and forth with great enjoyment.
—
"Did Aiden get serious? The intensity seems to have exceeded his previous level. Did he get excited in the moment?"
Rika, who had watched the entire process, clicked her tongue secretly, finally voicing her thoughts.
However, only Top Champion Geeta remained silent, staring at Red with a subtle gaze.
This kid—seems to be a talent! (Complimentary)
No wonder Aiden recommended him to challenge the Victory Road. His strength would be enough to become Champion even in Paldea!
Even if he went to Area Zero and encountered Paradox Pokémon, he should be able to hold his own.
But unfortunately, he's not a Paldea local—
Wait?
Recalling Aiden who was battling him, Geeta suddenly discovered—whether Red was a Paldea native, was it really that important?
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