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Evan looked at the ghostlike water-blue figure on the battlefield, and a strange light flashed through his eyes.
"Oh?"
"Interesting."
The reaction speed and instant burst of movement Sobble had shown just now had completely exceeded Evan's earlier expectations.
"That kind of speed. Even among Drizzile, Sobble's evolved form, it would be considered outstanding, wouldn't it?"
Evan thought to himself in surprise.
In truth, based solely on the speed Sobble had displayed just now, this test could already end.
With Kael's performance, he was more than capable of handling challenges from rookie Trainers whose strength was not especially high.
But Evan did not call a stop.
He wanted to know where this Sobble's limits truly were.
Besides.
Evan looked at Kael on the field, who still showed fierce fighting spirit even when facing an opponent he could not possibly overpower.
His eyes narrowed slightly, and an almost imperceptible smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Little guy, you've got spirit."
...
In camouflage mode, Kael's body was nearly transparent.
He did not wait for the Swampert across from him to make the next move.
He chose to attack first.
With a light push from his legs, his small water-blue figure suddenly shot diagonally forward.
His speed was so fast that an ordinary human would have no hope of reacting.
In an instant, Kael crossed the distance between them and arrived at Swampert's side.
His slender right arm rose high. A pure white glow suddenly appeared at the tip of his fist.
"Pound."
Under his precise and delicate control of energy, the pure Normal-type energy was rapidly twisted and shaped, forming something similar to a sharp drill.
Its damage sharply increased.
Aiming at Swampert's waist and abdomen, he thrust his fist straight out.
Hiss. Hiss.
The thick, sluggish air that had been like a heavy wall during his high-speed movement was easily cut open. A sharp, piercing whistle erupted across the field.
A flash of white light appeared.
Kael's sudden strike was about to land.
Unfortunately, how could a Swampert that had already reached Elite level expose a weakness so easily?
In its orange vertical pupils, Kael's figure, which seemed as fast as lightning, looked as slow as a crawling motion and full of openings.
His semi-transparent body was completely useless against it.
It did not provide even the slightest cover.
Although Swampert's body was enormous, its reaction speed was not slow at all.
Its arm, thicker than Kael's entire body, lifted only slightly before blocking in front of him.
Boom.
A heavy, muffled sound rang out.
Kael's fist, wrapped in sharp white light, slammed heavily into Swampert's skin, which was as tough as a rubber plate.
It failed to pierce through.
Clearly, it was soft skin made of flesh and blood, but the instant it met an external impact, it became as tough as steel.
The drill-shaped energy structure Kael had carefully designed failed to penetrate even a fraction.
Seeing that his attack had been rendered useless by the opponent's powerful defense, Kael's heart suddenly sank.
Then, a vast and overwhelming force came from Swampert in front of him.
Having blocked Kael's attack, Swampert naturally intended to press its advantage.
With a slight movement of its right arm, it swung toward him.
It was only a casual strike, but the exaggerated strength behind it instantly tore through the air and released a terrifying sound similar to a sonic boom.
Seeing this, Kael did not panic.
With the rich battle experience from his previous two lives, the more intense the battle became, the calmer he grew.
The enormous force from Swampert rushed through his fist.
Kael used that momentum and kicked off with both legs. His small body leapt high into the air.
Then, like a spinning top, he suddenly rolled and rotated.
Advanced combat technique, force redirection.
After his initial attempts during his battles with Basculin, Kael used it once again.
Compared with before, his use of the technique this time was clearly more skilled and agile.
It was also because Kael's current Sobble body was small that he could use this advanced combat technique so easily.
If he had already evolved into Drizzile, using it this simply would not have been so easy.
"Hm?"
At the edge of the field, Evan stood with his arms crossed, deeply surprised.
He had not expected an ordinary-looking, weak little Sobble to have mastered such a refined combat technique.
This made him raise his opinion of Kael by another level.
To be honest, if his current team composition were not already close to full, and if he were not preparing for the Elite Tournament with no intention of capturing new Pokémon, then in the past, he definitely would have tried to bring this Sobble into his team and raise it properly.
In Evan's eyes, if trained well, this Sobble could absolutely reach Elite-level combat power in the future.
With a little luck, it might even go beyond that.
On the field.
After finally using force redirection to neutralize Swampert's casual strike, Kael naturally would not let this chance to counterattack slip away.
His broad tail suddenly exerted force.
His small body stopped in midair.
He opened his mouth wide, and glowing blue Water-type energy gathered from all over his body toward his throat.
Splash.
A thin pale-blue stream of water shot toward Swampert's vulnerable eyes like a high-pressure water jet.
During his sparring with Basculin over the past few days, Kael had not only raised his level. He had also expanded his use of moves.
The Water Gun he released now was not as grand in scale or as wide in range as before, but because the Water-type energy was compressed, its single-target power had increased greatly.
Swampert's level was extremely high, but that did not mean its fragile eyelids could withstand Kael's Water Gun without issue.
Sensing a slight threat, Swampert roared.
Facing the Water Gun head-on, bright reddish-brown Fighting-type aura suddenly rose around its thick right arm.
"Brick Break."
Hiss.
The thin stream of water collided with the palm wrapped in a reddish-brown aura. Like fragile tofu, it shattered cleanly into countless tiny crystal droplets that scattered in every direction.
After smashing through the Water Gun, the thick arm did not slow at all.
It swung fiercely toward Kael's figure, which had not yet fallen from the air.
"Now."
Kael looked at the massive figure covering him from ahead, and his heart stirred.
Long before the battle began, he had already formed a plan for his actions.
The opponent's strength far surpassed his own.
If he wanted to gain any advantage in battle and inflict even a little damage on this enemy, he had to rely on tricks.
Everything he had done earlier had seemed like reckless, all-out offense.
In reality, it had all been preparation for his final killing move.
Right now, with Swampert using Brick Break and unable to dodge or defend, this was the perfect moment to unleash it.
At this point, Kael no longer had the luxury to think about how terrifying the damage would be if he were struck by Brick Break.
Caught up in the heat of battle, he only wanted to use everything he had to wound the opponent whose strength stood far above his own.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
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