Chapter 45: Conquering the Academy
If it had a Trainer's command, then with Meganium's natural movepool—making good use of moves like Growl, Poison Powder, Reflect, Leech Seed, Light Screen, and Synthesis—it would have been incredibly easy to defeat a Dragonair by leveraging its level advantage and naturally high defenses. Even a Trainer like Ash, who wasn't great at using such moves, could have at least warned the Meganium to evade Will's attack from above, preventing the subsequent damage.
"BAY!!"
The surge of ice-blue cold energy slammed down on top of the Meganium's head. The Ice-type attack dealt double damage to the Grass-type, and even with the level difference, the blow was extremely painful. Unfortunately, the attack was not a critical hit. The effect of Focus Energy had likely been applied to the Twister he used earlier.
[Dragon Tail]
Will did not stop after the first successful hit. He seized the moment of pained paralysis and whipped his long tail around. In a real-time battle, there was no rule that you had to wait for your opponent's turn.
A faint purple light glowed from Will's tail as the powerful appendage lashed out, striking the Meganium's chest and dealing a second blow.
A large physique, while increasing the area that could be hit, also increased one's attack range and the area of effect of one's skills. It had its pros and cons, which varied for different Pokémon. For Pokémon like Venusaur, Torterra, and Torkoal, who were not adept at dodging and would choose to tank hits anyway, the bigger they were, the better.
After taking two consecutive hits, the Meganium was clearly not in good shape. First, it was hit by a 2x super-effective Ice-type move, and then by a physical Dragon-type move. And that was after Will had used Leer to lower its physical defense.
"Bay!"
The Meganium was clearly getting angry. In a rage, countless pink petals shot out from the large flower on its neck, dancing on the wind as they "drifted" towards Will.
[Petal Dance]
This was a powerful Grass-type move that Meganium learned naturally upon evolution, with a power equivalent to Solar Beam. Both moves had their pros and cons. In the games, Solar Beam was clearly more useful, but in a real battle, it was hard to say.
The reason the word "drifted" was used to describe the petals was that their trajectory was unpredictable. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes gracefully weaving, sometimes surging forward in a violent rush, and the attack would continue for some time. It was an incredibly difficult move to dodge. In a limited space, even Teleport wouldn't be effective. A move like Protect would be useless too; in reality, it could only block the first hit, but Petal Dance attacked countless times.
At this moment, Will had no good way of dealing with this skill.
Tch.
Will twisted and turned in the air with great effort but was still hit by many of the petals, sustaining some damage. If he could learn a move like Dig, he could have very easily dodged them.
"Good chance," Will thought, enduring the end of the Petal Dance's effect. He looked at the Meganium, which had now fallen into a state of confusion. This was the drawback of Petal Dance. After using it, the user would enter a temporary state of confusion.
In this state, a Pokémon would lose control of its body. What move it used, and who it used it on, was completely up to luck.
[Focus Energy]
[Icy Wind]
Taking advantage of the ample time, Will once again used his combo, unleashing the Ice-type move on the Meganium, which was just shaking its head in a daze.
The confused Meganium's luck was clearly not very good. In its confusion, it actually used the move Tackle, charging headfirst into the Icy Wind that was blasting towards it.
Super effective!
A critical hit!
"Bay!"
The Meganium cried out in pain, staggered two steps, and then collapsed to the ground. The combination of a super-effective type matchup and a critical hit had finished it off.
A victor had been decided.
"Lan is the strongest!"
Iris, who had been watching the whole time, suddenly jumped out, ran over, and hugged Will, giving him two big kisses. She was even more excited than Will was. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought she was the new strongest student at the academy.
Personal status.
[Dragonair]
Potential: Purple
Level: 33
Type: Dragon
Ability: Shed Skin
Height: 9m
Weight: 38kg
Moves: Focus Energy (Inherited), Wrap, Leer, Twister, Thunder Wave, Dragon Tail, Agility, Slam, Icy Wind, Aqua Tail
"I leveled up, as expected, and learned Aqua Tail. My type coverage is even wider now," Will said, a happy smile spreading across his face as he looked at his status.
He had overcome a level gap of at least seven or eight levels to defeat the Meganium, and he had the growth bonus from the Dragon Force. If that didn't get him a level up, then he would have had a right to be angry.
All around them.
"Moo!"
"Awoo!"
"Roar!"
...
One by one, the Pokémon let out triumphant, meaningless roars. They were likely celebrating the birth of the new hegemon of the Primal Beast Academy.
In a bush far away, the pair of spying scholars looked on, clicking their tongues.
"If I remember correctly, wasn't Lord Lan a milk-drinking baby just over three months ago?"
"Yes."
"So, in three months, he's grown to the point where he's ready for the battlefield?"
"Yes."
"..."
"..."
The two scholars looked at each other, seeing the shock in the other's eyes. They had been at this academy for three years. The Meganium had entered the academy at the same time they had. This meant that Will had reached in just over three months a level that had taken the Meganium 36 months to achieve.
"Even the most talented beast should have a limit. There must be a reason for Lord Lan's rapid growth."
"If we're talking about what makes Lord Lan different from other beasts, it's undoubtedly his warlike nature. Other sub-adult beasts might only have two or three battle training sessions a week, but Lord Lan has been having four or five battles a day since he just left his infant stage. The most ridiculous time, he had seventeen battles in one day!"
One of the scholars took out his observation notebook. On it were the data they had secretly recorded. In terms of diet, he didn't think the specially made beast food at the academy was any worse than what was served at the palace. So, diet could be ruled out. That only left one other difference: battling.
"So, Lord Lan's constant fighting wasn't for nothing. It can drastically accelerate his growth rate! Lord Lan has always been smarter than other beasts; he must have known this, which is why he fought so frequently!"
"This is a huge discovery! To think that beasts have this characteristic!"
The two scholars looked at each other excitedly. They had discovered something incredible. In this world, whether human or animal, everyone grew naturally. Battling didn't accelerate their growth; it could even have the opposite effect. But they had never imagined that Pokémon were different from humans and ordinary animals. They could accumulate experience through battle to accelerate their growth!
"We must report this discovery to Lady Liz at once!"
"Yes! With this information, we might be able to make our beast army far stronger than the Kingdom of the Land's!"
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