~Bonus chapter later in the day
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Unlike the previous Pokémon battles, as soon as this Kangaskhan appeared, not only did the viewers in Cynthia's livestream immediately recognize it, but they could tell what it was right away.
The reason was simple—compared to the earlier Slaking, Kangaskhan was incredibly well-known among Pokémon. Due to its distinctive appearance, its unique trait of caring for its young, plus its robust build, powerful strength, and reliable combat ability, it was an excellent Pokémon that many trainers chose to raise.
Moreover, Kangaskhan generally had a very friendly attitude toward humans. As long as you didn't threaten their young, even wild Kangaskhan in the wilderness could coexist peacefully and harmoniously with humans.
Because of this, Kangaskhan were also among the Pokémon most frequently targeted by poachers. In many regions, the League had even classified Kangaskhan as a protected species, dispatching numerous trainers to provide security monitoring for these Kangaskhan populations.
At this moment, with the appearance of this Kangaskhan, the viewers in the livestream were actually a bit stunned.
Compared to the several Pokémon Norman had sent out before, this Kangaskhan seemed somewhat... normal.
Compared to Slaking, Indeedee, and the other Pokémon with bizarre strategies that you'd never see in regular battles, this one seemed way too appropriate to appear here...
Not only did the chat think this way, but Cynthia felt the same.
Seeing the Kangaskhan before her, she actually felt a bit uncomfortable for a moment.
Coming back to her senses, she immediately became vigilant.
So... was this Kangaskhan also hiding some unknown strategy?
The more she thought about it, the more she felt she needed to approach this battle with careful caution.
After brief consideration, she selected Water Pulse again, planning to test this Kangaskhan's capabilities.
Following Cynthia's command input, violent water currents around Ludicolo formed ring-shaped impacts that shot out, accurately hitting the opposing Kangaskhan and reducing its HP bar by one-third.
Clearly, this Kangaskhan's durability was only slightly inferior to that of Slaking—it was definitely a very tanky Pokémon.
As Cynthia's attack for this turn ended, the next turn began immediately.
Cynthia fell into thought. Ludicolo's HP was now down to just the last bit—whatever move the opposing Kangaskhan used, it could easily defeat it.
And one hit from Ludicolo could take away about one-third of Kangaskhan's HP. Speed-wise, Ludicolo should be faster than Kangaskhan.
Plus, under Psychic Terrain, priority moves were blocked, meaning if she chose to sacrifice Ludicolo this turn, she could take away two-thirds of the opposing Kangaskhan's HP, completely crippling its condition. Then she could just send out Sceptile and Bewear to finish it off.
But for some reason, her intuition was telling her something wasn't right.
So instead of directly selecting Water Pulse, after brief consideration, she made a different choice.
The next moment, as the turn began.
The scene she'd imagined of Ludicolo moving first didn't happen—Kangaskhan moved first instead.
Brilliant brown light suddenly blazed from its fists!
It transformed into a brown phantom, charging toward Ludicolo at amazing speed.
The system notification popped up accordingly.
[Kangaskhan used Mach Punch and moved first!]
Seeing this moment, viewers in the livestream couldn't help but be confused again, unanimously thinking—How is this possible?
According to the game description, the current battlefield was covered by Psychic Terrain!
And under Psychic Terrain, weren't all priority moves supposed to automatically fail?
Why could this Kangaskhan still use Mach Punch?
However, the next moment, everyone suddenly noticed that in the bottom left of the screen, a line of text had just popped up.
[Due to Kangaskhan's Inner Focus ability, it was not affected by Psychic Terrain!]
So... this Kangaskhan's ability was actually Inner Focus??
Everyone suddenly understood!
[Holy crap, no wonder he suddenly switched to Kangaskhan!]
[Damn, that's so sneaky!]
With Ludicolo's remaining HP, it obviously couldn't withstand Kangaskhan's Mach Punch.
This meant Ludicolo would lose its ability to battle without successfully wearing down much of Kangaskhan's condition!
One-third versus two-thirds might not seem like a huge difference, but in this battle, whether for the upcoming Bewear or Sceptile, this small HP difference would create countless times more pressure!
However, just as the audience was mentally sweating for Cynthia, Ludicolo on the field suddenly turned into a red light and was recalled by Cynthia!
That's right—at this critical moment, Cynthia's decision wasn't to continue attacking, but to switch Pokémon.
The one that appeared next was a large, somewhat cute figure—it was none other than Bewear, who had been waiting in the back!
The brown light crashed down on Bewear's body, and an inconspicuous white glow lit up on Bewear, helping it mitigate the impact of this move. A notification popped up:
[Super effective!]
[Bewear's Fluffy ability activated—the attack power it received was reduced!]
Under the defensive boost of the Fluffy ability, Kangaskhan's Mach Punch, already a low-power move, didn't even take away a quarter of Bewear's HP despite the "super effective" bonus!
At this moment, seeing the scene before her, Cynthia couldn't help but breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Good thing that at the most critical moment just now, she trusted her intuition and made the right call.
If she had chosen to let Ludicolo continue battling and use an attack move, she would undoubtedly have thrown Ludicolo away at a major loss.
But now, with her choice, the battle situation had truly begun turning in her favor!
The scales of victory were tilting infinitely toward her!
Cynthia relaxed her hands. As Bewear withstood Kangaskhan's Mach Punch, the turn ended and a new turn began.
Norman actually recalled Kangaskhan again and sent out Indeedee.
Obviously, Bewear with its Fluffy ability was most effective against Pokémon like Kangaskhan that relied entirely on physical contact moves—perhaps with its move set, it simply couldn't pose much threat to Bewear.
Moreover, as a Fighting-type Pokémon, Bewear naturally had the type advantage against Normal-type Kangaskhan.
So Norman decisively chose Indeedee, which had the advantage when facing Fighting-type Pokémon, to return to the field.
However, what Norman in the game didn't know was that he'd made a fatal mistake.
Because he forgot that while Bewear was a Normal/Fighting dual-type Pokémon, it could learn quite a few Dark-type moves, allowing it to turn the tables and counter Indeedee, the Psychic-type!
That said, who was faster between Indeedee and Bewear was still uncertain.
If Indeedee could move first, under Psychic Terrain's boost, its super-high-power Psychic-type moves could definitely take away all of Bewear's HP.
But Norman's behavior... had already been successfully predicted by Cynthia!
She'd guessed Norman would switch in Indeedee at this moment—or rather, she was gambling.
And obviously, this time she'd bet correctly.
At this moment, deep black light suddenly blazed on Bewear's arms!
"Bewear used Brutal Swing! Super effective!"
—Cynthia had preemptively selected this move, predicting Norman's Pokémon switch!
Originally, when Cynthia was configuring Bewear's moveset, she had chosen to remove Brutal Swing and replace it with other, more useful moves.
However, before this Gym battle began, Cynthia had readjusted the Pokémon in her team.
During the adjustment, she'd equipped Bewear with this move again.
The reason for the change was simple—Norman's Gym, being entirely Normal-type Pokémon, would definitely have some preparation against Fighting-types, their biggest weakness. The best countermeasure would be adding a Psychic-type.
Once Bewear entered the field, Norman would very likely send out that Psychic-type to counter Bewear.
But in this exchange, while Norman was on the first level, Cynthia was on the second.
She was using Norman's behavior to let Bewear use Dark-type moves to directly eliminate the opponent's Psychic-type unit, just like now—
Dark energy surged violently around Bewear's body. Virtual deep black clubs suddenly appeared on its claws as it charged toward Indeedee, swinging wildly!
[Super effective!]
Indeedee, having just battled Pelipper and left with only a sliver of HP, was completely finished under Bewear's Brutal Swing.
[Indeedee fainted!]
As the system notification appeared, the number of lit Poké Balls above Norman's head dropped from the original five to just the last two.
Of these two remaining Pokémon, one was the Slaking, whose configuration had been completely figured out and only had half HP remaining, and the other was Kangaskhan, which had lost one-third of its HP and didn't have good options against Bewear.
Looking at Cynthia's side, besides the full-HP Sceptile that hadn't yet appeared, she still had Ludicolo with some remaining HP and the fastest speed priority in the entire field, plus Bewear with over two-thirds of its condition remaining!
Under these circumstances, Cynthia clearly held an absolute advantage!
Next, with Indeedee's defeat, Norman could only send out the Slaking with half its HP remaining.
Although the confusion effect and reduced accuracy that Ludicolo had inflicted on it earlier had completely recovered with its exit and re-entry, Cynthia remained calm and collected.
She quickly made her choice among the four moves, using "Bulk Up."
The next moment, brilliant blue light blazed around Slaking's body again—still that same Giga Impact!
However, this wild attack crashed into Bewear's body, and deep white energy waves immediately appeared on its form, once again absorbing half the damage from this killing move!
[Bewear's Fluffy ability activated—the damage it received was reduced!]
That's right—Slaking's Giga Impact was also a physical contact move, so Bewear had half resistance to it!
Even so, this move's damage was clearly quite high, and Bewear's remaining HP might not be able to withstand it.
But this didn't matter anymore, because even if Bewear fainted, the next Ludicolo to appear could definitely use its two priority turns to successfully finish off Slaking with less than half HP.
At this moment, Bewear's HP bar was rapidly falling under Giga Impact's influence.
However, the final result far exceeded Cynthia's original expectations.
—It actually had several dozen HP points left and was still standing on the battlefield!
This result was undoubtedly what Cynthia most wanted to see.
The next moment, Bewear suddenly raised both arms, moving them up and down. Deep red light accompanied by blue mist surged around its body, making its presence even more powerful.
[Bewear used Bulk Up—its Attack and Defense stats rose!]
Though left with just a sliver of HP, Bewear's aura at this moment was incredibly powerful!
You have to understand, its Attack stat was already comparable to powerhouses like Slaking, and after one boost, it could be described as unstoppable.
At this moment, as the new turn began, it swung its claws, and brown Fighting-type energy formed sharp, powerful waves that slashed down, directly hitting the opposing Slaking!
[Bewear used Brick Break! Super effective!]
[Slaking fainted!]
Just like that, in this battle, the most difficult obstacle to overcome—Slaking—finally fell at this moment, losing its ability to battle.
Above Norman's head, only his final Poké Ball remained—Kangaskhan!
At this point in the battle, viewers in the livestream all breathed sighs of relief and began popping champagne early for Cynthia in the chat.
[Good lord, after all these attempts, are we finally going to win? I'm getting tired just watching.]
[Bear-god single-handedly tanked Slaking's Giga Impact and got the MVP kill—he's definitely MVP this round!]
[Hey above, this win is clearly because our streamer played well. That turn switching Bewear into taking Kangaskhan's Mach Punch was absolutely crucial.]
[Exactly! The streamer definitely figured out early that this Kangaskhan had Inner Focus ability...]
...
Chat messages flew across the screen.
Cynthia, sitting in front of her computer screen, also let out a long breath.
Although, as a Champion, she didn't have the habit of popping champagne before a battle was truly over.
But right now, with her opponent's Pokémon configuration completely figured out and having created maximum advantage with her own strategy and tactics, if she were Norman, she wouldn't know how to reverse such a disadvantage.
Not even mentioning the full-condition Sceptile and Ludicolo waiting in the back—just this Bewear alone, with its Defense raised one stage and its Fluffy ability naturally countering Kangaskhan, was clearly something that Kangaskhan couldn't handle...
"This time, it should be a win, right?"
As Cynthia pondered, the new turn didn't continue as she expected.
Norman's image appeared on screen again, his face wearing a smile as he applauded Cynthia.
[Child, I never imagined you could make it this far today, even putting me at a disadvantage in battle. As I said before, I'm truly proud of you...]
For some reason, though Norman's words were clearly praise, Cynthia suddenly felt an ominous premonition.
Because in her experience, whenever a Gym Leader appeared during a Gym battle, it usually meant something was about to go wrong.
The next moment, the "something going wrong" that Cynthia had imagined didn't happen—Norman simply sent out Kangaskhan as normal.
His voice continued in Cynthia's ears.
[Come, my child, let us end this battle. Even at this moment, I will give my all—just as I said before!]
Norman's tone was incredibly spirited, as if he'd made some decision, resolved on some course of action.
Cynthia couldn't help but raise an eyebrow slightly.
So...
This time, it was just Norman sincerely expressing his feelings about the protagonist, without any other tricks.
She took a deep breath and gave Bewear the final command.
"Bewear, use Brick Break and finish it!"
"Whoof—!"
Bewear raised its claws in response, brilliant brown light twisted around them again, forming terrifying energy waves that slashed viciously at Kangaskhan.
With Slaking's durability unable to withstand this super-effective move, switching to Kangaskhan would naturally be no exception.
Its remaining HP bar instantly plummeted under this move, about to be completely emptied, but at that very moment...
The Gym battle's music, which had already reached its climax, suddenly changed key—grand and epic!
Kangaskhan's HP bar, which should have been instantly emptied, was somehow preserved at the final sliver, like a candle in the wind yet proudly defiant, as if defending an unshakeable final line!
A notification shimmering with rainbow light suddenly appeared before Cynthia.
[Not wanting to disappoint its trainer, Kangaskhan miraculously endured the fatal attack!]
[Is this the bond between Pokémon and trainer?]
Seeing this familiar notification, Cynthia froze in place.
Wasn't this the same clutch effect she'd triggered with Treecko before?
Why was it triggering on an NPC in the game??
But before she could think more, an even more shocking scene appeared before her eyes.
On the field, Norman's figure suddenly materialized behind the proud, standing Kangaskhan.
"Child, today I'm going to teach you something."
"As a trainer, the most important thing is the bond with your Pokémon."
"Only by believing in them and loving them can you create infinite possibilities together!"
He raised one hand, holding a diamond-shaped crystal that sparkled with rainbow light.
Looking at that crystal, Cynthia's heart suddenly tightened.
What... was that?
Why did it have such a powerful aura and presence??
As her mind raced, sudden changes occurred!!
"Hummmm!!!!"
In that instant, the stone in Norman's hand and the round crystal hanging around Kangaskhan's neck suddenly began vibrating violently in resonance, together bursting with endless colorful light!!!
Norman's incredibly spirited voice rang out at this moment!
"Come, Kangaskhan! Show her our true bond and power!"
"Mega Evolution!!"
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~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones