"Wah…"
Witnessing the scene before them, the disciples outside the arena all turned pale, instinctively taking a step back.
Being so close, they could easily empathize with Machamp's feelings… honestly, it was enough to make someone want to die on the spot.
Lick.
The move itself didn't deal much damage, almost negligible to a Pokémon like Machamp.
But the problem was, it left Machamp's body stiff, trembling, locked in paralysis.
And that wasn't all—the blow had shaken Machamp's very spirit.
At this moment, its mental strength and willpower were both drastically weakened.
Sure enough, Gengar had no trouble putting it to sleep with Hypnosis.
"Very good. Use Dream Eater!" Yozora commanded.
Gengar let out a sinister laugh, extending its claws, and began dragging out Machamp's life energy in torrents, devouring it with ravenous greed.
Machamp looked as though it were trapped in a nightmare, cold sweat pouring down its face, brow tightly furrowed, body trembling.
But no matter how much it struggled, it couldn't awaken from the hypnosis.
Its stamina had already been more than half spent; now, with Gengar feeding on it, Machamp quickly collapsed.
Its eyes swirled like whirlpools—it had completely lost the ability to battle.
"Machamp is unable to battle! Gengar is the winner!" the referee declared. But then he froze—Gengar was sitting on the ground, happily continuing to gorge itself on Machamp's life energy.
"Whoa, ridiculous! That fat glutton—it's too greedy!"
"Hahaha, what an adorable Gengar~~~"
"Adorable, my ass. Wait until it sucks you dry in the middle of the night…"
The disciples outside the ring cursed loudly, though a few of the girls laughed at Gengar's antics—only to be scolded by the others.
"Referee! Ref! Blow the whistle already! Isn't this a foul?" several disciples shouted.
Startled, the referee quickly blew his whistle and issued Yozora a yellow card warning.
"…Idiot, get back here!" Yozora shouted awkwardly, recalling Gengar.
Still, he had noticed something keenly—after devouring Machamp's life energy, Gengar's aura had grown much stronger.
Commander-tier, mid-stage!
It had leveled up!
Its overall power had jumped by a whole margin.
A yellow card… totally worth it.
Yozora couldn't help but smile. He had high hopes for this Gengar.
Its elusive tricks and mastery of hypnosis alone made it worth cultivating.
In the future, whether fighting Team Rocket or other evil forces, or even building his own fortune—it would all depend on Gengar.
Yozora thought happily to himself.
"Come out, Snorlax!"
At this moment, Elder Chang'an released his fifth Pokémon—a massive Snorlax.
The great Pokémon appeared on the field only to flop onto the ground, snoring loudly.
Snorlax was sleeping soundly, a bubble inflating and deflating from its nose with each breath.
[Snorlax] (Normal): Commander-tier peak. Gym Leader potential.
"Each of Elder Chang'an's Pokémon has been stronger than the last…" Yozora glanced at Snorlax's stats, his expression sharpening.
The Poké Ball that had released Snorlax had been stored on the fifth shelf of the cabinet, the highest tier of that level.
The next shelf up—the sixth level—was where Elder Chang'an kept his true main force, the Pokémon he had long raised and relied upon.
"Young man, allow me to probe the true depth of your strength," Elder Chang'an said, eyes alight with curiosity.
So far, Yozora had also only used three Pokémon, each one stronger than the last.
Elder Chang'an's heart was pounding with excitement. Just how far could this youth's limits reach?
Seeing that Elder Chang'an had no intention of waking Snorlax, Yozora gave a sharp order:
"Gengar, use Dream Eater!"
Gengar's eyes lit up, ravenous. It eagerly plunged its claws toward Snorlax, drawing out streams of life energy.
Like slurping noodles, Gengar greedily swallowed the energy in huge gulps.
This opponent was not only higher-leveled than Machamp—
More importantly, it was a Snorlax. The sheer abundance of its life energy was overwhelming.
For Gengar, this was a feast beyond compare.
Overjoyed, it sat down shamelessly, laughing as it devoured the endless supply.
However…
As time passed, black energy seeped over Snorlax's face. With a thunderous roar, it finally awoke.
"Snorlax, lock on and use Hyper Beam!" Elder Chang'an bellowed.
Snorlax's eyes were narrow slits, but in that instant, a flash of crimson light shot through them.
No one else noticed, but Snorlax had already locked onto Gengar's aura.
And once Lock-On took hold, even Ghost-type Pokémon could no longer hide their bodies.
That meant even Normal- and Fighting-type attacks, normally useless, could now strike true.
Exactly so.
Lock-On functioned much like the martial technique Mind's Eye, temporarily granting the same effect.
The difference was that Lock-On worked only once—
While Mind's Eye could pierce through illusions at any time, with no cost, perfectly uniting body and spirit.
All of this showed just how powerful Mind's Eye truly was.
"Roooar!"
With its target fixed, Snorlax opened its massive mouth. Energy surged violently, condensing into a blazing golden beam, like a laser cannon blasting straight at Gengar.
Though Gengar had been sitting idly, it did not panic, immediately darting to the side—
But it was useless.
Lock-On.
Because of the skill, Snorlax had already anticipated Gengar's movement, sweeping Hyper Beam across to follow.
The terrifying energy engulfed Gengar, its eyes going wide in shock and horror before the golden light consumed it whole.
"BOOM!"
The beam struck home, exploding in a deafening blast as clouds of smoke billowed skyward.
For a long moment—
When the smoke finally cleared, Gengar was lying flat on its back at the bottom of a half-spherical crater blasted into the ground.
The pit had been gouged out by Hyper Beam's impact!
The scene was terrifying. The referee was just about to declare the result—
When suddenly, though its body was covered in wounds, Gengar let out a bitter laugh and staggered back to its feet.
"What? This Gengar's stamina is incredible… Even after taking Snorlax's furious strike head-on, it can still stand?!"
"Amazing. So the fat thing's blubber wasn't for nothing after all!"
The disciples outside the field cried out in shock.
But Elder Chang'an only shook his head with a faint smile.
"It's not fat, nor blubber. Look carefully at the crimson cloak on its back. That is none other than the fabled Battle Soul Cloak. With such a cloak, a Pokémon will be protected by battle spirit. No matter what kind of attack it suffers, it will always retain the final sliver of strength."
The disciples gasped, nodding repeatedly.
They never imagined such a mystical treasure even existed in this world.
And even less did they expect that a rare item like the Battle Soul Cloak—something even their master Elder Chang'an did not possess—would actually belong to Yozora, a boy so young.
…
…
(End of Chapter)