Chapter 335: Battle in the Water Domain

Hmm—

A continuous, low-pitched wingbeat, like a sound wave made solid, grated on the nerves.

The Iron Face Ninja flickered into view, reappearing on the other side in an instant, circling Shi Zhu but not daring to close in.

"Rooaar…"

The great beast exhaled a breath of white smoke laced with grit, its attention fixed unwaveringly on its opponent.

Even though its energy level far surpassed the foe's, with the aid of the 【Accelerate】 trait this Pokémon's speed kept climbing higher and higher, forcing Shi Zhu to track its figure with nothing but dynamic vision.

But it knew perfectly well there was no need to chase after it — that would only be a waste of stamina.

This fellow would destroy itself.

Dealing with a Pokémon like this only took one strike…

Shi Zhu lowered its center of gravity, waiting for the moment the Iron Face Ninja swooped in to attack.

Though it wasn't exactly cultured, through its trainer's constant influence and lessons learned in real combat, it understood that faster wasn't always better — the faster you went, the more force it took to stop!

And even if you poured in more force, you still couldn't come to a halt on the instant—

Here it comes!

A streak of deep brown light was precisely caught in Shi Zhu's peripheral vision — coming from its rear-left flank.

But it didn't rashly spin around to strike; instead, it waited until it could clearly feel the attribute energy on the Iron Face Ninja's claws, then suddenly bent at the waist and slammed its claws heavy into the ground!

Boom!

The gravel of the arena floor was violently split apart by a glowing giant rock. The Iron Face Ninja's brown-red claws slashed down into empty air as Shi Zhu dodged, and a massive boulder abruptly thrust up right in front of it.

"Eek!"

The Iron Face Ninja, soul nearly leaving its body, tried to alter its flight path.

But by then there was no time to dodge — at its speed, even if it stopped flapping its wings, or even reversed them, inertia would still drag it straight into the rock!

Smack!

With a light crack, the Iron Face Ninja slammed into the rock head-on, seeing stars, its movements growing unsteady.

"Gyaoo—"

Shi Zhu seized the moment, silver light gathering in its mouth into a thick beam that blasted into the Iron Face Ninja at point-blank range!

Boom!

The rock shattered with a roar; the Iron Face Ninja was blasted high into the air, then fell back weakly, landing on its back and lightly fluttering its wings with a pair of spiral eyes showing.

Second one, taken down cleanly!

"Rooaar!

"

Shi Zhu let out a great roar at the sky, and seeing a machine in the air shoot out a red beam to recall the Iron Face Ninja, immediately understood that with no trainer present, releasing and recalling Pokémon was this thing's job.

In that case, couldn't it just keep its eyes on that machine to figure out where the opponent would land?

How convenient.

Let me finish you off as quickly as possible.

Shi Zhu settled into its attacking stance, eyes locked on the machine in the sky, ready to launch an assault on whichever enemy touched down.

In the blink of an eye.

Bang!

A Poké Ball was fired out by the machine, opening mid-air and releasing a Pokémon.

"Rooaar!"

Shi Zhu immediately swung its claws and slammed them into the ground, feeling the tremor as it poured Rock-type energy downward.

Just then, its expression froze.

This… this feeling of surplus?

Fixed moves all had a hard cap on attribute-energy output — you could only dial it down, hardly ever up — but right now it could clearly feel as though it could channel even more attribute energy in.

And the reason for that feeling was beyond doubt!

"Gyaoo!"

Shi Zhu let out a thunderous roar, and countless enormous pale-blue stone pillars burst up through the sand before it, stretching forward in a line and making the ground tremble madly, sand and dust swirling into the air.

【Stone Edge】!

The Ancient Giant Dragonfly that had just appeared hadn't even gotten a clear look at its opponent before a pale-blue, razor-sharp stone pillar erupted from the ground and slammed into its chest and belly!

Boom!

The pale-blue boulder exploded, countless fragments scattering like raindrops in every direction. The searing pain sent it crashing to the ground before it could even cry out, two spirals spinning in its red compound eyes.

Bug plus Flying, four-times weak to Rock, and its physical defense wasn't especially high either — surviving a direct hit from Stone Edge would be the abnormal thing.

But more than the victory.

What made Shi Zhu happier was that it had once again successfully grasped a new move.

"Rooaar!"

It roared at the machine behind it.

Meanwhile, back in the room.

All Baimu's face was lit up with a smile he couldn't hide, and he lightly clapped his hands. "To grasp Stone Edge — impressive, impressive!"

In fact, apart from Dragon Rush, which had taken time to learn, it had been a long while since Shi Zhu had independently grasped a new move on its own — everything had come from moves rewarded by the simulator.

He really hadn't expected Stone Edge, this powerful Rock-type move, to be comprehended during the preliminaries of the Battle Tent.

Aside from the double-edged Head Smash, this was the strongest physical Rock-type move it could learn.

And it was a non-contact move to boot.

The second round ended.

All Baimu recalled the Poké Ball and gave the Aggron inside a proper round of praise.

If the room weren't so cramped, he would have loved to release the fellow for some affection — it had been a long time since he'd properly praised it.

Aggron, influenced by him, was at a very awkward stage.

First, the downside: although its level had reached 71, the team's overall combat power clearly wasn't enough to beat those top-tier Gym Leaders — even winning one-on-one, it would be impossible to take on their full team.

Furthermore, with the level raised this far, progress had slowed dramatically — in half a month it had only gone up one level, and from here on out it would only get harder, to the point where growth in energy level might simply stop.

On the other hand, it had plenty of room above the bottom — in everyday street battles it would almost certainly win, and ordinary Gym challenges were basically unwinnable against it…

He had to find a way to raise its strength from other angles.

Such as Effort Values, move proficiency, move variety, even Mega Evolution — even if the level couldn't rise later, combat power could still be improved.

Aggron had such a deep Special Attack move pool; it would be a shame not to develop it in that direction.

Anyway, Effort Values in the anime world might not have an upper limit — Pikachu can turn Iron Tail into a giant-beast slash, so is there any problem with Aggron becoming a Special Attack cannon through its moves?

No problem.

A person has to have dreams.

All Baimu glanced at the bottom-right corner of the screen — the interval was also half an hour.

"One more round — good luck, everyone."

He shook the three Poké Balls.

With each passing round of the preliminaries, the opponents' strength would increase — this was already evident from the previous opponent.

From the all-initial-stage baby team at the start, to the all-final-evolution Bug team, who knew whether they'd encounter a fairly tough opponent next.

Lead-off… it was still safer to go with Mawile, which had better mobility.

He quietly made his decision and started chatting with Miss Liuqi.

She was going to challenge the Waterveil City Contest today, and the rare chance to compete had her so excited that All Baimu's phone buzzed nonstop.

Of all the people he knew, she was the one who loved surfing the internet most.

The others — like Brock, Dawn, and even Captain Huoyan — never texted anyone at all; they were the type who preferred face-to-face interaction.

——

Half an hour later.

All Baimu put away his phone and set the three Poké Balls down.

The battlefield on the screen changed once again.

The rocks and gravel surrounding the field turned into a large rectangular deep-water pool; within the pool, surrounded by rock walls, a few rather pitiful-looking plastic boards floated.

"Ooh! A water field!"

He was a little surprised — this kind of field was generally quite rare, usually appearing only at Water-type Gyms or Water-themed tournaments.

According to things posted online, the battlefield in the battle tent changed based on the participants' Pokémon.

The previous normal battlefield and the second round's sandstone field were proof of that.

So in that case, was this opponent Water-type?

As if confirming his thought.

When the match began and both sides' machines fired Poké Balls, a giant jellyfish with numerous pitch-black tentacles, a hat-like structure on its head, and red gems embedded on both sides plunged into the water.

Boom!

Clear water splashed up, the waves constantly rocking the plastic boards, making it impossible for Mawile standing on them to keep its footing.

"Qidu…"

The latter frowned slightly and simply floated up off the board.

Those boards simply couldn't let anyone stand steady — if that strange fellow swayed even a little, its side would be in a hopeless mess; it couldn't even keep its center of gravity, so how could it exert force?

It seemed it would have to rely on the walls.

Mawile watched Tentacruel bobbing up and down in the water, thinking about which move to use to attack this fellow hiding in the water.

In the water… Water-type?

Judging by that, it was probably right — hey, if only it had learned more from its Trainer, instead of having to guess the opponent's type when it saw it.

It might as well just be straightforward like Aggron.

"Qidu!"

Mawile sighed, slightly raised a hand, and tilted its head.

Whoosh!

Several black shadows pierced through the air with a cutting wind, narrowly grazing its temple, hand, and other parts.

Tentacruel, which had used "Aqua Jet" from the water, was inwardly shaken — it would swear that this bizarrely floating fellow had absolutely not noticed its movement just now.

But how had it dodged?

Coincidence?

There couldn't be that many coincidences of dodging all those tentacles at once, could there?

No — it had to bind it!

Tentacruel shook the tentacles it had shot out, trying to wrap up Mawile in midair.

Little did it expect that after dodging the tentacles, the latter not only didn't keep evading, but actually reached out and grabbed one, then used Magnet Rise to form a stable repulsion beneath its feet, and with a sudden heave of its waist and abdomen, yanked it right out of the water!

Such a small body, yet so much strength!?

Tentacruel watched helplessly as it was forcibly pulled above the surface, and as the tentacles shortened, it rapidly drew closer to Mawile — knowing things were bad, it actually chose to cut its losses!

It rapidly shook its pincer-like organs, severing all the extended tentacles, a hint of pain showing on its face.

Fortunately, as long as they weren't ripped out by the root, these tentacles would all grow back.

Pfft!

It fell back into the water, letting out a small breath of relief.

As long as it could keep the home-field advantage, even against a stronger opponent it still had a certain chance of winning,

And the Mawile hovering in mid-air holding two severed tentacles was first stunned, then disdainfully tossed the tentacles aside.

Where would the Young Lady have imagined that in an ordinary match, the opponent would sacrifice so "much"—even with extra hands, you shouldn't waste them like that! But it clearly looked so short, so why could it suddenly stretch so long?

"Chitodo…"

Being wrapped by tentacles and dragged into the water would be bad news—this was the kind of opponent it couldn't handle.

After a brief moment of thought, Mawile suddenly began to dance in mid-air. The aura around it rapidly swelled, and the light of its stats rising flared up.

The Tentacruel in the pool's eyes lit up.

A perfect chance!

It suddenly burst to the surface, its body wrapped in a thick purple liquid, which then seemed to come alive and was launched toward Mawile!

Sludge Wave! Get poisoned!

Tentacruel cheerfully waved its countless tentacles, already planning in its mind the next move to chain—【Disaster Double】.

Under poison, this move's power doubles!

Take this and stay down!

Tentacruel watched smugly as the Sludge Wave hit Mawile dead-on, but its expression quickly froze.

Wh-why does it seem like it had absolutely no effect?

It stared in disbelief at Mawile, who showed no sign of pain or poison reaction, frantically rubbing its body with one hand while raising the other high, its face full of disgust and loathing. It simply couldn't make sense of the situation.

Of course.

It also had no idea how many times its trainer had pounded the table back in the room, nor how loudly Baimu had laughed.

"Chitodo!"

Grind that disgusting thing into dust for me! Aggron!

Mawile let out a nearly shrieking cry before being recalled via Baton Pass—no wonder it was so angry. Anyone smeared head to toe with something foul and fishy would have a hard time staying cheerful, let alone a Pokémon so particular about its appearance.

Still, it kept its composure, knowing that against an opponent like Tentacruel that excelled at entangling, it was outmatched. If it got dragged into the water, things would get really troublesome.

Handing off to Aggron, which could swim and was heavy, was the best choice.

Mawile turned into Bai Guang and flew into the machine, which swiftly ejected the second Poké Ball.

Bang!

The Poké Ball opened in mid-air, Bai Guang flashing.

Boom!

A massive figure plunged into the water, sending up an even bigger splash than before. The poor floating board was carried to the edge of the field by the surging waves.

"Roar!

"

Aggron slowly surfaced, letting out an intimidating low growl at the nearby Tentacruel.

Only upon seeing this gleaming silver beast did Tentacruel finally understand what had happened with Mawile. So that thing was Steel-type?

Couldn't you have looked a bit more like a Steel-type Pokémon, like this big guy here?

It clearly looked so soft, with so much fur all over its body—where was even a hint of Steel-type about it!

Tentacruel was utterly crestfallen. It knew perfectly well it had made a very basic mistake. Going back now, it would surely get scolded.

No good.

It had to find a way to take this thing down!

It propelled its body upward and slammed down hard. A glowing blue wave rose in response, transforming into a terrifying giant wave that crashed toward Aggron in mid-air!

Unexpectedly, the latter not only refused to retreat in the face of the giant wave, but charged straight into the water's surface!

"Roar!"

Boom!

The glowing blue wave surged up violently, clashing with the wave Tentacruel had raised. Though it came later, it showed no weakness whatsoever!

Even though the first wave ultimately overpowered the second, the remaining force was no longer enough to hit Aggron, which had resurfaced.

"Bubububu…"

Tentacruel speechlessly blew bubbles.

It had nearly lost count of how many times it had been shocked. Was the thing in front of it also a Water-type Pokémon? Otherwise, how could its surging wave be so powerful, enough to resist its own?

Steel-type… its most advantageous Poison moves had just been nullified. What was the point of staying?

As Tentacruel's spirit took another heavy blow, it suddenly saw lightning flashing between Aggron's two horns.

An Electric-type move!

It shuddered in fright and hurriedly tried to dive to the bottom of the pool to dodge.

Who would have thought Aggron would sink down with it, mercilessly unleashing an electric shock composed of countless flashing rings at the bottom of the pool!

Buzz—buzz—

The entire bottom of the pool was instantly lit up, and the powerful current made Tentacruel's body convulse.

Fortunately, its Special Defense was decent, and the power of the electric shock wasn't particularly great, so by sheer luck it wasn't taken down by Aggron.

But this brief pause caused the distance between them to rapidly close.

Aggron frantically twisted its body and tail, adding force to its charge. Its murderous gaze made the freshly electrocuted Tentacruel tremble in its heart. A glowing blue light flared between its two horns, rapidly enveloping its entire body!

An energy dragon, claws and teeth bared, swiftly took shape!

Underwater—Dragon Dive!

"Pulu lu—"

The startled Toxapex hurriedly waved its tentacles, trying to form a wall to block the charge while tangling with Blastoise.

But Toxapex clearly underestimated Blastoise, who had inherited Bounsweet's Sword Dance, and also underestimated the tremendous momentum of Dragon Dive!

The two machines in midair faced the water surface, and a violent flash of pale-blue light burst forth—then, like a depth charge detonating, a terrifying column of water blasted skyward!

Boom!

Toxapex flew up from the bottom along with the splashing spray, then crashed even heavier onto the water's surface.

When the waves calmed and Blastoise poked its head out, the Toxapex floating on the surface had already revealed a pair of spiral eyes.

First one down.

Finally taken care of, in such a complicated environment!

Blastoise and All Baimu in the room both let out a sigh of relief. The former, having never fought in water before and not being used to the environment, had agonized over how to defeat its opponent.

Fortunately, the other side didn't look very bright, letting it find an opening to exploit.

It also successfully figured out the procedure for dealing with this kind of aquatic enemy.

First—

Electrofishing!

Blastoise kept its eyes fixed on the machine in the sky. When it saw the other fire a Poké Ball toward a spot far from itself, it immediately swam over there.

It discovered that moving through the water by electromagnetic levitation was remarkably swift.

Lei Guang flickered between its two horns, and the instant its opponent appeared, countless rings of electricity rapidly spread outward!

The Magikarp that hit the water, just like the Yanmega before it, was zapped by the spreading electric rings into a complete daze before it could even see its opponent clearly.

"Roar!"

Blastoise repeated the trick, its body enveloped in a white halo, transforming into a morning star as it charged at Magikarp!

"Puh!"

Magikarp, whose eyes had nearly rolled back into its head, spat out a cluster of bubbles. Seeing Blastoise pounce over, it was scared out of its wits, thrashing its tail fin desperately in an attempt to dodge.

But Blastoise gave it no such chance. Lowering its head and tucking in its claws to swim even faster, it surged through the waves like a swordfish and slammed into Magikarp at full power!

Dong!

Magikarp was sent flying backward with a whoosh, crashing heavily into the rock wall. The full-force sacrifice attack was utterly unstoppable—like the black eight ball being struck by the cue ball on a billiards table.

And without a doubt, this hit also successfully took it down.

"Roar~"

That combo was really smooth.

Electrofishing to hold it in place, then a sacrifice attack or Dragon Dive to finish it off in one go.

If there were a Trainer here, the opponent's guys definitely wouldn't be caught so defenseless. What a shame.

Blastoise swam happily along. For the first time, it felt that swimming could be so much fun. Third opponent, come on out~

It watched the machine expectantly. The latter frantically swiveled its cannon, trying to find a spot where Blastoise would have a hard time chasing it down.

Unfortunately, no such terrain existed.

And the final third one—

Mantine.

This guy nearly flipped belly-up just from taking Blastoise's Thunderbolt. That performance made the latter suspect this one might be especially weak to Electric-type, so it simply gave up on close combat and fired off a second Thunderbolt directly.

And the latter very honestly fainted right on the spot for it.

"Roar—!

"

Blastoise lay on its back, kicking its tail as it backstroked and roared.

Victory!

In the Trainer's room.

All Baimu clapped for it. "Smart! So smart! As expected of my Pokémon!"