Chapter 735: The Secret of Strength

Having been exposed to Pokémon since childhood, at ten he formally began raising his first Pokémon.

The battles Jin Ge had experienced, counted up, numbered nearly a thousand.

But a battle this hopeless…

…was a first.

Even when battling the Pokémon of the Training Center Gym Leader Zheng Yi, his Pokémon could at least trade blows back and forth — never like now, without the slightest room to strike back.

Even his secret schemes had been seen through completely.

Take down even one?

Jin Ge suddenly realized how naive and foolish his own thoughts were — let alone taking down one of Baimu's Pokémon, perhaps even inflicting damage on his Pokémon was a luxury.

The voices of Su Li and the others could no longer be heard from behind; only the trainers of Iron Town ahead were still shouting fanatically.

What a despair-inducing, yet involuntarily awe-inspiring strength.

This is the towering great tree — the trainer who once defeated the champion of the Hoenn Elite Four, who drew investments from countless outside corporate giants, whose very information reaching Orei set the entire upper echelons boiling!

Jin Ge gazed enviously at Mega Mawile; of course he understood that Baimu could easily defeat him even without Mega Evolution — the fate of Scizor was proof enough.

But who could not yearn for such a transformative, earth-shattering power?

"Come back!"

He recalled his fainted Aegislash. In Shield Forme, Aegislash possessed astonishing defensive power capable of blocking a high-speed impact from a hovering car — yet it could not withstand a single strike from Mega Mawile.

A battle like this could be said to have no need to continue.

But.

"Hiss…"

He drew a deep breath, pulled off the third Poké Ball and hurled it forward: "I'm counting on you!"

Giving up was impossible!

No matter how powerless the opponent, one must hold fast to one's own fighting will — the battle may be lost, but the will cannot lose!

Bang.

A flash of white light.

"Pelipper!"

Empoleon landed.

Its golden trident horn gleamed radiantly under the arena lights, its broad wings like two heavy swords, its bearing solemn and regal — worthy of the ancient people's honorific title 【Lord of the Waves】.

Jin Ge pointed at Mega Mawile and commanded: "Water Pulse!"

Boom!

Like a spring gushing forth, Empoleon rode the azure waves and rose from the ground; the thick water column pierced through most of the field in the blink of an eye, surging toward Mega Mawile at extreme speed!

Baimu: "Thunder Punch."

"Mawile."

Mega Mawile's eyes fixed intently on the incoming Empoleon; its right foot stepped back half a pace, and on its petite, delicate fists electricity flickered, soon wreathed in lightning about its whole body.

However.

Just as Empoleon, riding the water, charged before Mega Mawile — the very instant the latter threw its punch.

"U-turn!"

Empoleon abruptly altered its flight path, veering skyward at an angle like lightning, dodging Mega Mawile's lunging straight punch, then flipping mid-air to continue the U-turn and diving down from above!

In a single instant, it completed an unbelievable angular change of direction, ambushing the opponent's unguarded crown—

If it had truly deceived Baimu and Mega Mawile's eyes.

"Hmph!"

At the very moment Empoleon angled upward, Mega Mawile shifted from a straight punch to an uppercut; the fist's speed became an afterimage beyond the naked eye, triggering an air burst!

Boom!

The lightning-wreathed fist met head-on with Empoleon's diving azure current!

In an instant the azure water was completely vaporized; a skyful of pale white mist suddenly burst forth and swallowed both Pokémon.

The onlookers heard only a single thunderous crash.

Within the thick fog, the outline of Empoleon suddenly materialized in lightning; in another blink, Empoleon's form had already shot high up out of the fog, as if freed from gravity's control, and slammed into the ceiling.

"Ee!"

Empoleon groaned and its body plummeted weakly.

The arena, to accommodate Flying-type Pokémon, had a ceiling a full seventy or eighty meters high!

Jin Ge had no time to be shocked; his Poké Ball locked onto Empoleon and fired the recall beam, barely — narrowly — sucking it back into the ball before it hit the ground.

The arena fell utterly silent.

Only when someone cried out did they finally come back to their senses.

"What just happened?"

"Jin Ge's Empoleon seemed to suddenly change its attack direction! I only saw it ambush Mawile from above!"

"So fast!"

"Since when has Jin Ge been hiding that move?"

"If it were me, I couldn't react to that Water Pulse at all!"

"Mawile's reaction is really fast! It spotted that and still landed a hit? Mega Evolution is just too strong!"

"Idiot, who told you Mega Evolution boosts reaction speed?"

"Who says it doesn't!?"

The two sides began arguing — mainly because the scene just now had truly been too fast; many people hadn't seen it clearly, their dynamic vision still insufficient to keep up with such a swift battle.

Such a breathtaking process made them forget that the battle between All Baimu and Jin Ge had already ended.

Inside the field.

All Baimu was also discussing the scene just now with Mega Bibarel.

"That one just now was pretty impressive."

"Bido!"

Mega Bibarel nodded — Aqua Jet could turn, but usually in an arc; achieving a sharp-angled turn without a pivot point was basically impossible.

Yet Empoleon had done it, and done it twice in a short span.

Just like many of Ash's wild tactics, it was unbelievable.

Should he try to learn it?

Although the team currently had no Pokémon that knew Aqua Jet, that might not be the case in the future; moreover, similar mobility moves weren't limited to Aqua Jet alone.

All Baimu deliberated for a few seconds, looked across at Jin Ge, who was silently staring at the Poké Ball in a daze, and walked over together with Mega Bibarel.

"A nice special technique — did you develop it yourself?"

He extended his hand and praised him with a smile.

Jin Ge raised his head, looked at the hand he had extended and at Mega Bibarel beside him, then looked again at his smiling face, shook his hand, and said: "Yes, I got the inspiration from Quick Turn."

【Quick Turn】, a Water-type physical attack move — a switching move that only appeared in the eighth generation in the games.

"Very impressive."

All Baimu sincerely admired.

Jin Ge's lips trembled, as if summoning courage, and asked: "Excuse me, after leaving here, what should I do to become as strong as you?"

This question stumped All Baimu.

"What I mean is, um, I have many seniors who have gone outside too, but none of them achieved results like yours — not even results one tier below. Getting runner-up at the tournament is already very, very impressive. How did you do it? Is talent really that important?"

Jin Ge's words were very fragmented; he seemed to rarely ask questions of others.

And All Baimu, to be honest, found it hard to answer right away — if one really had to talk about talent, shouldn't a cheat ability also count as a kind of talent?

The only difference was whether one could touch it or not.

"As for this question, wait until you leave the Orei region and find the answer yourself." He patted Jin Ge's shoulder and, facing the youth whose gaze had dimmed, said:

"The only thing I can be sure of is — don't overlook the bond between you and your Pokémon, don't stop learning, and actively work to understand the things that confuse you. Keep going like this, and you'll become strong sooner or later.

"I once saw a person who, when he first set out on his journey, knew so little about Pokémon it was pitiful; he didn't even earn his Gym Badges by defeating Gym Leaders, and after evolving, his Pokémon once looked down on him for his weakness. But a person like that, relying on his bond with Pokémon and on constant learning during his journey, not long ago became the champion of the finals tournament."

There was a trainer like that?

Jin Ge's first thought was that All Baimu was brushing him off, but his eyes were very serious, with no trace of falsehood.

"Sometimes, people actually haven't worked hard enough to even start competing on talent. Remember — if you want to become strong, there are two things you absolutely cannot ignore: love for Pokémon, and the determination to learn."

All Baimu took his hand back from Jin Ge's shoulder. "Just like the answer you wanted the day before yesterday — although Iron Town is just a small place, Silver Horse is not lacking in love for Pokémon, nor in the drive to learn, so his strength was earned fair and square."

"……Thank you."

Jin Ge bowed deeply.

These words might not have had a deafening effect on him, but at least they pointed him in a direction.

He had made his decision.

He would not go to the Unova region's Blueberry Academy.

He was going to the Hoenn region.

——

After Jin Ge left the field.

It was Malin's turn.

The previous person's three losses in three minutes failed to crush her fighting spirit, but it did leave her dizzy, as if she'd been hit on the head by Ogerpon's Ivy Cudgel.

Could the plan still proceed smoothly?

Mega Bibarel's strength made her suspect that if she stupidly stuck with the original set, she wouldn't leave the field much slower than Jin Ge.

But if she didn't use those tactics, what tactics should she use?

Tactics she had prepared for a full three days and tested countless times with others were hard to carry out — Malin truly couldn't think of a new method in such a short time.

But time waits for no one.

Admitting defeat was too embarrassing; she braced herself and walked onto the field, trying hard to calm her inner emotions with deep breaths.

Across the field.

Mega Bibarel stood calmly in place — honestly, bullying this little kid didn't quite fit its identity as the strongest spear it had conceived.

But its trainer had asked it to take the field; how could it bear to refuse.

"Go!"

The opponent sent out a Pokémon.

It was a cute Pokémon with fluffy beige fur, like a ball of cotton — Whimsicott.

It turned slightly and exchanged a glance with All Baimu.

"Tailwind!"

Malin began issuing commands.

A visible current of air blew from behind Whimsicott, lifting it off the ground into the air.

Judging from the speed of the move, this Whimsicott's Ability was very likely 【Prankster】, which greatly aided its use of various status moves.

"Bido!"

Mega Bibarel pushed off the ground with its tiptoes and rushed rapidly toward Whimsicott.

But since this time it wasn't an explosive charge powered by a move, its movement speed had a certain gap compared to when it had used Fire Fang earlier.

Marin had already braced herself for a super-sized Braviary to rush her face-to-face, but seeing this scene made her feelings instantly complicated.

Was this giving her a chance?

"Cotton Spore!"

She gave the order again, her tightly clenched fists trembling slightly.

Things had come to this point — she had nothing to hesitate about, she could only do her best!

"Fuu~"

The Ribombee swayed its light, airy body, the beige fur on its back suddenly swelling and spreading forward, dense like dandelion seeds scattered by the wind.

At the same time, with the tailwind's help, the Cotton Spore flew extremely fast and erratically.

"Fire Fang."

All Baimu only now gave the Braviary its command.

"Chirp!"

The Braviary tapped the ground with one foot, flames erupting from the twin jaws behind its head and swirling up, transforming in the blink of an eye into a firestorm!

Hooom!

A low rumbling boom echoed through the air, the scorching firestorm incinerating every incoming Cotton Spore without the slightest effort.

Once the flames died down.

The distance between the Braviary and the Ribombee was only a short three or four meters.

Marin breathed rapidly, gritted her teeth hard, and ordered: "Memento!"

【Memento】, a Dark-type status move, its effect is to consume all of the user's remaining stamina, drastically lowering the opponent's Attack and Special Attack.

Facing the pressure brought by the Braviary, Marin chose to sacrifice the Ribombee to leave room for her next Pokémon to attack.

The Tailwind was also set up to serve the next Pokémon.

"Fuu!"

The Ribombee let out a soft cry, its expression resolute like a warrior marching bravely to its death, a burst of pitch-black light suddenly erupting from its body!

But before the dark light could surge toward the approaching Braviary, the giant twin jaws behind its head had already silently swiveled, aiming at the ground ahead and spewing scorching flames!

【Fire Blast】!

Boom!

The close-range bursting flames released an extremely terrifying shockwave, the heat and gale blowing the lightly leaping Braviary away!

What ferocious firepower!

Marin had no time to react — her reflexes forced her to raise her hand to shield against the heat wave first, and then her mind went blank.

Did the Ribombee's Memento land?

It landed, right? No — it was disrupted by the Fire Blast and didn't land!

Her face went a little pale; she lowered her hand and looked toward where the flames had died down. The Braviary, sent flying by the explosion, was completely unscathed, while the Ribombee had collapsed on the ground.

No blue light of a stat being lowered.

Her heart sank rapidly.

"You're too tense — why not calm down first, there's no need to rush." All Baimu's voice came from afar.

This girl had practically written everything she was going to do on her face; that expression that seemed to spell "Screw it, I'm going all out" was genuinely hard for him to keep a straight face at.

Like this, how could I possibly fall for it!

It's just a battle, no need to put so much pressure on yourself.

All Baimu wondered if Marin had some hidden agenda, or if she considered herself the strongest on her team and wanted to perform better than Jin Ge.

Who knows.

Anyway, her gambling nature was as always — against Lady Ayana she gambled on paralysis, against him she gambled on Memento; win and she's overjoyed, lose and it's instant GG.

At this moment.

Among the Silicon Beryllium City team, cheers for Marin gradually rose up. Compared to the scene with Jin Ge where hardly anyone spoke, this in a way highlighted the gap in their popularity.

Marin bit her lower lip and recalled the Ribombee, an embarrassed flush rising on her cheeks. She really had been too nervous — she hadn't even felt this kind of pressure back at Blueberry Academy.

The gap between reality and expectation was too big; "I could do it too" had become "I really can't do it."

What to do?

No way out.

Nothing to do but grit her teeth and see it through to the end!

"I'm counting on you!"

Marin recalled the Ribombee and sent out a new Pokémon — the humanoid fox Delphox, holding a twig, landed in a blaze of fire.

"Mafuu~"

"Skill Swap!"

Marin's gaze gradually steadied with resolve.