Chapter 967: As Desired

The space opened, shifting from low speed to high speed.

The Crow Leader wasn't fast, but against the Bronze Bell, it was swift enough—according to general relativity…

Pfft.

In short, once the Bronze Bell gained speed surpassing the Crow Leader, it seized a degree of initiative.

But speed is not the sole factor determining the outcome.

Just as All All Baimu had previously obsessed over finding a Pokémon that could open space, he now rarely used space at all.

The opponent, after seeing the space, did not immediately swap out the Crow Leader, but ordered it to keep fighting and use 【Taunt】 on the Bronze Bell.

The logic was sound.

But because of the Trick Room.

Previously, had the distance been shorter, the Bronze Bell would have been forced to take the Dark Pulse head-on; this time, it used the move it wanted first.

【Gravity】.

This move is essentially a double-edged sword, since the Bronze Bell's ability is Levitate—Gravity now added another weakness.

But the gains were immense: when a bird suddenly plummets to the ground, the cost is far greater than for a Levitate Pokémon like the Bronze Bell.

"Charge Beam!"

Strike while the iron is hot!

Shan Ren's command was decisive—the Bronze Bell, having crashed to the ground with a thud, crossed its arms and fired a beam of electricity from the hole beneath the beam.

One step ahead, always ahead.

The Crow Leader couldn't dodge in time and was struck by the current, its legs twitching, feathers flying, unable to rise for a long time—the scene eerily resembled the one against Cheng Hong!

But.

The difference lay in Shan Ren's frequent and proactive commands.

Unlike Cheng Hong, who waited passively for opportunities, betting the opponent couldn't KO his Pokémon quickly.

The opponent's difference was this—the Armoron's trainer still wanted to fight, but the Crow Leader's trainer was focused solely on recalling it.

After the Charge Beam finished, the Bronze Bell was luckily granted a Special Attack boost, and the Crow Leader left in disgrace.

Shan Ren felt a pang of regret for not finishing off the Crow Leader in one go.

Lava Snail entered the battle—a very standard slow Pokémon, nearly equal in speed to the Bronze Bell.

Space and Gravity became irrelevant.

All All Baimu couldn't help but admire Shan Ren's luck—again, Dark and Fire types, the opponent's Pokémon always countered his own.

It was simply unfair.

Fortunately, the preliminary round was best-of-three; Shan Ren didn't stubbornly persist and swapped in Slowbro.

Neither side managed to gain a speed advantage.

Four-times-weak Water attacks did nothing; the opponent immediately recalled Lava Snail, refusing to force their Pokémon into an impossible situation.

The third Pokémon was thus revealed—Darkrai.

"Oh great! A slow Pokémon brawl?"

All All Baimu was impressed.

Was it really necessary to fear Trick Room so much?

He had clearly forgotten his own earlier craving for space.

Darkrai entered, but Shan Ren didn't swap again—he launched the first attack.

Start with 【Yawn】!

Under All All Baimu's relentless teaching, he had learned to effectively use status moves.

Not like before, clinging stubbornly to attack moves.

Slowbro's move pool was incredibly rich; All All Baimu simply picked a few moves to teach it, and it became a terrifying combatant.

For instance, right now.

The yawn's airflow struck Darkrai's face—Normal-type status moves aren't avoided by its Ghost typing.

The opponent faced another choice—swap or not?

Don't swap, and Darkrai will soon fall asleep; swap, but who to send out? Lava Snail or Crow Leader?

Neither option was good.

A simple move forced the opponent into internal conflict.

All All Baimu saw the hesitation on his face, but in reality, the opponent hesitated only a second before deciding.

Don't swap! Fight!

Perhaps he thought he could KO Slowbro quickly, or maybe he wanted to drain its HP a bit.

As Darkrai swung its massive Shadow Claw fist at Slowbro, Shan Ren chose to retreat into its shell.

Stall! Just stall!

Stall until Darkrai falls asleep—then the initiative is ours.

This strategy threw the opponent into complete disarray, especially after seeing Darkrai utterly unable to damage Slowbro while it was tucked away.

It was a total breakdown.

"Done."

All All Baimu knew this match had no real suspense unless the opponent suddenly exploded.

As expected.

After Darkrai fell asleep, Slowbro used 【Block】, directly preventing the opponent from recalling it with a Poké Ball, then used Psychic to lift it and slam it to the ground!

Darkrai's excellent Special Defense allowed it to hold out until nearly awake before finally collapsing.

At this point,

the battle between the two Pokémon had exhausted the effects of space and gravity.

It seemed the opponent had an opening—but Shan Ren had anticipated this, swapping Slowbro for the Bronze Bell and immediately activating Gravity against the Crow Leader!

He didn't even open space!

Gravity turned the Crow Leader into a featherless chicken—even if it succeeded with Taunt, its mobility was severely restricted.

After exhausting all effort to fire Dark Pulse at the Bronze Bell, the latter simply tanked the super-effective move, then charged forward with its hundreds-of-kilograms weight, silver light blazing, and crashed into it with a thunderous thud!

【Heavy Slam】!

The majestic crow was sent flying!

With all three of the opponent's Pokémon exposed, Shan Ren no longer held back.

In the end, the Bronze Bell narrowly won by sheer weight advantage, defeating the Crow Leader despite type disadvantage.

Now it was Slowbro versus Lava Snail.

The four-times-weak Water scene was too beautiful—it was almost unbearable to watch.

Lava Snail drank more water in this battle than in its entire life—it would surely develop psychological trauma.

"The winner is—Shan Ren!"

Whoosh!

Applause surged like an endless tide.

Many were astonished by Shan Ren's performance—how he so systematically defeated his opponent despite type disadvantage.

This League Yubeihuizhang is strong!

All All Baimu heard people praising Shan Ren, and for the first time in a long while, felt a peculiar joy.

He wanted to grab them by the collar and tell them—

"Strong, right? I trained him!"

Outside the arena,

All All Baimu laughed as he greeted Shan Ren, who also smiled—clearly, this match had restored his confidence.

"Didn't I tell you? You always underestimate yourself! That mindset won't do!"

"That's called caution!"

They bumped fists, then each gave a thumbs-up.

"Second place in sight?"

"Don't be ridiculous. One match at a time."

Shan Ren refused to play along, thanked those congratulating him, then turned with them toward other arenas.

Acquaintances in the same match were Team Magma's Flareon and Zheng Yi, owner of the Silica Arena.

They first went to Zheng Yi's arena and found the match already over—he was surrounded by a crowd of Silica City Trainers.

They exchanged congratulations.

Moving to Team Magma's side, they found Flareon's match had also ended.

But Team Ocean's Ao Chao had blocked their path.

Amid the commotion,

Shan Ren frowned and stepped forward to mediate; Hu Cun hurriedly offered congratulations on behalf of Chi Yan Song, who was absent.

Ao Chao imitated him, displaying a Zhang Fei-like flair.

Shan Ren responded, but his demeanor was slightly unnatural.

After others dispersed, All All Baimu asked why—he learned that after the preliminaries, Ao Chao had harassed him for a long time.

Just to fight one more match.

Being eliminated by the rules filled A Chao with rage; he wanted to rematch Shan Ren, without revealing the match result publicly.

Shan Ren would never agree.

Who would waste a Pokémon's energy before an important match?

"I see." All All Baimu nodded.

A Chao was clearly a battle fanatic, the combat pillar of Ocean Team; it was normal for him to reject the preliminary result.

Shan Ren was thus harassed…

He could only blame his bad luck.

In the afternoon's second wave, the familiar matchups were Wu and Batrass.

Shan Ren, rarely absent from the backstage, chose instead to go to the arena to cheer for his friend Wu.

Too bad N wasn't there; otherwise, the Four Friends' power would be unbeatable.

But even three friends' strength was enough for a first-round preliminary match.

Dragon Tamer Wu performed exceptionally well, defeating his opponent at the cost of only one Pokémon being knocked out.

Batrass's match was equally one-sided and ended even earlier than Wu's.

His time was only one minute slower than All All Baimu's.

Shan Ren said Batrass might surprise him.

Really?

I hope so.

It wasn't All All Baimu being arrogant—he'd spent the entire year preparing for next year's Eight Masters.

In his view, Batrass was at best top-tier Legendary level.

The next day.

The first wave was intense.

Liu Ge, Ya Na, and Long Ren all competed this round; after much hesitation, All All Baimu went to Liu Ge's arena.

A benefactor's kindness must not be lightly abandoned!

Coincidentally, Liu Ge's match was commentated by Fu Bo, and all his former colleagues were present—the Sand Group of the Sand Team reunited!

"All All Baimu!"

"Boss All All Baimu!"

Several former comrades, now assigned to different regions, made way for All All Baimu.

He used to be the youngest; now he was the oldest.

All All Baimu didn't refuse, found a seat, and focused on watching Liu Ge's match.

I have to say.

Warden Oule had real skill, possibly due in part to the abundance of talent at Oule Prison.

He specialized in Ground-type Pokémon: starting with Hippowdon to summon a sandstorm, Scizor using Sand Veil and Head Smash, plus Dustox using Earth Power.

Quite fierce.

Especially when both sides had only one Pokémon left, Liu Ge still dared to have Scizor gamble with Head Smash.

Not the kind of boldness an ordinary trainer possesses.

In the end, Liu Ge won the gamble—Head Smash landed a one-hit KO; his opponent had no chance to regret it.

"The trainers from Battle Mountain are getting wiped out in the first wave."

All All Baimu rubbed his head.

After selecting the regional champions, they still had to pick the Elite Four and Gym Leaders; everyone originally thought Battle Mountain trainers would take half the slots.

Now it seemed lucky if even one made it.

Did Battle Mountain decline, or did others grow stronger?

Perhaps both.

After watching Liu Ge's match, All All Baimu rushed straight to Ya Na's arena—good news: it wasn't over; bad news: it wasn't over.

Ya Na's opponent came from Silica City—

Ma Lin.

An old rival.

Months ago, at the Arena Exchange Day, she had defeated Ya Na and promised she'd win again next time.

Later, she fought All All Baimu too; after the match, she decided she had no talent.

Trainers from Silica City always talk about talent; Shan Ren was much the same, as if talent meant everything.

If All All Baimu weren't in an animated world with a monster in the Alola region, he might believe it.

Does Ash have talent?

Yes.

But is he exceptionally talented?

If he were, he wouldn't have waited until the Kalos League to win his first major tournament—and even that was only because Aran, influenced by All All Baimu, didn't compete.

Pikachu breaks the rules every year, fights to the absolute limit, and each tournament feels more valuable than a Champion League match—unbearable.

With such precedent and All All Baimu himself as a cheat, it's hard to say talent decides everything.

Months had passed.

Both had grown stronger.

All All Baimu didn't know Ma Lin's situation and declined to comment.

After visiting the hometown of Swampert in the Kanto region, Ya Na's power doubled; she'd conquered all eight Gyms and could enter this year's Silver Conference.

She could return to Oule next year for the second Oule Conference.

Ya Na refused.

Even though she knew she had little chance of winning, she returned just to leave a mark on this most important day.

All All Baimu desperately hoped Ya Na would win, but regretfully, Ma Lin was somewhat strong.

Inside the arena, Swampert faced Gothita; both Pokémon battled for a long time, locked in a stalemate.

Last time, Ma Lin won by exploiting paralysis; this time, luck wasn't on her side—the outcome remained uncertain.

Suddenly.

The situation changed.

Gothita yawned, then cast Hypnosis on Swampert before collapsing.

"Oh no, now it's a battle of willpower."

All All Baimu was surprised by the match's drama.

In the end, Swampert, slightly slower to succumb, awoke first and finished the nearly thirty-minute battle with Waterfall.

Ma Lin collapsed on the spot, kneeling silently as tears fell.

Ya Na also looked dazed.

Only after leaving the arena and seeing All All Baimu and Terry did she snap back, saying: "I performed poorly—sorry to embarrass you."

"No way, that was amazing."

All All Baimu didn't think Ma Lin was any trainer easily defeated.

If anything, Ma Lin was stronger than the opponents Wu, Shan Ren, and Cheng Hong had faced.

Don't be fooled by her claim of only reaching semifinals.

There are differences even among semifinalists.

Like Shan Ren and Alice both being tournament runners-up—but Alice could have won the regional championship after a full year of preparation!

Morning's second wave.

The tournament's hype-killer, Darko, appeared—opening with one Darko, relying entirely on Dark Void.

His opponents were shattered; he gave every Pokémon a Sitrus Berry, but it made no difference.

Darkrai entered, used Knock Off to remove the Sitrus Berries, then immediately followed with Dark Void and Nightmare.

No counter at all.

The man was stunned after his match; it was said half the audience left before he recovered.

You could tell how deeply he was shaken.

"Monster."

All All Baimu had no reply; he found Shan Ren and said: "You'd better make sure I draw Darko in the next round."

If Darko reaches the finals, it'll be embarrassing.

Shan Ren glanced at him. "I'll do my best."

Afternoon's first wave.

Among the familiar faces were Man Chong and Zhe Ye—both didn't need introduction; the former won the Silver Conference, then trained for another year.

The latter won the Caiyou Conference, earlier but still with high prestige.

All All Baimu watched Zhe Ye's match; though his growth since their first meeting wasn't dramatic, he had improved.

If he kept pushing, he might even receive an invitation from the Fuchsia Elite Four.

Man Chong, however, gave him a real surprise—the kid had grown by leaps and bounds.

He was considering how to persuade Man Chong to stay in Oule.

Hmm…

Defeat him decisively?

In the afternoon's second wave, Leo finished his match, bringing the first round of preliminaries to a close.

After a day's rest, the second round begins.

Nighttime.

All All Baimu came to watch Shanren draw lots.

This device is broadcast live in full; the transparent front glass faces the cameras to ensure viewers can see clearly.

"Number thirteen, All All Baimu."

Shanren announced the name, then pulled out another numbered ball with a name on it, pausing before saying: "Number fourteen… Dakdu."

Hum!