Chapter 539: Du Ruo: She Is the Challenger

Since Shizuka, who had suffered a regrettable defeat, was already being comforted by someone, Luo Mu decided not to intervene.

Because of her lengthy battle against Danya, the time was already approaching the lunch hour.

For a moment, Clavell hesitated between announcing a dismissal to break for lunch and an afternoon rest before resuming the battles,

or fighting one more match before the lunch break.

That questioning gaze was cast toward Luo Mu.

Letting out a sigh, Luo Mu nodded helplessly at Clavell.

"Let's fight."

The second match was Paul versus Kuri.

Although Paul enjoyed constructing tactics, he himself excelled at deciding victories quickly, unlike Shizuka, who relied entirely on dragging things out.

Then there was Kuri's side.

Luo Mu did not know how much Kuri had improved over these past two months, but he could be certain that it should be about on par with Paul.

If Luo Mu were to evaluate them, in terms of Trainer talent, Kuri was undoubtedly superior; hence, he could also raise his Pokémon faster and even seized the opportunity to compete while wearing the school uniform.

Paul, on the other hand, leaned more toward steady and sure progress; even in the anime, he trained his Pokémon with those harsh, Spartan-style methods and had traveled through the Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn regions successively.

Yet upon returning to the Sinnoh region, he was still challenging the "League Conference," which for an Elite Trainer was merely an introductory step; from this point and Luo Mu's usual judgments, in fact, Paul's talent as a Trainer was weaker than Kuri's.

Paul had already been training at Grape Academy for nearly half a year; once this exchange tournament concluded, he would travel to the Hoenn region together with Hearing Nimo and Shizuka.

Paul would challenge the local League Conference, while Hearing Nimo would challenge the "Battle Frontier," and they might even bump into Ash along the way.

But that was a matter for later.

How much of what he had learned over these past six months he could unleash would determine the outcome of the battle between Paul and Kuri, who could rightly be called a "genius."

This battle, where both sides would exert their utmost efforts, was destined not to waste much time.

Since Luo Mu, who knew his students best, had spoken thus, Clavell did not wish for everyone to end their morning schedule feeling "numb."

With a wave of his large hand, he directly announced the start of the second match.

Paul VS Kuri!

In the center of Sun Plaza, Paul stared with a pair of fierce, triangular eyes at Kuri, whose words and actions carried a timid sense of being constrained, and said in a flat voice, "I will not hold back."

"…!"

As if stimulated by something, Kuri no longer avoided Paul's gaze but instead shouted with all his might, "I will defeat you and prove myself!"

"…If you can do it, then come and try."

Having thrown down these words, Paul turned and walked back to his position.

In his eyes burned a will to refuse defeat.

On the Blueberry Academy side.

Du Ruo exclaimed in surprise, "That coward Kuri has actually learned to talk trash?"

"After returning to school from the break, A-Li has changed quite a bit; it's just that Senior Du Ruo hasn't noticed."

Akamatsu, who was in the same grade and class as Kuri, did not find this strange at all.

"…So just how carelessly have you been living your daily life?"

Nali couldn't help but retort at Du Ruo.

Ziyu added, "Although I don't really want to admit it, in Ziyu's opinion, given Kuri's rate of growth, he might surpass us before long."

Only Danya, who had just returned from the nearby Pokémon Center, knew Kuri's current situation.

Kuri had simply heard that among the seven members of Grape Academy participating in this exchange match with Blueberry Academy, almost every one of them was a student taught by Luo Mu.

Kuri simply did not want to lose to them; that was all.

But hearing others call his younger brother a coward was a different matter entirely.

Danya believed that only she was allowed to bully A-Li.

Therefore, she directly aimed her spearhead at Du Ruo, making even her friend Nali feel she had been inexplicably caught in the crossfire.

"Rather than worrying about A-Li, you, the Champion of the Blueberry League, might as well think about how you will battle that student named Hearing Nimo."

"After all, last time you suffered a crushing defeat~"

"Don't let it be that everyone else won, and you were the only one who lost."

Suddenly shifting from an onlooker enjoying the show to the butt of the joke, Du Ruo, somewhat angry and embarrassed, declared, "A-Ruo is completely different from what I was a few months ago; this time, you all had better witness how A-Ruo's Dragon Legion will beat her back step by step!"

"This time, she is the challenger!"

While Du Ruo, full of confidence, was still issuing these threats, the battle between Paul and Kuri commenced following a loud, sharp whistle.

As expected, Paul's first Pokémon sent out was Ursaring.

He had not rushed to capture a full team; recently, he had been focusing on raising his only three Pokémon, leaving the expansion of his team until after he began his journey to find suitable candidates.

Thus, compared to the period when he was clashing with Ash, Ursaring's aura had become much more substantial.

The Pokémon Kuri sent out, however, surprised Luo Mu somewhat.

A villainous Pokémon of Fire and Dark types, the famously renowned number one roar tiger of the universe! Incineroar was clearly captured by Kuri within Blueberry Academy's Ecological Dome, and looking at its aura, it was quite impressive; the roar upon its entrance nearly shook Ursaring back.

With the battle between both sides poised to erupt, under Kuri's command, Incineroar slapped its paw fiercely, and a light wave mixed with Normal-type energy swept toward Ursaring.

"Fake Out"! The light wave spread extremely fast; Ursaring simply had no time to dodge, and its body instantly stiffened.

On Kuri's side, displaying an aggressive desire to attack that was completely unlike his personality, he commanded Incineroar to dig its four limbs into the ground and pounce at Ursaring like a fierce tiger descending from the mountains.

Ursaring, meanwhile, timely broke free from the "flinch" state; several strands of firelight emerged from the fur on its body as it roared and engaged Incineroar in a fierce clash.

Ursaring used its only learned Fighting-type move, "Brick Break"; the "Flame Orb" that Paul had accumulated credits to redeem while still at the academy triggered Ursaring's "Guts" ability, and coupled with the Fighting-type move being super-effective against Incineroar, the resulting power was quite formidable.

But Luo Mu felt this was not enough.

Compared to Brick Break, Ursaring would actually have more advantage using "Facade"; since they were already utilizing the Flame Orb plus Guts, they should also arrange for Facade, whose power doubles under status conditions.

Luo Mu had already begun considering whether it was necessary for Paul to visit Brother Brother Qingmu in Jinhui Town before starting his journey to learn the essence of "Facade."

As for Uli, apart from his surprisingly powerful battle instincts, his Incineroar's training was also quite excellent, evident from the bulging, muscular chest visible whenever it moved.

But there was one single point Luo Mu found unsatisfactory.

Uli simply did not understand the correct way to use an Incineroar!

Aside from the opening moves "Intimidate" and "Fake Out," none of the functional team-rotation moves like "Snarl" or "Parting Shot" were seen; Uli was merely commanding his Incineroar to rely on its powerful physique to grapple with the Circubear, which was covered in a host of buffs.

Yet Luo Mu had to admit that the spectating value of such a battle was indeed far greater than that of the match between Joy Jingxiang and Danya.

The onlookers, who had been tormented for nearly two hours and were beginning to show signs of leaving, had their interest reignited, while those reporters who had been dozing off began scribbling furiously.

In the end, the duel between the two Pokémon concluded amidst a clash of "Outrage" and "DD Arm."

The two Pokémon fell onto the battlefield one after the other.

Which meant—a draw!

The score temporarily stood at 1 to 1, and both Paul and Uli felt a certain amount of pressure.

Paul realized that Uli might possess slightly higher paper strength than himself.

Uli, on the other hand, found Paul's rather tricky tactics exceptionally difficult to handle.

When Bai Bai Leiya's whistle sounded again, both sides immediately sent out their second Pokémon.

On Paul's side, a crocodile-like Pokémon with a red body covered in rectangular scales, where white patterns occupied a large portion, clenched blazing flames between its teeth much like Mega Charizard X, while a fireball emitting strange soul fluctuations hovered above its snout.

This Fire and Ghost-type Pokémon, also one of the starter Pokémon of the Paldea region and the final evolution of Fuecoco, was Skeledirge.

The Pokémon on Uli's side was quite novel.

It resembled a cormorant, was covered entirely in blue feathers, possessed a cluster of round, dull eyes similar to those of a Slowpoke or Magikarp, and was a Flying and Water-type; as the first (crossed out) of the Five Treasures of Ruin, it was Bombirdier! Skeledirge versus Bombirdier.

In terms of type advantages, Bombirdier held the upper hand.

However, under Luo Mu's guidance, Paul had already constructed a self-contained move set for his Skeledirge.

As the starter Pokémon issued by Blueberry Academy, Paul was lucky; the Fuecoco he selected happened to have the Hidden Ability "Unaware," so Luo Mu simply guided him to develop a fixed fighting style for it.

The move "Yawn," learned via Mirror Herb, allowed Skeledirge to stay on the field more effectively, its signature move "Torch Song" grew more painful the more it was used, and the moves "Will-O-Wisp" and "Yawn" could further increase its annoying nature.

Even Paul's Torterra found Skeledirge to be an immense headache when facing it.

It could be said to be the core strength of his team before his Circubear evolved.

The battle commenced once more, and right from the start, Paul chose to attack directly.

"Torch Song!"

Skeledirge roared out a powerful song; under the influence of this potent melody, the fireball at the tip of its nose changed shape, transforming into a firebird spreading its wings and soaring toward Bombirdier with scorching heat.

On Uli's side, although Bombirdier looked dull and foolish with a very poor memory, it reserved most of its energy for combat, thereby forming terrifyingly powerful battle instincts.

The moment Torch Song struck, without needing any reminder from Uli, Bombirdier flapped its wings and took flight, landing amidst the surrounding crowd of onlookers to everyone's confusion.

Just as someone wondered if Bombirdier had fled, a panicked cry rang out from within the crowd.

"Pika Pika!?"

Bombirdier flew back into the sky, and clamped in its beak was a Pikachu, struggling frantically with only its tail exposed, its head nearly swallowed by Bombirdier! "!?"

Even Paul was stunned for a second by Bombirdier's maneuver, but seeing Bombirdier begin to charge up in mid-air, he instinctively felt something was wrong and commanded Skeledirge to use "Torch Song" again in pursuit.

Bombirdier naturally would not sit idle awaiting death; under Uli's command, it suddenly raised a several-meter-high giant wave out of thin air, surging toward Torch Song and Skeledirge.

"The power of the move is so strong..."

Pippa watched the "Surf" that had extinguished "Torch Song" slam heavily into Skeledirge, her face showing an expression of surprise.

"Because this is Bombirdier."

Peony's voice sounded slightly bitter; as several people looked at her, she straightforwardly recounted the series of studies conducted on Bombirdier in the Galar region.

"Allocating all energy to combat while giving the brain only the minimum energy required to function is just too outrageous."

Penny clicked his tongue in remark.

"Even though its memory is so poor that it forgets things the moment it turns around, it absolutely never forgets the Trainer it has built trust with, which is why it can fight like this; it's so moving!"

Hearing Hearing Nimo's voice revealed a trace of excitement as she gazed at the battle between Skeledirge and Bombirdier with sparkling eyes, wishing she could jump down and join in herself.

At Sun Plaza.

"Tsk."

Paul gritted his teeth; Bombirdier was even more troublesome than the Incineroar from before.

Although Skeledirge had raised its own special attack to the maximum limit via "Torch Song," allowing it to evaporate even a Surf as powerful as Bombirdier's in one go, and was also seizing every opportunity to use "Yawn" to recover stamina...

... he still felt a sense of ominous crisis.

It was precisely that he had not researched this kind of Pokémon, Bombirdier, very much; was that unlucky Pikachu really just being held in Bombirdier's beak to inflict paralysis on Skeledirge?

Looking at Director Clavell's expression, which showed no intention whatsoever of ruling Uli in violation, Paul felt matters were not that simple.

At this moment.

Bombirdier, whose feathers already showed signs of scorching, once again raised a giant wave under Uli's command, surging toward Skeledirge.

With no method currently available to cure the paralysis, Paul still adopted the strategy of having Skeledirge directly evaporate the Surf.

However, he did not expect that the "Paralysis" status, which had previously seemed insignificant, would suddenly take effect, causing Skeledirge's movements to halt for an instant.

It was this mere instant of error that caused "Torch Song" to be swallowed by "Surf" before it could fully form; after the great wave passed, Paul, whose face looked somewhat ugly, commanded Skeledirge to use "Yawn" to recover stamina, having already made up his mind to recall it once its status recovered and send out Torterra instead.

But at this moment, Uli spoke: "Bombirdier, it is time!"

The moment Uli's words fell, the crisis alarm in the depths of Paul's heart rang out frantically.

He subconsciously raised his hand to recall the Skeledirge, which was slowly recovering stamina, but Bombirdier was faster.

Amidst the Pikachu's terrified cries, the long-accumulated energy transformed into Bai Guang, enveloping the Pikachu; after a loud boom, the unlucky Pikachu was "spit out" by Bombirdier like a missile, smashing into Skeledirge at tremendous speed.

Boom—! An even more intense roar rose up alongside the explosion.

Seeing this, Luo Mu shook his head.

Who could have thought that Bombirdier's ability "Well-Baked Body" (Note: Context implies "Eject" mechanic combined with "Stockpile" and "Spit Up", but text says "One-Shot Missile" characteristic), which was practically useless in the game, could, when combined with the moves "Stockpile" and "Spit Up," instantly unleash such terrifying power?

"Such terrifying destructive power."

Shinji, usually so calm, widened his eyes and fell silent.

When the smoke cleared, a massive crater had been blasted into the battlefield at Sun Plaza.

Right beside Pikachu, who sat there unscathed and utterly bewildered.

The Krookodile lay on its back, clearly having lost the ability to battle.

(End of Chapter)