"Man, that kid…" Bruno sat on the balcony and watched Shun's performance with a helpless sigh. He still needed more experience.
"Bruno, I didn't expect him to become your student," Lance said from beside him. He had only arrived today, and the first thing he heard was that Bruno's student was battling.
As it happened, Lance knew the kid too. When he had been investigating Reiji, he had noticed Shun on Kinnow Island. He just had not expected the boy to end up under Bruno.
"You know him?" Bruno looked at Lance in surprise. Since when did Lance pay attention to kids like this?
"I handled some business on Kinnow Island and happened to see one of his battles," Lance said. He left out the part where the mayor of Kinnow City had bribed him. The man had simply offered too much.
Lance was not the one who nominated Reiji. With the family behind him, it was inconvenient for him to step forward for something like that.
Lorelei, who came from the academy side and often vacationed in the Orange Archipelago, had been the one to nominate Reiji from the Orange Archipelago.
"How has the hunt been going?" Bruno asked. "Did you catch the ringleader who went after the Joy family's rising star and attacked Professor Oak's lab?"
"He vanished," Lance said, shaking his head. They had only caught a few small fry. Interrogation confirmed they were from Team Rocket, but when asked where their leader had gone, none of them knew a thing.
From Nurse Joy's account, they knew the leader was Vicious. The problem was that no matter how thoroughly they searched, they could not find him. It was like he had disappeared off the face of the earth.
"Tch. A top Team Rocket executive, huh?" Bruno rubbed his chin. "Maybe he's hiding in plain sight. He might not have left Kanto at all. Could be holed up in some underground base."
"Maybe. We took down a few Team Rocket bases recently, but none of the people in charge knew where Vicious was. At this point, only Team Rocket's boss might know."
"They just never go away," Bruno muttered. He had dealt with Team Rocket plenty of times himself. Not long ago, he had even caught the Team Rocket trio, only to hear they had escaped because of sloppy security. They were not important members, so he had not paid it much mind.
"Anyway, enough of that headache." Lance looked back toward the rock field. "Your student only has one Pokémon left, and the disadvantage is huge. How is he supposed to turn this around?"
"I only took him in recently," Bruno said. He was not worried about Shun losing, because Shun's Poliwhirl still had not fought. "After this tournament, he'll need proper training."
...
On the rock field, Shun let out a breath and quickly pulled himself together. He had wanted to save this trump card for Reiji, so having to use it here left a bitter taste in his mouth.
But if he did not use it now, he would not even make it into the elimination rounds, never mind beating Reiji. He would not get the chance to stand on the same stage as him at all.
So what if Poliwhirl did not evolve in front of Reiji? If evolving now was what gave Shun a chance to battle him later, then it was worth it.
It was not that Shun lacked patience. He just had no confidence that Poliwhirl could beat two heavyweights back-to-back. He had gathered information on Paul and Reggie. Their Pokémon were all big, heavy powerhouses, and they loved that whole "size and strength" argument.
To win the final match of the group stage, Shun threw Poliwhirl's Poké Ball.
"Poliwhirl, it's all on you this time. Catch the Evolution Stone."
"Poli!" Poliwhirl landed, raised a hand, and caught the stone Shun threw over. Then it looked back at Shun's firm expression, almost as if asking, "Are you sure?"
"Use it." Shun bit his lip and nodded hard. He had no other choice.
"Poli! Poli!" Poliwhirl cried out and raised the high-grade Water Stone. Evolution light flared around it.
"Oh my! Contestant Shun's Poliwhirl is evolving! He clearly trusts Poliwhirl with everything he has! Can the evolved Poliwrath help him turn this match around?"
"Evolution?" Paul gave a cold laugh and let Poliwhirl finish evolving without interfering.
Tournament rules stated that a Pokémon could not be attacked while evolving. Anyone who forced an attack would be disqualified on the spot.
Paul did not care about the evolution. So what if it evolved? He could still beat that blue tadpole.
"Wrath!"
The white light faded, revealing a Poliwrath even stronger and sturdier.
Poliwrath's body was blue. Its arms were thick and powerful, with three fingers on each hand and white glove-like markings. Its feet had no toes.
Its eyes bulged from the top of its head and were usually half-open. A black spiral pattern marked its white belly. Its body fat was basically zero.
Poliwrath was an expert swimmer. Breaststroke, freestyle, butterfly—it could handle them all. Its entire body was packed with muscle, and its heavy build only made its swimming ability more developed.
Its muscles were so tough and well-trained that it barely tired no matter how much it moved. With only its legs, it could swim across the sea with ease.
Even in freezing seas, it could smash through floating ice with its powerful arms and push forward. For a brief moment, it could even use its trained limbs to run across the surface of the water.
Swimming was not its only strength. Poliwrath was also skilled in close combat. With its trained arms, it could throw fierce, heavy punches, and a straight punch from the front could shatter a massive boulder.
Seeing Poliwrath's muscular build, Shun's confidence surged. He had not thought he would lose even before the evolution. Now, he was even more certain.
"Poliwrath, don't hold back. Waterfall!"
"Wrath!"
Poliwrath heard the order, loosened up its arms and legs, then exploded forward. The ground cracked under its feet, and a crater opened beneath it. In the blink of an eye, it was already in front of Onix.
Onix did not even have time to react. In its terrified eyes, that huge white fist seemed to move in slow motion before slamming straight into its head and sending its massive body flying.
"So fast! What kind of speed is that?" Paul could barely believe what he had seen. That burst was even faster than Quick Attack. Poliwrath had vanished from where it stood and appeared right in Onix's face. How was he supposed to fight that?
Boom!
By the time Paul reacted, Onix had already hit the spectator wall. Its entire stone body was embedded in the wall, stuck so deep it could not be pulled out.
"Paul, don't let your guard down! It's that move!"
"What?" Paul still had not caught up and had no idea what his brother was talking about.
"The move that beat Gabite," Reggie said, his expression dark. He had not expected Shun to know that move too. If anything, this Poliwrath looked even stronger than that other guy's Poliwhirl.
No. Not stronger exactly. It was probably because of the evolution. After evolving, Poliwhirl's overall strength had increased, and with its original burst power added on, one punch had been enough to knock Onix out.
Waterfall was a Water-type move. Onix had a x4 weakness to Water, STAB and item support on top, there was no way it could take that hit.
Paul swallowed. After Reggie's warning, he finally remembered what that move was. If it was that move, then...
He recalled Onix and suddenly felt much less confident about the rest of the battle.
"Whoa! What just happened? Poliwrath vanished in the blink of an eye, then Onix went flying in the blink of an eye, and then it was knocked out in the blink of an eye! What did I miss?"
The host's shout finally broke the silence across the stadium. The sudden change had happened too fast. The audience had barely dared to breathe, and most of them still did not understand what had happened. It was only an evolution, so how had Poliwrath changed that much?
They did not understand it, but that did not stop them from cheering. Soon the whole crowd was chanting for Shun's Poliwrath.
"Poliwrath! Poliwrath! Poliwrath!"
"That's something else," Lance said as Poliwrath disappeared from sight. His pupils tightened for a moment before his expression returned to normal. He glanced at Bruno with a teasing smile. "You really lucked out, taking in a student like that."
"Haha, pure accident. Total accident." Bruno scratched his head awkwardly. "I met the kid while training in the mountains. He was the one who recognized me as Bruno, and he challenged me with that Poliwhirl. It shocked me too. At full burst, it could actually hurt my Pokémon."
Lance smiled along with him, but he was not joking when he said Bruno had lucked out. Lance knew who had taught Shun's Poliwhirl. That guy's Poliwhirl was even more terrifying.
Back in the backyard of Lorelei's villa in the Orange Archipelago, Lance had already seen how strong it was for himself. He wondered how much that Poliwhirl had improved since then.
It was probably even stronger now. He was honestly looking forward to that boy's performance. That was why he and Lorelei had discussed it and nominated Reiji.
The only pity was that Reiji was a little older and already had his own mind. If they could have had an Elite Four member take him as a student, then sent him back to the Orange Archipelago in a couple of years as a League connection to tighten their control there, that would have been perfect.
Still, it was not much of a loss. If a teacher-student relationship could not influence him, then a friendship could do the same thing.
The condition was that Reiji had to reach Elite Four tier. If he could not even get that strong, there was no point in trying to befriend him.
Just as Reiji himself had said, if someone was not strong enough for a certain level, getting involved with those circles was not help. It was trouble.
...
"Poliwrath! Poliwrath! Poliwrath!"
The chant stopped as Paul sent out his third Pokémon, and the final battle began.
"Torterra, it's fast. Be careful. Use Leaf Storm!"
"Poliwrath, Icy Wind!"
After Poliwhirl's evolution, Shun sounded much more confident even when calling moves.
Poliwrath saw Torterra glow green as leaves tore loose from its body and spun into a tornado. It drew in a deep breath and blew out a heavy blast of cold air. The cold crashed into the tornado, froze every leaf inside it, and sent the shattered ice fragments raining to the ground.
"Poliwrath, Ice Punch!"
"Damn it. We can't let Ice Punch land." Paul saw Poliwrath vanish again, and every alarm in his head went off. "Torterra, Protect!"
He did not dare gamble. His eyes could no longer keep up with Poliwrath's burst speed, so he could only have Torterra use Protect.
Boom!
A pale green barrier rose around Torterra just as a huge frost-covered fist smashed into it. Tiny cracks spread from the point of impact.
"How is that possible? Protect almost failed?" Paul stared in shock. That burst power was ridiculous. Among Pokémon of the same Advanced tier, Protect should have been able to take any hit safely.
But against Poliwrath's Ice Punch, Torterra's Protect had almost given way.
The ground in front of Torterra burst apart, and Poliwrath vanished again.
Paul caught the movement. The ground to Torterra's side blew open next.
"Torterra, dodge!"
Torterra had just moved away when a crater appeared where it had been standing. Frost spread rapidly across the ground, cracking outward like a spiderweb until the fractures reached Torterra's feet. Cold sweat broke out across Torterra's body.
Ice Punch was x4 effective against Torterra. If that punch landed cleanly, the battle was over.
Before Torterra could even feel relieved, Poliwrath flashed out of sight again. Torterra's instincts were already screaming. It moved away at once, and another crater opened in the ground.
Torterra barely dodged twice and tried to keep moving, but Poliwrath was getting faster. It had almost adjusted to the sudden boost in its body, and once its raw power started syncing with its striking technique, Torterra could not keep up anymore.
On the third burst, Poliwrath's Ice Punch struck Torterra head-on and sent it flying.
Torterra crashed into the wall and was embedded there. Ice slowly spread over its body until it became a frozen lump, and it passed out cold.
That was the power Reiji had been chasing with Poliwhirl and Poliwrath: compressing Waterfall's burst to the limit, then driving the whole body's strength into one point at close range. At the same level, that kind of strike could compete with pseudo-legendaries. Ordinary Pokémon had no answer to it.
Reiji's real goal was to fight Legendary Pokémon. Pseudo-legendaries were nothing.
If his Pokémon could not fight Legendaries, if they could not beat the guy who used Legendaries, then what was the point of being a Trainer? He might as well quit now.
Matching pseudo-legendaries was only a start. It was still not enough. Once Darkrai came back, Reiji would have it serve as a sparring partner. Only a Pokémon that could beat Darkrai could truly be called strong enough to match a Legendary.
At the same level, if Darkrai could not handle Poliwhirl, Reiji did not believe Poliwrath would lose to Darkrai.
The stadium erupted.
"Shun wins! Contestant Shun's Poliwrath turns the battle around and takes down Paul's last two Pokémon in a row!"
With Shun's victory, the audience exploded into cheers and excited discussion.
"That Poliwrath is way too strong!"
"I thought he was done for, but Poliwrath actually pulled it back!"
"Meowth, that Poliwrath is scary strong. Can Rai beat it? Can the twerp beat it?"
"It really is strong. Boss Giovanni would love a powerful Pokémon like that. Maybe we should—"
"Jessie, let's not. I don't want to get killed. Look at Poliwrath's fists. Taking one of those to the face would hurt."
"Yeah, Jessie, let's leave Poliwrath alone. We can't beat that thing, meowth."
"There's something strange about it." Lance rubbed his chin and fell into thought. He had known for a while that Poliwhirl's burst power was unusual, but he had never had time to study it. "He's your student. Did he ever tell you why Poliwrath can explode forward like that?"
"He said it uses the burst from Waterfall," Bruno replied. "But he doesn't know the principle behind it either. Only that Poliwrath knows how to do it."
If Bruno had known, he would have learned it already. He was currently having Shun's Pokemon teach his own Poliwrath that burst technique. Who would have thought Waterfall could be used like that?
The truth was, Reiji only half understood it too. He knew how to release short-range force, but he did not know who Poliwhirl had learned it from. The technique of focusing its whole body's strength into a single point had been taught by the wild Rhydon back on the deserted island, and even Reiji was still confused by that.
When he went back this time, he would have Hanhan ask its father for advice and see whether Hanhan's own burst technique had gone off track. If it had, Hanhan's father could correct it.
"Waterfall?" Lance tried to work through it in his head, but the logic still would not line up. Waterfall was just a regular move. The power that Poliwrath had brought out of it felt almost unfair.
That was the short-range burst technique. Poliwrath was using Waterfall inside a range of three meters. Getting hit in the face by that would hurt Onix and Torterra badly.
After the group stage ended, everyone who had watched the match was still talking about Poliwrath. Its performance had simply been too exciting.
Reiji was the same. He had watched the match from the main cafeteria, and he had not expected Poliwhirl's burst power to become that strong after evolution.
His own Poliwhirl had that kind of burst power even without evolving. It had beaten up Gyarados before, and it had sent Gyarados flying.
Onix weighed around two hundred kilograms on average. Gyarados also weighed around two hundred kilograms on average. Even if Reiji's Gyarados was heavier than that, Poliwhirl had still punched it away.
Once the tournament ended, it would be time to start preparing Poliwhirl's evolution. If unevolved Poliwhirl already had that kind of burst power, Reiji could hardly imagine how strong it would become after evolving.
He really had to thank that old Rhydon. Its teaching had turned a finishing move into a basic attack, and Reiji could use that same idea to train Pokémon even in this world.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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