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Strangely similar to its Trainer, Scatterbug showed an unusual sense of confidence.
That proud, majestic posture made one almost want to add a zero behind the number 8 that represented its level.
Unfortunately, because of various limitations, Scatterbug ultimately failed to display strength worthy of that arrogant attitude.
Pfft.
Pure white silk sprayed from Scatterbug's mouth.
It was like a fountain made of thread. The moment the white bug silk left Scatterbug's mouthparts, it turned into soft, fluffy strands like cotton.
From the sheer amount of silk that almost covered nearly ten square meters of grass in front of it, Kael could tell that Scatterbug had already used all its strength.
But in the end, the fatal flaw was still its lack of proper training.
The silk Scatterbug sprayed out was extremely scattered. Although it looked fairly impressive, in reality, it merely lay weakly across the grass and possessed no power at all.
Truly well-raised and well-trained Bug-type Pokémon would usually condense their silk into a straight, fast line. Only when it touched the enemy would the silk spread apart and wrap around the opponent, thereby causing damage.
But right now, of the String Shot Scatterbug had released, only a few soft and powerless strands actually crossed the battlefield and reached Kael.
Quite helplessly, Kael looked at the few thin threads drifting toward him and silently sighed.
The strength of the Gym challengers kept refreshing his understanding again and again.
His slender right hand slowly rose.
He did not even use a Pokémon move.
He merely gathered Water-type energy in his palm.
Then, toward the thin strands floating in front of him, he waved lightly.
Crack.
A sharp sound burst through the air.
Brilliant blue light flashed and vanished in an instant.
As streams of water trailed behind it, the weak white bug silk was instantly torn into countless powerless fragments and scattered across the ground.
Quinn's heart suddenly tightened.
In his view, although Scatterbug's silk was indeed a little weak, it still should not have been resolved so easily by the other side.
At this moment, Quinn was already beginning to feel a faint regret in his heart.
Looking at it now, his decision to cross half the city and rush to the Gym had been entirely caused by hot blood rushing to his head.
Challenging the Gym without thinking, simply because he was afraid someone else would get there first, had not been reasonable at all.
With the League protecting it, he had no chance to capture the Sobble in front of him.
Now, he had been forced into an awkward position where he could neither advance nor retreat.
Gritting his teeth, Quinn's face showed a look of reckless abandon.
Since his wish to capture Sobble had already been shattered, he might as well go all out. Even if he could not defeat Sobble, he had to leave a deep impression on him.
"Scatterbug, use Stun Spore."
His loud command echoed through the open room.
Quinn had achieved his goal.
He and his Scatterbug had indeed left a very deep impression on Kael, so deep it could not possibly be deeper.
It was just that this impression was entirely negative.
"Gu!"
Scatterbug, hearing Quinn's loud command, also recovered from the failure of its previous String Shot.
It responded energetically.
Then it began preparing its next attack.
Like it was dancing, Scatterbug shook its body quickly and awkwardly.
Clouds of orange-yellow powder, carrying a strange smell, fell from the white fuzz around its neck and drifted into the air.
"Gu, gu!"
Scatterbug cried loudly. Then its body suddenly sank downward, and the orange-yellow powder mist in front of it drifted forward.
Although it seemed to have prepared thoroughly, it was still so powerless.
Kael's clear blue eyes looked at the orange-yellow toxic mist slowly drifting toward him as if pushed by a gentle breeze, and he felt utterly speechless.
"Can something like this… really work?"
"Sure enough, I should just end this quickly."
He shook his head helplessly.
Kael opened his mouth, took a deep breath, then aimed at the direction where the powder mist was drifting from.
And blew hard.
Whoosh!
Like a violent hurricane, a fierce and powerful airflow swept across the battlefield.
A Pokémon body far beyond human physical standards gave Kael, even as an unevolved juvenile Sobble, an exaggerated lung capacity that humans could never imagine.
With pure physical strength alone, he could whip up a terrifying gust of wind across the field.
The orange-yellow Stun Spore was scattered instantly, turning into tiny particles invisible to the naked eye and dispersing throughout the room.
As a result, its paralyzing effect was diluted to almost nothing.
"Let's end it here."
Kael's patience was finally exhausted by the opponent's ridiculous attacks one after another.
With a push from his calves, his small water-blue figure arrived in front of Scatterbug.
He raised his left hand, and a brilliant white glow bloomed over it.
"Pound." 20%.
His fingertip descended and gently tapped Scatterbug's round, dark-brown head.
Smack.
A crisp sound rang out.
Under Kael's extraordinary speed, far beyond ordinary Pokémon, Scatterbug did not even have time to catch sight of him.
It only saw a flash of white light before its consciousness sank into chaotic darkness.
Thud.
Its caterpillar-like gray-brown body fell onto the grass.
With only one hit, Scatterbug lost the ability to battle and fell unconscious.
"Battle over."
"Sobble wins."
The referee's declaration echoed across the field.
Kael did not even turn back to look at Quinn. He simply walked toward the exit leading back to his room.
He was mentally exhausted.
"Wait…"
Quinn looked at Kael's back and raised a hand as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he lowered it weakly.
Dejected, he lowered his head and walked toward the exit used by challengers.
This really had been his own wishful thinking. He had come here without making any preparations in advance.
In the end, suffering defeat was only natural.
"Bro, how was it?"
"Did you run into that Sobble?"
Suddenly, just as Quinn was about to leave the Gym, he felt someone pat his shoulder.
He turned back and saw that the previously empty Gym lounge was now packed with players who had come to join the excitement.
The moment he walked out of the challenger passage, pairs of eager eyes gathered on him.
Faced with the players' questions, Quinn nodded somewhat listlessly.
"Yeah. I ran into it."
The moment he gave this confirmation, the surroundings exploded.
A chaotic flood of voices from the players instantly drowned him.
"How did the battle go? Is it easy to pass?"
"Is its potential really Dark Gold like the post said?"
"How strong is it? Is it easy to deal with?"
"…"
Quinn frowned tightly, not knowing where to begin.
Suddenly, as if thinking of something, his face filled with a mischievous smile.
Straightening his back and pretending to be relaxed, Quinn began speaking confidently to the surrounding players.
"Its strength is just so-so. If you take it a little seriously, you can definitely pass."
"My luck was bad... Something went wrong during my battle commands. If I had another chance, I'd absolutely win easily."
"Good luck, guys... If Sobble likes you, maybe it'll even follow you on its own."
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!