For example.
Claw met shell with a screech that set teeth on edge.
Caesar hooked both claws over the rim of the shell, trying to flip Blastoise by brute force or at least pin its neck so it could never pull another cheap stunt like Rapid Spin.
Blastoise read his intent in an instant; its neck shot out and, without hesitation, snapped at Caesar's shoulder.
Schlk—!
Two wet rips sounded almost together.
Caesar tore a chunk from Blastoise's neck, his mouth thick with coppery blood, while the turtle's fangs ripped a bone-deep gash along the side of his own throat.
Agony flared, and Caesar only grew wilder.
Come on—let's trade wounds!
With a roar of pain Blastoise heaved, desperate to fling Caesar off and open space. Icy mist already curled at its jaws—another Icy Wind.
Caesar wasn't about to give it the chance.
"Scale Shot!"
He granted no breath: the scales along his back exploded outward like a point-blank shotgun.
Countless dragon-scales, sharp as shurikens, rode the wind straight into Blastoise's face.
Blastoise howled as one scale lanced its left eye; blood streamed.
Caesar pressed in, jaws gaping against the oncoming chill.
Dragon Breath!
A lance of scarlet flame burst from his maw, a straight ray that met the pale frost and bored for the turtle's already-shattered skull.
Point-blank, impossible to dodge.
—Finished!
The thought flashed through Caesar's mind.
Yet, heartbeat before impact, the world twisted.
Air warped; a mirror-bright wall snapped into being in front of Blastoise.
The barrier caught the dragon-fire's glow, eerie and unbreakable.
What—?!
Caesar's draconic brain blue-screened.
Mirror Coat!
A move he'd never expected—pulled from that shell.
Not Shell Smash, not another Ice move, but a Psychic trick that bounced special attacks right back!
Caesar's entire body went numb.
A hereditary move—passed down from a Dewpider line!
What kind of freak family tree did this turtle have?!
The searing ray struck the mirror without a ripple and came back faster than it had left.
"Damn it!"
Alarm bells screamed in his head; he twisted aside.
Too close.
The reflected beam was only a red thread of light; he saved his vitals but—
Thud!
The blast punched through his tail-tip, blowing a charred hole. Pain nearly blacked him out.
His health bar bottomed—barely twenty percent left.
"Hell!"
Roaring, Caesar spun in mid-air, rage feeding on the pain.
Bulldoze!
A whipping kick, every ounce of strength behind it, slammed the edge of Blastoise's shell.
No Ground contact meant no quake, but the raw impact still cracked the armor with an audible line.
Thoom!
Blastoise skidded back, barely steady.
Caesar landed, glanced at his smoldering tail, eyes blazing fiercer.
He granted no pause—leapt again, fangs and claws bared for raw melee.
By now the Sandstorm had swallowed the last of the rain; yellow haze owned the field, wind howling.
In the gloom, dragon and turtle sank into primal, savage close-quarters.
Scale Shot erupted again and again, steel-bead scales hammering shell and flesh, blood misting the air.
Blastoise was shredded, but Caesar fared no better—belly and throat, stripped of scales, were torn ragged.
"Again! Fight me!"
Caesar's roar came out a rasp.
It was an ugly fight—no beauty, no art.
No flashy Mega Evolution, no apocalyptic Shell Smash rampage.
Only naked will against will.
The turtle, in its own way, showed what a first-gen starter could be: ordinary, stubborn, unbreakable.
It found an opening and opened its jaws once more.
Icy Wind!
Caesar answered with Dragon Breath.
But as the two energies clashed, he caught sight of the twin cannons on Blastoise's back flaring with surging waterlight.
Wrong.
His gut lurched.
Its health's lower than mine—how can it still fire a high-power Water Spout?!
That effect… could it be… Torrent?!
The realization struck like lightning.
In this Inheritance space, if he had Rough Skin and Sand Veil, then in base form the opponent had to have two abilities as well!
Against Venusaur and Charizard he'd never pushed them low enough to trigger Overgrow or Blaze, so he'd assumed single abilities.
Now, below one-third health, Blastoise's Torrent activated—Water moves +50% power!
Even half-dead, it could launch a 75-base Water Spout.
The twin jets rose, no longer wild but solemn, almost tragic.
It felt like a swan song, lamenting the mediocrity and frustration of Blastoise—the original starter—through Generations I to IV.
And as the Peak of Generation IV pokémon, the template holder of Garchomp, Caesar would answer with his own finale!
Bulldoze!
Boom!
The Ground lurched; Blastoise, barely steady, lost balance again, its cannon tilting and the soaring jet skewing with it.
But the fight was already over.
Caesar's silhouette ghosted in, hooked claws sinking into the cracked rim of the shell.
The last of his power detonated!
—Shoulder throw!
Blastoise's massive frame was ripped from the earth, hurled skyward, then slammed down with a thunderous crash!
"BOOM!!!"
The shockwave rattled every plate of its shell and its organs within; its eyes glazed and it fainted outright.
Caesar, one-life clear!
[Ding! Challenge successful!]
[Experience gained: 1,800 points.]
[✣ Passive triggered: slight size increase (+0.1).]
[✲ Loot: +60 HP cap, move TM blueprint (Withdraw)...✲]
[You have passed...]
The System voice kept reporting in his head, but Caesar had spent every ounce of strength.
Darkness rushed in; he pitched forward and blacked out... When he woke in the cave, daylight already flooded outside.
He felt as if he'd slept for ages, every muscle sore, yet a new, unprecedented strength surged from deep inside.
He glanced at his claws and flexed.
Had he... grown?
He struggled upright and measured himself against the wall.
Previously about 1.5 m standing, now—eyeballing it—nearly 2 m! Total body length had shot from a bit over 2 m to almost 3.3 m!
That size was far beyond an ordinary Gabite.
"Not bad—finally looking like a proper dragon."
Caesar nodded in satisfaction and opened the System panel to check the loot.
1,800 EXP, +60 HP cap, and... TM blueprint Withdraw.
At the last reward his grin froze.
"Seriously, bro? Against Venusaur and Charizard we got Weather Ball, Aerial Ace, Scorching Sands—top-tier stuff."
"But you, Blastoise, flip the script and hand me Withdraw?"
Caesar almost lost it.
Even Rapid Spin would've been better! A Garchomp with no shell—what, am I supposed to strap half a shell on each arm and go full 'Kapu-Lias' island deity?
Fuming, he still followed the "since we're here" rule, rested briefly, and re-entered the Inheritance space to inspect the blueprint.
A glance almost stopped his heart.
Withdraw's crafting path was absurdly simple.
[Ancient rock-turtle shell shards ×5 (Silver grade)]
[Crystal barrier beast's solidified core ×1 (Silver grade)]
That was it.
Just two items.
No Energy storage crystal, no Arcane Leather.
"Materials this cheap—can't be anything good."
He grumbled, fishing the items from his Storage Ring.
Worthless junk anyway, might as well craft it.
(Raimond:?)
Light flashed and a new disc appeared in his Shadow Claw.
Caesar slapped the disc against his forehead—
Information flooded his mind.
[Ding! Skill learned: Withdraw!]
[Withdraw (Water/Status)]: Withdraw into your shell to protect the body and sharply raise Defense.
Honestly, he was curious about the effect.
He decided to test it on the spot.
"Withdraw!"
The next second something wondrous happened.
His arm-wings snapped to his sides; the fine, deep-blue scales began growing, layering, stacking at visible speed!
In a blink the new scales formed a thick, hard "temporary shell-armor" over his body.
He dipped his head, dorsal fin pressed tight, minimizing exposure, every muscle taut in a defensive crouch.
Though it didn't encase him like a true shell—more a heavy scale-mail—the defense was real.
He realized the "pseudo-shell" was pure mana; when he released it the extra scales shed off.
Wait—extra, sheddable scales?
A bold idea sparked.
What if... he paired it with Scale Shot?
No sooner thought than done!
He triggered Withdraw again, let the mana-scales grow to the max, then instantly cancelled the move!
The instant the "pseudo-shell" was about to shed, he fired Scale Shot.
Bzzt—!
Countless scales erupted like a storm of steel needles, shredding the Inheritance space into a dust-choked sieve!
The power was more than double a plain Scale Shot.
Best of all, since the fired scales were the extras from Withdraw, his own defense didn't drop a shred.
Caesar stared, stunned.
—This move... might actually be something?