Chapter 319
The human and the Pokémon exchanged a glance. The giant head with the Type: Null "Void" restraint also slashed forcefully in the air, and a colorless Air Cutter instantly formed in front of it, cutting the space in front of it into two pieces. Even the Spore in the middle was split into two distinct sides.
"Roar!!"
The Type: Null seized the opportunity to break free of the Spore- covered area. The gap Air Slash was healed in less than a second, and the Spore seemed to be spreading outwards.
We can't let them continue releasing Spore.
"Continue! Air Slash!"
The Flying type Air Slash can deal considerable damage to Breloom. After regaining its footing, the Type: Null immediately regulated its breathing and unleashed several sharp air blades in succession.
Dividing the attack into several streams, although less powerful than a single stream, significantly increases the hit rate. Under the threat of the flying skill, the Breloom immediately abandoned the spread of Spore and ran around the Battle Court to avoid the attack.
"I can't get close to the opponent..." Lillie muttered to herself, her gaze darting across the Battle Court, searching for an opportunity to win with her Type: Null.
Most Fighting type- type attacks are only effective at close range, and Breloom's attack power is as high as 130. If you Close Combat, Type: Null basically has no chance of winning.
Creating distance and retreating while fighting is what we should be doing now.
Having fought alongside Qiao Ran and the others for so long, Lillie has already learned a great deal. Even in this kind of battle, she can calmly Analytic the situation and then direct the movement of the Type: Null.
Her field of vision allows her to see most of the field, while Type: Null probably cannot see certain blind spots.
"Breloom, get closer to the enemy!"
Perhaps having been outmaneuvered by Lillie's fighting style, it was now Hua Wanshuang's side that felt impatient. While dodging the ranged attacks of the Type: Null, the Breloom was trying to close the distance with its opponent.
"Oh no... Is this Pokémon's ranged attack power this strong?"
Hua Wanshuang recalled that during the first battle, Lillie's Type: Null was always using Close Combat skills, which might not have been a compromise at all, but rather a way of hiding other trump cards.
Ultimately, Hua Wanshuang didn't have any in-depth understanding of these "new Pokémon." She had never even heard their names from Lillie before. What abilities did these Pokémon actually have?
--I'm afraid we can only learn these things in the course of battle.
"As Gym Leader, I never thought I'd have to learn during a battle."
Hua Wanshuang looked at the Breloom in the arena. Although it had been grazed by the Air Cutter, it was still gradually closing the distance with the Type: Null.
Hua Wanshuang issued her next command at that very moment.
"Breloom! Mach Punch!"
Silver White light shone from the Breloom's fist, which was like a beam of light piercing the eyes. Before anyone could react, it had already stabbed towards the Type: Null in front of it.
"Whoosh!"
Endure!
As Lillie's voice rang out, a blue light shone from the Type: Null.
Breloom's Mach Punch did indeed hit the body of the Type: Null -Type: Null, causing it to Growl in pain. However, its massive body remained standing in the Battle Court, never falling down.
Endure – a skill that leaves you with a sliver of stamina no matter how much damage you take after using it.
This is also the only asset that allows an extremely slow-moving Type: Null to launch a counterattack.
"Lillie, a slow Pokémon, sometimes you have to let the opponent attack first. Perhaps your Type: Null could learn this move."
"Air Cutter!"
The Type: Null on the field had run out of stamina, but still managed to unleash its final skill amidst Lillie's shouts.
A transparent, invisible air blade formed in front of it, slashing directly at Breloom and sending the nimble Pokémon flying.
"K... ino..."
The Breloom fell to the ground, struggled a few times, but quickly its head lolled to the side and it lost consciousness completely.
Like the Type: Null, its stamina was also extremely low, and after taking that Air Cutter, it was unable to stand up again.
"Winner! Type: Null!"
"So, the final winner of this Competition is --"
The Referee's voice and the whistle rang out simultaneously, along with the shouts of the audience whose hearts had been in their throats.
"Let's congratulate Lillie, the Trainer from Longjiang City!"
"Thank you for bringing us such a wonderful battle, and thank you to our Gym Leader, Ms. Hua Wanshuang!"
Lillie cradled the exhausted body of the Type: Null, stroking its head, but the people around them were already calling her name, as if an overwhelming tidal wave was crashing down. "..."
Hearing the cheers around her, it seemed like everyone was calling out to her. For a moment, Lillie froze on the spot. One second she was still immersed in the tense battle, and the next second the world seemed to have changed.
It really feels like a dream.
As Lillie received the Badge from Hua Wanshuang, she felt a sense of unreality.
She only recovered after leaving the contestant passage and seeing Qiao Ran and the others waiting there.
"Give the Poké Ball to Rotom first, let her take them to the Wild Area to restore their Type: Null."
Qiao Ran hugged her and then asked about Lillie 'Pokémon situation.
"Um."
In the Wild Area, Pokémon recover very quickly. It's a common practice among them to let them rest for a while in the Wild Area before handing them over to a professional nurse.
Most importantly, Pokémon love to stay there—it's practically paradise compared to the Poké Ball.
"Congratulations! That means we all got Badge!"
Mei and the others gathered around, celebrating Lillie's victory, showing no trace of their earlier discussion about what would have happened if they had lost.
Everyone was happy to have won.
"Yes, Lillie's performance at the end was absolutely fantastic. She deliberately slowed down to lure the opponent into a false sense of security before launching a counterattack. It was amazing!"
No... actually, it was back then...
Lillie quickly waved her hand, explaining that it wasn't intentional at all; her Type: Null was genuinely slower than the opponent's, which was why the opponent caught up with her.
She was startled when the other person caught up with her.
"This is the strategy used in Pokémon battles. As long as the opponent falls for it, it's effective."
Mei held up a finger, stopping Lillie from saying anything more, and winked gently at her.
"Now that we've already won, let's not talk about this anymore. We can review and summarize tomorrow. Let's celebrate properly tonight."
"Yes," Acerola said with a smile, taking Lillie's arm.
"This is the first time I've received the World's Badge, and I want to celebrate with Lillie."
Everyone got what they wanted, and everyone was quite happy.
"You're all crammed in here." After giving her final speech at the end of the Competition, Hua Wanshuang left the venue through the contestants' exit, bumping into Lillie and the others.
Today's Competition was tough.
"Thank you for your hard work. If you'd like to have some fun, feel free to contact me. I know Rongcheng quite well and can probably give you a lot of advice."
Although she had given out quite a few Badge in the past two days, Hua Wanshuang was quite happy.
Upon seeing Hua Wanshuang, Qiao Ran and the others invited her to have dinner together that evening, but Hua Wanshuang shook her head.
"I won't join in your young people's gathering. Besides, I've been quite busy with work these past few days, and I happen to have a day off tomorrow... I also need to spend time with my family tonight."
Hua Wanshuang also put a lot of effort into preparing for the battle with Qiao Ran and his group. Especially since Qiao Ran and his group had a large number of people, while Hua Wanshuang was alone, she was actually the most exhausted one in the past two days.
"Well... if we need anything later, we'll contact you again, Sister Wan Shuang."
"Okay, I'll contact you again."
Hua Wanshuang stood there, smiling and waving goodbye to Qiao Ran and the others.
Like the Old Man Nian Hai from the Magic City Gym, this is indeed a group of very Hustle young people. What's most amazing is that they all come from the same region. What kind of city is it?
I'm really looking forward to the future!
To celebrate the victory, everyone had a nice meal outside. Not only that, Qiao Ran also secretly arranged for everyone to go to a karaoke bar.
However--
"Eh? I really don't know any of the songs in this world."
"I don't know either."
Once inside the room, the girls looked at each other blankly, completely unaware of what had happened.
"... None of you know how to do this?" Qiao Ran couldn't help but ask.
"Really? Do you really think we'd have time to watch those things?" Mei couldn't help but glare at Qiao Ran.
"Hmm..." Even Lillie nodded. Although she also liked things like fashion, she didn't have much time left besides raising Pokémon and learning more advanced knowledge.
In order to keep up with everyone else, she dared not slack off. In addition to being Pokémon Trainer, she also did not want to give up on scientific research.
Lillie has actually been looking at Lusamine's information for a while.
"... So none of you know how to do this... Okay, I understand."
Qiao Ran glanced at them, and then, amidst everyone's glares, he clapped his hands mysteriously, a smile spreading across his face.
"It's alright, I brought some people with me."
As he moved, three figures suddenly appeared in front of everyone; they were none other than Altaria, Suicune, and Latias, who had been assigned to record the audio earlier.
"When it was in the Wild Area, Altaria practiced quite a few songs from the Pokémon World. Even without accompaniment, it definitely had no problem singing them, right?"
"Leave it to me~"
The Altaria gripped the microphone tightly, appearing very focused.
Qiao Ran also turned his gaze to the girls sitting on the sofa.
"So, think of this as a song reminiscing about the old days of the Pokémon World. It's okay if you can't sing it; just listen to Altaria's performance. If you want to sing, you can sing along with Altaria."
Having been in this unfamiliar world for quite some time, they must still miss their hometown very much. It was precisely because Qiao Ran sensed this that he prepared a Present for them.
"Although there aren't any instrumental versions of these songs yet, karaoke bars will definitely include them once 'Altaria' becomes famous."
"... I... I will do my best!" Hearing Qiao Ran's words, Altaria clenched her fist with great Vital Spirit.
We really need to work harder to get these songs available in karaoke bars soon.
"And then, the first song, as expected, has to be that song again."
Leave it to me.
After Qiao Ran finished speaking, he sat down on the sofa with the other girls and looked at the Altaria standing in front of the monitor.
This Battle Court was actually recommended by Hua Wanshuang. To surprise everyone, Qiao Ran privately inquired about the Battle Court's details. Qiao Ran even suspected that Hua Wanshuang's final refusal of their invitation was actually due to this very issue of his...
So, Sister Wan Shuang is really too considerate.
The Altaria closed its eyes slightly, gripped the microphone tightly, and its beautiful voice gradually spread out.
"With Last Resort Steadfast"
Let's cross the towering Mt. Coronet!
Who will I capture next? Where will we meet?
This feeling of excitement is like being in Secret Base...
Although everyone initially claimed they couldn't sing, after the sound of the Altaria set the mood, Acerola and Mei joined in. Even without accompaniment, they sang along in perfect unison when certain famous songs were mentioned.
Lillie, who was a bit more reserved, gave up resisting after seeing that Mei was also eager to join in, and played with everyone.
"Qiao Ran, why don't you give it a try?"
"Me? Wait, I don't really know these songs, do I need to..."
"Shall I sing about this world?"
Qiao Ran said she has no talent in this area and has never practiced Sing. What if she sounds terrible?
"Then let's sing Together. You've heard it so many times, you must know it, right?"
Seeing that she had already embarrassed herself by coming down, Lillie knew she had to drag Qiao Ran down with her. So she brought up the "Together" slogan. They had listened to this song countless times over the past few days, so it was impossible for Qiao Ran to say he didn't know it.