Winning Battle After Battle

After washing up, getting dressed, and organizing his backpack, Sato moved with extreme efficiency. In just ten minutes, he was ready to head out.

As he passed the full-length mirror in the bathroom by chance, Sato saw what he looked like now and felt somewhat gratified.

Thanks to the invisible nourishment of Dark Power, Sato now looked more like a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old youth, full of vigor.

The Commercial Center opened at ten in the morning. Sato did not head over early, instead practicing in the Training Room provided by the hotel.

Watching Haunter energetically darting around the field, Sato could only sigh. Zorua and Larvitar could not participate in such a high-profile competition for the time being, so Haunter got to take advantage of it.

It was not hard to imagine that after This Period of Time of high-intensity battles, Haunter's strength would surely see explosive growth.

At nine thirty, Sato recalled his three Pokémon. After feeding each of them a High-Grade Energy Cube, he headed toward the Commercial Plaza not far away.

Sato was the last Trainer to arrive. Once he entered and waited, the host immediately changed his Lines, and the competition Just Like That began.

"Next, please welcome a local participant..."

One of the first to take the stage was none other than the wealthy young master who had competed yesterday afternoon. Feraligatr's ferocity had left a deep impression on everyone.

At this moment, the three temporary arenas that had originally been evenly arranged across the mall's Open Space had been dismantled. A larger, sturdier arena stood firmly in the center.

The wealthy young master stood leisurely on the Command Platform. Under the sunlight, Feraligatr's claws and teeth gleamed with icy light, chilling to the bone.

His opponent was quite ordinary. At any rate, Sato did not remember him. Sure enough, when a Golbat that was merely decent was sent out, Many People had disappointment in Their Eyes.

In less than three minutes, Feraligatr's ferocious Close Combat paid off. A single Ice Punch sent Golbat off the field.

The Second Match began quickly. Aside from a few participants whose strength was clearly exceptional, everyone else's Paired Combat was incredibly fierce, drawing Bursts Of cheers from Below The Stage.

One match after another continued without interruption. Among them, one girl displayed astonishing combat strength.

Looking at the Female Trainer on the field, wrapped up from head to toe, Sato noticed the distinctive pink hair she had accidentally exposed. Together with that Chansey, her identity was obvious! "Soft-Boiled + Toxic + Minimize"—as a supportive wall, Chansey could learn an absurd number of moves, but because its offensive power was lacking, it could only find another path.

Her opponent's Pidgeot was far stronger than Chansey, but it had likely never expected Chansey to be so powerful. It carelessly ended up being poisoned into defeat.

Only four matches were held that morning, and two of them were of rather high quality. Both Chansey and Feraligatr were quite strong. If Sato used Haunter against them, he would have to consider his tactics carefully.

The matches resumed at one in the afternoon. This Time, Sato was the first to be called up. His opponent was an elite-looking man with glasses, who looked as though his wife had dragged him here to participate. He seemed rather unwilling.

"I'm counting on you, Victreebel!"

"Haunter."

His opponent could not see Haunter, but Haunter had made quite a name for itself during the Preliminary Round, so he naturally knew it was merely invisible.

"Victreebel, spread Stun Spore through the air!"

"Haunter, Lick!"

"Jiejie~"

A crimson tongue suddenly Appeared In Front Of Victreebel's back. Then it gave a slick lick, and Victreebel instantly stiffened, unable to move.

"Hypnosis!"

"Continuous Shadow Ball!"

The paralyzed Victreebel was struck repeatedly. In its numb sleep, it lost its combat capability.

Clean and Crisp!

Sato recalled the Haunter that was getting Carried Away. Lick's paralysis chance was not high, but when used for a sneak attack, whether or not it triggered its added effect, it could easily shatter the opponent's mentality.

After all, it was a crimson, slimy, soft ghost tongue.

The day passed with a total of sixteen matches. After finishing his own match, Sato greeted a Staff Member and left directly.

Haunter had won without taking any damage and Simply Didn't Need treatment. After returning to the hotel and booking a Private Training Room, Sato buried himself in training for another afternoon.

Perhaps because they could not participate in the competition, Zorua and Larvitar trained with exceptional effort.

Sato did not stop them. Both Zorua and Haunter had reached a bottleneck. With their talent, breaking through would not be difficult, but they still needed some external stimulation. This was good.

The next day, Sato arrived at the plaza. The Rest of the sixteen were no longer so easy to deal with, and there were quite a few outstanding performers.

Although Nurse Joy had covered her face, attentive passersby still recognized her, and a Large Amount Of fans instantly appeared.

So when Sato saw that his opponent was Nurse Joy, he resisted inwardly!

"Come Out, Chansey!"

"Go, Haunter!"

"Little Brother, you attack first."

"Thank You. Haunter, Curse!"

"Gasp—"

A burst of sharp inhalations immediately came from Below The Stage. Looking at Sato, who seemed Harmless to Humans and Animals, no one expected him to be so ruthless From The Beginning.

"Chansey, quickly use Soft-Boiled... no, use Refresh, that won't work either!" With just one move, Nurse Joy panicked. After All, she was not a proper Trainer.

"Haunter, Hypnosis!"

A red halo Appeared In Front Of Chansey. Before long, Chansey obediently lay flat on the ground. Then a streak of black energy flashed past, and Curse activated.

"I concede!"

Nurse Joy's voice carried across the venue. In an instant, Sato, who had used Curse, became the target of public condemnation, as though he had committed some monstrous crime.

Sato coldly watched it all, then gave Haunter, which had lost half its stamina, another Energy Cube to replenish its strength.

"Jiejie~"

Haunter laughed without a care. As a ghost, it never cared about anyone's opinion except Sato's. Call it thick-skinned or cold and heartless, what right did outsiders have to affect it? Sato Grinned. Perhaps he had become too enamored with the embrace of light and had forgotten that beneath light lay darkness.

Just like before: most of Haunter's moves were ineffective against Chansey. The only useful ones were Toxic and Curse, but against a Chansey that could use Refresh and Soft-Boiled, Toxic was a joke.

Sato turned around. As Long As Haunter was recalled into its Poké Ball, the power of Curse would disappear, so Chansey had merely lost a little stamina.

Below The Stage, the agitated crowd even began shoving one another. Insults and slander followed, while Sato sat calmly in the Top 16 seats.

"Everyone, please don't get worked up. My Chansey is fine. This was only an ordinary Pokemon Battle. Sato did nothing wrong, so please don't take your anger out on him..."

Nurse Joy hurriedly explained. She was only a doctor, not a bad person.

Seeing This, most people Calmed Down. Thinking of how young Sato was, Many People felt somewhat ashamed, but no one apologized.

Sato did not blame Joy. He even had to thank her for waking him from the Slacked Off state he had fallen into recently.

Thank you to reader Deep Sea Eugen for the 500 Book Coin donation, thank you to reader Seven-Prayer Wolf King for the 100 Book Coin donation, and thank you to reader Sword [Heart] for the 588 Book Coin donation!

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