Battle with Two Best Friends

Half a month later

Over the past half month, Su Hao and Carbink had not spent all their time battling to level up.

A large portion of their time had gone into special training, honing Carbink's use of [Dazzling Gleam] and [Meteor Beam].

Using the diamonds scattered across Carbink's body as conduits, it channeled the Rock- and Fairy-type Energy gathered within itself to unleash Dazzling Gleam and Meteor Beam.

The Dazzling Gleam released through the diamonds covered a wider area and was more powerful. It could also be condensed into a shield-like form to protect Carbink from an opponent's energy attacks.

Meteor Beam, meanwhile, was released through the diamond atop Carbink's head. As a high-powered move, ordinary Pokémon needed to spend quite some time charging before using it, raising their Special Attack before firing it. During that process, they could not move freely.

Carbink also released its moves through diamonds. With the diamonds on its body serving as high-quality energy conduits, Meteor Beam's charging time was reduced by a third, and the cost of using it was greatly lowered.

Yesterday, after completing its special training, Carbink had relied on Dazzling Gleam and Meteor Beam's pinpoint burst damage to defeat a Level 25 Normal Level Pokémon Scyther with ease, despite being only a Level 17 Novice Level Pokémon.

Over the past half month, although Su Hao and Carbink had not focused solely on leveling up, their daily training, the energy absorbed from Pink Diamond, and yesterday's defeat of Scyther had still pushed Carbink from Level 12 to Level 18. It was only a little short of leaving the Novice Level.

Pokémon: [Carbink] [Mutation 10%]

Type: [Rock, Fairy]

Gender: [None]

Ability: [Clear Body]

Level: [18]

Moves: [Tackle, Harden, Dazzling Gleam (Shield), Meteor Beam, Reflect, Light Screen, Ancient Power, Defense Curl, Flail...]

After Carbink reached Level 18, its progress toward mutating into Diancie had also reached 10%.

Carbink had now completely absorbed its first Pink Diamond. The Pink Diamond had not raised Carbink's level, but instead expanded the maximum amount of energy its body could contain.

With more energy, Carbink's moves would be more powerful, and its Stamina would be greater.

Today, Su Hao, Li Hua, and Jiang Chengcheng had arranged a Pokémon Battle to test the results of each other's half month of training.

In their small group chat, Su Hao suggested holding it in his private training room.

After all, the training room was spacious and offered plenty of privacy.

Once they had agreed on the battle, the system suddenly appeared and issued a mission.

[ Ding! Mission conditions met. Mission issued-- ]

[ Win today's battles against your best friends Li Hua and Jiang Chengcheng! ]

[ Reward: System Currency x500, Protect TM x2 ]

The system had finally issued another mission after so long, making Su Hao even more determined to win today's battles.

Since winter had not yet ended, the weather outside was extremely cold.

Unlike the freezing weather outside, the training room was kept at a pleasant temperature by central air conditioning. One could even wear short sleeves and shorts inside.

Li Hua, wrapped up layer upon layer, and the Carbink curled up in his arms immediately came back to life the moment they entered the warm training room.

Jiang Chengcheng, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Li Hua. Dressed in a thin training outfit, like Bea's, the girl seemed just as unafraid of the bitter cold as the Machop beside her.

After half a month of individual training, the system scan displayed the Pokémon data of Li Hua and Jiang Chengcheng before Su Hao's eyes.

Pokémon: [Carbink]

Type: [Flying]

Gender: [Male]

Ability: [Keen Eye]

Level: [12]

Moves: [Leer, Peck, Taunt, Hone Claws, Fury Attack, Agility, Sky Attack]

Li Hua and Carbink had risen from Level 5 to Level 12 in half a month. Although everyone leveled up quickly in the early stages, this was already quite impressive without the system's assistance. At this pace, [Carbink] had a chance to reach the threshold of Normal Level before school started and complete an evolution into [Blue Raven].

The Machop on the other side was even stronger.

Pokémon: [Machop]

Type: [Fighting-type]

Gender: [Female]

Ability: [Guts]

Level: [14]

Moves: [Leer, Low Kick, Focus Energy, Revenge, Low Sweep, Bullet Punch, Counter, Thunder Punch]

Just as Su Hao had expected, Jiang Chengcheng and Machop were already Level 14. They had even learned Thunder Punch, one of the Farmer's Three Punches, making them a complete counter to Li Hua for now.

Su Hao found Jiang Chengcheng and Machop's level quite reasonable. After all, every picture she posted in the group was either of her training or on her way to train. On top of that, her Professional Level Martial Artist father personally trained her one-on-one.

Li Hua trained too, but he never neglected having fun. He had also checked in at quite a few trendy spots over this period.

"So, shall we begin? How do we decide the order?" Jiang Chengcheng, warmed up and ready, walked over with Machop and asked Li Hua and Su Hao.

After hearing Jiang Chengcheng's question, Su Hao and Li Hua looked at each other and said in unison, "Draw lots!"

Su Hao tore a sheet of white paper from his notebook and divided it into three pieces. He wrote numbers on two of them, then crumpled all three pieces into paper balls.

"The two people who draw numbers battle first. Then the person who draws Number One battles the person who drew a blank, and finally, the person who draws Number Two battles the person who drew a blank."

"Simple and crude, but effective." Li Hua nodded in agreement.

"I have no objections." Jiang Chengcheng agreed as well.

"Then let's begin!" Su Hao placed the paper balls between his cupped hands, shook them up and down, then opened his palms.

Li Hua and Jiang Chengcheng each took a paper ball. Su Hao opened the remaining one, which had a "2" written on it.

Li Hua had drawn "1," while Jiang Chengcheng had drawn a blank.

The order became Li Hua vs. Su Hao, Li Hua vs. Jiang Chengcheng, and Su Hao vs. Jiang Chengcheng.

First up was Li Hua vs. Su Hao.

Standing at one side of the field, Li Hua cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at Su Hao across from him, "Go easy on me, Brother Su!"

Su Hao waved at Li Hua and had Carbink take the field.

"Battle, begin!" Jiang Chengcheng, acting as the referee, announced the start of the match.

"The early bird gets the worm! Carbink, use Hone Claws, then use Agility to close in on Carbink!" Li Hua believed that getting one step ahead meant staying ahead, and his commands were exceptionally decisive.

Seeing Li Hua issue two commands at once, Su Hao was not about to be outdone and had Carbink use Reflect.

"Na na!" (A.T. Field deployed!)

While shouting something utterly incomprehensible, Carbink used Psychic-type Energy to create a Reflect in front of itself that reduced the damage from physical moves.