Was She Really a Jinx?

After Ye Lan chose to continue, his opponent for the fourteenth match quickly took the field.

Without even checking the data on the Pokémon his opponent had sent out, Ye Lan simply asked, "Are we using that move?"

"Servine!" Servine stared ahead. They had already come this far—every extra victory they could take was profit!

"Then use it. Full-power Iron Tail!"

In an instant, every muscle in Servine's body tensed. Its tail slammed into the ground, and its figure vanished from the spot.

All anyone saw was a streak of white flash before their eyes. With a thunderous boom, the opposing Pokémon was recalled into its trainer's Poké Ball and hurried off the field for treatment.

"Did any of you... see what Pokémon Servine's opponent was just now?"

Quite a few spectators were utterly bewildered. The battle had ended the moment the white flash appeared—there had been no viewing experience at all!

At that moment, the arena's massive screen began replaying the details of the battle in slow motion.

On the screen, Servine launched itself upward with a fierce strike of its tail against the ground, while Steel-type energy continuously gathered around its tail.

Once it closed in on Salazzle, it spun around and whipped out an Iron Tail. Salazzle's facial muscles twisted from the blow. Sent flying by the tremendous force, it crashed hard against the protective barrier and stuck there.

Everything had happened far too quickly. While everyone was still savoring the battle, Ye Lan appeared on the big screen, his voice echoing throughout the arena.

"That's all for today. Thank you all for your support!" After saying that, Ye Lan hurriedly directed the medical staff to carry Servine away for emergency treatment to stabilize its injuries.

"It's over? Ye Lan isn't going for fifteen straight wins?"

"Obviously! Didn't you see Servine being carried off the field? What, did you expect Ye Lan to go up there and PK Pokémon himself?!"

Even Liu Yan, seated near the front of the stands and preparing to commentate on Ye Lan's match, had not expected Ye Lan to wrap up the battle so hastily when Servine still possessed such explosive power.

Liu Yan knew that although Ye Lan looked fearless and unstoppable in the arena, the school's weekly ten-thousand prize money had him firmly in its grip.

After all, the points awarded for fifteen consecutive wins were more than double those for fourteen! Ye Lan gave that up without even blinking?

Only those involved knew the truth. In the hospital room, Ye Lan looked at Servine on the bed, with two-thirds of its body immobilized by plaster and bandages, and clicked his tongue regretfully.

They had ultimately failed to achieve fifteen straight wins, but he and Servine had already done everything they could. There was nothing to regret.

"Your tail has gone numb? Unless it's absolutely necessary, or until you completely master that power, you must never use that move again. Rest properly for now and recover well. We're not entering any battles either."

"Servine!"

Servine desperately wriggled on the hospital bed in refusal. A huge amount of resources was practically within reach—this was exactly when it should be training hard!

"Stop moving already, or they'll have to put you in a cast again!" Ye Lan shook his head helplessly.

The fourteenth battle had appeared to be Servine using its hidden strength to one-shot its opponent.

In truth, Servine had mobilized every muscle in its body and unleashed a force its current body could not control, forcibly smashing the opposing Pokémon unconscious.

That was also why Ye Lan had made Servine launch the first attack at the very start of the battle.

Not only was the move's power impossible to control, but its direction was as well. As long as the opponent reacted in time, Ye Lan and Servine's winning streak would have ended. They could only catch their opponent off guard.

This entirely brute-force, barely even technical technique had actually been discovered by Servine while adapting to the effects of the Pokémon Physique Candy (Purple).

The Pokémon Physique Candy (Purple) had given Servine physical explosive strength beyond its current limits. Yet even though its muscle density had increased substantially, Servine, at the peak of the intermediate level, still could not control that power.

When Ye Lan and Servine had first tested this technique, Servine crawled out from the shattered target with muscles spasming all over its body, utterly unable to move even once.

This time was even worse. Due to the injuries sustained in more than ten previous battles, Servine's control over the move had declined further. Not only had muscles throughout its body suffered damage to varying degrees, but its entire tailbone had fractured into several sections.

According to Ye Lan and Servine's original plan, this move had been reserved for the strongest obstacle on the way to their fifteenth straight win. Who could have known that Mia, that jinx, would pop up halfway through?

Defeating that royal Servine had drained too much of Servine's stamina. By the time it faced Camerupt, it was already struggling, and had only defeated its opponent by relying on faster move execution.

With no other choice, Ye Lan could only fire the cannon at the Salazzle in the fourteenth match.

When Salazzle's trainer saw their Pokémon stuck to the protective barrier like chewing gum, they were nearly scared out of their wits.

"Damn officials! Didn't you say Ye Lan's Servine was about done for? Didn't you say I could come here and easily farm points?!"

"Achoo~" Mia sneezed in front of the Pokémon Center's communication device and scratched her head. Why did she feel as if someone was thinking about her?

"Little Mia, make sure to take good care of yourself while you're alone in the Huaxia Region." On the call screen, a silver-haired elderly woman was gently reminding Mia.

The years had left lines across the old woman's face, but her dignified features still revealed what a beauty she must have been in her youth.

"It's fine, Grandma. I'm having a wonderful time traveling in the Huaxia Region. Oh, right, I called because I have something to tell you." After organizing her thoughts, Mia continued.

"Well, I battled someone today, and Qingqing lost to another Servine."

"Was there a huge gap in strength? Then it's nothing. For a trainer, winning and losing are both perfectly normal."

"No, they were both at the peak of the intermediate level..." Mia stuck out her tongue sheepishly and blinked at the old woman.

"The same level? That's impossible! Qingqing is one of the nine most talented Snivy of this generation. It would be very difficult for an outside Servine to defeat it unless you made a serious error in your commands." At the mention of this matter, the previously kind old woman's expression became stern.

"Grandma! I'm not that bad, okay?!" Mia's little face reddened with anger as she continued, "Who could have imagined that a Servine could jump three meters high?! It jumps even higher than Grandpa's Serperior!"

"?" The old woman was stunned as well.

"And its physical strength was terrifying too. It had already fought more than ten consecutive battles before facing me, and it still had enough stamina for another battle afterward."

"I've never seen a Servine in our village with such incredible physical explosive power!"

Thinking back to Qingqing getting close to its opponent and then taking a string of Slams, Mia felt pain just watching it.

"I wanted to teach that Servine some techniques for controlling Grass-type energy. After all, it defeated Qingqing, so according to the clan rules, it counts as half a royal candidate..."

"That's fine." The old woman agreed almost without hesitation.

"Huh?" Mia had not expected the old woman to agree so readily.

"That Servine is that young man's starter Pokémon, right? Then one day, he will come to Unova, to our Snake Guardian Village. When that happens, he'll count as one of our own."

"Our family may be ancient, but we are not antiquated. He only needs to agree to one condition..."

(For readers who haven't watched the anime: in the Pokémon world, Pokémon Center communication devices can not only make video calls, but also send Poké Balls.)