Bravery Follows a Generous Reward

"That cocky kid from our class went to the battle arena again yesterday. He even said no one in the beginner classes could fight, that they were all trash..."

Little Fatty ran back into the classroom and recited the lines Roy had prepared for him beforehand.

The tall, skinny guy was surprised that Little Fatty had not gotten beaten up.

"Fatty, how come you didn't get beaten to death?"

Ignoring the skinny guy's sharp tongue, Little Fatty ran to the other classes one after another to spread the word.

Roxanne and Guimi found it unbelievable when they heard about it. After listening to Little Fatty's provocation, the furious crowd headed toward the battle arena.

When they arrived, they found a group of people already gathered at the entrance to the battle arena.

Someone was standing squarely in the doorway, blocking the entrance.

It was Roy. He stood at the entrance with his arms crossed, and a sign was planted beside him.

[The Strongest Trainer in Rustboro Academy's Beginner Classes! Fight Me If You Don't Agree!]

Countless beginner-class students who had just finished class were gathered around Roy and his sign. There were even several advanced-class students among them.

Being an advanced-class student meant they had at least one Pokémon above level 40.

As more and more people gathered, Roy figured he would be able to earn quite a few Popularity Points today.

Many of them had brought Pokémon to train, while others had come after hearing Little Fatty's words, wanting to see who was so arrogant that he dared call them all trash.

Little Fatty had done a pretty good job of bringing in a crowd.

"Who's this kid? He's pretty cocky."

Rather than mocking him as Roy had imagined, the crowd assumed he was some young master from a powerful family and did not dare step forward for the moment.

A few people recognized Roy as the Ghost-type trainer who had defeated Roxanne's Onix yesterday. Remembering his tactics from yesterday, they were unwilling to challenge him.

Roxanne was known as the leader of the beginner classes, so her strength went without saying. She was tough and durable, and had once even defeated a level 31 Sandslash despite being at a disadvantage in level.

More importantly, her opponent had been an intermediate-class student who possessed a Junior Trainer Qualification Certificate.

Yet even Roxanne had been schemed to death by Roy yesterday.

"What young master? Didn't he just beat Boss Roxanne yesterday using disgusting tactics? What's so impressive about that?"

Little Fatty said with disdain.

(Roy liked this +1)

The tall, skinny guy looked at Little Fatty in confusion. That had not been his attitude when Roy dragged him out earlier.

"So what? We Ghost-type trainers have always respected strength. If you can win, you can win. As far as I can see, there isn't a single person in Rustboro Academy who can fight."

"If you don't accept that, anyone here who beats me gets 10,000 Poké Dollars. If you lose, you won't lose anything."

10,000 Poké Dollars!?

The crowd instantly erupted. For some of them, 10,000 Poké Dollars was no small amount.

Bravery followed a generous reward.

Several advanced-class students stepped forward first to join the challenge. No matter how strong Roy was, he was still only a beginner-class student. With the level advantage, he could not possibly cause much trouble.

It was a little embarrassing, but 10,000 Poké Dollars was real money.

Roy pointed at the bottom of the sign and handed them a magnifying glass.

A line of tiny writing was visible at the very bottom of the sign. Only with the magnifying glass Roy gave them could they clearly read it.

[Limited to battles against beginner-class students.]

Roy was not arrogant enough to think his Litwick could battle Pokémon above level 40 that had already reached their final evolutions.

Having lost their qualifications to battle, they cursed Roy in their hearts for being such a dog. The key was that they had no way to criticize him.

Were they supposed to curse Roy for not letting them bully the weak with their levels?

When the advanced-class students saw the words at the bottom of the sign, they all stepped back.

The other beginner-class students were at an age of youthful recklessness. Provoked by Roy, they immediately got fired up, and several shorter trainers took the lead in challenging him.

"I'll challenge you."

A deep voice rang out. Roy turned toward its source and saw a short-haired boy.

Little Fatty recognized him at once as a student from Beginner Class Two. His name was Wu Ming, and his strength was not to be underestimated.

Moreover, Wu Ming's Pokémon was Charmeleon, the evolved form of Charmander, one of the Kanto Region's Starter Pokémon.

It was already level 30 and had obtained its Junior Trainer Qualification Certificate yesterday. He was about to apply for the Rustboro Academy intermediate-class assessment.

So he still counted as a beginner-class student.

How had he forgotten about him?

Little Fatty immediately felt that Roy was in danger this time.

Seeing that someone had finally come to challenge him, Roy did not waste words. Holding the small badge on his chest, he walked into the battle arena.

He randomly chose the battle arena where he had fought yesterday.

When the referee saw Roy arrive, he had intended to ask what Pokémon Roy had used yesterday so that he could announce its name when declaring the results next time.

Before he could ask, a crowd surged in behind Roy and followed him into the battle arena.

The referee was dumbfounded. Why did so many people show up every time Roy came here? Confused as he was, he did not forget his duties.

The referee blew his whistle.

The battle began.

"Go, Charmeleon! Show him what we can do."

A crimson Charmeleon appeared in the battle arena.

System Scan

Pokémon: Charmeleon

Level: 30

Gender: Male

Ability: Blaze

Moves: Scratch, Growl, Ember, Fire Fang, Slash, Flamethrower, Smokescreen, Dragon Breath

Held Item: None

Inherited Moves: Iron Tail, Metal Claw

Individual Value: 17

Technical Machine/Move Tutor: Body Slam

A level 30 Charmeleon with the Blaze Ability?

"Charmeleon, use Flamethrower."

Before Litwick could use Haze, Charmeleon spewed blazing fire from its mouth directly at Litwick.

Wu Ming clearly had plenty of battle experience. He knew to seize the initiative.

But he did not know that Litwick's Flash Fire Ability made it immune to Fire-type move damage.

The flames Charmeleon spewed only made the flame atop Litwick's head burn more vigorously, absorbing them for its own use.

Litwick's Fire-type moves were strengthened.

A new idea suddenly came to Roy's mind.

Through Mind Communication, he stopped Litwick, which had been preparing to use Minimize, and instructed it to pretend it was badly hurt and in terrible pain.

Though it did not understand what Roy was doing, Litwick instantly became a method actor. Its candle-shaped body writhed painfully in the raging fire, as though Charmeleon's flames were about to burn it to ashes.

Little Fatty watched anxiously from below the stage. Were they going to lose in the very first battle?

Wu Ming fell for it as expected.

"Charmeleon, press the attack! Use your strongest Flamethrower!"

Charmeleon increased its output, while Litwick suffered in the flames.

"You can still surrender now. Don't make your Pokémon keep enduring it."

Wu Ming mocked.

He had fought his way to Bronze Tier in the Rustboro Dome Arena. Fighting a tiny Litwick now was as easy as spinning a top.

"We haven't lost yet! Litwick! Show him the bond between us!"

"Lit!"

The flame atop Litwick's head had transformed into a blazing inferno.

Damn! Why did it suddenly flare up like that?

Of course, Litwick had not forgotten Roy's instructions. It continued pretending to have exhausted all its strength as it rose to its feet, and multicolored light flashed from within its flame.

A Confuse Ray struck Charmeleon, which was busy spewing fire and had no time to focus on anything else.

Charmeleon immediately fell into confusion. The flames from its mouth were interrupted, and it could only feel several ducks circling before its eyes.

"Litwick, use Hex!"

Several ghostly shadows suddenly emerged from Litwick's flame and charged toward Charmeleon.

Move: Hex

Effect: Attacked continuously. Dealt greater damage to opponents with a status condition.

With the 1% power boost from Roy's Extreme Ghost Power and the 10% power boost from the Spell Tag, the damage increase for Ghost-type moves had reached 11%.

On top of that, Charmeleon had a status condition, further increasing the damage. The ghostly shadows slammed fiercely into Charmeleon, knocking it dizzy.

Charmeleon struggled to rise after being knocked down. The flame on its tail suddenly grew larger. Its Blaze Ability had been triggered, and its confusion had also been cured.

"Charmeleon, another Flamethrower! Blow it away!"

"Litwick, Hex."

The ghostly shadows and flames crossed paths in the middle of the battle arena.

Flamethrower struck Litwick once again, while the ghostly shadows crashed into Charmeleon.

Everyone craned their necks, wanting to be the first to see the final result.

Charmeleon collapsed to the ground, unable to continue fighting.