Woobat

Fake Out's priority was too high. Lu Ze's Munchlax had no way to deal with it and could only take the Fake Out head-on, falling into a flinching state afterward.

"Torracat—Double Kick!"

"Munchlax—Thunder Punch it away!"

Munchlax used its belly to take Torracat's Double Kick, then golden electricity lit up around its hand as it blasted Torracat away.

"Torracat, rush in and keep using Double Kick!"

"Munchlax—Earthquake!"

The double damage from Earthquake struck the charging Torracat. Torracat staggered from the blow, but it still forced itself onward toward Munchlax.

Lu Ze could see it now. This Torracat and its trainer were both complete hotheads. Their battle was nothing but head-on clashes. Since that was the case, Lu Ze decided not to bother with tactics either.

"Munchlax—Earthquake again!"

Torracat's Double Kick landed on Munchlax, but it was also hit by the close-range Earthquake. A flash of red light flickered over Torracat's body as its Blaze Ability was triggered.

"Munchlax—Finish it with Thunder Punch!"

"Torracat—Double Kick!"

The other side refused to give up, wanting to trade another round of damage with Double Kick and see whether it could take Munchlax down. But Torracat was not a Huge Power Bunnelby. With Munchlax's stamina, taking two or three Double Kicks from Torracat was no problem at all.

Unfortunately, Torracat did not have the stamina to trade blows with Munchlax. Munchlax's final Thunder Punch sent it flying.

"Torracat is unable to battle. Munchlax wins."

Lu Ze recalled Munchlax. After giving his opponent a polite nod, he left the field. He had eight consecutive victories now. Two more wins and he could advance directly to the main tournament.

He took Munchlax for treatment, then found a place to rest with it. He also took out a box of Energy Cubes to help Munchlax replenish its stamina.

After a while, Lu Ze watched Munchlax finish the Energy Cubes and pat its belly in satisfaction. He smiled happily, stood up, brushed himself off, and laboriously pulled Munchlax up from the ground. Trainer and Pokémon exchanged smiles.

Lu Ze held out his fist.

"Munchlax, good luck in the next match."

"Munchlax~"

Munchlax grinned and lightly bumped fists with Lu Ze before they headed together toward the arena for the ninth battle.

"Both sides, take your positions and release your Pokémon."

Munchlax, behind Lu Ze, strode into the arena. The girl in the princess dress across from him released—

Pokémon: Drizzile

Gender: Female

Type: Water type

Ability: Sniper (When landing a critical hit, its power becomes stronger)

Aptitude: Purple Aptitude

Basic Moves: Bind, Pound, Water Gun, Growl, Water Pulse, Baby-Doll Eyes, Sucker Punch

Egg Moves: Aqua Jet, Ice Shard, Mist

"Water type, Aqua Jet, Ice Shard..." Lu Ze frowned. Other than Thunder Punch, Munchlax had no moves that were especially effective against Water types, while Aqua Jet and Ice Shard were both ranged physical moves with +1 priority.

With Drizzile's Egg Moves and Speed, Munchlax would be completely kited around. Besides, Munchlax's Speed was so low that it could barely get moving at all.

Swish.

The flag dropped, and the battle began.

"Drizzile—Ice Shard!"

"Munchlax—Curse!"

Drizzile's Ice Shard struck Munchlax first, but its power was too low to interrupt Munchlax's Curse.

"Munchlax—Curse!"

"Drizzile—Aqua Jet!"

The princess-dress girl noticed that Ice Shard's damage was strangely low and guessed that Munchlax might have the Thick Fat Ability. She therefore switched to Aqua Jet, another +1 priority Water-type physical move.

Although Aqua Jet could not trigger Munchlax's Ability, its damage was still low. The boosted Attack stat and Defense stat from Curse were more than enough to withstand it.

Munchlax endured Drizzile's attacks and slowly stacked its own Attack stat and Defense stat five times. In return, its Speed dropped drastically, turning it into a truly immobile turret.

The princess-dress girl was getting discouraged, but she still commanded Drizzile to keep attacking.

"Drizzile—Aqua Jet!"

"Munchlax—Rest!"

After Aqua Jet landed, Munchlax lay down in the arena and fell asleep. At the same time, its stamina recovered to full.

The princess-dress girl was losing it.

"Drizzile, hit it!!"

"Munchlax—Sleep Talk!"

The sleeping Munchlax rolled over, muttering under its breath. Then a dark purple glow flashed across its body as it used Curse once more, raising its Attack stat and Defense stat to their maximum.

The princess-dress girl's mentality crumbled even further. She commanded Drizzile to use the close-range, high-power physical move Sucker Punch. In her eyes, Munchlax was asleep and could not fight back anyway. Since all the attacks were just scratching it, why not scratch it with a stronger move?

"Munchlax—Sleep Talk!"

Drizzile's claws glowed black as it repeatedly slashed at Munchlax's belly. Munchlax's Sleep Talk activated, and red light flared around its right hand. Sleep Talk had randomly selected Fire Punch, and one punch sent Drizzile stumbling.

Lu Ze's face darkened when he saw Sleep Talk roll Fire Punch. Anything but Fire Punch would have been fine—either of the other punches or Mega Punch would have worked. Why did it have to roll Fire Punch? Then he saw that Munchlax had nearly one-shotted Drizzile with that punch and could not help laughing.

Although Fire-type damage only dealt half damage to the Water-type Drizzile, Munchlax's maxed-out Attack stat still nearly knocked Drizzile out in a single hit.

Seeing the dazed Drizzile in the arena after taking Munchlax's punch, the princess-dress girl felt distressed. Tears welled in her eyes as she shouted—

"We're not fighting anymore! We surrender!"

"The opposing side has surrendered. Munchlax wins."

The referee raised the flag. Only then did Munchlax wake up groggily. It stared blankly at the teary-eyed princess-dress girl and the Drizzile in her arms, then scratched its head in confusion.

Lu Ze happily called Munchlax back.

"We've already won. You were amazing."

"Munchlax~"

Lu Ze carefully massaged Munchlax's body. Rest had restored Munchlax's stamina, but it could not restore its mental energy.

Munchlax sat on the ground with its eyes narrowed, blissfully enjoying Lu Ze's massage. After a while, it noticed Tang Yunqin bouncing over from afar alongside a wryly smiling Su Tingxi.

Lu Ze looked at them curiously.

"Hm? Why did you two come over together?"

Tang Yunqin said happily, "He drew me for his seventh match. It's in this arena."

Su Tingxi pulled a long face. "Yeah."

Su Tingxi had no way to be happy. It was not as though they had never battled before. Sparring was common during training, but when Dratini faced Tang Yunqin's Shellder, his win rate was only thirty percent. After Tang Yunqin became familiar with Dratini's moves, Su Tingxi could not even maintain that thirty percent win rate.

Although Shellder had not yet learned Shell Smash, it could use wide-range Whirlpool to restrict Dratini, then bombard it with repeated Icicle Spears until Dratini suffered miserably. Not to mention that Tang Yunqin would occasionally predict Dratini's Thunder Wave and interrupt it with the +1 priority Ice Shard.

Shellder also had the Egg Moves Aqua Ring and Life Dew to restore its stamina. Dratini could not perform at all and being completely suppressed was no surprise.

After the bouncing Tang Yunqin and dejected Su Tingxi entered the arena together, Su Tingxi immediately raised his hand to signal his surrender. Tang Yunqin thus claimed her sixth victory without shedding a drop of blood. Su Tingxi, on a six-win streak, had drawn Tang Yunqin, who was on a five-win streak. After this match, Tang Yunqin had six consecutive wins.

The three chatted for a while after leaving the arena. Soon, ten minutes had passed. Lu Ze was about to begin his final match to advance into the main tournament, while Tang Yunqin was heading to the arena assigned by the tournament system for her seventh match.

Meanwhile, the unfortunate Su Tingxi could only go back to challenging people one by one, hoping to complete ten consecutive victories as soon as possible.

Lu Ze entered the arena first. Before long, another young man arrived, and the two stood facing each other in the arena.

"Both sides, release your Pokémon."

Munchlax slowly walked into the arena, while the other side released a Woobat.

Pokémon: Woobat

Gender: Male

Type: Psychic type, Flying

Ability: Simple (Any increases or decreases to this Pokémon's stat stages become twice their original value. If a stat stage cannot be raised or lowered, moves that alter stat stages can still be used, but the stat stage will not change.)

Aptitude: Purple Aptitude

Basic Moves: Gust, Attract, Confusion, Endeavor, Air Slash, Imprison

Egg Moves: Knock Off, Psycho Shift, Roost

When Lu Ze saw that the opposing Woobat had the Simple Ability, his heart tightened. Only after seeing the stat-changing moves in Woobat's move pool did he finally relax.

Simple was a double-edged Ability, but when used well, it was undoubtedly extremely powerful. Stat stage changes were doubled. For example, Nasty Plot could raise Special Attack by two stages, but if Woobat used it, it would raise Special Attack by four stages.

Of course, the downside was obvious. It was vulnerable to debuffs because negative stat stage drops were doubled too. For instance, Growl normally lowered Attack by one stage, but it would lower Woobat's Attack by two stages. That was why it was considered a double-edged Ability.

Furthermore, very few Pokémon had this Ability. Only the Woobat line, the Bidoof line, and Numel had it. Unfortunately, Numel lost the Ability after evolving into Camerupt. What a shame.

Swish.

The flag dropped, and the battle began.

"Woobat—Endeavor!"

"Munchlax—Metronome!"

Woobat sent out a mass of purple energy that merged into Munchlax's body. Munchlax let out a pained cry as Endeavor reduced a huge amount of its stamina. Even its movements became slower, but it still successfully used Metronome. Endeavor reduced the opponent's stamina to the same level as the user's; if the opponent's stamina was lower than the user's, it had no effect.

Munchlax pretended to rub its eyes and began crying. Metronome had randomly selected Fake Tears. Fake Tears could lower the opponent's Special Defense stat by two stages, and with the boost from Simple, Woobat's Special Defense stat fell by four stages.

"Beautiful!"

Lu Ze pumped his fist and shouted in delight. He knew Woobat would use Endeavor at the start, but there was nothing he could do. Munchlax had no Protect, no ranged attack that could interrupt the opponent, and its only Earthquake could not hit an airborne foe. Munchlax was also too slow to dodge and could only take it head-on.

Fortunately, Munchlax gave Lu Ze a surprise. Metronome had actually rolled Fake Tears, successfully lowering the opponent's Special Defense stat by four stages. If Metronome could randomly select any Special Attack move with a type advantage next, then even with Munchlax's low Special Attack, it could take Woobat down.

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