Umbreon Battles Kommo-o

Seeing Umbreon slowly get back to his feet, Lu Ba said to Lu Ze.

"Let's do it here. Come on, let me see how well you can command."

"Alright, bring it on, Dad!"

In a clearing deep in the forest, Umbreon and Kommo-o faced each other. Kommo-o let out an excited roar at Umbreon, but Umbreon remained unmoved.

"When the stone hits the ground, the battle begins."

As Lu Ba spoke, both of them watched the stone he tossed into the air. The instant it landed, they spoke at the same time.

"Umbreon—Baby-Doll Eyes!"

"Kommo-o—Focus Blast!"

"Roar!"

Kommo-o paid no heed to Umbreon's Baby-Doll Eyes. He stood where he was and gathered his fighting spirit before hurling the Focus Blast at Umbreon with both hands.

Lu Ba shot Lu Ze a surprised glance. He had not expected Lu Ze to be so bold, correctly predicting that he would weaken Kommo-o at the start. If Focus Blast was interrupted while charging, not only would the move fail, Kommo-o would also take damage for nothing. Lu Ba immediately reacted and called to Umbreon.

"Umbreon, dodge it, then Dark Pulse!"

"Kommo-o—strengthen yourself with Dragon Dance."

Lu Ze was not surprised in the slightest as Umbreon barely dodged the Focus Blast. He seized every opportunity to greedily stack boosts.

"Kommo-o—Dragon Tail, smash the Dark Pulse apart!"

"Umbreon—Taunt!"

Lu Ba knew his own Pokémon best. If Kommo-o found another chance to use Belly Drum followed by Rest, the fight would become truly difficult. He could only use Taunt to seal off the opponent's status moves.

On the field, Kommo-o's Dragon Tail, strengthened by Dragon Dance, struck with tremendous force and shattered Umbreon's Dark Pulse into black fragments that slowly drifted down.

"Kommo-o, from here on out, it's a straight-up brawl!"

"Roar!"

Kommo-o roared, his eyes fixed on the Umbreon across from him as battle intent blazed in his gaze.

"Umbreon, we can't fall behind either!"

"Breon~"

"Kommo-o—Close Combat!"

"Umbreon—Iron Tail!"

Umbreon's black tail glowed faintly as it struck the charging Kommo-o. At the same time, Kommo-o's Close Combat landed on Umbreon.

Umbreon was sent flying backward, while Kommo-o took two steps back. Iron Tail did not seem to have dealt much damage.

Lu Ba's eyes lit up. It seemed the recent training had improved Kommo-o considerably. He immediately gave Umbreon another command.

"Moonlight!"

"Interrupt him, Kommo-o! Use Boomburst!"

When Lu Ze saw Umbreon's eyes faintly glow, he guessed the move Umbreon was about to use. If he did not interrupt it, their previous exchange would have been almost pointless. Although Moonlight did not restore that much during the day, it was still far from negligible.

The Moonlight Umbreon had just begun to gather was interrupted by Kommo-o's Boomburst before it could manifest. Umbreon could not help retreating two steps, breathing slightly hard.

Having just taken a Close Combat with double damage and then a Boomburst, Umbreon would have gone down from a single Close Combat if he had been another Dark-type Pokémon. His dual defenses were simply too high.

"Not bad, Lu Ze. Your commanding is good enough to take the stage."

After seeing Lu Ze assess the situation and boldly use Boomburst to interrupt Umbreon's Moonlight, the admiration in Lu Ba's eyes grew even stronger.

"Kommo-o, once more—Close Combat."

"Alright, the test is over. Umbreon, Protect, then Moonlight."

A transparent protective barrier appeared around Umbreon, perfectly blocking Kommo-o's Close Combat. Then, the yellow markings on his forehead lit up as Moonlight began to gather.

"Kommo-o—use Ice Punch to interrupt him!"

The instant Lu Ze saw the markings on Umbreon's forehead light up, he sensed that something was wrong. He hurriedly had Kommo-o use Ice Punch to interrupt Moonlight.

Unfortunately, there was not enough time. By the time Ice Punch landed, the Moonlight had already descended. Though Umbreon took the Ice Punch head-on, it was not much of a problem given his defenses.

Moonlight restored some of Umbreon's stamina. Though it was daytime and the recovery was limited, this battle would be hard to win if he could not stop Moonlight.

What was more, two uses of Close Combat had lowered Kommo-o's defenses. As one side waned while the other recovered, Lu Ze's chances of winning had become slim. After all, Lu Ba was no novice.

"Kommo-o—Earthquake!"

"Umbreon, jump to dodge it."

Kommo-o viciously slammed his tail against the ground, while Lu Ba's Umbreon obediently leaped into the air.

Seeing events unfold just as he had anticipated, Lu Ze revealed a faint smile.

When Lu Ba saw Lu Ze still smiling despite his seemingly slim odds of victory, he instinctively felt that something was wrong, and his heart began pounding.

"Umbreon, use Protect the instant you land!"

"Too late. Kommo-o, use Belly Drum, then finish him with Brick Break!"

Lu Ze confidently commanded Kommo-o.

A trace of blood-red light appeared in Kommo-o's eyes, and a thunderous rumble came from his belly. Then, light flared around his right claw as he used Brick Break, sending the Umbreon who had just landed flying with a single swipe.

After seeing Umbreon get knocked away, Lu Ba quickly ran to his side. Once he confirmed that Umbreon had merely been knocked out and was otherwise fine, he called over an employee from the shop to take Umbreon to the treatment room, then walked over to Lu Ze and asked.

"You were that confident I'd have Umbreon jump?"

"I took a gamble. It was the fastest way to end the battle. After Umbreon jumped, the time it took him to land was enough for Kommo-o to use Belly Drum and then Brick Break."

Lu Ze patted Kommo-o's waist approvingly as he spoke.

"A gamble? What if I hadn't had Umbreon jump? How would you have responded?" Lu Ba asked, somewhat gratified.

"Then you would either take the Earthquake head-on or use Protect. But using Protect consecutively had a high chance of failing the second time. Or you could trade attacks, but if you were a step slower, your move could easily be interrupted by Earthquake. So jumping was the most likely choice."

"An excellent read. But what if I chose to take it head-on? Or what if my second Protect succeeded?"

Lu Ba gave Lu Ze a thumbs-up and continued questioning him.

"If Umbreon took it head-on, he would have trouble keeping his footing, and then Aura Sphere would be waiting for him. I never had Kommo-o use Aura Sphere, so I guessed you hadn't paid much attention to that move. Given Umbreon's defenses, he should still have some stamina left afterward, and the rest would be a close-range slugfest. As long as I didn't let Umbreon use Moonlight to recover, that would be enough."

"As for both Protects succeeding, then I'd greedily stack boosts. After using Bulk Up a few times, one Body Press and an Aura Sphere should be enough to take him down."

Lu Ze shrugged and spread his hands. Lu Ba's Kommo-o had so many moves and such broad coverage. He truly was a homebody dragon with self-discipline taken to the extreme.

Lu Ba froze after hearing that. It was true that, although Kommo-o was his Pokémon and he knew Kommo-o could use Aura Sphere, he really had not noticed during the battle that Lu Ze had been holding Aura Sphere in reserve.

"Not bad. You have what it takes to be admitted exceptionally through the command test of the Martial Trial. But whether you can truly be admitted exceptionally will still depend on how well you raise your Pokémon."

"Don't worry, Dad. My dream is to become a Breeder."

"A Breeder? That's a wonderful dream. Your father supports you."

In the hazy morning light of the forest, father and son exchanged smiles, then firmly bumped their fists together.

"Son, how about we go to the main Pokémon Egg shop in Chang'an City together this afternoon? When your mom called last night, the person in charge over there mentioned that a batch of offspring from high-aptitude Pokémon would be arriving at the shop this afternoon."

While they ate lunch, Lu Ba brought it up with Lu Ze.

"Although you can't test the aptitude of the Pokémon inside an Egg, if both parents have high aptitude, there's a much higher chance their offspring will too. What do you think? Want to go take a look?"

Lu Ze was a little puzzled. "But didn't they say it's best to focus on one Pokémon before the National College Entrance Examination? Wouldn't it be too early to choose a second one now?"

"Son, the advice to focus on one Pokémon before the National College Entrance Examination is for those applying to ordinary universities. At the top ten universities in the country, it's a huge disadvantage if you only have one Pokémon capable of fighting after school starts."

"For example, at Shangqing University, the school you want to attend, there are 2v2 Pokémon battles one week after classes begin. Two months later, they become 3v3 battles."

"By the start of the second semester, it becomes a 6v6 Full Battle."

"The higher-ranked the school, the more importance it places on students' ability to raise Pokémon. Back then, I hadn't noticed this issue, so during my first semester, I often had to fight two or three opponents with just one Pokémon. It was only during the summer break that I raised Lucario and Aggron—Aggron was still a Lairon then—but I never expected the second semester to turn into 6v6 Full Battles."

"During that one year, I missed out on so many rare school resources because I didn't have enough Pokémon. That's why I want you to have a second Pokémon now, so you won't fall behind in battles after school starts."

Lu Ba spoke of that memory with the tone of someone recalling an unbearable past.

"Also, you don't need to worry about the money required to raise Pokémon. There's one million in the card I gave you, and the royalties from the Energy Cube formulas you provide will ensure you never lack money. Besides, you can make them yourself and improve Energy Cubes, so there's no need to worry about raising them."

"Alright, you've convinced me. Shall we go together after lunch?"

Lu Ba smiled in satisfaction.

"Mm, let's go together."