Blue-Flamed Rat-a-tat-tat-tat

Just as Heiduo had expected.

The first fifteen students' Pokémon could not even touch Beedrill's foreclaws. They could only watch as Beedrill turned into a black shadow and flew around the field with a "buzz buzz buzz," utterly helpless.

The sixteenth one—oh!

Finally, someone capable had arrived.

He used a level fifty Slowking, its face wearing an extremely smug expression.

In truth, a Psychic- and Water-type Pokémon like Slowking was basically an upright pink hippo with a conch on its head and a red-and-white umbrella around its neck. It was not really any more impressive than Slowbro.

At most, its originally vacant-looking eyes had become filled with wisdom.

A Psychic move for hard crowd control?

Good idea!

Heiduo could not help giving the guy a mental thumbs-up. Anyone who brought out a Psychic-type Pokémon against a Bug-type Pokémon had guts. He probably thought Beedrill lacked offensive power and was merely fast.

"Psychic!"

Just as expected.

Heiduo turned his head aside and casually waved a hand, unable to bear watching any longer.

The instant the student's voice fell, a chain of roaring sounds like a mounted machine gun firing erupted from directly overhead, where Beedrill was. Then... there was no then.

Slowking was finished, taken down by Beedrill's streamlined new version of [Pin Missile].

Heiduo's Pokémon had always been steadily progressing and had never stopped in place. Beedrill was no exception. It felt there was room to improve its signature move, [Pin Missile], but it had never been able to figure out how.

As its Trainer, Heiduo suggested shrinking the missile heads. What it fired was Bug-type energy, not its Twinneedle. Why make them as big as grenade launchers?

Wasn't a rotary cannon better?

And so, Beedrill's [Pin Missile] had slowly evolved toward becoming a rotary machine gun. It had now