After lunch, Xinhai brought his partners back to the Main Training Ground.
Mentor Kawasaki oversaw the afternoon sparring matches. His battling style was completely different from Instructor Sasaki's—his offense was sharper, emphasizing explosive chains of attacks. He would launch a full assault and then withdraw, never lingering in battle.
This style placed higher demands on transitions between offense and defense. After every advance, they needed to shift from attacking to defending in an extremely short time. Otherwise, their opponent would seize the chance to counterattack.
Blaziken was the first to take the field, engaging in a series of clashes with Mentor Kawasaki's Ursaring.
Nearly four meters tall, Ursaring stood like an iron tower. With its Guts Ability and Facade, its attack power was astonishing, and every charge carried a sharpness that seemed capable of tearing through the air.
Although Blaziken held the Type advantage in this battle, it had no intention of meeting Ursaring head-on.
After a series of skill clashes, Blaziken began adjusting its rhythm—feeling out the changes in its opponent's tempo during transitions between offense and defense.
Those changes were incredibly subtle, but Blaziken still caught them amid the exchanges and began Mimicking that transition rhythm in the clashes that followed.
It was somewhat stiff at first. Its body had grown accustomed to its original Closing Form, and the abrupt change in rhythm briefly threw it out of sync. Several times, it nearly lost to its opponent, but Blaziken's extraordinary danger sense and physical balance helped it escape disaster each time.
Even in such danger, Blaziken did not give up. Instead, it rapidly adjusted itself under the pressure of battle and ultimately defeated its opponent through sheer strength.
Xinhai's other partners were likewise learning continuously under the pressure of battle as they fought Mentor Kawasaki's Pokémon.
Of course,