Easy Victory! Childhood Sweethearts Can't Beat a Sudden Arrival?

Newbie Battle Hall, Battle Arena No. 11.

"Both Pokémon detected in position. Beep beep—battle start!!"

"Brother Yun, you'd better be careful. Snubbull, aim at Beedrill and use Scary Face!"

As soon as the electronic referee's voice fell, Liu Jianhao impatiently gave his command.

[Scary Face: Glares at the opponent with a terrifying face, frightening them and drastically lowering their Speed.]

For moves appearing for the first time, especially status moves, I would write out their effects to prevent some readers from being unclear about what they did.

As for offensive moves whose effects could generally be inferred from their names, I would not elaborate further.

"Brulu!!"

Snubbull's small body leaped high into the air. Once her gaze met Xiao Du's, the features on her already aged-looking face instantly twisted together, making her look just like a bad-tempered old man ready to throw hands at any moment.

"So it really started with a stat-lowering move..."

Snubbull's base form excelled mainly in physical attacks and was not particularly fast. Without using Scary Face to lower Xiao Du's Speed, she might not be able to touch him throughout the entire battle.

Unfortunately, Mu Yun had no intention of giving Snubbull a second chance to act.

Almost the instant Snubbull leaped into the air, Mu Yun's words reached Xiao Du's ears.

"String Shot, tie her up."

"Zzpi!"

In midair, Beedrill's wings trembled as streams of Bug Type energy gathered in his mouth almost in the blink of an eye.

Back when it was at the Perfected level, Xiao Du's String Shot was already close to being instant-cast, and he could spit out several strands at once. Now that he had broken through to Limit-Breaking +1, it was naturally even faster, while the strands he could release in a single breath were more numerous and longer.

Pfft!!

As Xiao Du forcefully expelled air from his mouth, several snow-white strands of String Shot sliced through the air at tremendous speed. Like an invisible net, they closed in on Snubbull from every direction.

It was so fast that even a Pidgey with the Keen Eye Ability could not evade it, let alone a naturally slow Snubbull who had leaped into the air.

"Brulu!!"

Before Scary Face could even be unleashed, the tough, sticky threads bound Snubbull tightly. With a thud, she crashed heavily onto the ground.

"What a fast String Shot!!"

At the side of the arena, Liu Jianhao's heart skipped a beat as he watched Snubbull get tied up in the blink of an eye.

It was not like he had never seen Bug Type Pokémon use String Shot before, but it was his first time seeing one as fast as Mu Yun's Beedrill.

That was normal. String Shot was an extremely basic ordinary move with little power and few applications. Most people would not go out of their way to spend effort practicing it.

"Snubbull, don't panic! Try using Fire Fang to burn through the threads!" Liu Jianhao shouted.

Bugs were weak to fire, and threads condensed from Bug Type energy naturally feared flames as well.

And Snubbull just happened to know Fire Fang by nature!

"Brulu!"

At his words, Snubbull opened her mouth wide, revealing a set of sharp fangs. As energy continuously gathered, scorching flames coiled around her teeth.

Perhaps because her proficiency was low, Snubbull took a long time to form Fire Fang—long enough for Mu Yun's next command to reach Xiao Du during that gap.

"Xiao Du, use Twineedle. No Poison!"

[Twineedle: Attacks with two needles. Depending on the situation, poison can be actively released from the needle tips to inflict the Poison status on the opponent.]

If he had been fighting a stranger, Mu Yun would not have held back the poison. But this was merely a spar between acquaintances. Xiao Du's poison was already potent, and Fairy Types took double damage from Poison. Even if the poison did not remain for long, it would still cause considerable harm to the body.

"Zzpi!!"

Amid the buzz of his thin wings, Xiao Du's figure shot toward the immobilized Snubbull. The two thick, long, sharp silver-white needles on his arms shone with a faint pale-green glow.

Although Twineedle was not especially powerful, mastered Twineedle increased hardness by 100% and penetration by 50%. Together with the 20% power boost from Limit-Breaking +1 String Shot and the 50% same-type bonus...

Even though Snubbull resisted Bug Types twofold, those two strikes would still take at least half her health.

If Snubbull had retained the ability to move, she could have endured this attack, activated her Rattled Ability, and used the resulting Speed increase to counter with Fire Fang as Beedrill approached.

But unfortunately, the String Shot Xiao Du spat out far surpassed those of Pokémon at the same level in both toughness and stickiness. No matter how hard Snubbull struggled, she could not break free.

The pain brought by Twineedle even forced her to interrupt the Fire Fang she had been preparing to bite through the threads.

Clearly, Pokémon that had not undergone pain training could suffer move failures whenever they were injured in battle.

"Xiao Du, use Needle Barrage and finish this."

Mu Yun's calm voice rang out again.

Under Snubbull's terrified gaze, Xiao Du, his eyes glowing red, closed in once more. His silver-white needles gleamed with cold light beneath the arena lamps.

That day, Snubbull developed a fear of needles...

[Ding! Beedrill (10) defeated Snubbull (10). Permanent Quest 1 completed. Both sides detected to be the same level. Congratulations, Host, for obtaining Points ×10!]

[Ding! Permanent Quest 1 completed. This is a fixed permanent quest that the Host may repeat infinitely!]

[Note: The same Pokémon must undergo a one-week battle cooldown before Points can be obtained from it again.]

Almost the instant Snubbull's eyes turned into spirals, a series of system notifications sounded in Mu Yun's mind.

Although he had only gained 10 Points, this battle quest was a fixed permanent quest that could be completed infinitely.

Theoretically, as long as he had enough opponents, farming a thousand or even eight hundred Points a day would not be a problem at all.

Converted into League Coins, that meant an income of one hundred thousand a day!

One word: awesome!

In the rest area outside Arena No. 11.

Chu Xiaolan, who had yet to leave, stared blankly at the arena.

"What an amazing Beedrill. Those threads flew even faster than the water my Squirtle sprays! But..."

After marveling at it, Chu Xiaolan's gaze landed directly on Liu Jianhao, who stood at the side of the arena with a blank expression.

Sure enough, beautiful people looked adorably dazed even with their mouths hanging open and vacant expressions on their faces.

So cute~~

"Come to think of it, that guy was so ruthless during the battle. That proves they definitely aren't a couple, just ordinary friends. Staying was the right choice after all. I still have a chance!"

Thinking this, Chu Xiaolan felt a surge of delight.

As for why he thought that?

Naturally, it was because, in his view, what boyfriend would be so merciless as to beat up his own girlfriend's Pokémon like that?

Judging by his nine years of hot-blooded manga experience, those two were at most childhood sweethearts who got along fairly well, while he was the fated newcomer descending from the heavens!

Childhood sweethearts had always lost to sudden arrivals. This round was in the bag!

Some readers asked what the energy consumption -100% meant. My first reaction was to explain my setting, but after thinking it over, I realized I had never actually stated that setting clearly. I was the only one who knew it. My bad, and I apologize.

After giving it some thought, I decided to switch to the most intuitive numbers instead, so everyone could understand them more easily.

Mistakes were unavoidable sometimes, but the author would definitely correct them whenever they happened. I hope you brothers could be more understanding.

The author offers his sincere thanks!! Orz

[This bowl of Ice Vulpix is the author's compensation. Please enjoy~~]

Below is the original setting. Those interested could take a look, while those who did not care could skip it directly.

Original setting: N/(1+X), where N was energy consumption, and X was 50%, 100%, 150%, or 200%. That was to say, the minimum consumption was one-third of the normal amount. This was mainly because, in the games, Pokémon stat stage changes followed: (2+n)/(2+m), where n was the increase and m was the decrease. In other words, each stage changed by half (50%).