The group returned to the starting point.
"Well?" Silver Horse asked impatiently. Silver Ape looked faintly expectant too.
Lost in thought, Baimu shook his head without thinking. "Not really... Ahem. Everyone's skill is decent, but there's room for improvement."
He had tried to soften the blow, but the other three weren't fools.
Silver Ape and his brother hadn't expected that not a single trainer would catch Baimu's eye. Ayana pointed toward a muscular, bald man drinking with his head tilted back. He kept glancing their way. "What about him?"
Silver Horse hurried to explain. "Kendall is my brother's right-hand man and the second-strongest trainer in the Arena!"
Second-strongest?
Baimu was at a loss for words. As he saw it, this trainer named Kendall had much the same problems as Silver Ape—
He charged straight in without considering tactics. He understood type advantages but never considered how individual Pokémon matched up against one another.
He gave up on battles far too easily, as though he'd never considered that some situations could be turned around.
Even when his Pokémon still had the will to fight and tried to keep going, he decided they'd lost and conceded before it did.
A Pokémon's own judgment mattered in battle too.
No.
It wasn't just him.
Every trainer in the Arena was the same. They were like greenhorn trainers from the mainstream regions, about as reckless as Ash had been in the Original Series.
"...Let's just say he has plenty of potential to grow."
Baimu chose his words carefully.
Silver Horse was about to reply when he remembered how Baimu had trounced Silver Ape the day before. His smile vanished, and he fell silent.
Ayana's eyes flickered. She considered herself about as strong as Kendall, perhaps a little stronger, but not by much.
Yet Baimu could