For his own safety, Baimu held back his urge to touch the explosive spikes on Turtonator's back.
After all, it would be ridiculous if the Pokémon came through a battle unscathed while its Trainer ended up covered in soot.
"Turto..."
Turtonator felt an inexplicable sense of relief. It didn't know why, but the look Baimu had given it just now had seemed dangerous, as though he were considering something unpleasant.
Kiawe counted on his fingers as the relentless pep talk left his head spinning. He stumbled off the field.
"Thousands of battles..."
The young man did the math. At three battles a day, he would pass a thousand in a year.
Put that way, reaching a thousand battles didn't seem especially difficult.
Off the field.
Everyone gathered around to comfort Kiawe.
Having his prized Z-Move, Inferno Overdrive, fail again and again could easily shake a young Trainer's confidence.
But Kiawe held up well.
Or perhaps he was simply used to setbacks. Ever since Ash arrived, Kiawe had taken knocks in all sorts of ways—and not just from Ash. He had lost to Lana in the Treasure Hunt only recently.
He'd had incredible luck digging up a Skull Fossil and a Plume Fossil. Who could have guessed Lana would find a Sparkling Stone?
"Hahaha! That's what makes battling fun!"
Ash, ever the battle fanatic, laughed and ran eagerly toward the field. He raised his right hand and bounced around like a Vigoroth. "Baimu! It's my turn! My turn!"
Pikachu dropped to all fours, looking just as eager.
"Pika!"
There was no question about it.
The second battle went ahead as planned.
Baimu and Hydreigon had shown absurd strength, but to the indomitable Ash, that was no reason to back down!
The worst that could happen was losing!
He'd suffered worse defeats.