Turning Defeat into Victory

Pain! It hurt! It hurt so badly!

Starly felt as though every inch of its body was in pain.

"Thud~"

Defiant Starly still tried to continue fighting, but in the end, it collapsed helplessly.

As its stamina continued to drain away, Starly's consciousness grew increasingly hazy.

It had never imagined that it, the mighty Starling Emperor, would fall to a raccoon before reaching the peak of its "Bird" life.

How could it face its Pokémon Trainer, who trusted it, after such a disgrace?

With its eyes barely able to stay open, Starly had already subconsciously accepted the fact that it was going to lose.

"Starly, open your eyes! I'm Bai Shi!"

"Do you remember the bold declaration you made before?"

"Show some backbone! Don't give up!"

Just as Starly was about to lose consciousness, Bai Shi's voice entered its mind.

That was right. How could it admit defeat here?

It was a Pokémon destined for Evolution into Staraptor!

A new force surged into Starly's body, supporting it as it rose to its feet once more.

"Starly~" (You scoundrel of a general, come fight me for another three hundred rounds!)

Revived, Starly fixed its gaze on Zigzagoon and let out a high-pitched cry.

"Heh, you're pretty tenacious!"

"But sheer willpower can't make up for the gap between us."

"Zigzagoon, finish it off with Swift!"

Kuroda sneered and gave Zigzagoon his command.

In his opinion, his opponent was merely clinging to life.

Defeating Bai Shi's Starly was only a matter of time.

Zigzagoon opened its mouth and spewed a large number of yellow, star-shaped rays at Starly.

"Go, Starly! Use Quick Attack!"

Taking into account that Starly had almost no stamina left,

Bai Shi decided to change his original strategy, taking the initiative and attacking with all his strength.

He would try to bring down his opponent's Pokémon in the shortest time possible.

Rather than retreating from the incoming star-shaped rays, Starly charged forward, bursting into the fastest speed it had ever achieved.

It transformed into a white blur, broke through Swift's barrage, and reached Zigzagoon in an instant.

Under its opponent's incredulous gaze, it slammed viciously into Zigzagoon.

The impact sent Zigzagoon flying, rolling several times across the ground.

"What? So fast!"

Seeing what had happened, the smile vanished from Kuroda's face, and he could not help crying out in shock.

"Starly, finish it! Use Tackle!"

Taking advantage of the opening, Bai Shi ordered Starly to continue its attack.

Hearing Bai Shi's command, Starly immediately made a "returning strike," wheeling around and flying toward Zigzagoon, which had just climbed to its feet.

Mustering all its strength, it rammed into Zigzagoon again.

"Not good! Zigzagoon, use Sand Attack!"

Kuroda was startled, a trace of panic finally appearing on his face as he hurriedly shouted at Zigzagoon.

Zigzagoon swept its two little paws across the ground, kicking up a large amount of yellow sand.

It tried to use the sand to interfere with Starly's vision.

"The same move won't work on me!"

"Starly, flap your wings hard and send it back where it came from!"

Having already suffered from that trick once, Bai Shi was prepared and quickly gave his command.

Starly flapped its wings with all its might.

It stirred up a powerful current of air, blowing all the sand back.

Zigzagoon suffered the consequences of its own move, getting sand smeared across its face.

For a moment, it fell into a brief state of blindness.

"Starly~" (Heh heh heh, serves you right!)

Seeing this, Starly let out a gleeful cry, flapping its wings even harder.

Perhaps it had gotten the hang of it. Starly grew more and more enthusiastic as it flapped, unexpectedly producing several powerful currents of air.

Carrying bits of sand and gravel, they struck Zigzagoon.

They dealt Zigzagoon considerable damage.

"Is this... the Gust move?"

Bai Shi's face lit up with delight at the sight.

He had never expected his Pokémon to learn a new move during battle.

Wasn't this sort of thing only supposed to happen in the anime?

Could it be that, as a transmigrator, he had inherited some of the protagonist's luck as well?

"Starly, finish it! Use Tackle!"

While his opponent was blind, Bai Shi pressed his advantage and gave the next command.

Starly used the last shred of its stamina to launch another charge.

"Zigzagoon, get out of the way!"

Kuroda shouted anxiously at Zigzagoon.

He hoped it could dodge Starly's attack.

Unfortunately, Zigzagoon could not even determine the exact direction of the attack, so dodging was impossible.

Starly sent it flying, and it collapsed unconscious on the ground.

"Zigzagoon is unable to battle, so the winner is Bai Shi!"

Overjoyed, Ishimaru immediately announced the final result of the match.

"..."

Kuroda stood frozen for a moment, his expression complicated as his complexion shifted repeatedly.

Recalling what he had said earlier, he was so ashamed that his face burned red.

He returned Zigzagoon and fled in disgrace without leaving a single word behind.

"Starly~" (I'm the strongest!)

After confirming its victory, Starly also let out a refreshing cry.

Then, having exhausted itself, its vision went black, and it collapsed onto the ground.

Clearly, the fierce exchange just now had "wrung out" every last bit of its stamina.

"Thanks for your hard work, Starly!"

Bai Shi returned Starly and spoke softly to the Poké Ball.

"Ishimaru, I'm heading out. See you tomorrow."

After hurriedly saying goodbye to Ishimaru, Bai Shi took Starly straight to the Pokémon Center.

Fortunately, after Nurse Joy's examination, Starly was not seriously hurt.

It simply needed to rest quietly for a day or two.

"Two days? We'll treat it as a vacation for Starly!"

"After all, the training and battles these past few days have been pretty tough."

"And I can use those two days to look for a suitable new job."

Bai Shi's savings were already almost gone.

If he did not find a new source of income, he would soon be reduced to eating air.

Starly's training would naturally be affected as well.

"Uncle Suzuki should still be hiring."

"I'll find some time tomorrow to ask about the situation."

Suzuki was a well-known major grower in Twinleaf Town.

In the nearby countryside, he owned a huge Orchard.

Because it was located outside town, wild Pokémon often broke into his Orchard to steal fruit.

He needed Pokémon Trainers to drive away those "uninvited guests."

Even though Suzuki had caught a number of Pokémon himself,

assigning them across the entire Orchard still left him stretched too thin.

To solve this problem, Suzuki had decided to spend a fortune hiring a group of Pokémon Trainers to guard his business.

Bai Shi had previously worked at a fruit shop owned by Suzuki.

He had some understanding of what Suzuki was like.

He knew that Suzuki was generous and spent money freely.

Therefore, if the pay was good, Bai Shi did not mind working another short-term job for Suzuki.

By the time he had saved enough money, he believed Starly would also have developed a certain amount of fighting strength.

At that point, Bai Shi would leave Twinleaf Town, where he had lived for many years, and freely experience the diverse scenery of different regions.