When Pancham fell amid the roaring flames, Ursaring and Beartic's first instinct, honestly, was to drop the honey and run.
Unfortunately, Xu Hong and Xu Mu's other Pokémon kept them from escaping.
Run?
In their dreams!
Greninja went further, using a move to seal off both bears' retreat.
"Next up, Ursaring. Come here on your own!"
Seeing that Pancham was completely out of the fight, Xu Mu thought it over and decided not to catch him.
It wasn't that Xu Mu disliked him. How could he not like such a goofy, adorable big panda?
The main problem was that Pancham had once had great potential, but life in the wild had left him with all kinds of hidden injuries. Coupled with improper training, his strength would never rise beyond Master Peak.
For now, catching him would still be somewhat useful to Xu Mu.
But in the future, the big goof would probably be reduced to guarding the house.
Of course, Xu Mu did have a system, and it might be able to solve the problem of Pancham's potential having reached its limit.
But Pancham would probably rather live here, free and unfettered...
Xu Mu gave it no more thought. Unless a Pokémon wanted to follow him of its own accord, he had no intention of catching another.
His team was already hard enough to manage. This was plenty.
Any more, and the author's brain might not be able to keep up...
Anyway, enough of that. Next battle—Ursaring versus Slaking!
"Hmph, hmph!"
[I'm at Early Master. You, big gorilla, might as well call it quits.]
Unable to escape, Ursaring decided to attack with words first and sap his opponent's will to fight.
He pounded his chest furiously with both hands, hoping to show Slaking his strength and win without a fight.