Overwhelming victory

Throughout the battle, Agumon's Pepper Breath had taken down almost every Unown in a single shot. Not one could withstand a direct hit.

Even the level-nine Unown leader had visibly suffered from a mere glancing blow.

Whether judging by his memories or its actual performance, Pepper Breath should have been Agumon's best move, as well as its most powerful.

That meant Razor Claw, another of Agumon's signature moves, most likely fell short of Pepper Breath in power.

But that had been before. Things were different now.

After coming to this world, Agumon was, theoretically speaking, no longer a Digimon, but a bona fide Pokémon.

Compared with Digimon, what distinctive feature did Pokémon possess?

Abilities!

Every Pokémon possessed one of these special powers, which had specific effects both in and out of battle.

Agumon's current Ability was Tough Claws. Its effect resembled Abilities such as Iron Fist and Strong Jaw in the Pokémon world: when it attacked using its claws, the move's power increased significantly.

To put an exact number on that increase, it was fifty percent.

And Razor Claw... the name alone made it obvious which body part it used.

In other words, whenever Agumon used a move that required its claws, its power surged by fifty percent.

With that fifty-percent boost, Agumon's Razor Claw would at least match Pepper Breath in power, even if it didn't surpass it.

I wonder how it'll actually perform.

Standing diagonally behind Agumon, Qingliu silently looked forward to finding out.

Having leaped into the air, Agumon felt the searing energy filling its claws, almost restless in its intensity. It had never experienced anything like this before coming to this world.

But it had no time to savor the sensation. Its eyes were fixed solely on the strange-looking, pitch-black Pokémon now right in front of it.

Hiding off to one side to launch a sneak attack instead of daring to fight it head-on was one thing, but this creature had even ambushed the very first friend it had made.

A creature like that deserved to be sent flying.

Agumon gauged the distance, then abruptly raised its arm. Orange light surged over its white claws, forming a massive claw that covered half its arm, and it lunged fiercely at the Unown leader.

The Unown leader had also spotted Agumon using Qingliu to launch itself off the ground and into the air, rapidly closing in.

And... the energy pulsing over those claws was so intense that merely looking at it made its eye ache.

It quickly reached a decision.

This little yellow dinosaur was astonishingly strong. A fireball that had merely grazed it had nearly made it pass out from pain. It had no confidence whatsoever in winning.

Besides, the spot its opponent had leaped toward lay directly in its path. With its body injured, it simply couldn't dodge quickly enough.

Its only option was to unleash Hidden Power at full strength and stop its opponent!

As long as it could block this attack...

No, it didn't even need to block it. Buying just a little time would be enough. By then, the little dinosaur would fall back to the ground.

Then it would have plenty of time to leave this place and seek out the older, stronger Unown deep within the ruins, getting them to deal with this little dinosaur and the human.

With its mind made up, the Unown leader unleashed Hidden Power with everything it had.

A rippling blue glow flickered within it, then split into small clusters of blue energy. Bobbing like a curtain of water, they flew toward Agumon, which was already right in its face.

Without waiting to see the result, the Unown leader turned and fled in the opposite direction.

It had poured every ounce of strength into this Hidden Power. Though its body now felt weak, as if completely drained, the Unown leader believed it was worth it.

Perhaps Hidden Power would struggle to block that little yellow dinosaur's attack, but buying a little time would absolutely, definitely be no problem.

The gap between their strength couldn't possibly be that vast.

It firmly believed that!

Until... the very next second.

Pop!

A sharp, crisp sound rang through the ruins.

The Unown leader jolted.

Shouldn't Hidden Power explode with a series of booming blasts? Why had that sounded so crisp?

Could it be...?

An instinctive sense of unease rose within the Unown leader.

No! That's absolutely impossible!

Suppressing that thought, the Unown didn't turn to look. It kept fleeing, even faster than before.

But then...

Pop!

Pop!!

Pop!!!

Almost instantly, crisp explosions rang out one after another like firecrackers.

At the same time, a howling gust of wind swept past the Unown leader at tremendous speed, knocking it off balance before finally striking the wall of the ruins and gradually dissipating.

At that moment, the Unown leader went cold all over. It didn't dare move any farther.

Unable to suppress its unease any longer, it tremblingly turned around and glanced behind it.

Agumon was staring at it calmly, its claws held diagonally in front of its body. The orange light had vanished, and it was dropping straight toward the ground.

Clearly, it had just attacked Hidden Power.

But where was Hidden Power?

The Unown leader scanned its surroundings. There was nothing, as though Hidden Power had never appeared at all.

Trembling, the Unown looked at the claws of Agumon, which had already landed steadily on the ground.

They were gleaming white, without the slightest sign of injury.

The only thing it could confirm was a faint trace of familiar energy lingering on them.

That was the aura of its own Hidden Power.

Piecing those few clues together, the Unown leader found the conclusion impossible to accept.

It had known its opponent was stronger, but its all-out attack had been completely crushed in an instant with effortless ease. It hadn't even managed to buy a few seconds, serving only as a single-use firework whose display had ended the moment it began.

It couldn't accept this!

But the facts were right before its eye. Disbelief wasn't an option, which only made it fall apart even further.

At that thought, the Unown leader felt so wronged that it wanted to cry.

You damned human! Why couldn't you have just told us you had someone this strong? Instead, you kept pestering us, then even tricked all of us into this corner for a beating!

We only wanted to guard the ruins! What did we ever do to deserve this?

The more the Unown leader thought about it, the angrier and more wronged it felt. Finally, it gave up resisting altogether and burst into tears.

Seeing their leader cry, the other Unown let out their own pent-up grievances. The few that Agumon had swatted away with its claws, leaving them lying on the ground in too much pain to move, wailed especially loudly.

Before long, the entire area was filled with nothing but sobs and tears.

Agumon, which had been about to finish off the Unown leader with a shot of Pepper Breath, was bewildered by the sight. It scratched its head blankly and looked questioningly at Qingliu.

Qingliu was a little surprised too. What was this supposed to mean, crying because they couldn't win...?

But on second thought, if he put himself in the Unown's position, he really had been pretty annoying before. And now, with Agumon beating them up... it really did feel rather like bullying.