"Squirtle, Squirtle. (It only exploded because she couldn't control her aura properly... I'm innocent! Besides, isn't aura supposed to explode in battle? How else would you attack? She's definitely going to be an aura genius someday.)"
Squirtle had a point in some respects. With Aura Sphere, a more powerful explosion really was better.
But it wasn't supposed to be used like this, even if Pokémon had always had moves like Double-Edge and Wild Charge that inflicted damage on the user.
Even Squirtle had a move like Shell Smash, which lowered defenses to boost other stats, but Meownei disliked moves that hurt their users.
And no matter how you looked at it, Riolu's current way of using her moves was rather unorthodox.
Of course, the effectiveness of using aura this way was plain to see. After Riolu's aura-powered Headbutt, Mienfoo's eyes spiraled, and Mienfoo could no longer battle.
Riolu, on the other hand, seemed fine. A closer look revealed another layer of aura covering her head.
Lucario could take flight with one hand using the Imitation Flight Technique, and Riolu had also tried adding a protective layer around herself. Although she had still taken some recoil damage, it wasn't serious.
"Mienfoo is unable to battle! Riolu wins!"
As the referee waved the flag in his hand, Mienfoo was recalled into a Poké Ball. The next Pokémon to take the field was a Poliwrath.
Because they evolved into their final form through the power of a Water Stone, Poliwrath varied greatly in level. Some had even evolved twice in succession straight from Poliwag.
Normally, Gym Leaders were free to decide which Pokémon to use. But when Riolu saw her opponent, she was somewhat dissatisfied.
"Riolu!"
Rather than taking a battle stance, Riolu pointed toward a shadowed spot below the arena.
The Lucario