Late at night on Mingchong Mountain, a group of Oddish and Bellsprout formed a circle.
Inside the circle, Sprigatito and Misdreavus faced each other from a distance, their gazes bristling with hostility.
Without a doubt, a capture battle was about to begin.
As the Trainer, Xia Chi stepped in to direct the battle as well.
To him, commanding a capture battle showed respect for a Pokémon he wanted.
He needed to demonstrate not only his ability to raise Pokémon, but also his ability to command them.
"Sprigatito, Hone Claws!"
Although Xia Chi seized the initiative, he chose to use [Hone Claws].
It would boost physical attack, change Sprigatito to the Dark type to resist Ghost-type moves, and let him assess the strength of Misdreavus's attacks.
Several benefits in one move.
Seeing this, Misdreavus wasted no time charging up the move she was best at.
Her crimson eyes focused, and the Ghost-type energy within her condensed into a purplish-black orb in front of her.
Whoa, Shadow Ball!
Xia Chi's eyes lit up. Misdreavus actually knew that move?
As one of the most powerful Ghost-type moves, Shadow Ball was undoubtedly a benchmark for judging a Ghost-type Pokémon's talent.
How early they learned it and the size of their Shadow Ball were both factors.
The Shadow Ball Misdreavus formed was very small.
Make no mistake-that was a good thing.
Making a huge Shadow Ball was nothing special. Condensing an enormous amount of energy into a tiny sphere took real skill.
Watching the Shadow Ball hurtle toward them, Xia Chi's gaze sharpened. "Sprigatito, charge straight through! Bite!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Sprigatito pushed off hard with its hind legs and sprang into action.
Dark-type energy swirled inside its slightly open mouth, forming a phantom set of gray-black fangs as it charged straight toward the Shadow Ball.
Boom-
An explosion rang out. Sprigatito's "fangs" tore apart the Shadow Ball, scattering purplish-black particles of energy like raindrops that danced through the air.
Sprigatito pressed its momentum and rushed at Misdreavus. Its "fangs," which had yet to fully dissipate, struck her hard in the head.
Faced with Sprigatito's close-range assault, Misdreavus, who was better at bombarding opponents with ranged moves, began to panic.
Instinctively, she tried to form another Shadow Ball to force her opponent back.
But now that Sprigatito was within its ideal attack range, how could it give her another chance? Another [Bite] struck.
"Now, Quick Attack!"
Misdreavus managed to release a Shadow Ball under pressure, only for Sprigatito to evade it perfectly by using [Quick Attack] and changing to the Normal type.
Watching the Shadow Ball pass straight through Sprigatito's body and explode against the ground, Misdreavus looked utterly stunned.
Wasn't it a Grass-type Pokémon? How could it...?
"Sprigatito's Ability is [Protean]. It can change its type according to the move it uses."
Directing Sprigatito from behind, Xia Chi called out, "Misdreavus, do you still want to continue?"
Misdreavus glared bitterly at Sprigatito, who was giving her a provocative look, and nodded without hesitation.
"Myao!"
In truth, she no longer resisted the idea of being caught by Xia Chi. But if she admitted defeat now, wouldn't she always be beneath this awful, stinking cat once she joined her new home?
For the sake of my dignity, I, Misdreavus, will never surrender!
Watching from a distance, Xia Chi raised an eyebrow in surprise. Timid by nature, but not afraid to fight? Interesting.
Still, the gap in their battling abilities was plain to see.
No matter how hard Misdreavus tried, she never managed to deal any significant damage to Sprigatito after that.
Honestly, if Sprigatito hadn't deliberately indulged in a cat's cruel pleasure of toying with a mouse, Misdreavus would have been in an even sorrier state.
Finally, after Sprigatito switched to the Dark type and became immune to yet another Confusion attack, the exhausted Misdreavus collapsed, unable to get back up.
She hadn't depleted her stamina and fainted. Rather, Sprigatito's teasing had completely drained her energy.
Either way, it amounted to much the same thing: she could no longer battle.
Xia Chi crouched in front of the fallen Misdreavus, holding a Poké Ball. He said earnestly, "Sometimes, choosing the right direction matters more than working ten thousand times harder. Come with me, and you'll become just as strong as Sprigatito."
The pep talk worked immediately. Misdreavus nodded with determination in her eyes, then reached out to touch the button on the Poké Ball.
A red light flashed, and Misdreavus entered the ball.
The ball shook once, then fell still.
With everything settled, a smile appeared on Xia Chi's face.
His second Pokémon, Misdreavus, was caught!
After treating Sprigatito and Misdreavus following their battle, Xia Chi finally stopped suppressing the curiosity he had held back for so long and summoned the system.
A blue screen unfolded before his eyes in an instant.
Xia Chi eagerly opened the [Pokémon] tab. Sure enough, beneath Sprigatito's chibi portrait was a brand-new, adorable chibi portrait of Misdreavus.
He tapped to open it.
[Misdreavus] [Type: Ghost] [Gender: Female] [Ability: Levitate] [Level: 19] [Stats: HP 50, Attack 25, Defense 25, Special Attack 40, Special Defense 36, Speed 40] [Moves: Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray, Nasty Plot, Psybeam, Dark Pulse, Hex, Will-O-Wisp.] [Equipment: None] [Bond: Ghost-type (inactive): Bonded Pokémon have a 10% chance to perfectly evade any incoming attack. After you trigger a perfect evasion, your next move is guaranteed to land a critical hit! (With a six-Ghost bond, the perfect evasion chance rises to 25%, and each perfect evasion increases your critical hit damage by 10%!)] [Bond: Speedy Attacker (2): Bonded Pokémon's move power and energy consumption decrease by 30%, but move execution speed increases by 50%! (With a six-Speedy Attacker bond, move power decreases by 20%, and execution speed increases by 100%!)] [Bond: Lord of the Underworld (1/1): Misdreavus feeds by cruelly devouring the fear of other living beings. After battle begins, she gains one stack of "Underworld Mark" for every minute she remains on the battlefield (maximum 20 stacks). Each stack grants: 5% Attack/Special Attack (adaptive), 5% Speed, and 5% life drain!]
(Adaptive automatically adjusts based on whichever is higher: the Pokémon's Attack or Special Attack.)
Looking at Misdreavus's panel, Xia Chi felt a surge of delight.
The good news was that two new bonds with very high ceilings had appeared.
The even better news was that Misdreavus and Sprigatito shared the [Speedy Attacker] bond.
With the first-tier Speedy Attacker bond activated, Sprigatito's chances of winning the Shanghai Pokémon Cup had risen by another twenty to thirty percent.
Of course, those weren't the only surprises Misdreavus brought.
The [Lord of the Underworld] bond, which she could activate all by herself, looked terrifyingly powerful.
It was just that reaching the full twenty stacks of "Underworld Mark" required staying on the battlefield for twenty minutes, which was somewhat unrealistic.
But there was no denying that, when a fully stacked Misdreavus appeared on the battlefield, she would be a true "Lord of the Underworld" who ruled the fight.
How to stall through that vulnerable period while she built her stacks was something Xia Chi would need to study.
Perhaps I could raise Misdreavus as a hybrid tank and damage dealer?
The new type bond, [Ghost-type], likewise needed a higher bond tier before its value would really show.
At its lowest tier, the perfect evasion chance was only 10%.
Honestly, that was little different from gambling on luck. For now, he could leave it out of his tactical planning.
Keeping his expectations that way would actually make it more rewarding.
If it triggered, it would naturally be a pleasant surprise, and might even turn the battle around.
If it didn't, he could simply pretend it wasn't there.
(The next chapter will be posted tonight.)
Before you continue