One minute later, Blastoise still stood on the new stage looking like life had lost all meaning.
'Who told me to accept a favor I can't repay?'
But under his persistent pleading, Blastoise successfully secured the final slot to appear.
"Now I'll announce the battle rules..."
Axel looked kindly at Little Blue's Pokémon, slowly beginning to speak, but before he could finish, Mewtwo suddenly stepped in front of him.
"Mewtwo, do you still have something to do?"
"If you haven't had enough fighting, hold off a bit. Next time we return to Aurient, I'll take you to Dragon City to play arcade games."
["No..."] Mewtwo shook its head, eyes serious as it looked at Little Blue and Blastoise. The telepathic message appeared indiscriminately in everyone's minds.
["In the anime… it says… to be polite…"]
["I helped them temper their will... they should... say thank you..."]
Little Blue: "???"
'Thank your whole family, dammit!'
Mewtwo nodded in satisfaction and turned to look at Blastoise.
"Your turn..."
The fierce expression on Blastoise's face vanished completely, now looking very much like one of Ash's Pokémon.
'Me?'
'I don't dare thank your whole family!'
———
After the little incident, Axel returned Mewtwo to its Pokéball and released his other two Pokémon.
"Duraludon, Dragonair, Pheromosa, I'll be counting on you three this time!"
"Pheromosa!"
As soon as Dragonair appeared, it skillfully rubbed up against Axel, then turned its gaze toward the battle arena that had just been smashed up by Mewtwo.
'So much sand, must build a castle for Master!'
Seeing Dragonair's eager look, Axel nodded lightly.
Since this battle won't be that formal, it's fine to let Little Dragonair return when it's time to go on stage.
Receiving Axel's approval, Dragonair instantly took flight, joyfully rushing toward the pit.
"Duraludon?", Little Duraludon looked at Axel, then at Dragonair, and finally decided to fulfill its duty as the Dragon Clan's General and charged out to guard the clan's glory.
The next moment...
BANG!
With a dull thud, Little Duraludon fell into a huge pit, successfully earning the achievement of "burying oneself alive."
Axel sighed helplessly. The more reliable his other Pokémon were, the more unreliable these two little dragons were.
The only consolation was that the two goofballs successfully made Little Blue laugh.
And rekindled her fighting spirit.
Fortunately, Axel didn't plan to let the Dragon duo go on stage today anyway.
With a whole stack of strong buffs, Pheromosa should be able to pull off a three-on-one sweep.
"Start?"
"Okay!"
Axel didn't re-explain the rules and directly sent Pheromosa to the stage.
"If you're sending Pheromosa, then I won't be polite either."
"It's decided then, Clefairy!"
Little Blue's tone was a bit excited.
'Finally, finally I can win once.'
After spending a day with Axel, she also got to know his Pokémon.
Pheromosa is a Bug + Fighting type.
Clefairy's Fairy type resists both of those types and can even deal 2x super-effective damage against Pheromosa.
'Advantage: mine!"
"Ready?"
"Ready."
"Then let's begin."
As Axel announced the start, his light smile instantly disappeared and he got serious.
"Pheromosa, use Stomp!"
"Pheromosa~"
Pheromosa lightly nodded, gaze still fixed forward, and its figure dashed forward like a mirage.
Clefairy and Little Blue were both stunned for a moment, unable to react in time.
Since debuting, this was the first time they'd seen a Pokémon with such terrifying speed.
"Clefairy, Dig to dodge!"
Only after hearing Little Blue's command did Clefairy snap out of it like waking from a dream. It nodded and started clawing at the ground frantically with its front paws, trying to dig a hole and hide from Pheromosa's attack.
But Pheromosa's speed had already surpassed their imagination.
Before even a small pit could form under Clefairy's feet, Pheromosa was already airborne right above and viciously stomped down.
BANG!
With a dull thud, Clefairy was stomped so hard by Pheromosa that half its body was buried in the ground.
Without hesitation, Axel commanded Pheromosa to use its ultimate move.
"Pheromosa, Focus Blast!"
"Pherooomosa!"
Pheromosa let out a soft cry, its large purple eyes flashing with a very human-like smile.
'Master is so considerate. At this close range, there's no way I can miss!'
A dense red energy ball appeared in Pheromosa's hand and was slammed down toward Clefairy's body.
Although Clefairy could halve the damage from this move, Pheromosa's dual attack stats had long since surpassed 200 under the [King of Assassins] tag.
On top of that, it had the red Fighting-type tag, the newly gained [Weak Point Sniper] tag, and a 50% power boost from the attribute synergy.
No exaggeration: against this Focus Blast, Clefairy might as well be made of paper.
BOOM!
A loud explosion erupted as Pheromosa's Focus Blast slammed into Clefairy, triggering a massive explosion.
When the dust finally settled, Clefairy had already collapsed, lying powerless in the deep crater caused by the Focus Blast.
"Pheromosa~"
Pheromosa hummed softly as a glowing upward ring appeared around its body.
'Beast Boost activated!'
This ability was extremely powerful, it raised Pheromosa's highest stat by one stage immediately after defeating an opponent.
Compared to the similarly power-boosting Overconfidence, this trait had more controllability.
Whichever stat you wanted to boost, you could first raise it to the top via other skills and then get a guaranteed extra stage when the ability triggered.
It's basically Overconfidence Plus.
After the ability activated, Pheromosa's speed became even harder to track.
Blastoise, off to the side, sank into deep thought, 'Am I seriously about to get beat up again?'
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