Chapter 321: The Hero Finally Meets the Demon King
Cynthia, who was planning to ask Toxicroak and the others for directions, froze on the spot.
She looked at the attitude of these four Pokémon with some confusion.
"Bui bui."
Floatzel stepped forward and gestured with his hands.
Cynthia watched for a long time but didn't understand.
She scratched her hair helplessly.
Are they asking for a toll?
After consideration.
Cynthia took out four golden-brown breads from her backpack, looking very delicious.
Floatzel was stunned.
He turned to look at his companions.
The four little ones communicated again.
Floatzel: "She looks a bit dim-witted; should we really let her see Will?"
Cacturne: "That looks so delicious."
Pinsir: "Shut up, you hungry ghost! Taking gifts makes one soft; didn't Will tell you?!"
Toxicroak: "He doesn't eat people; he just wants to eat bread."
After a rigorous discussion.
They decided to continue with the plan.
This time Floatzel was much simpler and rougher.
Stepped forward.
Gestured provocatively at Cynthia with his palm, then spat on the ground.
Cynthia: "..."
Even with her good temper, seeing Floatzel provoke her like this, she felt a bit upset. Does this mean he looks down on her bread?
This bread is expensive.
Or...
Do they think she's not worthy of seeing Riolu?
However.
When she saw only Floatzel step forward while the other three Pokémon stepped back to watch.
Cynthia gradually began to realize something was wrong.
"This is... I understand."
Cynthia pinched her chin with one hand and frowned in thought.
Associating with Floatzel's movements just now.
She felt she understood.
This was a test.
If she defeated this Pokémon, they would take her to see Will.
If she lost...
"I won't lose! I'm counting on you, Spiritomb!"
Cynthia's face became serious, and she threw a Poké Ball.
The next moment.
A Spiritomb smaller, lighter in color, and with a simpler aura than Carmela's appeared on the ground.
According to the Pokédex:
[Spiritomb is formed by 108 spirits gathered together. It seems that some ill-natured spirits are mixed in.]
And many Spiritombs existing in the world were indeed evil things with bad personalities.
Three Spiritombs appeared in the anime; two were bad guys.
The remaining one was Cynthia's.
But Cynthia's Spiritomb was obviously different.
She wasn't a Pokémon gathered by spirits, but a child born by her mother.
So there were no bad things in her soul.
At most, only love from Cynthia and her family.
She was a pure baby.
"Bui?"
Floatzel frowned, looking at the Spiritomb standing on the ground with a confused expression.
He had never seen such a strange Pokémon.
Battle start.
Floatzel probed casually.
Soon he found that the strange Pokémon opposite couldn't move!
More precisely.
The Odd Keystone part of Spiritomb's lower body couldn't move.
That was a stone; of course, it couldn't move.
Only the gaseous mysterious substance emerging from the Odd Keystone could move.
Realizing this, Floatzel became somewhat complacent.
He felt that since this thing couldn't move, couldn't dodge his attacks, and couldn't attack him (he assumed), there was no need to be afraid.
But soon he found he was wrong.
This Spiritomb's level might not be as high as his, but she was ridiculously weird!
The gas mass above the Odd Keystone could stretch and deform at will.
For example, when Floatzel used Water Gun.
The gas mass turned into a hollow ring, letting the Water Gun pass through, unable to hit her.
But Floatzel was a minion brought up by Will after all.
He wasn't stupid.
He immediately realized he could attack Spiritomb's immovable Odd Keystone.
However.
Cynthia traveled with Spiritomb for a year.
She certainly knew where Spiritomb's weakness lay.
Therefore, she researched many defense and countermeasure methods with Spiritomb.
In the end.
This battle ended with Floatzel's defeat.
Although his level was higher.
It was his first time fighting a Ghost-type Pokémon.
And a Spiritomb, which was almost unseen among Ghost-type Pokémon.
"Spiritomb and I won! Can you take me to see Riolu now?"
Cynthia recalled Spiritomb into the Poké Ball and looked at the three Pokémon behind.
Toxicroak and the others looked at each other.
Shook their heads simultaneously.
Then.
Cacturne stepped out.
"Need to defeat all of you? Good, just what I wanted."
Cynthia wasn't angry.
Just right.
She could prove her growth and strength to Riolu through these four battles.
"For this next battle, I need you, Roserade."
Cynthia threw another Poké Ball. An elegant and beautiful figure instantly appeared in front of Cacturne.
Roserade.
In the early anime, she also had another title, "Roserade the Masquerader" (reference to Nando's Roserade or similar masked Roserade themes).
A Grass and Poison-type Pokémon having 4x resistance (actually 2x? Grass resists Grass, Poison resists Grass - wait, Grass is neutral to Grass in Gen 1, resistant from Gen 2 onwards. Poison resists Grass. So 2x resistance. Wait, Cacturne is Grass/Dark. Roserade's Poison moves are super effective against Grass. Her Bug moves would be 4x. Wait, maybe he means Roserade resists Cacturne's Grass moves? Yes, Grass resists Grass, Poison resists Grass. So Roserade takes 1/4 damage from Grass moves. That's 4x resistance) against Grass types.
Cynthia specifically sent her to deal with the Grass and Dark-type Cacturne.
This was a theoretical advantage from the human world.
This battle was resolved much faster.
Not only because of type advantage, but also because the level gap between Roserade and Cacturne was minimal.
Roserade was a Pokémon who had been with Cynthia for two years.
Her level was naturally much higher than Spiritomb and Gastrodon who joined later.
Moreover.
In terms of cooperation, Roserade, who required intimacy to evolve (Budew -> Roselia requires friendship, Roselia -> Roserade requires Shiny Stone), naturally had better synergy with Cynthia.
The subsequent two battles.
Were...
Milotic vs. Pinsir.
Garchomp vs. Toxicroak.
The speed of the latter two battles was similar to Roserade's.
Because the levels of Pokémon on both sides were completely equal.
Winning or losing depended entirely on tactics, experience, attributes, and terrain.
This tested Cynthia's level as a trainer considerably.
However.
Judging from the results, Cynthia's level as a trainer was quite excellent.
Will's four minions.
Except for crushing Cynthia's Pokémon in terrain usage, were at a disadvantage in all other aspects.
Can't blame them.
After all.
Toxicroak and the others were four wild Pokémon.
Will's training of them was basically free-range, not much different from other Mightyena.
He would tell them to battle other Pokémon to level up.
But wouldn't teach them any playstyles, tactics, etc.; all depended on their own enlightenment.
At most teaching them a few moves.
So.
Facing human trainers, their straightforward fighting style unique to wild Pokémon seemed very powerless.
"I won. Can I go see Riolu now?"
Cynthia asked this question again.
After four battles.
She also consumed a lot of energy.
Cynthia didn't expect Riolu's four little partners to be so strong.
Placed in any Regional Conference.
This was group stage level.
In a few years, when the participants changed, this would be a level that could steadily enter the elimination rounds.
The four somewhat embarrassed little ones looked at each other and turned toward the mountainside waterfall.
Under the waterfall.
Will had already dried his fur.
He turned to look in the direction of the forest and muttered:
"Why so long? Did an accident happen?"
But then he shook his head.
If there was an accident.
Mightyena or Combee would have run to notify him long ago.
Around these three mountains and five ridges, Mightyena and Combee were patrolling everywhere.
Even if that person took away his four minions, they couldn't run out of this area.
Mightyena's noses were very keen.
Even if that person recalled the four little ones into Poké Balls, it wouldn't stop the Mightyena from tracking them.
Suddenly.
Will sensed a few familiar auras coming up the mountain.
"Back? Why bring someone along?"
Will muttered in confusion.
He turned to look in the direction where the four little ones would appear.
When that blonde figure walked out of the forest, he was stunned for a moment, then revealed a smile.
The hero, after going through many hardships and challenges.
Finally met the Demon King she wanted to challenge and take away.
"Riolu!"
Seeing the dog, Cynthia's eyes lit up instantly.
Riolu hadn't evolved.
This was good news for her.
Because that meant Cynthia could see Riolu's evolution with her own eyes in the future.
And.
Cynthia saw it.
Riolu remembered her.
He smiled at her!
This was the happiest thing for Cynthia, bar none.
"Long time no see, Cynthia. Are you here to take me away?"
Will stood up. He saw the black ribbon on the girl's head and couldn't help but feel warm in his heart.
Compared to two years ago.
The current Cynthia had shed much of her childishness, becoming more heroic and energetic.
And much taller.
At a rough glance.
Cynthia must be at least 1.6 meters tall.
She should grow crazily in the next two years.
By the time Cynthia was sixteen, her height would definitely exceed 175cm.
"That's right! I'm here to take you away today! Garchomp and I have... Eh? Riolu, did you grow taller?"
Cynthia put her hands on her hips confidently.
But soon she noticed something wrong.
Was Riolu this tall before?
Visually.
The angle at which she looked down at Riolu hadn't changed, so Cynthia didn't notice the anomaly immediately (Wait, if she grew taller and the angle didn't change, Riolu must have grown too).
"Indeed grew a bit."
Will nodded indifferently, then looked at the four little ones behind Cynthia.
"What happened to you four?"
Seeing the four minions looking disheveled, they obviously had just been beaten.
"Bui..."
Floatzel spread his hands, explaining the beginning and end of the matter.
This made Will somewhat helpless.
These four guys actually took it upon themselves to test Cynthia's strength.
At the same time, he couldn't help but be surprised.
Surprised at Cynthia's growth.
Although his four minions often slacked off, their levels weren't low.
From low to high: Lv. 44, Lv. 46, Lv. 48, Lv. 50.
Although human world tactics were elusive to them, defeating them in this wild environment wasn't easy.
Clearly.
Cynthia's current strength was quite remarkable.
She came prepared.
Saying she wanted to take him away, she probably planned to rely on force.
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