"Roar!" The Azure Rathalos twisted its body, flapped its wings, and swooped towards the three Hydreigons. Layers of flames appeared on its body, like a falling meteor, wrapping it in terrifying fire and high-temperature gas waves.
At the same time, all the Hydreigon charged forward together—some rushing straight at the Rathalos, others veering off to the sides—in a chaotic dance of mutual assault. Like Rathalos's High-Altitude Raid, Hydreigon's Z-Move, Devastating Drake, was also a close-combat technique. Hundreds of phantoms surged through the air at once, dazzling the eye and making it impossible to distinguish the real from the fake.
But the Azure Rathalos did not care. As long as all the Hydreigons were included in its attack range, there was no need to distinguish between them.
Zhang's brow furrowed. It was indeed difficult to find the real one among so many. But fortunately, the High-Altitude Raid was a large-scale attack. The faster the Rathalos's speed, the more powerful it was. If Iris dared to underestimate it, she would suffer a great loss. The Rathalos's base attack power was not comparable to the Gammoth's, but the power of its Kinship Skill was another story.
RUMBLE! The Azure Rathalos fell from the sky, smashing dozens of the Hydreigon doppelgangers along the way. The real Hydreigon, understanding it couldn't match the Rathalos's attack, chose to run to the edge of the battlefield, using its phantoms as decoys.
"The Azure Rathalos has not stopped. Can its attack cover the entire battlefield?" Iris frowned. She suddenly had a bad premonition. Forget it. It's up to the Hydreigon's own performance now. It was too late for her to command it.
As the Rathalos got closer to the ground, the real Hydreigon flew towards the sky at the edge of the field. It was its combat experience telling it that the sky above the edge of the field would be the weakest point of the attack, and therefore the safest.
BOOM! RUMBLE! The moment the Azure Rathalos landed, like a meteor hitting the ground, a huge, deep pit was formed. Terrifying waves of flames and explosive gas spread outward from the center. Mixed with the ordinary flames were some pale blue flames, far more powerful. Once they started burning, they would burn more and more, with the air and stone themselves as fuel, like gasoline on a fire.
"It seems I underestimated this Rathalos. Its Kinship Skill is so powerful," Iris thought, shaking her head. "It's a pity the Hydreigon is not my main Pokémon. It can't mobilize the fire of our bond."
BANG!
The terrifying wave of the explosion pushed the Hydreigon out of the battlefield. Hiding at the edge had allowed it to avoid most of the damage, but it had also made it easy to be pushed out. Being pushed out of the battlefield meant it had lost.
"The Hydreigon has left the battlefield! According to the rules, it has lost the qualification to fight! Congratulations to the Rookie King for the victory!" the referee announced passionately.
"Rookie King! Rookie King! Rookie King!"
Hundreds of thousands of spectators cheered, the sound like a mountain roar, a tsunami. Zhang closed his eyes, enjoying it. He liked this feeling, the feeling of everyone cheering for him, the feeling of everyone watching him.
"He likes this feeling, enjoys this feeling. He is truly a natural trainer," Iris thought, recalling her Hydreigon. "Come on, little monster. You may need to save the Great Xia, and save the world, in the future." A trace of gloom flashed in her eyes.
"You're qualified, Zhang Tian!" she said, flicking a golden badge towards him. It was the badge of the Dragon Gym.
Syllable! Zhang caught it. That's three. Five more to go. It won't be long before I have them all, he thought, putting it away. "Come back, Rathalos," he said, recalling his monster and waving goodbye to the audience.
As he walked down the contestants' tunnel, a small old man and a middle-aged man stopped him.
"Flint, Surge," Zhang recognized them. The masters of the Fire and Electric Gyms.
"Is everything alright, you two?" he asked.
"That's right," Surge said with a smile. "I made a bet with Flint. He thought you couldn't beat the dragon girl, but I thought you could. I won, and he lost two sets of Z-stones to me. I don't think I need them, so I plan to give them to you. It should be an investment in a junior." He took out two sets of Z-stones, two of each attribute.
"Then I won't be polite. Thank you, Gym Leader Surge," Zhang smiled, taking them. His own collection was not complete, but now it would be.
"You're really not polite, but I like your personality. If you want it, you take it. Those who obviously want something but say they don't are the most annoying and hypocritical," Surge nodded, very satisfied with Zhang.
"I think so too. If you want it, you take it, and you return the favor if you have the ability in the future," Zhang agreed.
Flint snorted softly.
"Don't 'heh-heh' us. We should go back," Surge said, patting Flint on the shoulder, and they strode away.
What a generous old man, Zhang thought. He had a good impression of Surge.
As he walked out of the tunnel, Cynthia and Bea greeted him.
"Hahaha, congratulations on your successful challenge! You were really handsome just now!" Bea laughed, giving him a thumbs up.
"That's right, very handsome," Cynthia nodded in agreement.
"You two are making me embarrassed," Zhang said, embarrassed on his lips, but beautiful in his heart.
"The mouth is embarrassed, but the face is happy. The mouth is really hard," Bea rolled her eyes.
"Haha, okay, where are we going next?" Cynthia smiled.
"Let's go to the Dragon Gym's training ground to train. Tomorrow, I will challenge the Ghost Gym," Zhang said.
"Zhang Tian, you are really hardworking," Cynthia said softly. "Since we met you, you seem to have not rested for a day. Maybe we can rest for a day or two." She clearly wanted him to take them out to play.
"In that case, I have the best of both worlds. Let the Pokémon train at the training ground, and we can just date next to them," Zhang said with a smile. "Whether you want to watch a movie or go fishing, you can do it for a small fee."
Cynthia and Bea looked at each other. He had refused her obvious invitation. "Zhang Tian, you seem to have something to hide from us. Can you tell us why you train so hard?" Cynthia asked gently, as if she was afraid of disturbing him.
He thought of Hinoa, who had asked him the same question. It was normal. He was too busy, too desperate. How could the people who liked him not worry?
"In the near future, maybe a year, maybe 10 months, I will have to face a first-level god, maybe even more than one. So I have to become stronger. Within 10 months, I must have the strength to match a first-level god. Otherwise, I will lose a lot of things," he said softly.
"What!" Bea exclaimed. To have the strength of a first-level god within a year... what kind of fantasy was this?
"Are you sure?" Cynthia frowned, her hand squeezed into a fist, a worried look on her face.
"Don't worry, I'm sure," Zhang said with a confident smile. Seeing his confidence, her hanging heart relaxed. She knew his character. If he was so confident, there must be a reason.
"Then, let's train today," she said with a smile.
"That's right," Bea nodded.
"However, I have a request. You don't need to work so hard in the future. You can accompany us every day," Cynthia said gently.
"Of course. I won't keep you waiting," Zhang nodded, a trace of firmness rising in his eyes. No matter how dangerous the road ahead, no matter how strong the enemy, he would not be blocked. He liked happy endings, not sadness. And whoever wanted him to be unhappy, he would let them die first.
The next day, at six in the morning, Zhang arrived in Lavender Town. The style of the city was different from normal places. There were cheap Ghost-type Pokémon everywhere, all belonging to trainers, so there were no casualties. The Ghost Gym was also different. Instead of buildings centered around a battlefield, it was a large cemetery, with a large open space in the middle and a few houses. There were basically no spectators.
"I don't like it here," Bea said with a frown.
"You don't know how to appreciate it. This is a holy place for Ghost-type trainers," a magnetic voice said. A red-haired girl in a long red dress was looking at Bea, unhappy.
"Fantina," Zhang recognized her. She was the owner of the Hearthome Gym in the Sinnoh region, and was very good at using Ghost-type Pokémon.
"Why, you want to fight?" Bea said, looking at Fantina with an unkind face.
"Well, the two little girls are here to challenge the gym. Why quarrel?" an old voice said. An old man dressed in black, followed by an Aegislash, walked over.
"Morty? The Ghost Gym Master," Zhang recognized him. He was the master of the Ghost Gym, one of the Eighth Avenue Gym Masters, and the "Sword Saint" of the Great Xia.
"Gym Leader Morty, I didn't expect to see you here. It's really rude of me," Fantina said apologetically.
"I've seen Gym Leader Li," Bea said, a little embarrassed.
"Okay, okay, you're all young people. You're angry, I can understand. Next time, don't move to have a fight. It's not good," Morty said, waving his hand unconcernedly. He then came to Zhang. "You are Zhang Tian. I have heard of your name. Your fame is really big. Even me, an old guy who doesn't leave home, often hears about you. To have the strength of an Elite Four trainer at such a young age... it's amazing, it's amazing!"
"The gym owner is polite. I heard that you are also a sword saint, and your sword art is very powerful. I wonder if you can teach me some sword techniques?" Zhang asked with a smile.
"You want to learn the sword?" Morty asked, a little doubtful.
"That's right. Not only I want to learn, but I also have three Pokémon that need to learn swordsmanship," Zhang nodded.
"That's interesting," Morty smiled lightly. "Learning the sword is not a problem, as long as you can defeat me and prove your strength. After all, this is my ancestral rule. But I think you should not be afraid. You can even defeat the dragon girl. My test should not be difficult for you."
The full story so far is available on Patreon!: patreon.com/Zefyrus