"Woo~ee!"
Nihilego blinked, one hand touching the blue frilled edge of its head, staring at Silvally like it was looking at an idiot.
'Big dummy, who told you to battle like that?'
'Master said to prepare properly before fighting, you know!'
Without needing any command from Axel, Nihilego flicked its hand, casually forming a Reflect barrier in the air.
BANG!
Silvally slammed hard into the barrier, creating a loud crash.
Although its power was immense and it managed to break through the invisible wall, its strength and speed both dropped sharply.
Nihilego floated upward gracefully, only having a few of its white tendrils grazed by the impact.
Those tendrils instantly turned red, and Nihilego's little face went slightly pale.
'Damn, that thing hits hard!'
Another wall appeared with a casual flick, set up in front again.
On the other side, Gladion was completely stunned.
'Bro, what?'
'Aren't Ultra Beasts supposed to be crazy aggressive, the kind that attack without caring about their lives?'
'Why the hell are you playing defensively?'
But the next second, Gladion understood.
'Of course! The opponent must've predicted my prediction, they were waiting for Silvally to switch to Ground-type attacks before poisoning it.'
'I'm such a genius!'
Gladion grinned widely.
"Null, ignore its dodging! Don't change your type, use Flash Cannon!"
"Roar!", Silvally let out a loud cry, metallic energy flashing across its head as a Steel-type beam began to charge.
'Two Reflect barriers? So what?'
'In front of my special attack, your walls are nothing but decoration.'
But in the very next moment, Silvally watched its one-meter-wide beam shrink down to half that size as it passed through the barrie, and went completely silent.
'The hell? It knows Light Screen too?'
"Don't worry, Silvally! That's a top-tier Trainer. It's normal for their tactics to be more advanced than ours."
"But you have the type and species advantage. We can still win!"
"Keep using Multi-Attack! Break through Light Screen and Reflect and take it down!"
"Roar!", Hearing his Trainer's encouragement, Silvally nodded hard.
'Yeah! I've got the power to crush you!'
'As long as I stay Steel-type, its Poison-type is useless. There's no way I can lose!'
Without hesitation, Silvally leapt into the air again, its body gleaming with metallic light, charging at Nihilego midair.
But then, it saw something unbelievable.
Nihilego was forming a mass of deep purple poison between its tendrils.
'Doesn't it know I'm immune to poison?'
Silvally hesitated for a split second, pulling back slightly from its full-force tackle.
And who could blame it?
If the opponent were just a normal Trainer, it would've gone all in without a second thought, winning its first battle post-evolution in pure, savage glory.
But… during its evolution, it had felt how terrifying its Trainer's opponent really was.
Would such a terrifying Trainer ever waste an attack?
In the next instant, both Silvally and Gladion realized the truth.
The moment Silvally crashed into Nihilego, Nihilego went flying,
but Silvally's metallic shine faded away, its whole body turning purple.
That poison… ignored Steel immunity.
As that thought hit, Gladion's pupils dilated sharply.
"Silvally! Switch to Ground type, quick! Don't give it time to stall!"
"Woo," Nihilego let out a teasing, girlish laugh.
'Too late, little Trainer~'
A bright white light appeared in front of Nihilego, blocking Silvally's Ground-type Multi-Attack completely.
Before Gladion could issue another command, Nihilego used Substitute, vanishing into a copy of itself.
A few minutes later—
"I… I lost?", Gladion's face twisted bitterly. The excitement from his partner's evolution had mostly faded away.
"To think, I believed that once Null evolved, it would gain the power to suppress Ultra Beasts."
"But… I couldn't even beat one. How am I supposed to stop a catastrophe like this?"
"Don't panic. Not all Ultra Beasts are this strong," Axel said with a calm smile, trying to comfort him and keep his dreams alive.
He wasn't lying.
Without the power of that Trait, even Nihilego probably wouldn't have been able to poison Silvally at all.
"Really?", A spark returned to Gladion's eyes.
He felt like Axel was right.
Sure, he couldn't beat Nihilego, but wasn't that normal?
After all, that thing was the monster that brought disaster to everything.
Losing to it didn't mean he'd lose to every Ultra Beast.
The more he thought about it, the more convinced Gladion became that he and Silvally weren't weak at all.
It was just that Nihilego was too strong.
'But hey, Silvally forced it into using hit-and-run tactics. Fighting other Ultra Beasts should be way easier, right?'
Taking a deep breath, Gladion pulled out an Antidote and a Potion to treat Silvally.
"Null, don't be afraid. We'll battle again soon."
"This time, we'll fight to our heart's content!"
Silvally blinked, its head buzzing.
'You sure about that? I'm still poisoned to hell!'
"It's fine, Null! We're totally winning this next one!"
Silvally blinked again.
Thanks to their growing bond, it decided, against its better judgment, to trust Gladion's nonsense again.
'Fine. Let's fight. This time, I'll start with four-times super effective power.'
'There's no way Pheromosa uses poison moves… right?'
After discussing their plan, Gladion brought the fully healed Silvally back to Axel and Cynthia.
"Mr. Axel! We'd like to challenge Pheromosa next."
Axel wasn't surprised. He waved at Pheromosa casually.
With Gladion's chunibyo personality, it would've been weird if he hadn't wanted a rematch.
When Pheromosa stepped in front of Silvally, her sharp eyes glancing over him arrogantly before curling a finger to beckon, Gladion's forehead twitched.
"Mr. Axel, aren't you going to announce the battle rules? Why is she just walking up like that?"
"Oh, no need. You can take the first move."
"Alright, then, Silvally, us—AHHH!"
BAM!
Before Gladion could even finish his command, both he and Silvally were sent crashing through the courtyard wall, landing flat on the street outside.
Silvally's eyes were spinning in circles, unable to even stand, staring blankly at Gladion.
'This... this is the one you said was weaker?'
Silvally was just about to start swearing when a small pile of gold coins rained down from the sky onto its head.
Gladion: "..."
'Well… at least she's polite about it?'
At the same time, Axel's system chimed with a long-awaited notification.
[Congratulations, Host! You have obtained a new Trait. Please check it yourself!]
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