The group had a simple meal, then returned to the research institute again.
During that time, Professor Kukui mentioned that his research on Gardevoir's Z-Move had also made major breakthroughs.
It might even be completed earlier than Lusamine's group's research on controllable Ultra Wormholes, allowing Gardevoir to receive another boost before entering an Ultra Wormhole.
For Axel, this counted as an unexpected bonus.
"Axel, want to spar?", Raihan still hadn't forgotten about the match he wanted with Axel.
As a surfing master who stood on routers year-round, he could be said to have followed every step of Axel's growth in strength.
After not fighting for such a long time, he really wanted to see how strong the Pokémon Axel had newly caught were.
"Sure. Let's switch to a bigger place," Recently, Axel had been using Legendary Pokémon to battle, and the deciding factor in those fights was mostly their divine authority rather than the Trainer's command ability.
Now that he finally ran into Raihan, one of his own people, Axel really wanted to have a proper Trainer-versus-Trainer battle.
Just like the battle stadiums in the Galar region.
The two of them quickly arrived at an uninhabited island, and along the way even spent 500 bucks to rent Sun as a temporary referee.
"How do you want to fight?", Raihan grinned, showing his white teeth, his eyes full of fighting spirit as he looked at Axel.
Axel didn't think much and spoke directly, "2v2 or 3v3, stadium rules."
After training for so long, Axel's main goal was to test Little Shark's strength, so he definitely had to be on the field.
And then there was General Archaludon. Opportunities to fight the world's number one Archaludon Trainer didn't come often, so he definitely had to be sent out as well.
The remaining 3v3 option was left as a sign of respect to Raihan.
After all, he was a guest, and half a mentor at that. Axel didn't feel right deciding everything himself.
Raihan himself was also pretty carefree, "Then 2v2. If I'm not mistaken, your first Pokémon should be Gabite, right?"
"In that case, Flygon, I choose you. Let's have a battle between Ground Dragons!"
"Fly~"
The emerald-green Flygon threw its head back and let out a long cry, then flew up from behind Raihan and landed in the field the two had marked out. It lightly blinked at Axel, as a greeting.
"Flygon?", Axel looked at Flygon with a bit of pity. He hadn't expected Raihan to send this Pokémon out again.
Back when he had just become a Trainer, Axel had thought this was one of Raihan's main forces.
Only later did he realize that the reason this Pokémon had such a high appearance rate was purely because it played the role of the team's mom.
Emmm... kind of like the combination of Mewtwo plus Rayquaza in Axel's team. Whenever Raihan caused trouble, Flygon was always the one cleaning up the mess.
"Are you sure you want him to fight Little Shark?"
"Yeah," Raihan responded, "My other Pokémon might not be able to stop themselves once they start fighting. This guy is more mature. He won't wreck your Gabite."
"Why not switch to another one?", Axel froze for a moment. After learning that Flygon had a gentle personality, he became even more worried about Flygon.
This Little Shark bites people.
Raihan waved his hand indifferently, "It's fine. Right, Flygon?"
"Fly~!"
"Alright... then shall we start?"
Sun at the side hurriedly nodded and stood in the center of the field.
"Both Trainers are ready. Since Flygon from Raihan will be sent out first this time, Axel will send out first next round."
"The match rules are 2v2. Pokémon may be freely switched mid-battle. No item changes are allowed once the battle starts. Begin!"
After saying that, Sun hurriedly ran far away, staring intently at the battlefield, delighted inside.
Watching a Raihan match today not only cost no ticket money, he even earned five hundred. This is how part-time jobs should be done.
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— Held Item]: Loaded Dice (when using consecutive moves, allows more hits)
— Tags]: Dragon King (Gold), Ground King (Gold), Precision (Gold)
— Precision]: When using multi-hit moves, move execution speed increases by 50%, and move accuracy increases by 50%
[Others omitted.]
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The moment Axel saw the panel, he roughly understood Raihan's Flygon's fighting style.
With the Loaded Dice item that increases the number of hits for Scale Shot, plus the bonuses from the Precision and Dragon King tags,
Flygon's combat style was definitely long-range Scale Shot!
This fighting style, combined with Flygon's relatively outstanding speed, was all about grinding Dragon-type Pokémon and low-speed Pokémon into the ground.
"Little Shark, go. Remember to be careful!", Axel threw out a Poké Ball and spoke quickly at the same time, to avoid Little Shark getting instantly taken down the moment he appeared.
But very quickly, Axel realized that what he said was completely unnecessary.
The moment Gabite appeared, it skillfully controlled the ground to turn into a water-like substance. With a plop, it jumped in, even splashing up a clump of murky "mud flowers."
This was ground-type energy control taken to perfection.
"More skilled than last time?", Axel's eyelid twitched as he muttered to himself.
If it weren't for the system's detection saying this guy had once nearly starved, he would have suspected that, just like some Fire-type Entei who shattered the heavens, this guy also had an old grandpa following him around.
Raihan also got excited, "That Gabite of yours is pretty good."
"Flygon, shake the ground with Earthquake!"
"Get airborne and use Sandstorm!"
The moment he heard Raihan's command, Axel reacted instantly and hurriedly told Little Shark to get up.
At the same time, he could also tell that, due to his habit of arena battles, Raihan's combat style didn't involve any probing at all.
The Earthquake move deals double damage to targets underground. If it landed, this round would basically be over for Gabite!
"Roar!", Flygon let out a roar, and a dense glow flashed along its long tail. The originally light dragon tail instantly became heavy.
BOOM!
With a massive bang as Flygon's tail struck the ground, the entire ring area they had designated began to churn violently.
Shockwaves spread outward from where the dragon tail hit, quickly sweeping across the entire field. Even the sky was covered by terrifying spikes of Ground-type energy.
Gabite flapped its wings in midair, using its fang-like joints and energy spikes to fight back, letting out a roar as well. The Ground-type energy it shattered instantly turned into sand and stones in the sky, forming Sandstorm weather.
Under this weather, with its Sand Veil ability, its evasion rate would be greatly increased.
Even if it lost some stamina due to Earthquake, it was still very worth it.
And behind Flygon, seeing that Gabite had been hit by Earthquake and still managed to use Sandstorm just fine, Raihan froze on the spot.
If this were a battle between Pokémon of the same level, this wouldn't be anything special.
But if he wasn't mistaken, wasn't the opponent a Gabite with a maximum level of 47?
Because at level 48, Gabite would evolve into Garchomp.
A battle-loving species like this couldn't possibly have a case where it refused to evolve and stayed in its Gabite form while leveling up, right.
How the hell did this even happen?
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