Pokémon Court

Gallade…

As the match began, everyone watched in astonishment as Terrance sent out his Pokémon. Their emotions were mixed.

“He has a Gallade?” Lucy Joy murmured in confusion.

The chubby kid, Gon, had chosen Meganium as his Pokémon. As his Starter Pokémon, they have three years of battle experience together. If this was a test of fundamentals, Meganium would definitely not lose.

“It’s not a Normal Type?” Gon exclaimed in surprise.

Rogge Gym… wasn’t it supposed to be a Normal Type Gym?

“Gallade, the Blade Pokémon. When it wants to protect others, it extends its blade-like arms and fiercely battles its enemies,” the Trainers took out their Pokédex to identify the Pokémon’s type. Psychic and Fighting—it wasn’t a Normal Type Pokémon at all.

“Gyms may have a designated type, but they aren’t strictly limited to it. As long as over sixty percent of the Pokémon used by the Gym Trainer match the Gym’s type, it’s fine. And since Terrance is a temporary Gym Trainer, he doesn’t have to follow Rogge Gym’s battle rules or its type.” Aida muttered to herself.

Battle Arena.

Noticing the challengers’ surprised expressions, Terrance spoke calmly. “Don’t worry. The battle will still follow Rogge Gym’s original evaluation criteria. As for Gallade, it will fight using Normal Type moves.”

Fundamentals?

Terrance studied the eager look on the chubby challenger’s face and then calmly sized up Meganium. After a moment, he shook his head.

“Meganium, Razor Leaf!” Gon shouted, taking the initiative to attack.

Meganium, a Grass Type Pokémon resembling a sauropod dinosaur, had a large pink flower blooming around its neck where its leaf once was. Swaying its neck, Meganium launched over a dozen razor-sharp green leaves, which flew rapidly toward Gallade from multiple directions.

“How’s that!” Gon grinned, proud of the tricky angles of his Razor Leaf attack.

But the next moment, the four challengers’ eyes widened as Gallade didn’t even move a step. It simply extended its green arm, the blade slicing through the air in a few slow arcs.

The leaves, which had been flying towards Gallade at great speed from various angles, were easily destroyed by Gallade’s seemingly casual swing of its arm. Gallade didn’t even need to use a move.

Out of sixteen leaves, Gallade cut down nine. Seven remained. Gallade didn’t even pay attention to them, as their trajectories wouldn’t have hit it anyway.

“It didn’t even use a move. It just relied on the sharpness of its elbow blades and its own strength to cut down the leaves… This Gallade truly embodies the ‘fundamentals’ of Rogge Gym. In comparison, Razor Leaf seems flashy but impractical.” An unusual emotion arose in Aida’s heart as he curiously looked towards the arena, anticipating the next exchange.

“Argh! If that’s how it is—Meganium, use Solar Beam!” Gon stared blankly as the flying leaves were cut down and quickly gave a command.

At the same time, Terrance issued his own command: “Close in and use Slash.”

Anyone familiar with Gallade’s fighting style would have laughed out loud at the idea of using Solar Beam against it. It was practically asking for defeat.

Terrance watched the performance of Gon and Meganium and sighed inwardly. The battle could have ended the moment Meganium used Razor Leaf. The only reason he let it continue was to assess Gon’s fundamentals. This fight didn’t need to drag on any longer.

Close in and use Slash.

Such a command gave Meganium ample preparation time.

In terms of the gathering speed of Solar Beam, Gon finally did not disappoint the opportunity given by Terrance. Though not exceptionally fast, the thick, incandescent beam of light shot out before Gallade arrived.

Boom!

The incandescent beam collided with Gallade; all eyes fixed on the arena. In the next moment, a flash of white—distinct from the Solar Beam’s color—flashed through the air. Within everyone’s line of sight, the Solar Beam was cut cleanly in two by that flash. The beam exploded with a deafening sound.

Yet, the green figure continued forward and rapidly swung out its fast, fierce, and accurate blade, knocking Meganium flying!

As Meganium cried of pain, Kuraki quickly reacted and while looking towards the arena, raised the flag. “Meganium is unable to battle… The winner is… Gym Trainer Terrance!”

So strong!

A single Slash cut through Solar Beam, and one move sent Meganium flying.

This… wasn’t even a contest. They weren’t on the same level at all!

“He must have held back,” Lucy Joy remarked with a smile. “He only used Slash. It seems Gon didn’t meet Terrance’s standards.”

“Yeah… However, even though it’s just a Slash move, what is this feeling of awkwardness? It feels like Gallade isn’t suited for this kind of battle, and also, during the charge, Gallade seems to be feeling uncomfortable.”

Lucy looked at Aida in surprise, not expecting him to notice such a subtle change that could easily be overlooked.

“Gon lost… and the opponent only used Slash twice… How is that possible? I remember Gon saying he placed in the top 64 at the Silver Conference!” a boy exclaimed in disbelief.

“That Gallade’s Slash was too powerful.”

“If it’s just to this extent, it wouldn’t lead to failing the challenge. If that Beautifly were to battle, we might not have any hope at all,” the girl in the short skirt said, feeling at a loss.

“Who’s going to challenge next?”

The three remaining challengers exchanged uneasy glances.

They all knew that Rogge Gym tested the fundamentals of Pokémon, but Gallade’s display of basic skills, ending the battle with just two identical Normal-type moves, was simply terrifying.

“If it’s us, how would we deal with that Slash?”

The three of them thought the same thing: they couldn’t let Gallade get close. Although Gallade is very fast, as long as they are careful and keep their distance… there should still be a chance, right?

“I’ll go,” another boy finally said, standing up.

Two minutes later, a Swellow was knocked down by a Slash from the leaping Gallade, and all the challengers fell into despair.

Gallade has incredibly sharp awareness. Its keen perception allowed Gallade to anticipate the trajectory of its opponent’s actions even before they attacked or moved. Coupled with its extremely fast Slash, even the Swellow that was constantly maneuvering in the air could not escape the fate of being defeated by a single Slash.

“Your fundamentals are too weak,” Terrance thought as he glanced at the defeated challenger. He wondered if his standards were too high.

But Gallade hadn’t even used the Teleport move yet, and that’s the core move that truly showcases Gallade’s strength.

Well, this group of challengers is merely ordinary Trainers aiming for the Ever Grande Conference… When faced with someone like Terrance, who started by winning the Ever Grande Conference and is capable of holding his own in the Champion League—it was like lambs facing the Big Bad Wolf, unable to resist.

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