Pokémon: Duraludon (Steel/Dragon)
Level: 77
Potential: Blue
Ability: Light Metal
Held Item: Dragon Fang
Gender: Male
Moves: Metal Claw, Leer, Rock Smash, Hone Claws, Metal Sound, Breaking Swipe, Dragon Tail, Iron Defense, Focus Energy, Dragon Claw, Flash Cannon, Metal Burst, Hyper Beam
TMs: Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, Protect, Solar Beam, Thunder Wave, Brick Break, Rock Tomb, Outrage, Thunder, Stone Edge, Draco Meteor, Steel Beam, Iron Head
Egg Moves: Slash, Night Slash, Mirror Coat, Dragon Pulse
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"Duraludon, Dragon Pulse!"
BOOM!!
"Decidueye has lost the ability to battle, Duraludon wins!"
At the National Steel-type Gym, as the challenger's last Pokémon fell, Julian successfully defended the gym.
It was a 6v6 full-team battle.
Julian started by sending out Arcanine and Duraludon, defeating the challenger ranked 45th on the Elite ranking.
"Don!"
Duraludon let out a triumphant roar, its body covered with dents of various sizes, but overall still in good shape.
It turned to Julian, as if asking, "How did I do?"
"Excellent!"
Julian gave it a thumbs-up.
Duraludon grinned widely.
Julian was never stingy with praise when it came to his own Pokémon—especially when they performed well.
"Arf~"
Arcanine: "What about me? What about me?"
Arcanine beside him seemed a bit jealous.
Julian sighed helplessly, "Didn't I praise you earlier already?"
The dog had been quite impressive, defeating three of the opponent's peak Elites in a row. But that was expected—after all, this dog was already at the early-stage Pseudo-Champion level.
Julian patted the dog's big head, which was still begging for praise, but he couldn't praise it anymore. Otherwise, Duraludon might feel it hadn't received enough attention and would demand more compliments.
"Champion Walker, thank you for the guidance."
The challenger wasn't angry about the loss.
What a joke—having a Champion accept his challenge was something to be happy about, how could he dare to be mad?
As for losing, he had never expected to win when he issued the challenge. What he really wanted was to gain experience and find his shortcomings through battling Julian.
Whether he gained experience or not, he wasn't sure—but he definitely found his shortcoming.
And that shortcoming was… hmm… a lack of strength. Losing that fast—what else could it be but insufficient strength?
After the challenger left, Julian went to the backyard.
Kartana immediately flew over.
Kartana: "Why didn't you call me to battle?"
Julian glanced at it and said, "Weren't you dragged away by Slowking to slice beef rolls?"
Since they were having hot pot for dinner, Slowking and Love started preparing the ingredients in the afternoon. As a professional "knife tool," Kartana was naturally indispensable.
The beef and lamb rolls it sliced were of just the right thickness, earning high praise from Slowking and Love.
At first, Kartana was quite resistant to the idea of chopping vegetables for Slowking. In its mind, its blades were meant for battling enemies and taking heads—not for slicing radishes, chopping cabbage, cleaning fish, or mincing meat.
But Slowking didn't care whether it was willing or not. In this house, even the Trainer listened to it, let alone Kartana.
Habit was a frightening thing. Once Kartana got used to cutting vegetables for Slowking, whenever mealtime came around, it would unconsciously help prepare the ingredients.
"Oh, by the way, did you finish slicing all the beef rolls?" Julian asked.
Kartana nodded proudly. "Of course. My blade work is incredibly fast."
"Amazing." Julian gave it a thumbs-up too.
"Slow~"
Slowking: "Kartana, there are a few bones left here for the soup base. Come and chop them into smaller pieces."
Kartana: "On it."
It vanished from the spot in a flash.
Just then, Garchomp walked over, looking as if it had something to say but was hesitating.
"What's wrong?" Julian asked curiously.
Garchomp: "I also want to win battles for you."
Hearing this, Julian smiled and patted its shoulder. "Got it. I'll let you take part in the next Gym challenge."
By now, Garchomp was already at the early-stage Elite-level. Against typical late-stage Elite opponents, it wasn't at much of a disadvantage—so sending it out in a Gym match was no longer a problem.
At Julian's words, Garchomp grinned widely, then went off to sit by itself and began to refine the Dragon-type energy within its body.
"Why can't you learn from Garchomp? You don't have a shred of fighting spirit."
Julian walked a few steps over to Steelix and gently nudged it with his foot. The big snake drowsily opened its eyes.
Steelix: "Is it time to eat?"
"Eat, eat, eat—that's all you think about. Not yet," Julian said irritably.
Among his Pokémon, if Celebi claimed the title of "least motivated," Steelix would boldly take second place.
Yet, despite its lack of ambition, Steelix had already reached the peak of Elite tier and was on the verge of breaking through to Pseudo-Champion soon.
Meanwhile, Lucario, who meditated and trained diligently every day, had only just reached early-stage Pseudo-Champion.
It wasn't that Steelix was particularly talented—it's just that this guy had an incredible appetite.
Julian had once told his Pokémon that eating more Pokéblocks could help increase their strength. They'd all taken it to heart, but Steelix was the only one who truly put it into practice.
The others weren't unwilling—they just couldn't eat as much.
The Pokéblocks produced by the system were packed with energy, so eating three or four in one meal was already quite impressive.
But Steelix—stubbornly pushing its limits—went from eating three or four per meal to now finishing an entire box (ten blocks) in one sitting.
So, its current strength was literally built on eating Pokéblocks. If it actually put in some effort into training, it probably would have reached the Pseudo-Champion tier by now.
'Forget it, it's my own Pokémon—if I don't spoil it, who will?'
"Go back to sleep, I'll call you when it's time to eat."
Steelix: "Oh."
The next second, loud snores filled the air.
Instant sleep.
Sure enough, carefree types always sleep the soundest.
Take himself, for example. He couldn't quite sleep instantly, but within ten seconds, he was definitely out.
Thinking of this, Julian even felt a little smug.
Who knew when "carefree" had become a compliment.
"Dragonite, stop flying Shelgon around already!" Julian shouted toward the sky.
They'd been flying for nearly three hours. On top of that, Dragonite had been looping endlessly at high speed—the poor thing's eyes were spinning in circles.
Any longer and Shelgon would probably start foaming at the mouth.
Dragonite landed and, seeing its little brother unable to stand steadily, felt a bit embarrassed.
Just earlier, the little guy kept urging it to fly faster, so Dragonite had started flying in circles. No wonder Shelgon went quiet—'I thought it was too excited, but it turns out it was nearly passing out.'
Shelgon looked at Julian: 'So weird… Why are there three Trainers… So strange…'
Julian took out a Persim Berry, which could cure confusion—perfect for Shelgon's current state.
After eating the berry, Shelgon returned to normal, then hugged its big brother Dragonite's leg, asking for another round.
Dragonite: 'Little bro's got guts.'
Julian: 'Did its brain get scrambled from all that spinning just now?'
[T/N: For anyone complaining about Arcanine being used in a Steel-type Gym, well you are right but the thing is the battles are recorded and circulated as stated previously somewhere, so its not like the challenger gets a surprise when they come—they are already aware that this can happen.]
*****
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