Chapter 106: Listen to Our Story from That Time
What the heck am I supposed to do!
Rio wanted to howl at the sky.
For a champion-level trainer like Steven, this lv31 Metang was definitely not a member of his main team. It would be hard to even call it part of his first substitute team. Moreover, this Pokémon was, to a large extent, just a "tool 'mon" that Steven used for clearing paths.
Why say that? Have you not seen that uniform set of "utility moves"—the [Strength], [Rock Smash], [Cut], and [Flash] quartet? If Metang hadn't been unable to learn [Surf] or [Dive], in the real Pokémon world where there are no move slot limits, Steven probably would have made it a complete and utter "utility 'mon."
But can anyone tell me how these "utility moves" are all lv2, and what's the deal with those three lv3 moves?
Rio just felt stifled.
He sneakily glanced at Ming Rizhao. The renewed excitement on the girl's face made Rio sigh again, and he decided not to tell her about the absurd stats of this "utility 'mon."
"Anyway, it's no disgrace to lose. I'll just do my best."
Rio loosened his ankles and then, under everyone's gaze, instantly transformed into a streak of lightning.
"[Quick Attack]!"
Making his own judgment without waiting for the trainer's command?
This somewhat special command style also caught Steven a bit off guard. But he was, after all, a seasoned veteran trainer. Watching the streak of lightning rushing over, trailing a glowing arc, Steven waved his left hand.
"Metang, use [Flash]."
Metang's two steel-like arms slammed together fiercely, and a burst of blinding white light erupted from between them.
"Ah, my eyes!"
The spectators on the side were stimulated by this sudden burst of bright light.
"Ugh..."
Not to mention Rio on the field. He had been concentrating on his target during his charge, and he never expected a seemingly inconspicuous move to completely disrupt his attack.
For a moment, his vision was full of afterimages. Rio could only steel himself and charge towards one of the figures. Naturally, his [Quick Attack] missed.
"!" Ming Rizhao rubbed her eyes, which were tearing from the刺 (stinging/piercing) light. She looked anxious but still waited for Rio's own counterattack according to the rhythm they had established before.
"Damn it, I still can't see clearly. I might as well just use [Aura Sphere] for a wide-area attack."
Rio squinted, trying to reduce the effect of [Flash] on his vision, but it was no use. At this moment, he wished more than anything that he had an extra pair of eyes to help him locate the target. Unfortunately, he didn't. So he planned to use a wide-area attack to try his luck.
"[Aura Sphere], super-large mode!"
Rio raised his hands. Azure blue Aura energy spiraled and gathered in his hands. In a very short time, a super-large energy ball was formed.
"This is it!"
A glint flashed in Steven's eyes. As if having thought of something, a knowing smile appeared.
"Come and eat this [Aura Sphere] version of a Spirit Bomb!"
Rio shouted, and the giant energy ball in his hands was thrown towards the other side.
Facing this large-area attack from above, even if he couldn't see Metang's real position, he should still be able to hit it indiscriminately... perhaps?
"Metang," Steven commanded unhurriedly. "Fly up."
"Boom—" The giant energy ball landed on the stage, directly blasting up a large area of rubble. If it weren't for the protective barriers around the battle stage, this rubble would have fallen into the audience seats.
The audience also cried out in alarm at the power of this energy projectile.
And when the flying dust and smoke cleared, only a small dog-shaped Pokémon was left standing alone, while its opponent was nowhere to be seen.
"Rio, up in the air!"
Ming Rizhao chimed in with a timely command.
"Finally."
Rio breathed a sigh of relief. His vision still hazy, this was the first time he had ever craved a trainer's command so much, so that he wouldn't be as clueless as a headless fly.
"Rio, [Dig]."
"Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!" Rio, without hesitation, dug into the ground at his feet, excavating a hole with extreme speed and hiding inside.
"[Flash Cannon]!"
At this moment, as Steven's voice sounded, two extremely bright beams of light shot down from the sky.
"Boom," "Boom." Two large holes were directly blasted in Rio's original position.
"Dodging the attack with [Dig], a good choice," Steven praised.
At this moment, all attacks had ceased. Metang, relying on the dual action of magnetism and psychic power, levitated 3 meters above the ground. And Rio, hiding underground, seemed to have gone still. The scene instantly quieted down.
Suddenly, a black shadow burst out of the ground. The lightning-fast figure used the explosive force of that moment to soar straight up.
"Follow up with [Brick Break]!" Ming Rizhao shouted. "Finish it, Rio!"
Brownish-red energy flowed around his vertical palm. Rio pulled his hand back behind his head, and then, chopped down forcefully!
The acceleration of [Quick Attack], plus the sharp palm-blade of [Brick Break]—this blow had the force of a thunderbolt!
What was strange, however, was that facing such a mighty attack, Steven actually folded his arms, a confident smile the only thing on his face.
"What's wrong with Mr. Steven? Did he not react in time?"
"That shouldn't be right. With Mr. Steven's strength..."
"Yeah, yeah. After all, [Brick Break] is a Fighting-type move. It should do considerable damage to Metang, whose body is made of steel."
"But why didn't Mr. Steven choose to dodge or counterattack?"
In the entire venue, it seemed only Uncle Wattson had seen through Steven's move.
"To have excavated the potential of a non-main Pokémon to this extent... Steven, you truly are worthy of being a champion!"
Uncle Wattson praised him silently in his heart.
And all the spectators in the venue, including Ming Rizhao in the battle, watched this strike with curious and nervous eyes.
It all happened in a flash. Rio's [Quick Attack] version of [Brick Break] had already chopped down onto Metang's body.
"CLANG—"
A heavy sound, like striking a great bell, rang out. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Rio's entire body trembled violently. Then, his arm went limp, his eyes rolled back, and he fell from mid-air.
And Metang slowly descended in the air, revealing its completely unharmed state, while also kindly using its psychic power to gently catch the falling Rio.
"You... you... bastard! S-so... hard! What's... the point... of... chopping!"
Rio, whose whole body was trembling uncontrollably, roared in his heart.
The moment his palm-blade hit Metang, he knew things were bad. It wasn't that he hadn't chopped hard things before—giant rocks, thick logs—with the enhancement of energy, he could also slice them apart with his flesh-and-blood palm.
But this Metang, whether it was a characteristic of this type of Pokémon with a steel head and steel brain, or the "Hardness" special trait of Steven's Elite-level Pokémon, one chop down felt like hitting an indestructible steel plate. The immense recoil even made him tremble uncontrollably.
"In the future, if anyone says Fighting-types completely counter Steel-types, I'll make them try to chop a steel plate with their bare hands," Rio said with tears in his eyes.
In fact, the Fighting-type countering Steel-type was also relative. Fighting-type Pokémon with bodies tempered over time and born with divine strength could indeed rely on their brute force to counter Steel-type Pokémon. But for an agile fighter like Rio, shattering rocks with his bare hands was probably his limit.
Of course, if he evolved into Lucario, the added Steel-type would allow Rio's entire body to be strengthened by Steel-type energy, then chopping through steel plates would not be a difficult task.
But for now...
"I declare Steven the winner!"
Seeing Rio still trembling and unable to even walk steadily, Uncle Wattson decisively announced the result of the battle.
Ming Rizhao took out her Poké Ball, recalled Rio to let him recuperate, and then walked down from the stage with some dejection.
"A good match." Steven, still smiling elegantly, walked over and shook hands with Ming Rizhao.
"I obtained something very good." Steven seemed very satisfied and continued happily, "Your commanding is quite good, but there is still one problem."
To have the honor of being guided by a champion-level trainer, Ming Rizhao's disappointment from losing the match immediately vanished. She immediately listened with great seriousness.
"Your Pokémon possesses very high intelligence, so your way of coordinating with him is to first let him act freely, and then supplement with your own commands. This is a very good idea, but it lacks one thing."
"And that is: balance."
"Balance?" Ming Rizhao said with some confusion.
"Yes. Blindly letting the Pokémon act on its own will make it unable to see the overall battle situation clearly; on the other hand, focusing solely on the trainer's commands will ignore the Pokémon's own will and personality. How to achieve a perfect harmony between these two—what you lack is the balance of command."
"For example, just now, after your Pokémon was hit by my [Flash], it had already lost the ability to clearly judge the battle situation. At that time, you should have acted as his third eye, pointing out the direction for your Pokémon, instead of still hesitating. That is a failure to achieve balance."
"Balancing letting the Pokémon act freely, and appropriately inserting the trainer's commands—this is what you still lack."
Steven, who rarely spoke at such length, saw the young girl before him seem to fall into deep thought and didn't disturb her further. Instead, he discreetly glanced at the Poké Ball hanging from the girl's waist, then nodded to Uncle Wattson, and subsequently summoned his Metagross, flying away from Zidian City.
"The balance of command? Hmm..."
The young girl fell into deep contemplation.
The spectators, seeing Steven leave, also dispersed with satisfaction. No one knew what kind of state Rio, inside the Poké Ball, was in.
…
At this moment, Rio was in a barren land.
"What... the... hell... where is this?"
This abruptness even made Rio curse in the national swear language of his previous life, because he was completely baffled, extremely baffled, Taylor series expansion baffled, L'Hôpital's rule baffled.
"Wasn't I resting inside the Poké Ball? How did I instantly get to this godforsaken place???"
He looked all around, up and down, left and right. All that met his eyes was a desolate land and a grey, hazy sky.
"And I can't even move???"
Rio wanted to take a step to walk around, but found that besides being able to turn his head to look around, his entire body couldn't move at all.
Suddenly, a huge bright light shone from above his head.
Rio looked up, and the shock made his pupils dilate rapidly.
It was a massive, giant meteorite falling from the sky!
"Oh my god!"
The fur on Rio's whole body stood on end. He subconsciously wanted to escape, but he had forgotten that the result of his earlier attempt was that he couldn't move.
And then, under Rio's utterly desperate gaze, the meteorite fell.
Endless flames, endless explosions, endless dust.
"I'm actually okay???"
Rio was baffled again.
But when he managed to look down and see his unharmed body, as well as the various rubble passing through him, he finally understood.
"Are they playing a 4D movie for me?"
Knowing that he wouldn't be finished off by this, Rio relaxed and looked around with curiosity.
However, the surroundings were all thick dust kicked up by the meteorite's impact, so basically, nothing could be seen.
But, looking closely, he found that in the direction where the meteorite had fallen, a giant, very blurry figure was radiating a deep reddish-purple light, as profound as an abyss.
"Crack, crack," all the images around him seemed to be distorted. After a sound that set Rio's teeth on edge, they directly dispersed.
Immediately after, various images flashed before Rio's eyes with extreme speed, like flowing water.
The earth revives.
Various strange creatures are born.
Propagation, harmony, conflict, eruption.
Numerous blue-black figures, a darkness that covers the sky.
Bright light, endless bright light.
...The images became faster and faster, blurrier and blurrier.
Finally, everything disappeared, and what was before Rio's eyes returned to the inherent misty white scene inside the Poké Ball.
"What does it mean?"
Completely clueless, Rio was a little frustrated.
…
[Side Quest]
Pursue the Past: Investigate your own past, and the truth about being the only Riolu/Lucario left in the world. (Status: Incomplete) (Progress: 1/20) (Reward: 50 Free Attribute Points)
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