Chapter 251: The Untouchable Piplup
Mach Punch.
Bullet Punch.
Thunder Punch.
Fire Punch.
Ice Punch.
Focus Punch.
Mega Punch.
Punch after punch, each fast and powerful, came flying at Will.
Watching from the sidelines, Lucario shook his head.
In his opinion, Hitmonchan's efforts were completely futile.
To deal with Will, you either needed a guaranteed-hit move or a wide-area attack.
These single-target punches were just too easy for Will to dodge.
Although the range of Will's Aura Power sensing wasn't large, his reaction speed was at the absolute peak of the world.
Even Lucario, an Elite Four-level combatant, had to rely on Elite Four-level speed to suppress Will with raw stats if he wanted to hit him.
Without an overwhelming stat advantage... once you entered Will's sensory range, hitting him became incredibly difficult.
A minute passed quickly.
Because of Cloyster's previous efforts and the lingering [Frostbite] effect, Hitmonchan was already panting after just one minute of continuous attacking.
The moment its arms stopped moving...
Will jumped up, spun 720 degrees in the air, and drilled his beak right into Hitmonchan's head.
"Chan!!"
Hit with a Flying-type move, Hitmonchan cried out in pain. It hurt so much he wished he could carry a sack of rice up eighteen flights of stairs just to distract himself.
"Hitmonchan, use Agility to retreat!"
Chuck's voice rang out.
Hitmonchan immediately backstepped, sliding seven or eight meters backward in an instant.
But what shocked everyone was...
Throughout the entire movement, Will stuck to Hitmonchan's chest like glue.
"Chan?!"
Hitmonchan looked at the big blue eyes that suddenly opened right in front of its face, and its body froze.
A primal fear rose from the depths of its heart.
It sounded incredible, but right now, it felt an urge to kneel before this Piplup.
It wasn't submission.
It was fear.
But Hitmonchan was a Pokémon with an unyielding spirit (Inner Focus/Iron Fist). It wouldn't succumb to fear easily.
So, Hitmonchan overcame the fear almost instantly, shaking off the stiffness.
But it was too late.
For other Pokémon, a split second might not be enough to launch a second attack.
But for Will...
A split second was plenty.
BOOM!!
A massive Hydro Pump, two meters in diameter, erupted from Will's beak, blasting Hitmonchan back over ten meters.
As the water dissipated into the ground, Hitmonchan stood there, arms crossed, soaked to the bone. It looked up at Will, its pupils trembling slightly.
"Chan..."
Hitmonchan grinned.
"Oh!! Are you getting excited too?! Hitmonchan!"
"Chan!!"
Hitmonchan shook its body.
Although its physical condition wasn't great, meeting Will had made it incredibly excited.
To be blunt... even the Gym Leader-level Pokémon it had faced in the group stage hadn't made it feel this powerless.
Against those Pokémon, its attacks might not have been effective, but at least it could find opportunities to hit back.
But against Will... even if its attacks would have been effective, it simply couldn't land a hit!
"Rested enough?"
"Chan!"
"Good! Close Combat!"
Chuck clenched his fist, deciding to go all out.
"Chan!"
Hitmonchan raised its arms without hesitation and charged at Will.
But this time was different. Before, Hitmonchan had maintained its guard. Now, it abandoned all defense, leaving itself wide open to adopt the stance most conducive to punching.
Swish swish swish!
Having abandoned defense, Hitmonchan's offense became even faster. Punch after punch created visible shockwaves in the air.
But it was useless against Will.
Hitmonchan was only 3 levels higher than him. It didn't have the raw stats to crush him.
So the result was the same as before. Hitmonchan couldn't land a single punch.
In the audience stands.
"Is that Piplup's evasion skill really that exaggerated?"
Juan stroked his chin, his eyes shining as he watched Will. His gaze was filled with admiration. "That child's dance steps are too elegant."
Juan was a Water-type trainer from the Hoenn region. In the future, he would become the Gym Leader of the Sootopolis Gym. Of course, his most famous achievement was mentoring Wallace, the future Hoenn Champion and Contest Master.
In his eyes, Will was like a little swan dancing across the battlefield.
"No, that should be a special ability... do you know about psychic powers?"
Beside him was his childhood friend and travel companion, Drake, the future Hoenn Dragon-type Elite Four.
"A Piplup awakening psychic powers? Impossible."
Juan frowned, then shook his head firmly. "Impossible. Even Psychic-type Pokémon can't dodge like that."
"Dodging" might seem like a simple command, but it contained deep wisdom! It wasn't just about sensing the attack.
Just like a normal human could see a bullet fired from 200 meters away, but couldn't dodge it.
It required not only fast neural reaction speed but even faster physical reaction speed.
Even if Psychic-type Pokémon developed their minds, most weren't adept at using their physical bodies. Their physical reaction speed was slow, making it hard to dodge like Will. Unless it was a dual-type like Gallade (Psychic/Fighting).
"...Makes sense." Drake nodded, persuaded by Juan instead of persuading him.
They continued to watch.
One minute later, Hitmonchan was, predictably, hit in a vital spot by a Hone Claws-boosted Aerial Ace and knocked out.
"Woooah!"
"Didn't land a single punch! That's terrifying!"
"This is basically 'The Untouchable Piplup!'"
"Looking at it this way, Lorelei has a higher chance of winning."
"Yeah, if Piplup handled Hitmonchan that easily, Hitmonlee should be even easier."
The audience buzzed with excitement.
Next was the final match.
With the previous performance as proof, the audience members who had originally favored Chuck were now almost all rooting for Lorelei.
Round 2.
As Will expected, it was Hitmonlee!
Actually, Chuck had other Pokémon that he'd used in the qualifiers and group stage. As an adult, he could raise more Pokémon; he had six on him.
But Will had guessed right. Hitmonlee.
"More trouble than Hitmonchan, but about the same," Will muttered.
He raised a flipper. The clear sky suddenly clouded over, and in the blink of an eye, it started to rain. Rain Dance.
"Hitmonlee, use Sucker Punch!"
As soon as Hitmonlee appeared, Chuck gave the order.
Hitmonlee was fast. It launched a flying kick instantly, catching Will right in the stiffness period of casting Rain Dance.
BANG!
Will was sent flying.
The legend of "The Untouchable Piplup" was extinguished before it could even fully ignite.
Will said nothing. He scratched his butt and stood back up.
The Dark-type move Sucker Punch did absolutely zero damage to him (thanks to the Dread Plate).
If Hitmonlee had used a Fighting-type move instead of Sucker Punch, Will might have actually taken some damage.
But now... Chuck and Hitmonlee had missed their best opportunity.
"Go, Hitmonlee! Show him your high-speed kicks!"
"Lee."
Hitmonlee stepped forward, spun, and lashed out with its long legs. Its legs stretched like springs, whipping toward Will, who was two meters away.
Will leaned forward, dodging effortlessly.
Low Kick.
Double Kick.
Blaze Kick.
High Jump Kick.
Stomp.
Mega Kick.
It was a replay of the classics.
Hitmonlee, whose kicking speed was even slower than Hitmonchan's punching speed, naturally couldn't hit Will.
Especially since every time Hitmonlee spun to switch legs, there was a fixed moment of stiffness.
And Will seized precisely those moments.
He hit him with three moves—Drill Peck, Hydro Pump, and Ice Beam.
After three hits... if Hitmonlee didn't fall down on the spot, Will would have to admit it was tanky.
"Can't hit him... can't hit him at all..."
Chuck held his head in his hands, questioning his life choices after failing to land a hit on Will (again).
Everyone knew it. Everyone could see it. Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee had higher levels and better stats. But they just couldn't beat Will.
Was it because Chuck lacked battle experience? Of course not. You don't get to the elimination round without experience. Besides, Chuck's style didn't rely heavily on complex tactics.
But...
Whether it was battle experience or reaction speed, Chuck's Pokémon were far inferior to Will.
Will could even boldly claim that in this entire Kanto Conference, no trainer or Pokémon had more battle experience or faster reaction speed than him.
Want to beat him?
It wasn't hard. Just honestly crush him with stats.
But if you couldn't create a stat gap wide enough to overwhelm him, you were just going to get crushed by him.
Physical reaction speed depended on physical stats. Will's neural reaction speed was god-tier, but his body was still limited. If his body couldn't keep up with his mind, he was like a human trying to dodge a bullet.
So as long as your physical stats could overwhelm his, beating him wouldn't be hard.
But...
You could say that was the only way to beat him.
"Hitmonlee!!"
With Chuck's cry of despair, the match ended.
"The winner is Lorelei from Four Island, Sevii Islands region!!"
The referee's voice rang out.
Cheers erupted across the stadium for the young girl.
Making it to the elimination round on her first journey was enough to earn Lorelei the title of "Genius Girl," even if she had stopped at the Top 64.
But now... not only had she not stopped, she had defeated an adult and was advancing to the Top 32.
"Yay! Piplup! We won! You're the best~"
Lorelei picked Will up and spun him around in circles.
And next...
They would look toward the Top 32!
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