He even started rapping...
Baimu was speechless, watching his opponent miming scratching a vinyl with his hands while spitting out saliva with each "bbox," feeling that he might have encountered a not-so-smart opponent.
The red lights on the wall flickered.
According to the person who brought him in earlier, this was the signal for both sides to prepare.
The chosen mode was three-on-three, meaning one side would win if the opposing side's three Pokémon lost their combat ability or surrendered.
Seeing this, Brother Rap finally stopped his near-torn lips, trying to identify Baimu's origin through his attire.
But before reaching Pyrite Arena, Flop had him change his team uniform.
So Brother Rap stared for a long time but couldn't figure out where Baimu came from. Trying to pick a counter Pokémon based on his organization was in vain.
Beep—
A shrill alarm sounded.
Baimu threw out his Pokeball and charged forward.
The unwritten rule at the Pyrite Arena was not to attack Trainers directly, nor to attack the victor or the loser, but injuries occurring during the battle were not under its jurisdiction.
Accidental injuries were inevitable.
Therefore, Flop had told him that many newbie Trainers liked to use large-scale moves to directly take down the opposing Trainer to secure a victory.
But this was meaningless to Baimu; injuring the person in front of him did him no good, only defeating his elf would allow Lairon to enhance its strength and gain more power.
"Gudo!"
In a flash of white light, Lairon landed, saw its Trainer running to the side, and hurriedly stepped forward to overtake him.
On the other side.
Brother Rap hesitated slightly, choosing a Pokémon only after he clearly saw Lairon.
Bam!
As the white light disappeared, what landed was a beige Venonat with limbs growing from its head, beast ears, and a pig nose—
Primeape.
Claimed to be in a constant state of frenzy and anger, the angrier it gets, the stronger its muscles grow—the pig ape Pokémon.
Brother Rap obviously used his chance to choose after realizing it was Lairon, picking a type to counter it, but this approach undeniably lost him the privilege of making the first strike.
"Rock Seal!"
Lairon's initial move was almost parallel to the command, smashing its claws onto the ground, causing countless large rocks to break through the earth with a rumble and hurling toward Primeape!
The speed of the soaring rocks wasn't particularly fast, but since Baimu had shortened the distance between them beforehand, the reaction time left for Primeape was minimal.
"Use Anger Shattering!"
Brother Rap hurriedly shouted.
But by the time he gave the order, the rocks had already arrived and successively crashed into Primeape's body. Even if it struggled to break a rock or two, it was in vain.
"Loo!"
Primeape crossed its arms in front, emitting a pained grunt while the varied sizes of rocks and dust surrounded it, rendering Lairon's location unclear.
Brother Rap's vision was undoubtedly hindered, but in his hesitation, he didn't dare break through the dust to observe Lairon's position, thus giving Baimu a free opportunity.
"Quicksand Hell!"
With a loud shout, Lairon struck the ground again, causing the hard-packed yellow earth field to crumble yard by yard and soon form a spinning, sinking pit!
Primeape's body uncontrollably toppled into it, spinning with the quicksand as it gradually sank, becoming unmanageable.
It couldn't help but start to struggle, but such a pit only sinks faster with more struggling. In a few seconds, half of its body was submerged, completely at mercy.
Brother Rap shrieked and immediately thought of using the Pokeball to save Primeape.
However, the swirling Quicksand Hell wouldn't allow such an opportunity.
The Binding state rendered the Pokeball ineffective even when its red light hit Primeape.
After failing to retrieve Primeape multiple times, Lairon mercilessly formed numerous sharp rocks in the air, throwing them towards its opponent!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several dull thuds.
The aiming accuracy Lairon had been practicing all these days came in handy; out of five rocks, four hit hard, and all four exploded right on Primeape's head.
Primeape's frenzied expression gradually turned confused, and eventually, its eyes rolled back as it fainted.
"Hiss!"
Brother Rap's face stiffened, watching the dust-shrouded, unclear figure of Baimu, feeling a chill down his spine.
His Primeape was taken down so decisively with a combo.
Where did this person come from? How come I've never heard of him in the arena? An outsider Trainer?
On the other side.
Baimu gently praised Lairon, equally curious about Brother Rap—
So weak.
Forget everything else, the synergy between him and his Primeape was non-existent, like those rookie Trainers from other regions, foolishly standing still, awaiting the opponent's attack without even dodging.
At least shout something like "dodge quickly," seeing an attack only to counter-attack, what's that supposed to mean?
So confident?
But thanks to having an idiot as an opponent, Baimu discovered something Lairon needed to be cautious about—
The wind-up time for Quicksand Hell was too long.
Typically, this move has two uses—one is to stir up a small Sandstorm Tornado, trapping the opponent's Pokémon. The other is the ant lion trap just used.
Both have their pros and cons, while the "ant lion trap" possesses the power to alter terrain, it significantly depends on the soil quality, extending or shortening the transformation time.
The machine-compacted ground underfoot was okay for now, but if it were granite, Lairon wouldn't create the ant lion trap quickly enough to trap the enemy's Pokémon.
And during this time, who knows what the enemy's Pokémon could do.
Previously unnoticed due to the high cost of maintaining the battle arena, practice could only occur in the Underground City's battle grounds.
Moreover, Mawile could "fly," making 'Quicksand Hell' unable to trap this guy, rendering it useless even if used.
Adjust the usage according to the opponent's situation.
Baimu watched as Brother Rap finally withdrew Primeape with a full sweat and awaited the next Pokémon he'd use with some anticipation.
Though this guy was terribly weak, it's better than having no opponent and fighting internally all the time.
——
Arena lobby.
Flop awaited the returning, still-lustful Baimu.
"How is it? Doesn't it feel different from your previous battles?"
"Indeed."
The latter nodded, even compared to the earliest battles in the Underground City with Otsuka and them, the arena's battle style was somewhat mild, lacking that aggressive all-or-nothing attitude.
Not to mention charity contests where they'd attack the Trainer without attacking the Pokémon, or even attacking the Pokémon just to get to the Trainer.
No.
Actually, it should be called slaughter instead.
But Baimu knew clearly that the current sort of reciprocal battle in the arena was the normal bout in the Pokémon World, the kind of battle that swept all regions.
"You'll get used to it after a while." Flop patted his shoulder, "Just remember not to mix it with external battles; after all, it's just a product under Ying Yuan's constraints."
"Hmm."
Baimu acknowledged understanding.
"By the way, there's a competition here next month. If you don't mind, you can participate, the entry fee isn't high, and if you perform well, the rewards are tremendous."
Flop pointed to the big screen beside them.
It clearly displayed a competition named "Pyrite Arena Tournament."