“Roar!”

The moment Rhydon hit the field, it let out a bellow no less imposing than Gyarados’s.

One was a sea tyrant. The other was a land tyrant.

Ever since training under Blaine’s Rhydon, Hanhan had gradually come to realize that the power inside its own body was just as violent—just as savage and explosive—as its father’s.

“Hm? That Rhydon…” Agatha narrowed her eyes the instant she saw it. Blaine’s influence was all over that Pokémon.

“So you really do think highly of this kid,” she said. “You actually taught him that move…”

Blaine gave a dry cough. Since she had already seen through it, there was no point hiding it. “He mostly catches Water-types. I’m a Fire specialist. Rhydon’s the only one we’ve got in common.”

Agatha gave a low laugh. “So what if it knows that move? Tania was trained by me personally. One Rhydon isn’t enough to turn this around.”

Blaine only smiled and didn’t argue. Then, a little awkwardly, he added, “The brat doesn’t even know what his Rhydon learned yet.”

Of course Reiji knew.

He had the panel.

[Rhydon]

[Type: Ground + Rock]

[Gender: Male]

[Potential: 74.33%]

[Level: 44.38%]

[Ability: Rock Head/39.15%] [Hidden Ability: Reckless/38.17%]

Ground-type [Moves: (Earthquake/9.22%) (Drill Run/7.49%) (Bulldoze/20.17%) (High Horsepower/33.28%) (Dig/26.73%) (Stomping Tantrum/26.94%)]

Rock-type [(Sandstorm/10.54%) (Rock Blast/7.91%) (Stone Edge/6.91%) (Rock Slide/15.21%) (Smack Down/17.37%) (Rock Polish/37.26%)]

Normal-type [(Rock Climb/36.27%) (Tackle/41.21%) (Tail Whip/25.88%) (Head Smash/28.31%) (Double-Edge/39.14%) (Horn Attack/40.53%) (Scary Face/11.14%) (Stomp/9.37%) (Horn Drill/7.17%) (Take Down/16.21%)]

Fire-type [(Fire Punch/14.31%) (Fire Fang/36.91%) (Sunny Day/21.63%) (Flamethrower/19.41%) (Fire Blast/17.51%) (Heat Crash/34.33%)]

Electric-type [(Thunder Punch/6.26%) (Thunder Fang/30.45%)]

Ice-type [(Ice Punch/7.82%) (Ice Fang/28.94%)]

Water-type [(Rain Dance/4.34%) (Surf/4.53%)]

Unclassified [(Crunch/38.82%) (Poison Jab/7.45%) (Shadow Claw/6.94%) (Iron Tail/8.11%) (Counter/26.22%) (Rest/42.81%)]

It had been ten days since Hanhan evolved, and this was the first time Reiji had checked its panel again.

Its potential had not changed.

Its level had gone up by one, though. Nearly ten days for a single level. At this rate, progress really was going to become a long grind.

Its older moves had not changed much either. Most of the improvement had come from overall growth feeding back into move proficiency.

That was not the important part.

The real point was the three new Fire-type moves Hanhan had learned on the ship: Flamethrower, Fire Blast, and Heat Crash.

The first two were exactly what Reiji had planned. Hanhan learning those did not surprise him at all.

The last one was what threw him.

He had never asked Hanhan to learn Heat Crash, and he had never asked Blaine’s Rhydon to teach it either. That left only one explanation.

Blaine had interfered.

The Fire-type entries on the panel all had strong proficiency gains, but Heat Crash stood out in particular.

Heat Crash slammed into the target with a burning body. The heavier the user was compared to the target, the stronger the move became. If the target had shrunk itself, the move’s power doubled. In that state, it would not miss unless the target was off the field in the middle of a charging move.

That was the panel’s explanation, and the first time Reiji saw it, he had been genuinely confused.

Back in his old life, he knew the first two moves well. Flamethrower and Fire Blast were standard stuff. He used them all the time in games.

Only Heat Crash had caught him off guard. He almost never used it, to the point he had nearly forgotten the move existed.

It was only after checking the panel that he remembered it was a Generation V move. He had barely touched it before.

In an entire week aboard the ship, Hanhan had only learned those three Fire-type moves. It still had not picked up Swords Dance or Iron Defense, which was a little frustrating.

Still, the lessons had been free.

He could hardly complain, and he definitely was not in a position to be picky. All he could do now was accept it and use Hanhan to finish this Gym battle.

“Rhydon?” Tania looked at it and felt even more sure she had already won. She prepared to begin the final round. “It won’t matter. In front of Perish Song, any Pokémon is useless. Gengar can trade with anything.”

“Maybe,” Reiji said with a small smile. “But maybe not.”

“Rhydon, Rock Polish!”

Hanhan’s body shone at once, and the roughness along its frame seemed to smooth over as it sharpened itself for speed.

“Gengar, Perish Song!”

Tania intended to repeat the same trick again.

A black ripple spread from Gengar’s mouth, with eerie singing woven into the energy wave as it rolled toward Rhydon.

“Rhydon, Drill Run underground—seal the opening!”

The instant Rock Polish finished, Reiji made the call.

Since Perish Song was a sound-based move, he had already thought of another answer besides waiting it out or switching.

Do not hear the song.

Or bury it under enough noise that the song never properly reached you.

That was why he had Rhydon drill underground. The digging itself created noise, and once underground, the earth would muffle the song completely.

There were no truly unsolvable moves in the Pokémon world, and no unbeatable Pokémon either. Everything had counters. Everything had answers.

Even Ash’s Pikachu had electrocuted Arceus in the anime. If something could not be beaten, that only meant the one doing the fighting was not strong enough yet.

“Tch, damn it,” Tania muttered the second Rhydon vanished beneath the earth.

Gengar’s Perish Song had been cut off midway. There was no way to keep singing at a target that had gone underground. A Rhydon inside a tunnel could not hear the song, so the move had no effect.

“Rhydon, Shadow Claw!”

Reiji finally let out a breath when he saw Tania’s face tighten. That trick really was filthy. He had already fallen for it once. He was not about to fall for it a second time.

He stamped the ground to signal Hanhan from above. Since Hanhan could not hear him underground, that was the only way to tell it to strike.

If he delayed too long, even Hanhan might end up getting caught in Perish Song later.

The instant it felt the vibration, Rhydon burst out of the ground. Dark energy coiled around its thick arm and shaped itself into a claw as it tore up through the earth and slashed at Gengar.

But Gengar was alert. The moment Hanhan broke through the ground, it floated up just in time, and the Shadow Claw missed cleanly.

Hanhan landed back on the field.

Gengar grinned and slowly faded, its body turning transparent as it slipped into invisibility again.

The moment Reiji saw that, he wanted to call for Sandstorm—but that meant wrecking the Gym’s surroundings, and he had hesitated about that before.

Now Hanhan was his last Pokémon.

At this point he could not care anymore.

The maids might have extra cleaning to do later, but that was a price he could live with.

“Sorry,” he muttered inwardly. Then he raised his voice. “Rhydon, Sandstorm!”

Hanhan roared, and sand exploded from beneath its feet. Wind kicked up around the battlefield, carrying grit and dust into a swirling storm.

“Rhydon, watch how the sand moves. See if it’s hitting anything!”

If Counter Shield could wash Gengar out into view, then windblown sand should be able to do the same. Sandstorm was a Rock-type move, and against Gengar it still did damage. It should work.

Hanhan stood in the middle of the storm, scanning for any change in the flow.

Gengar could not stay hidden for long.

The sand kept hitting it, annoying more than painful, until its concealment finally broke and its body reappeared. It hovered there spitting sand out of its mouth, growing visibly more irritated by the second.

“Gengar, Energy Ball!” Tania gave up on hiding. If she did not start firing back, Gengar was just going to keep getting chipped down.

“Rhydon, Rock Blast!”

Hanhan stamped and kicked up dozens of jagged stones, hurling them straight toward the glowing Energy Ball.

Reiji narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin.

Was she trying to kite him? Or something else?

She still had one possible trade left—Destiny Bond. If she wanted, Gengar could still try to take Rhydon down with it.

But she was not doing it.

So what exactly was she waiting for?

In a formal match, a trainer could not keep deliberately stalling forever. If one side only ran and never properly engaged, the referee could call it against them. Reiji genuinely could not tell what she was aiming for anymore.

Then she used it again.

“Gengar, Perish Song!”

“Again?” Reiji almost wanted to laugh. Was that really all she had left?

He reacted instantly. “Rhydon, use Drill Run and dig again!”

Hanhan turned like a spinning drill and bored straight back underground, carving out another tunnel and blocking the entrance with rock.

The howling sand at the mouth of the tunnel was louder than Gengar’s voice itself. Perish Song was never getting through that.

Gengar floated in the air, the storm dying away, the song dying with it, and now it had lost sight of its target again. It had no idea where Rhydon might emerge from.

Then a roar came from underground—

And a pillar of blazing heat erupted upward beneath Gengar.

The blast hit full on.

Fire swallowed Gengar whole.

When the flames cleared, Gengar collapsed onto the ground with its tongue hanging out, coughing up a thick cloud of black smoke. Its whole body had been scorched black.

The fire had come too suddenly. Gengar had not even had time to react before it got blasted senseless.

Fire was only neutral damage against Gengar.

But Gengar had already taken a critical hit from Shadow Claw earlier, and that was no ordinary burst of flame.

A pressurized fire jet from underground was more like a volcanic blast or a flamethrower. The tunnel compressed it, which made the temperature and force even worse.

Gengar never even got the chance to use Destiny Bond. It was burned out before it could act.

The moment Gengar went down, Reiji let out a long breath.

At last.

That troublesome Gengar was finally finished.

Hanhan climbed back up out of the ground, and Reiji stared at it in surprise. That fire pillar had startled him too. He had never ordered anything like that. It had to have been Hanhan’s own call.

The timing had been good—and lucky too.

There had been three tunnel openings in total. Two were blocked with rock.

And somehow Gengar had just happened to hover directly over the only unsealed one and taken the full blast.

Now both sides were down to their last Pokémon. Only now did this really feel like the true third round of the Gym battle.

He had no idea what Tania would send next.

“Come out, Ludicolo!”

The moment Tania threw her third Poké Ball, Agatha, watching from the loft above, gave a quiet shake of her head.

“No need to watch the rest. The girl’s lost. She doesn’t have enough battle experience yet.”

“Ludicolo against Rhydon seems like a perfectly reasonable choice,” Blaine replied. “Grass and Water together should pressure it well.”

Agatha gave him a flat look. “That depends on which Rhydon you’re talking about. Against an ordinary Rhydon, sure. Against the one your lot trained? Not good enough.”

Blaine only chuckled. There was no point debating. Agatha already knew perfectly well what he meant and was pretending not to.

“Ludicolo?” Reiji looked at it and immediately felt the match swing hard in his favor.

He was not getting cocky.

Hanhan simply did not fear Water or Grass the way a normal Rhydon should. Its two quadruple weaknesses might as well have been gone. If Ludicolo could not exploit those, what was it supposed to win with?

“Rhydon, Rock Polish!”

Reiji still had the first move, so he doubled down on speed. That made it Hanhan’s second Rock Polish—four stages of Speed in total.

“Ludicolo, Rain Dance!”

Tania changed plans at once. She had seen that underground fire blast. She needed rain on the field if she wanted to suppress Rhydon’s Fire-type moves.

Ludicolo clapped, spun, and danced, calling a bank of clouds overhead. A light rain began to fall.

“Rhydon, Poison Jab!”

Reiji had Hanhan charge immediately. Against this Ludicolo, fancy tricks were unnecessary.

With two Rock Polish boosts behind it, Rhydon was moving at four stages of increased Speed. It would close the gap in no time.

“Ludicolo, Hydro Pump!”

Seeing the oncoming Rhydon, Ludicolo opened its mouth and fired out repeated bursts of pressurized water.

But the instant they hit Rhydon, they turned into steam.

The blasts evaporated on contact.

“Wait… is this Heat Crash?” Reiji’s eyes widened.

The Hydro Pump was not slowing Hanhan down at all. It was not even sticking. The water simply burst apart into vapor. Even the splashing runoff and the light rain from above evaporated the moment they touched Rhydon’s body.

Now he was starting to understand why Blaine had taught it that move.

“That can’t be right!” Tania stared in disbelief. Hydro Pump was doing nothing. Rhydon was supposed to take quadruple-effective damage from Water, and Hydro Pump was a major move on top of that.

“Ludicolo, Magical Leaf!”

If Hydro Pump would not work, then she would try Grass instead—same quadruple-effective matchup, same theory.

Ludicolo spun again and fired glowing green leaves from its hand.

But they never even reached Hanhan.

The moment the leaves touched the intense heat radiating from Rhydon’s body, they caught fire and burned up.

Even the rain could not cool it down.

Magical Leaf ignited on contact.

That said everything about how absurdly high Rhydon’s body temperature had become.

A heartbeat later, Rhydon was right in front of Ludicolo.

Its fist dropped straight down in a heavy arc, wrapped in purple Poison-type energy.

“Ludicolo, Protect! Then Leech Seed!”

Tania had no time left to dodge. She had already spent too many moves setting things up.

Rain did help Ludicolo through Swift Swim, but Rhydon had already boosted twice. At this point their Speed was roughly even. There was nowhere left to run.

Rhydon’s punch crashed into the pale green barrier Ludicolo threw up. Protect blocked the strike, but the impact still drove Ludicolo bodily down into the muddy field.

And even then, cracks spread across the barrier.

Ludicolo’s Protect had barely held.

That alone told Reiji one thing: Ludicolo’s level was lower than Hanhan’s. It had just barely managed to survive that punch.

[End of chapter]

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