I, Gary, Want to Become a Pokemon Master

Chapter 695 - 695: The First Half Concludes

"Dynamic Punch!"Breloom shot forward, chasing Lucario down and slamming a punch toward it.

Lucario sensed the killing blow coming, but its body refused to respond. It could only watch helplessly as Breloom's fist closed in.

Bang!!

Lucario was sent skidding back, but it didn't go down. It pushed itself upright almost immediately.

The problem was, once it stood up, its body started swaying back and forth. It had fallen into confusion.

"Swords Dance, then Drain Punch," Gary ordered, not bothering to rush. He used the opening to let Breloom recover.

"Lucario, quick, use Aura Sphere!" Pipa hadn't given up yet, trying to see if Lucario could pull off the move through the confusion.

But Lucario didn't follow her command. Instead, it condensed a Bone Rush and started swinging wildly at empty air, attacking nothing.

On the other side, Breloom had already finished its Swords Dance and was charging at Lucario. Its fist, glowing with golden fighting energy, slammed into Lucario's body. The golden energy converted itself into healing power, restoring Breloom's stamina.

Lucario crashed to the ground, eyes spinning.

"Lucario is unable to battle! Breloom wins!" Dendra announced.

Watching her own students get taken apart, Dendra felt distinctly uncomfortable. How was this any different from being slapped in the face?

She could clearly see now that Gary really wasn't holding back. His Pokémon classification system was genuinely based on League Conference standards.

If the top twenty students of the academy were stripped of the Pokémon their family elders had given them, then their actual strength was only at the level of preliminary qualifiers.

Most of them would struggle to even reach the main rounds. They were noticeably weaker than the academy students of decades past.

The early-generation students at the academy had been so strong because education back then was less developed.

Conditions weren't ideal, so teachers and students had to work together to make extra time, allowing students to spend more hours actually training their Pokémon.

But now, with how society had developed, schools placed too much emphasis on academic education.

Too much time was eaten up by classes and homework, which meant Pokémon training time had been heavily compressed. The result was that Pokémon school students could no longer place well in League Conferences.

Pipa recalled her fainted Lucario but still hadn't given up. She reached for her third Poké Ball.

"My strongest Trump Card, Primeape, it's you!"

[Lv. 41 Primeape ♂ / Elite-tier]

Although the students at Naranja Academy weren't particularly strong themselves, their Pokémon all had decent potential, generally at Gym tier or above.

That was true of Alliance Conference Pokémon as well, but those Pokémon were the result of selection from a much wider pool. The twenty students chosen by Naranja Academy had also been screened through internal competitions, so it made sense that their Pokémon had strong potential.

Bang!

The Stealth Rock activated again as Primeape landed, sharp stones flying up and striking it.

"Heeyaa!"

Primeape let out an enraged shout, swinging its claws wildly to smash the incoming Stealth Rock shards into pieces.

"Mach Punch!"

"Fire Punch!"

Gary and Pipa gave their commands at almost the exact same moment.

Both Pokémon rushed forward instantly.

Bang!!

Breloom's Mach Punch was still faster. It connected first, hitting Primeape squarely and knocking it back several meters.

"Heeyaa!"

Primeape roared, feeling a level of rage it had never experienced before. Its anger took visible form, manifesting as red breath that swirled around its body.

"Let them taste our rage! Rage Fist!" Pipa shouted.

"Heeyaa!"

Primeape gathered all its anger into its fist and threw a single punch. The air cracked with an explosive sound, and a black-red surge of energy shot forward, racing toward Breloom.

"Dynamic Punch!"

Breloom didn't shrink back. Its body coiled in preparation, waiting for the Rage Fist to come close before swinging.

Bang!!

The moment Breloom's claw touched the Rage Fist, the attack couldn't withstand the force and detonated on contact.

"Dynamic Punch, charge!"

"Douli!"

Breloom shot forward, its long tail trailing behind it as it ran, looking like a charging raptor.

"Meet it head-on! Cross Chop!" Pipa ordered.

"Heeyaa!"

Primeape rushed out as well, crossing its arms with red fighting energy flowing across them.

Both attacks collided!

Bang!!!

Breloom blocked Primeape's Cross Chop with one fist. Then, suddenly, its other fist swung in from below.

Bang!

The second punch slammed into Primeape's head, snapping it backward.

"What?! Another fist?!"

Pipa was stunned. She hadn't expected Breloom's other arm could still launch an attack.

Cross Chop required both arms to execute. Dynamic Punch only needed one. When the two attacks clashed, Breloom still had a free hand to follow up. That was the key advantage.

Primeape, struck by Dynamic Punch, immediately fell into confusion. Gary wasted no time.

"Drain Punch!"

Breloom rushed in, and a single Drain Punch was enough to finish Primeape off completely.

"Primeape is unable to battle! All of Pipa's Pokémon have lost the ability to battle! The match is over!" Dendra announced.

Pipa had lost the first match, but she had performed much better than Pina. At least throughout the battle, she had managed to push back and showcase some real strategy.

But that just put the remaining students under even greater pressure.

Pipa had chosen a Pokémon from the first echelon and had been able to force Pawniard onto the defensive, mostly because of type advantage.

And that had been Pawniard, a Pokémon Pipa had chosen herself, with no prior intelligence to study. In the actual qualifiers, opponents and their Pokémon would all be unknowns.

The bigger issue was that Pawniard was a first-echelon Pokémon. That essentially meant their strength was at the level of qualifier competitors. After watching two matches, the pride they'd carried into the day was completely shattered.

The battles continued, but the remaining students had learned their lesson. None of them tried to challenge Pokémon they couldn't handle. Every single one of them chose from the first and second echelons.

Unfortunately, the first echelon only had five Pokémon. Pawniard had taken significant damage during the fight against Pipa and couldn't continue battling for long after that.

Nidoking, Venomoth, Crobat, and Butterfree all came under heavy pressure. While the students themselves weren't particularly strong, every one of them did have at least one Pokémon at Gym tier. Battle after battle, the first echelon Pokémon couldn't keep up.

After ten consecutive challenges, the first echelon Pokémon were no longer in any condition to fight, and several second echelon Pokémon were also injured. With that, the first half of the day's event came to an end.

The remaining ten Trainers would continue the challenges in the afternoon.

In the school cafeteria.

"Gary, the classification system you came up with is really good. It lets students see exactly where they stand," Dendra said while they ate.

"But I think three echelons would have been enough. Five is unnecessary. For the afternoon session, why don't we just use three?"