(A/N: New Patreon: Alberto Catalan! Welcome aboard, legend! Bonus chapter incoming!)
"Bisharp, Slash!" Plumeria commanded.
Her life philosophy was refreshingly simple: Just do it!
Her Bisharp embodied this mentality perfectly. Facing the golden meteor that was John's charging Arcanine, it neither flinched nor dodged. Instead, the steel Pokemon raised its right arm, condensing Dark-type energy into a gleaming blade, and slashed downward.
BOOM!
Plumeria felt only a scorching blast of heat rushing past her before her Bisharp vanished from sight.
When her senses caught up to the action, she found her Pokemon pinned beneath Arcanine amid the ruins of a villa behind her. Golden flames engulfed Bisharp's metallic body.
"Break free! Use Iron Head!" Plumeria shouted desperately.
Bisharp responded immediately, attacking Arcanine with the only part of its body it could still move. The ninja-like Pokemon's blade-crowned head glowed with metallic energy as it thrust upward.
Arcanine gracefully leapt away, relinquishing its pin, but not before unleashing a barrage of ten Flamethrower attacks, each stream of fire pulsing with incredible vitality.
"SHHRREEEEEEEK!"
Even from a distance, John could hear the sound of violent flames scorching metal, the golden fire spreading across the ground like liquid sunshine.
By the time Arcanine returned to John's side like a gust of wind, Bisharp had already collapsed, unable to continue fighting.
It wasn't surprising. Though rain normally weakened Fire-type moves, Bisharp's Steel/Dark typing made it doubly vulnerable to Arcanine's flames. The rain might as well not have been falling at all.
One Flare Blitz hadn't been enough to end the fight instantly, but adding a barrage of Flamethrower attacks? No Pokemon could withstand that.
Seeing her Bisharp defeated, Plumeria gritted her teeth in fury and reached for more Pokeballs.
With twin flashes of light, a Salazzle (LV67) and a Crobat (LV64) materialized on the waterlogged battlefield!
"Salazzle, Dragon Tail!" "Crobat, Air Cutter!"
Salazzle spun around, swinging its dark green, glowing tail. Simultaneously, Crobat flapped its four wings rapidly, sending countless invisible air blades hurtling toward Arcanine.
John smiled. Facing two Pokemon nearly ten levels higher than his own, and still in the rain, it would be impolite to make Arcanine handle everything.
"Greninja, Cut!" "Gardevoir, Psychic!" John directed with a casual gesture.
Greninja's lithe form shot forward in a blur of light blue water, skimming just above the ground with fish-like dexterity. A gleaming white energy blade materialized in its hand as it approached Salazzle.
CLANG!
Cut met Dragon Tail in mid-swing.
The impact sent Salazzle flying backward, but Greninja didn't pursue. Instead, it formed five spinning Water Shuriken and launched them in rapid succession, pinning the toxic lizard Pokemon in midair!
Being Fire/Poison-type, Salazzle suffered double damage from Water-type moves.
There was no suspense about the outcome.
Meanwhile, Gardevoir extended one elegant arm, unleashing a wave of mental energy. Though invisible, the Psychic attack intercepted all of Crobat's Air Cutter blades easily. Then, with lightning speed, the psychic force pierced through Crobat's defenses!
As a Poison/Flying-type, Crobat was naturally vulnerable to Psychic-type moves.
With double damage from Psychic, eliminating the fragile bat Pokemon in a single strike was child's play.
In just one round, two high-level Pokemon had been dispatched with single attacks.
John could only marvel at how simple these battles had become. Even opponents of similar levels posed no challenge for his well-trained team.
Plumeria's hand moved toward another Pokeball, but Gardevoir wasn't about to give her another chance. Having dispatched Crobat, its invisible Psychic power now wrapped around Plumeria's arms and body, lifting her into the air and suspending her upside down before John.
Three Totem stickers slipped from her pocket, guided by Psychic through the air, and landed neatly in John's waiting palm.
"So an Executive drops three stickers?" John noted with satisfaction.
His collection now stood at 88 stickers. Just 12 more to reach his goal. And if he stayed in Po Town long enough, he knew those remaining stickers couldn't escape him.
John looked up at the mansion ahead as its gates slowly opened. A young man with stark white hair emerged, his face contorted with rage and impatience.
"Yo, yo, yo! Who the heck are you, and why are you trashing my Team Skull base?" he demanded.
"No particular reason," John called back. "Just wanted to clean up your operation, especially you, the guy who couldn't even make it as a Trial Captain."
The white-haired man's expression instantly darkened.
He occasionally joked about himself as "the guy who couldn't become a captain," but that was self-deprecation. It wasn't for some stranger to throw those mocking words in his face.
"So... you're here looking for trouble?" he growled.
"Hurry up and send out your Pokemon. I have important business to attend to later," John replied, gesturing challengingly toward the Team Skull boss. The important business, of course, was exchanging his stickers for the Totem Kommo-o!
"Have it your way!" Guzma's eyes blazed with fury as he threw a Pokeball onto the rain-soaked battlefield.
A Pinsir landed with a heavy thud, its massive pincers clacking menacingly. The Bug-type Pokemon emitted its characteristic chittering growl through the slit-like mouthparts at the center of its body. Above its head floated the number: LV76.
"Now this is getting interesting," John remarked, raising his hand to direct his next move.
"Greninja, Surf!"
Greninja immediately leapt forward and slammed both hands against the ground.
Once again, a ten-meter-high azure wave rose behind it, surging powerfully toward Guzma and his Pinsir!
"Hyper Beam!" Guzma countered with a confident smirk.
Destructive energy immediately gathered in Pinsir's mouth, building to critical levels as the wave approached.
The dazzling white beam erupted just as the water was about to crash down, slicing the giant wave clean in half!
"Waterfall!" John commanded without missing a beat.
Greninja launched itself through the gap in the divided wave, its body encased in spiraling water as it corkscrewed through the air directly toward Pinsir.
"Protect!" Guzma shouted urgently.
Pinsir crossed its pincers and arms, generating an invisible barrier just as Greninja approached.
BOOM!
The Protect barrier shattered under the force of Waterfall, but it had served its purpose in blocking the direct attack. However, the impact scattered countless streams of water that landed around Pinsir in a spiral pattern.
The successful hit from Waterfall triggered a secondary effect, Whirlpool!
Not only that, but the rebound from the collision propelled Greninja upward again. Without waiting for John's command, the ninja frog formed five Water Shuriken in its hands and hurled them simultaneously toward the trapped Pinsir.