Read advance chapters for both of my work, exclusively on Patreon at - www.patreon.com/Sniperwoof
-----------------
Two ravens faced each other across the distance.
One wore a gentleman's hat, its white chest plumage contrasting with its jet-black wings, resembling an elegant noble from the Middle Ages.
The one before it, however, was clad in heavy black armor, a magnificent, jagged crown atop its head, its eyes burning red like fire, like a war emperor leading his army on an expedition, arrogant and domineering.
A war between the noble and the emperor.
The thought flashed through Li Xiang's mind, and he immediately blew his whistle.
"Beep!"
No question, continue with Iron Head.
Flinching the opponent would be a win. Judging by the previous performance, their speeds weren't too different, and Tailwind ensured agility.
The opponent was suspected to have the Super Luck ability, but Corviknight itself had the Body Control EX ability, so the critical hit rate shouldn't be high.
Unless this guy had something special.
But no matter what, they wouldn't know without fighting.
"Caww!"
Corviknight's cry was clear and loud, once again mustering that full-army-charge momentum, its silvery crown aimed forward as it rushed towards Honchkrow.
However, the opponent seemed to have changed.
A similar but sharper whistle sounded.
Honchkrow's wings glowed red, sparks flickering around them, quickly forming terrifying flames that, under its fierce flapping, became a fiery red heat wave, sweeping across the sky!
Heat Wave!
'A mixed attacker Honchkrow?'
Li Xiang was shocked. This Heat Wave looked unusually powerful, unlike what a non-Fire-type physical attacker should be able to produce.
'And that whistle!'
In the sky, Corviknight, closing in on Honchkrow, clearly hadn't expected this move. But it was too late to change direction now, so it shifted its stance, blocking with its broad, thick wings!
Thump!
The high-temperature airflow hit!
An indescribable force erupted, immediately sending Corviknight flying back!
The heat flow exploded into a cloud of smoke mid-air!
"Caww!"
Corviknight, thrown back several meters, let out a grunt. Its black feathers showed slight charring, with wisps of white smoke rising.
The damage was indeed outrageous!
Li Xiang frowned slightly. If Honchkrow's Heat Wave wasn't normally this powerful, he would have considered pressing on, but in this situation...
Corviknight would definitely be kited to death by this Honchkrow!
Abigail, seeing Heat Wave hit, immediately pressed the advantage. She glanced at Li Xiang from afar, put her hand to her mouth, and blew a melodious whistle.
Sparks began to gather again.
Clearly, her Honchkrow could also be controlled by whistle, but she had kept it hidden until now.
Li Xiang hadn't seen Abigail use this in the Junior Tournament. Was it a recent development?
Or had it appeared before, and he just hadn't noticed?
Corviknight couldn't stay on the field any longer.
"Beep!"
Li Xiang took out a PokéBall while changing the pitch of his whistle. Corviknight understood, flapped its wings, and shot straight up into the sky!
Honchkrow saw this, flapped its wings, and chased closely, fierce flames once again wreathing its feathers!
Both ascended rapidly!
But compared to Corviknight, which used no moves and focused solely on evasion, Honchkrow, which was holding back Heat Wave to avoid recoil, clearly couldn't keep up. It could only watch as the distance between them grew.
Fortunately, flight altitude was limited, just like Pokémon couldn't stay outside the arena for long.
The measure was a height limit pole in the distance, about fifty meters high.
If a Pokémon exceeded this height, it had to descend within ten seconds. Otherwise, it would be considered a foul.
This meant Honchkrow didn't need to chase Corviknight relentlessly; it could just fly to the height limit and wait for Corviknight to come down.
So, Honchkrow stopped wasting effort, slowing slightly—
Whoosh!
A strong gust blew!
Honchkrow only saw a blur. The Corviknight that was just above it turned into a tightly coiled spiral, wrapped in sky-blue air currents, spinning wildly as it plummeted at high speed!
The spiral brushed past it!
'So fast!'
It ascended rapidly and then descended rapidly. Drill Peck enhanced its descent speed, but how did it change direction so quickly?
Honchkrow didn't understand, but that didn't stop it from attacking Corviknight!
Its crimson wings suddenly flapped!
The heat wave poured down like a rocket's exhaust plume, resembling the fiery clouds of dawn hanging from the sky, carrying a terrifying temperature that raised the air's heat!
Even Li Xiang below felt the heat rushing towards him, showing the power of this move.
To have such firepower without even using Nasty Plot...
The Heat Wave attack from above had a huge area of effect, making it difficult for even the rapidly descending Corviknight to dodge.
However, Li Xiang had intended for Corviknight to take this hit.
Coincidentally, the spiral airflow from Drill Peck also helped block the heat wave!
Therefore, even when directly hit by Heat Wave, after being partially offset by the Drill Peck spiral and part by the Flying-type energy, the final damage reaching Corviknight was minimal!
With Corviknight's endurance, taking it was still easy. More importantly, Li Xiang got a chance to switch out Corviknight.
"Beep!"
The whistle sounded.
The moment Heat Wave ended, he immediately raised the PokéBall and recalled Corviknight just before it would have hit the ground.
U-turn required hitting the opponent to switch, but in that situation, Corviknight would have been hit by Heat Wave before it could get close.
The rapid spiral descent was purely thanks to Drill Peck.
Outside the arena.
The school team members all showed surprised expressions.
Although Abigail was only a fourth-year, she was still a regular who had competed last year.
Even if the current situation meant Corviknight was forced off the field, judging by its earlier performance, if not for that Heat Wave, Corviknight could have fought Honchkrow evenly.
For a freshman who just entered school to have this level of strength... if not for Li Xiang's reputation as the national top ranker, they might have thought he was a "repeater" student—someone who entered after turning fifteen.
"He's definitely grown again."
Su Qian crossed her arms, supporting her ample chest.
She felt Li Xiang's performance was within expectations. After all, she had watched the match records released by Sakura University more than once.
She had some understanding of the Pokémon he used.
Among them, Corviknight's tanking ability left a deep impression.
That slashing strike it took—even her Pokémon wouldn't dare take it head-on, yet Corviknight managed a mutual knockout.
Just this endurance surpassed many Pokémon.
'A Flying/Steel tank... excellent in many aspects. Perfect for taking hits in double battles, an ideal teammate for covering attackers. Very nice, very nice...'
On the field.
Seeing Li Xiang recall his Pokémon, Abigail also recalled her Honchkrow.
Very decisively, without even waiting to see what Pokémon Li Xiang would send out. It was as if they were back at the starting point, both sending out their Pokémon again.
"Roar!"
A loud roar sounded.
The black-striped, red-maned tiger-man landed, its belt instantly glowing with blazing light!
Opposite it, the Pokémon sent out was a Doberman with snow-white curved horns, its gaze sharp and arrogant, its demon-like tail gently swishing. Its body was slender but full of muscle.
Its back, neck, and legs were partially covered in bone-like structures that reflected a metallic color in the sunlight.
Houndoom, Dark/Fire-type, ability Flash Fire.
In the games, Fire-type moves become ineffective and power up its own Fire moves. Here, it was like a fire-absorbing talent, with a limit, but only the trainer knew what that limit was.
'Did she send out Houndoom because she anticipated Incineroar?'
Li Xiang remained calm, not panicked at all.
This Pokémon naturally had a limited movepool and was a mixed attacker. Flash Fire was useless here; normally, it didn't even have moves that could effectively hit Incineroar.
On his side, however, he could hit Houndoom however he wanted!
The two Pokémon of the same type stood about ten meters apart.
One used Intimidate, the other took it, its Attack lowered, but its expression didn't change at all.
At the same level, frightening the opponent was extremely difficult.
"Snarl!"
Li Xiang called out, abandoning the idea of starting with Fake Out.
The opponent was clearly exceptionally strong-willed, showing no reaction to Incineroar's intimidating roar and even actively closing in.
In this case, forcing a flinch with Fake Out wasn't very meaningful and could easily give the opponent a chance to use Taunt.
Better to just lower its Special Attack directly!
"Taunt!"
Sure enough, as Incineroar turned and roared at Houndoom, releasing waves of black-red sound waves, Houndoom chose to endure it and, like Honchkrow, revealed an arrogant expression!
Abigail's Pokémon all seemed to have an aura of extreme condescension, infuriating to see.
As expected, Taunt took effect!
Incineroar grinned, its face full of excitement, looking like it was pumping adrenaline.
Li Xiang wasn't worried at all and continued, "Snarl!"
"Roar—!!"
An even louder roar, making the air tremble. The black-red sound waves surged towards Houndoom like electric currents!
"Snarl."
Abigail said calmly.
The Houndoom in front of her watched the incoming sound waves, its expression calm. It took a deep breath, "Roar—!!"
Like a Buddhist Lion's Roar, the Houndoom, whose Special Attack had been lowered by one stage, roared furiously. The dense, black-red ripples almost turned into a tidal wave!
'What terrifying power!'
This didn't seem like Snarl; it was more like Dark Pulse!
Houndoom used the move slightly later, but the sound waves it released not only weren't suppressed by Incineroar's, they even swallowed the opposing waves instead!
It showed no sign of having its Special Attack lowered, making one wonder if it had the Contrary or Defiant ability!
'A well-matched opponent!'
Incineroar, seeing itself being overpowered, grew even more excited. It hadn't encountered such an opponent in a long time.
In an instant, its sound waves were completely swallowed. Houndoom's Snarl slammed into Incineroar, exploding violently!
Boom!
Smoke billowed!
But soon, Incineroar emerged from the smoke unharmed, charging towards Houndoom!
Its arms glowed with a vortex-like brown-red light!
Drain Punch!
"Sludge Bomb."
Houndoom stepped, not meeting the charge but choosing to create distance. It opened its mouth, breathing hot air, its throat bulged, and it spat out deep purple sludge carrying high heat!
The air made sizzling, strange noises!
The attack range was extremely wide, making it impossible for the advancing Incineroar to dodge.
The latter hadn't planned to dodge anyway. The brown-red vortexes on its hands suddenly thrust forward, then forcefully swept to the sides!
The foul-smelling mud was split apart as easily as tearing paper, not a drop touching its body!
However, the vortexes on Incineroar's hands slowly dissipated, and it had to stop its charge.
Poison-type energy had the special effect of "corroding energy." When clashing with moves of other types, it held an advantage over other attributes.
Especially when the opponent used close-range moves.