The old priestess wasn't particularly interested in the special ability Silas possessed.
The main reason she had called him here was because she had sensed the aura of the sea emanating from him.
As a priestess of the Whirl Islands who possessed the Sea Soul Staff, she was far too familiar with such an aura.
No wonder the Sea Soul Staff suddenly began glowing yesterday afternoon. Could it be that the Sea Guardian has returned?
The old priestess silently looked at Silas.
Unlike the sages of Ecruteak City who had worshipped Ho-Oh since ancient times, the people of the Whirl Islands had never been fanatically devoted to the return of the Sea Guardian.
Here, the Sea Guardian was more of a spiritual symbol than an object of worship.
After so many years, the legend of Lugia in the Whirl Islands had even been reduced to the vague impression of a "silver Pokémon."
The Silver Wing, crafted in imitation of the feathers on its body, had become nothing more than a specialty souvenir of Silver Rock Island.
Time could erase many things.
To most people nowadays, they knew of the Sea Guardian, but they didn't know Lugia, much less what it actually looked like.
For the little Lugia, perhaps that was actually a good thing.
Of course, the old priestess was also filled with joy at Lugia's return.
At the very least, Lugia's return proved that the efforts the people of the Whirl Islands had made for so many years had earned its recognition.
That alone was enough.
Perhaps one day in the future, Lugia would appear before the people once again.
The old priestess firmly believed this.
"Teacher, it looks like the battle is about to begin."
At that moment, Priestess Maya spoke.
In her hand, rather incongruously, she held a highly advanced smartwatch phone.
"Then I'll take my leave."
Hearing this, Silas stood up from his chair.
He had yet to accomplish his goal in participating in the Whirl Islands Tournament. He couldn't simply end things here.
The old priestess smiled kindly.
"I wish you the best of luck."
"Thank you very much for your guidance and blessing."
Silas sincerely thanked her once more before following Priestess Maya out of the room.
In just half an hour, he had obtained quite a bit of valuable information from the old priestess.
An Aura Guardian was more than someone who could sense and control Aura. More importantly, they traveled from place to place using Aura to perform good deeds and passed down their techniques to others capable of using Aura.
Even future Ash couldn't truly be considered an Aura Guardian. He could only be described as an Aura user.
That was another reason why Aura Guardians had gradually faded from history.
Powerful Trainers were simply much more impressive than Aura Guardians.
"Next, let's welcome Silas and Masayuki to Field One! What kind of spectacular battle will they bring us this time? Let's wait and see!"
In the competitors' passage, Silas leaned against the wall as he listened to the announcement coming through the speakers, stretching his body slightly.
Thanks to Priestess Maya, his match had been scheduled as the final battle on Field One.
And with the help of the Sea Soul Staff, most of the mental energy he had expended in the small room inside the Ancient Arena had already recovered.
Therefore, Silas didn't have to worry about suddenly losing focus in the middle of this two-on-two battle because of mental exhaustion.
"Time to get ready."
He looked down at his partner beside his leg.
"Prinplup!"
Prinplup, which had been released from its Poké Ball earlier, was brimming with fighting spirit, repeatedly beating its wings against its body.
Vulpix's evolution was certainly important, but Prinplup's training couldn't be neglected either.
Battling against Pokémon of the same type but at a higher level was one of the best opportunities for a Pokémon to improve.
Besides, Silas hadn't come to the Whirl Islands Tournament in pursuit of a particularly high ranking anyway.
After walking through the relatively short passageway, gentle sunlight soon fell upon the Trainer and Pokémon.
Ignoring the commentator's voice, Silas simply walked onto the Trainer's platform.
Once the standard procedures were completed, he was once again the first to send out his Pokémon.
"I choose you! Go, Prinplup!"
"Prinplup!"
Prinplup leaped into the air and jumped into the water.
"Oh! Silas has actually sent out Prinplup, one of the Water-type starters from the Sinnoh region! That's quite a rare Pokémon!"
As always, the commentator was incredibly passionate.
Clearly, however, Silas's opponent wasn't some inexperienced Trainer either.
After all, the thick stubble on his face and slightly protruding belly weren't exactly features most young people possessed.
He wasn't distracted by the commentator in the slightest.
"Prinplup? Looks like I'm pretty lucky."
Masayuki thought to himself.
A second-stage starter was unlikely to have reached Level 36 yet.
At this level of strength, it could absolutely be considered one of the weakest participants in the Round of 32.
"In that case, let's finish this quickly. Go, Poliwrath!"
He mercilessly threw out his Poké Ball.
"Poli!"
A blue, bipedal Pokémon appeared on the battlefield.
Its hands, seemingly covered by white gloves, slammed together with considerable force, producing a deep clap.
"Whoa! Against the rare Prinplup, Masayuki has sent out a powerful Poliwrath! This Pokémon can only evolve from Poliwhirl with the use of the precious Water Stone!"
The commentator's voice echoed over Field One.
Silas felt that the commentator was probably running out of things to say.
"Prinplup, greet it with Water Gun."
He swept his hand forward and issued the command.
"Pew, pew!"
Prinplup opened its tiny mouth and fired three or four extremely fast streams of water in succession toward Poliwrath.
"Now, counter with Hydro Pump."
Clearly, as the Trainer of a Fighting-type Pokémon, Masayuki wasn't exactly gentle as water.
He responded directly.
Silas narrowed his eyes.
This was going to be troublesome.
Poliwrath commonly had two abilities: Water Absorb and Damp.
The latter primarily countered explosive moves, so its usefulness in standard battles wasn't particularly impressive.
The former, however, was a completely different matter, especially in a battle between Water-type Pokémon.
A Pokémon with Water Absorb could be practically invincible in a same-type battle when the two Pokémon were around the same level.
Clearly, Masayuki's previous command had effectively told Silas that his Poliwrath had Water Absorb.
And sure enough.
The next moment, under everyone's watchful eyes, Poliwrath effortlessly took Prinplup's Water Gun head-on.
Without the force of Water-type energy behind it, the impact of Water Gun was nothing to Poliwrath's powerful physique.
It even seemed to become slightly more energetic.
Then, the black spiral pattern on Poliwrath's white belly began to ripple.
Unlike the clockwise spiral seen during its Poliwag stage, the spiral patterns of Poliwhirl and Poliwrath rotated counterclockwise.
These weren't merely decorative markings. They were said to be their internal organs visible through their translucent skin.
"BOOM!"
An incredibly thick column of water erupted forward.
Although Prinplup reacted quickly and dove beneath the water, reducing the attack's power considerably, Hydro Pump, as a powerful Water-type move, still inflicted significant damage.
"Prinplup..."
Prinplup panted heavily as rings of rippling blue light began to circle around its body.
With Aqua Ring active, Prinplup's endurance was undoubtedly impressive.
Yet Silas still frowned.
With Water Absorb combined with the difference in levels, the outcome of this battle could almost be predicted in advance.
The only possible way to win was to engage Poliwrath at close range and use a Flying-type move such as Peck to inflict enough damage.
The problem was..
Silas looked up at Poliwrath's powerful, almost exaggerated muscles and physique, then looked at the "small" Prinplup.
No one, Silas included, thought the two Pokémon were even remotely equal in close combat.
The former could completely overwhelm the latter with ease.
Masayuki thought the same way.
"Charge in and use Brick Break!"
Rather than maintaining their distance and turning the battle into a war of attrition, it was better to settle things quickly at close range.
After all, when it came to stamina and endurance, Poliwrath, which could cross the ocean without stopping to rest, had never been afraid of anyone.
"Poli!"
Poliwrath let out a deep cry before spreading its legs and beginning to run across the surface of the water.
Yes, it was literally running across the water.
This was one of Poliwrath's special abilities.
Although it was already extremely fast at swimming, its running speed was even greater than its swimming speed.
It couldn't maintain it for long, but for a standard battle arena, that was more than enough.
In almost the blink of an eye, Poliwrath had crossed the battlefield and closed in on Prinplup.
Brilliant white light gathered around its left hand.
"We'll use Brick Break too!"
Silas shouted.
Hearing this, Prinplup nodded knowingly, and the same layer of brilliant white light immediately covered its wings.
"CLANG!"
A sound like metal colliding rang out.
A somewhat smaller blue figure was sent flying backward.
Before everyone could even determine which Pokémon it was, Silas's command rang out again.
"Now use Ice Beam!"
A blue-white beam radiating an icy chill swept across the surface of the water.
As it caused a thin layer of ice to form across the water, it slammed hard into Poliwrath's body.
The Poliwrath in the water involuntarily retreated several meters, and the expression on its face became slightly more serious.
"Seriously, this is way too difficult."
Seeing this, Silas couldn't help complaining helplessly.
Poliwrath's Water/Fighting typing did not make it lose its resistance to Ice-type attacks.
Even with Ice Beam, currently Prinplup's most powerful attack, the damage inflicted on Poliwrath was still rather low.
Conservatively speaking, Silas estimated that Poliwrath could withstand seven or eight more attacks of this caliber without much trouble.
"Prinplup!"
Prinplup, which had been sent flying backward, stabilized itself and landed on another floating platform. Seeing this, an unwilling expression appeared on its face.
The opponent could withstand seven or eight attacks, but Prinplup couldn't afford to use Ice Beam that many times.
The previous Brick Break clash had already consumed a considerable amount of its stamina.
If it could only attack like this every time, two more exchanges would probably be enough to leave it exhausted.
Although its flippers were the hardest and most powerful parts of its body, Poliwrath's fists were just as formidable.
Furthermore, Poliwrath itself possessed the Fighting type.
When the two sides clashed head-on, even with its high potential, Prinplup was still no match for Poliwrath.
"Chase after it and use Brick Break again."
Masayuki's fighting style was extremely steady.
He didn't pay much attention to the stamina consumed by Prinplup's Ice Beam.
After confirming that Poliwrath had not been frozen, Masayuki once again ordered it to launch an attack.
Silas finally understood what some of his previous opponents must have felt.
This was what happened when you simply couldn't overcome your opponent through sheer strength.
"But giving up isn't an option, right?" he muttered. "Prinplup, one more time. This time, use Peck!"
"Prinplup!"
Prinplup stood on the floating platform and took a deep breath.
Then, pushing off with both feet, it charged toward Poliwrath, catching everyone by surprise.
For the proud Prinplup, retreating was never an option.
"Excellent! Then we'll go all out too!"
Seeing this, Masayuki's eyes flashed with excitement.
"This time, finish it with Dynamic Punch!"
"Wa!"
The rapidly advancing Poliwrath nodded seriously.
The already dazzling light suddenly intensified once more.
Its left fist transformed into an enormous sphere of light.
"Boom!"
With both Pokémon giving it everything they had, the distance between them rapidly closed.
As the glowing Peck collided with Dynamic Punch, both Pokémon's bodies stiffened for an instant.
The spectators instinctively held their breath.
But both Trainers knew exactly what the outcome would be.
The next moment, Prinplup's body was sent high into the air before falling back down.
Splash!
A wave leaped into the air.
Prinplup floated on the surface of the water, its eyes spinning in circles. It had lost the ability to battle.
Dynamic Punch was one of the powerful Fighting-type moves, and there was no way a basic Flying-type move like Peck could neutralize much of its power.
Prinplup, which was already running low on stamina, simply couldn't withstand it.
"Come back, Prinplup."
Silas took out its Poké Ball and recalled Prinplup.
"You worked hard. You did well."
It really had done well.
Even while facing such a disadvantage, Prinplup had still understood his command and launched a counterattack.
Although the result wasn't ideal, that wasn't something it could control.
If the difference in levels hadn't been so significant, that Ice Beam would have been enough to make Poliwrath suffer.
This wasn't Prinplup's fault.
"Now, it's up to you, Vulpix."
Silas's hand brushed across the Poké Balls at his waist.
"This opponent should give you the battle you've been looking for."
A Poké Ball instantly expanded in size before Silas threw it.
The snow-white Alolan Vulpix once again appeared, sitting neatly on the floating platform.
"Vulpix."
For once, the little Pokémon's eyes were filled with the same intense fighting spirit.
Both Pokémon were at the Advance level, and their levels were probably not too far apart.
Vulpix had the advantage in potential and development, while Poliwrath had the advantage in typing.
In other words, this was a sufficiently challenging, evenly matched battle for both sides.
"Charge in and use Brick Break!"
Masayuki once again repeated his previous tactic.
When a tactic worked, who cared whether it was innovative?
"Disable."
Silas calmly uttered three words in response.
..
Hi For access to additional chapters of
Director in Hollywood (40 chpaters)
Made In Hollywood (60 Chapters)
Pokemon:Bounty Hunter(30 Chapters)
Hollywood:From Razzie to Legend(40 Chapters)
The Great Ruler(30 Chapters)
Btth: Ascend to Pinnacle (30 Chapters)
Douluo Dalu: My Martial is Tyranitar (30 Chapters)
Join pateron.com/Translaterappu