"Lil lil, lil lil~"
In the midst of their continuous journey forward, Petilil suddenly tugged at Aven's sleeve.
"Is there some kind of powerful Pokémon nearby?" Aven halted his steps, turning his gaze toward the direction indicated by Petilil's finger.
Upon carefully observing, he suddenly noticed several faint purple silhouettes hidden within the tall grass. Clearly, a was lurking there.
"You've come at just the right time—perfect as their opponent."
Aven took several steps back, leaving the battlefield clear, while his right hand slipped into his pocket and retrieved two Poké Balls.
With a press of the buttons atop each ball, the Poké Balls instantly expanded, and then each released a bright beam of white light. The figures of Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ emerged onto the field.
"Nido! Nido! Nido!"
Once they appeared, both Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ swiftly entered a battle-ready stance.
This was an arrangement they had agreed upon beforehand—Aven would usually only release them when it was time to fight.
"Use Poison Sting!" Aven commanded quickly.
The two little ones nodded in unison, opened their mouths, gathered their energy, and fired a rapid volley of poison-tipped needles gleaming with a purple light!
As these poisonous projectiles shot into the grass, the hidden figure within seemed to realize it had been discovered. A thick, muscular tail swept out in a powerful arc, batting away every incoming needle.
At the same time, the figure burst forth from the grass—an enormous purple cobra-like Pokémon, with strange markings on its chest. This was none other than the poisonous snake, Arbok, a powerful poison type Pokémon within the forest.
"Hsssss~"
Arbok emerged, flicking its forked tongue from its mouth, its gaze shifting toward the Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ who had attacked it.
Then its vertical pupils slid toward Aven, who was holding Petilil with a Ralts floating beside him. Slowly, its narrow eyes began to squint.
A simple judgment told it these intruders were weak—easy prey to subdue. It looked like today's meal would be a feast.
"That look in your eyes… you're without a doubt a vicious serpent," Aven muttered, his own eyes narrowing as he studied the Arbok.
Without warning, Arbok lunged forward with astonishing speed, its massive jaws opening wide to snap directly at the distant Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀—showing no shred of martial honor.
"Nido! Nido!"
Fortunately, both Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ were fully focused.
As Arbok struck, the two moved swiftly, each leaping aside in opposite directions, letting the snake's attack bite only into empty air.
"Nidoran♂, use Horn Attack! Nidoran♀, Fury Swipes!" Aven issued his commands in rapid succession.
It was clear from their movements that the two little Pokémon had recently undergone intensive battle training in Nidoking Valley. Even though this was Aven's first time commanding them in a battle, there wasn't the slightest trace of panic in his voice.
"Nido! Nido!"
The two exchanged a brief glance, their bodies quickly gathering energy.
Suddenly, Nidoran♂'s horn flared with a bright light, and he charged forward at high speed.
Nidoran♀ was not far behind—energy gathered at both her claws, and she rushed in right after him.
"Hssss!"
Arbok reared its body upright once more.
Seeing the two attackers approaching from different angles, it lifted its thick tail high, slamming it down hard toward the faster Nidoran♂.
Boom!
In that instant, Nidoran♂'s horn collided squarely with Arbok's tail.
Despite Arbok's raw strength, the small-bodied Nidoran♂ did not falter—he held his ground firmly, refusing to give way.
Meanwhile, Nidoran♀ had already reached Arbok's side, unleashing her Fury Swipes in a relentless flurry against the snake's body.
With a hiss of pain, Arbok recoiled its tail, just as Nidoran♂ charged again, ramming heavily into Arbok's side and sending the serpent flying backward.
"Excellent! A well-executed coordinated attack," Aven praised, unable to hold back his approval.
Of course, Aven knew such an assault wouldn't be enough to truly wound an Arbok. Sure enough, with another angry hiss, the serpent slowly rose back to its full height.
In the earlier exchange, it had clearly underestimated them. It hadn't expected Nidoran♂ to unleash such force, and the momentary deadlock had left it open to Nidoran♀'s follow-up assault.
"Nido! Nido!"
Seeing their opponent rise again, the two exchanged another glance, energy building within them once more.
This time, they chose to attack together head-on, relying entirely on their teamwork to engage Arbok in direct combat.
"Hm? Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ attack power seems stronger than before…"
While watching the fight, Aven's eyes narrowed slightly—he sensed that both Pokémon were exerting far more power than they ever had during training.
"Ral… Ralts~"
As Aven pondered, Ralts floated up beside him.
Through its psychic sense, it detected that Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ were radiating a special kind of emotional energy—one that seemed to form a connection between them.
"What? You're saying there's a special emotional energy fluctuation around them?" Aven's expression relaxed slightly, though his eyes held a trace of doubt.
At first, the sudden spike in their attack power made him think of the Hustle ability—one that greatly boosts a Pokémon's attack strength but lowers its accuracy.
However, upon closer inspection, he realized that the energy flow around them was nothing like Hustle's effects.
While Hustle can indeed raise attack power, it is notoriously hard to control, which is why Pokémon under its effect often suffer from greatly reduced accuracy.
Yet now, the energy around them was remarkably stable—their movements in battle were perfectly coordinated and precise, not the least bit chaotic, completely unlike Hustle.
With Ralts' reminder, Aven suddenly recalled that Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ possessed another normal ability: Rivalry.
The effect of Rivalry is that when facing an opponent of the same gender, attack power increases; when facing an opponent of the opposite gender, attack power decreases; and when facing a genderless foe, there is no change at all.
From what Aven knew, Rivalry was essentially an ability that harnessed a special emotional drive to fuel its effects—something that matched Ralts' readings perfectly.
What puzzled him, however, was that both Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀'s power had increased simultaneously, even though Rivalry should only activate when fighting a same-gender opponent.
"Nido! Nido! Nido!"
On the battlefield, the two continued their coordinated assault.
Every so often, they would glance at each other—and it was as though a single look was enough to understand the other's intent.
"Ral… Ralts?"
Even Ralts found this odd.
Yet the red horn atop its head confirmed what it sensed: a truly unique emotional energy emanated from them. It was an uplifting, unyielding emotion—very similar to the essence of Rivalry itself.
"Hm? A special emotion similar to Rivalry?" Aven furrowed his brows in thought.
"Nido! Nido! Nido!"
At that moment, Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ moved side by side.
Both opened their mouths simultaneously, gathering Poison-type energy into a dense barrage of poison needles.
As they fired, the energy between them seemed to reach a point of resonance—causing the power within the attack to surge sharply.
It was as though they were unleashing a single move together—their individual powers merging into one devastating technique.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The barrage of Poison Stings flew forward, striking Arbok and blasting it backward.
This time, after suffering repeated heavy blows, the serpent did not rise again.
A Pokémon of intermediate-tier strength had actually fallen to the combined efforts of Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀!
"They actually won? And that feeling from before…"
"A resonance of special emotions… Could it really be Rivalry?"
"Or is it that their Rivalry ability triggers under different conditions than in other Pokémon?"
Aven's eyes flickered with thought. The scene before him defied his expectations—yet upon reflection, it wasn't entirely impossible.
After all, Rivalry was an ability based on harnessing emotions. If Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ could actively control that energy themselves, they could trigger the effect at will.
What's more, they had been born together—siblings—so their capacity for emotional resonance was easy to understand.
This could explain why, when together, they could trigger a resonance strong enough to activate Rivalry in both of them simultaneously—an advanced use of emotional energy.
And Aven knew well: emotions possessed powers that were truly beyond imagination.
"If this were my previous life, this would definitely spark yet another heated debate among professors," he murmured, shaking his head slightly.
It was worth noting that Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ each possessed three abilities: the normal abilities Poison Point and Rivalry, as well as the hidden ability Hustle.
Through prior checks, Aven had already ruled out Poison Point, and after this battle, Hustle could also be set aside.
Although the exact reason why both could trigger Rivalry together remained unclear, Aven now felt certain—these two Pokémon did indeed have Rivalry.
"Ralts! Ralts! Ralts~"
Upon hearing his explanation, Ralts' eyes lit up brightly.
From Aven's words, it understood that the sudden surge of power in Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ came from the use of emotional energy.
If it could learn to harness such energy itself, perhaps it too could acquire a similar boost in strength.
Indeed, ones emotion's potential was immense—it could help a Pokémon break through life's limitations and also greatly enhance its combat capabilities.
"Ral… Ralts~"
With that thought, Ralts teleported instantly to Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀'s side.
It wanted to learn from them—how they used emotional energy—and perhaps gain inspiration from it.
"Nido? Nido?"
The two looked puzzled, explaining that all they had been doing was trying to protect each other—they hadn't been competing at all.
After expressing this, they exchanged a warm smile, and a faint, gentle atmosphere spread over the field, with a subtle ripple of energy stirring in the air.
"Ralts…?"
So it was the desire to protect one another that had caused their emotional energies to resonate, granting them strength.
Ralts fell silent, deep in thought, its eyes faintly glimmering with realization.
(End of Chapter)