Chapter 80: Malamar vs. Gyarados! The Edge of Night!
Kenji sighed softly, just waiting for the Exchange Tournament to finally end.
Two hundred and forty-four contestants.
500,000 Pokédollars per person.
That was over 100 million Pokédollars!!
Kenji had never touched that much money in his life.
Once he got the prize money, he could finally afford to switch his Pokémon's Pokéblocks to the high-grade version. The remaining funds would be enough to buy an A-Rank potential Pokémon from a breeding facility.
Of course, he couldn't rely on the academy's Breeding Houses for that.
The academy had plenty of A-Rank potential Pokémon, and they were much cheaper than those outside.
But unfortunately, the A-Rank Pokémon in the campus facility could only be purchased with sufficient Academy Credits.
Credits were easy to earn: participate in tournaments, earn high rankings, or acquire Gym Badges.
...
In the next rounds, the Top 16 to 8 and the Top 8 to 4, whether by design or fate, Kenji did not face Zayne.
In these past few days, Kenji hadn't been idle outside of the tournament. Besides training, he spent his free time battling at the Battle Tower.
This allowed him to both train Beedrill and earn money and Gold. It was incredibly satisfying.
Over three days, he had managed to drop three more pieces of equipment: a Giant's Belt, a Brawler's Gloves, and a Needlessly Large Rod.
He had several synthesis options, but [Morello's Tome] and [Rabadon's Deathcap] were clearly equipment for Special Attackers. Kenji's current lineup was awkward; he didn't have a single Special Attacker among his four Pokémon.
Excluding those two, Kenji didn't hesitate to fuse the Giant's Belt and the Brawler's Gloves into a [Aegis of the Legion].
And the effect of this item did not disappoint Kenji.
[Aegis of the Legion]
Base Stats: Physical Attack +10
Unique Passive: Reduces the effectiveness of shield-type moves by 50%. Against an opponent using a shield-type move, the wearer's move power increases by 40% for the next minute.
The effects of the system's equipment were still completely busted. It wasn't even subtle anymore.
Were shield-type moves common? Not overly, but there were a few key ones.
But the issue was, Protect was just too much of a panacea move. It had no type requirements.
Basically, any Pokémon could learn it, even slower ones, with a Technical Machine.
The low learning threshold combined with the powerful defensive effect meant Protect had an extremely high usage rate in battles. It was practically mandatory for every Pokémon.
This, in turn, made the passive effect of the [Aegis of the Legion] very easy to trigger.
When factoring in the damage reduction, a Pokémon holding the [Aegis of the Legion] would see its move power instantly increased by a whopping 90% when attacking a Protect shield.
Even if the doubled damage wasn't enough to break the shield, the Pokémon would still receive a 40% damage buff for the next minute.
Equipped with three items, Gyarados's strength was incomparable, even though its level was still stuck at 36.
...
"After days of fierce competition! We have finally arrived at the final battle of this year's Exchange Tournament!!!"
"Let's welcome! Kenji and Zayne to the field!!!"
"Both trainers have only revealed two Pokémon each so far! Whether it's Kenji's Gyarados and Beedrill, or Zayne's Medicham and Malamar! They have all left a deep impression on our audience!"
"And today! The two sides will meet for the final showdown! Let's watch and see! Who will be crowned the champion of this year's Exchange Tournament!!"
After several days of elimination rounds, the tournament had finally reached the finals.
And Zayne had finally revealed his second Pokémon: Malamar.
Malamar
Level: LV.45
Ability: Contrary (Reverses all stat changes; raises become drops, and drops become raises.)
Potential: A
Malamar, the evolution of Inkay, is a Psychic/Dark-type Pokémon that excels at Hypnosis. Legends say it likes to control humans with its Hypnosis and force them to commit evil deeds.
It was a Pokémon with a less-than-stellar reputation, but it was the only Pokémon with the powerful Contrary ability as a normal ability.
Zayne, at this moment, had shed his usual casual demeanor. His expression was serious.
A person who truly wants to win... does not smile!!
"Battle... begin!!!"
"Go! Gyarados!"
"Go! Malamar!!"
Kenji still chose to lead with Gyarados. Zayne, however, didn't lead with his Medicham as he usually did, but with Malamar.
Clearly, Zayne had correctly guessed that Kenji would likely lead with Gyarados.
Malamar's Psychic/Dark-typing made it 4x weak to Bug-type moves. Avoiding Beedrill and leading with Gyarados was undoubtedly the optimal solution.
Furthermore, Malamar's Contrary ability could perfectly counter Gyarados's Intimidate.
"ROOOAR!!!—"
Gyarados roared, glaring at Malamar, its fighting spirit high.
"Mala..."
Malamar's eyes flashed with a surprisingly human-like expression of apprehension, mixed with a ruthless ferocity.
While Contrary could reverse Intimidate, turning the Attack drop into a rise, it couldn't negate the effect of Pressure.
Malamar's combat ability wasn't particularly outstanding, but it was one of the few Pokémon that was highly intelligent and skilled in trickery.
In the anime, Ash once encountered a group of Malamar that controlled human researchers to do their bidding.
"Gyarados! Dragon Dance!!" Kenji ordered first.
On the other side, Zayne didn't speak. Malamar immediately started moving. Its two tentacle-like arms clasped together, and a powerful Psychic-type energy gathered between them.
Kenji was unfazed. Zayne had already confessed his special ability to him earlier: telepathic communication.
Which meant he could hear his Pokémon's thoughts.
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you