Pokémon: My Online Friend Is Cynthia

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Strategy

A/N: 2/2 Bonus Chapters

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The referee waved the flag.

"Ampharos is unable to battle. The winner is Croagunk!"

Hearing the referee’s words, Croagunk puffed up the poison sacs on his cheeks.

Julian smiled knowingly.

From the rhythm of the poison sacs swelling, he could tell that Croagunk was very happy.

According to the battle style Julian had designed for Croagunk, Croagunk should be an assassin who struck once and retreated a thousand miles.

But perhaps every assassin had the heart of a berserker.

Croagunk wanted to improve too badly.

He wanted to prove that he was not inferior to Hakamo-o or Primeape.

As for Gallade, Croagunk still knew his own limits.

That seemingly gentle but actually cold monster would be very difficult for him to surpass in the short term.

Croagunk advanced instead of retreating and gave Ampharos a continuous barrage of Poison Sting, directly sending Ampharos away.

Through this battle, Croagunk had planted his flag.

From today onwards, no one would dare look down on Croagunk again.

Chris seriously took a Poké Ball from his belt.

"Exeggutor, I’ll leave this to you!"

Seeing Exeggutor enter the field, the audience in the stands became extremely excited.

"Exeggutor is Chris’s ace, a partner that grew up with him! Croagunk is in trouble now!"

The girl with glasses rolled her eyes.

"How many times have I heard that sentence already? Let’s just wait and see Exeggutor’s battle performance."

Chris was direct.

"Exeggutor, Psychic!"

"Start running. Use Mud-Slap to interfere!"

Lumps of mud flew out one after another.

Exeggutor had to avoid the mud being smeared across its face while also using Psychic to lock onto Croagunk, leaving it overwhelmed.

Using psychic power required concentration.

Julian had Beginner Psychic Constitution, so he understood this better than anyone.

"Sludge Bomb!"

Croagunk immediately opened his mouth and spat out five pitch-black sludge lumps.

"Seed Bomb!"

Exeggutor ran very quickly.

After avoiding Sludge Bomb, it shook its heads and threw three seeds towards Croagunk’s front, left, and right.

They landed and exploded violently, restricting Croagunk’s approach.

As expected of an ace.

It really does have some skill

"Razor Leaf!"

Exeggutor shook its heads, and Razor Leaf saturated the smoke with attacks, suppressing Croagunk so much he could not raise his head.

When the smoke dispersed, only a hole remained on the field.

Croagunk had vanished.

Chris quickly warned, "It’s Dig. Watch out for a sneak attack from behind!"

Suddenly, the ground in front of Exeggutor broke open.

Croagunk raised his hand and stabbed, pouring Toxic into Exeggutor’s body.

Chris was shocked.

"What!"

Then Croagunk swiftly drilled back into the hole, leaving Exeggutor’s line of sight.

Chris gritted his teeth.

Damn it.

Exeggutor had been badly poisoned by Croagunk.

Was he really going to be swept two-to-zero by a Croagunk today?

Panic rose in Chris’s heart. He feared his reputation would not survive this.

Julian caught that panic.

"Croagunk, Poison Sting!"

Croagunk jumped out of the same hole as before and launched a wild barrage of thrusts at Exeggutor.

"What!"

Chris’s expression changed drastically.

Isn’t this Croagunk supposed to be a ruthless brute?

He had been tricked again.

He had not expected Croagunk to avoid using the tunnel to widen the distance and instead hide right beneath Exeggutor’s feet.

Lies becomes truth.

Truth becomes lies.

He had fallen for Julian’s strategy.

When Croagunk had unexpectedly learned Dig while practising Mud-Slap, Julian had been thinking about how to use this move well.

Others might value Dig’s ability to launch underground sneak attacks.

But Julian valued the uncertainty created by vanishing from the enemy’s sight even more.

Even though Exeggutor had three heads, it still feared Croagunk launching a sneak attack from the blind spot behind it.

As a result, Croagunk launched a frontal assault, and it still failed to defend.

With no command from Chris, Exeggutor could only react on its own.

A green line extended out and grabbed Croagunk in one go.

It frantically drained Croagunk’s stamina.

Chris took a deep breath, his clenched fist trembling.

Yes.

That was Giga Drain!

His Exeggutor had deep reserves.

There was still a chance to turn this around.

"Cut it with Brick Break, then enter the tunnel!"

Croagunk gritted his teeth and swung his palm, cutting the line apart before diving into the tunnel.

Chris forced himself to stay calm.

He at least had to take down Croagunk and preserve his reputation.

"Exeggutor, Stomping Tantrum!"

Exeggutor’s enormous feet, over half a yard long, madly stomped the ground, producing tremors not much weaker than Earthquake.

"Poison Sting!"

Croagunk appeared behind Exeggutor and stabbed hard into its back.

"Giga Drain!"

Enduring the pain, Exeggutor grabbed Croagunk and instantly drained his already nearly empty stamina completely dry.

Chris secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

At least he had defeated one.

It was not too embarrassing.

The referee waved the flag.

"Croagunk is unable to battle. The winner is Exeggutor."

In the audience seats, the uncle frowned.

"Although it won, I feel like Exeggutor’s performance wasn’t as good as Croagunk’s."

The girl with glasses nodded in agreement.

"If Croagunk hadn’t run out of stamina, Exeggutor might have been taken down by him."

The girl from the couple earlier said, "What a pity. Croagunk actually lost."

The boy nodded.

"Croagunk really was cool. It’s just that... Chris has such a impressive reputation, but this is all?"

Julian recalled Croagunk and gently said to the Poké Ball, "Croagunk, you did very well. Rest properly."

"Hakamo-o, I’ll leave this to you!"

Hakamo-o entered the field and released a loud Noble Roar at Exeggutor.

The powerful dragon roar shook the mind and weakened Exeggutor’s Attack.

"Exeggutor, Giga Drain!"

"Dodge. Dragon Claw!"

Exeggutor extended green lines.

Hakamo-o moved as fast as the wind, easily avoiding them and charging in front of Exeggutor.

One claw pressed Exeggutor to the ground.

The immense strength of a fighting dragon pressed Exeggutor until its breath was knocked out.

The referee, who had only just lowered the flag, raised it again.

"Exeggutor is unable to battle. The winner is Hakamo-o."

Chris was stunned.

With Exeggutor’s stamina, even after being badly poisoned, it should not have been defeated by one Dragon Claw.

This Hakamo-o...

Such immense strength!

In the stands, the girl with glasses shrugged.

"I said it, didn’t I? Exeggutor was one-shot by Hakamo-o."

The uncle sighed.

"Veilstone Department Store held such a large tournament, but is there really no Trainer evenly matched with Julian?"

After returning to the players’ area, Julian sent Croagunk and Hakamo-o to recover their stamina.

While waiting for treatment, Maylene ran over excitedly.

"Julian, I won again!"

Julian smiled and nodded.

"My Maylene really is amazing!"

In the round of thirty-two to sixteen, Julian was again scheduled near the front.

This time, Julian’s opponent was also a Fighting-type specialist boxer.

Blond hair, blue eyes, a face full of arrogance, and swollen muscles on both arms.

He was exactly like Lt. Surge, and could be considered a typical Unovan appearance.

"I’m Mark from the Unova region. I came to Sinnoh to fight the local martial artists."

"To see whether our Unova region’s free fighting is stronger, or whether Sinnoh’s martial arts are stronger."

"In the end, everyone I met was a flimsy showpiece that shattered on contact. I hope you won’t disappoint me!"

Julian raised an eyebrow.

So arrogant.

Then he had to raise the intensity a little.

The girl with glasses frowned.

"This guy is a boxing champion from Unova. He’s already defeated quite a few Sinnoh martial artists. Today is perfect for Julian to teach him a proper lesson."

The uncle waved his arms, shouting like a hot-blooded youth.

"Julian, bring glory to Sinnoh!"

Hearing the uncle’s voice, Julian turned around, waved, and nodded to reassure them.

Then he took out a Poké Ball.

"Gallade, I’ll leave this to you!"

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