Get Stronger by Pleasing Pokémon? Who Needs to Be a Trainer!

”Charizard, no holding back! Full power, Overheat!”

The moment Liam heard the words Leaf Storm again, his expression turned serious.

Whether Serperior’s previous Leaf Storm had been its final burst of power or not, the sheer spectacle of it had already left a deep impression on him.

Because just now, he had seen the look on Lin Feng’s face.

When the commentator explained that using Leaf Storm would lower the power of Serperior’s future moves, Lin Feng hadn’t shown even the slightest panic. Instead, he had smiled.

That smile made Liam remember something, and a strong sense of unease rose in his chest.

And sure enough, in the very next moment—

On the battlefield, which had only just calmed down, Serperior lightly flicked its tail.

Whoooosh...

The wind began to rise.

In the blink of an eye, another storm of fallen leaves formed, its momentum no weaker than the first one.

No... not just equal.

It was even stronger.

The raging wind carried countless screaming leaves, filling the entire stadium with the sharp rustling sound of slicing foliage.

The leaves themselves had become even deadlier.

Some of them even reached the edges of the battlefield, triggering the arena’s energy protection barrier.

The front-row audience gasped, instinctively afraid that the leaves would break through the shield and strike them.

But their voices were instantly drowned out by the roaring wind and the endless crashing of leaves.

Fortunately, the barrier was strong enough. The scattered edges of the storm could not pierce through.

”My God... dear God... don’t do this…”

The moment the wind formed, commentator Leo, riding high above on Aegislash, widened his eyes and immediately ordered it to fly even higher. He even let out an uncharacteristic curse.

If even the outer edges of the storm were this terrifying, then no one could imagine what Charizard was enduring at the very center.

”ROAR!”

The instant the storm took shape, Charizard’s pupils shrank sharply.

It did not immediately obey Liam’s command to use Overheat.

Instead, it activated Flare Blitz first, wrapping its entire body in blazing fire.

Then it dropped to the ground.

With one violent stomp, dense Fire-type energy exploded from its body, tearing apart the earth as boiling magma burst upward.

This was the devastating Fire-type move—Overheat.

Normally, this volcanic eruption of fire would be unstoppable.

But this time, after extending barely a dozen meters, the lava seemed to lose all momentum and stopped erupting.

And at that very moment, the violently spinning leaves found their target.

They swallowed Charizard whole.

At first, the leaves were burned away by the flames surrounding its body.

But as more and more poured in, they crashed down like a tsunami, like a landslide, piling over Charizard until it was completely buried and not even a trace of red flame could be seen anymore.

About ten seconds later, the Leaf Storm finally dispersed.

Under Serperior’s control, the endless leaves dissolved into floating particles of energy, vanishing like bubbles.

When the two Pokémon appeared again—

Serperior wasn’t even breathing heavily.

Charizard, however, had dropped to one knee, gasping for air.

It didn’t even have enough strength left to trigger Blaze.

The fact that it was still standing at all was proof of its incredible willpower.

It forced its eyes open and stared at Serperior, as if trying to understand why this Serperior’s Leaf Storm could overpower not only Overheat, but even the added force of Flare Blitz.

Its two strongest moves combined had still lost to a single move from its opponent.

And it hadn’t even managed to touch Serperior.

Under the sunlight, Charizard could only look up at that snake-like figure, glowing with rich green light, standing like a true monarch looking down upon it.

”Serperior… let’s add one more lawn mower, alright?”

Seeing that Charizard still hadn’t completely lost its ability to fight, Lin Feng casually gave another order, just in case it triggered Blaze again.

This Fire/Flying-type Pokémon’s resistance to Grass-type attacks was honestly absurd.

It had actually managed to withstand an empowered Contrary Serperior’s Leaf Storm.

Silence.

Leaves drifted across the field, turning into little sparks of energy as they faded away.

The audience, whether near or far, gradually fell silent after their initial shock.

For a moment, the entire stadium was completely quiet.

Only after a long pause did the noise slowly return.

”Wait… weren’t they saying Leaf Storm lowers Serperior’s move power? Where exactly did it get weaker?!”

”It obviously got stronger…”

”That’s terrifying… absolutely terrifying… Is that really a move Serperior can use? I thought a Legendary Pokémon had shown up…”

”No, look at Serperior… it used two Leaf Storms that powerful and it’s not even breathing hard?”

It was only after hearing the crowd erupt again that Leo finally snapped out of it.

He hurriedly flew back down and announced:

”Charizard is unable to battle! The winner is Serperior!”

His voice stumbled a little, mainly because that last scene had nearly scared him senseless.

But after turning back, he quickly regained his professional composure.

”No, no! After using Leaf Storm, Serperior’s second Leaf Storm didn’t weaken—it became even stronger! This means Trainer Lin Feng’s Serperior does not have the usual Overgrow Ability, but instead possesses the Hidden Ability—Contrary!”

His voice rose with excitement.

”This Ability reverses normal stat changes! In other words, every time Serperior uses Leaf Storm, its power increases instead of decreases! And this Serperior has already used Leaf Storm twice!”

He had seen Contrary before, but never anything like this.

Normally, it was already a strong Ability.

But the amplification from this Serperior’s Contrary felt downright terrifying.

Leo had realized it the moment he saw the second Leaf Storm’s strength. At the time, he had simply been too busy trying not to die.

His explanation sent the stadium into an even greater frenzy.

But for Liam, everything went dark.

Wait…

That was definitely not what you said earlier.

Looking at Serperior, still standing proudly on the grass field without the slightest sign of exhaustion even after using two devastating Leaf Storms, Liam felt despair rising in his chest.

This was the hardest battle he had faced since becoming a trainer.

And Lin Feng was the strongest opponent he had ever met.

But the battle was not over.

Liam sighed helplessly and sent out his fourth Pokémon—

Pelipper.

Seeing a Flying-type appear, Lin Feng paused for a moment, glanced at Serperior, then decided to switch.

He sent out a Pokémon that had not yet appeared—

Pidgeot.

After all, the tournament was almost over.

If Pidgeot didn’t appear at least once, it would feel like it had come here just for free travel.

”Go!”

”Pidgeot!”

The moment Liam saw Lin Feng recall Serperior, his eyes lit up.

From the very beginning, his goal against Lin Feng had been simple:

Don’t get swept.

At the very least, defeat one Pokémon.

So when he saw Lin Feng switch, he immediately felt hope again.

For example, if it had been Alcremie, as long as he gave the order fast enough, maybe he could defeat it before it used Metronome.

And honestly, what kind of Pokémon had luck that ridiculous anyway?

Every single time it used some absurd move.

However—

The moment he saw that Pidgeot, the hope that had just reignited was instantly extinguished by a bucket of cold water.

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