Very soon, under Ethan's orders, both Pokémon began preparing for the battle.
"Shuck!"
Shuckle's expression was serious. Without the slightest hesitation, it used the move Hidden Power.
Kingdra watched Shuckle actively prepare to launch an attack and showed a look of disdain on his face.
He absolutely did not believe that the attack of a mere Shuckle could pose any threat to him!
However, as Shuckle continuously burned through the energy of the Pokéblocks and fully concentrated it into the energy sphere in front of his mouth, a terrifying fluctuation of energy emerged, causing all the Pokémon present to glance over in alarm!
Seeing this, Kingdra's expression changed slightly. He quickly began charging the move Hydro Pump in his mouth. The charging speed was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, a series of water jets shot out like bullets.
At that very moment, Shuckle also released the move Hidden Power. A powerful beam of light shot out from the energy sphere like a laser, meeting the Hydro Pump head-on.
Almost at the exact moment the two attacks collided, it could be seen that the Hydro Pump Kingdra had hastily unleashed was completely swallowed by the Grass-type energy beam.
The beam pierced through the attack without slowing down and, before Kingdra's incredulous gaze, struck him squarely, violently blasting his entire body into the air.
"Kingdra was far too overconfident. It seems that after being a leader for so long, he's become a bit arrogant," Ethan said with a frown. "If he keeps this up, he'll only fall further and further behind his companions."
Even Shuckle, who doesn't particularly stand out in combat, has grown to this level through his own efforts. Kingdra was born with such an excellent foundation... what excuse does he have for not working hard?
"The battle is over. Shuckle obtains the victory."
Coming back to his senses, Ethan looked toward Kingdra in the distance as he slowly got back up and announced it directly.
After hearing Ethan's words, Kingdra's expression changed. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end said nothing and plunged straight into the nearby lake.
At that moment, inside the lake, Gyarados was protecting Feebas as they watched the battle.
Gyarados's gaze swept across all the Pokémon present, lingering especially on Charizard and Cacturne, with a strange gleam in his eyes.
Then, his gaze fell upon Ethan. A doubtful expression appeared on his face. To be honest, Gyarados suddenly felt a hint of regret: perhaps becoming that human's Pokémon wouldn't be such a bad choice after all.
After Kingdra's challenge against Shuckle, the competition continued.
In truth, Shuckle occupying fourth place was not an entirely reasonable position based on his strength.
However, Shuckle enjoyed extremely high popularity among Ethan's Pokémon, especially after mastering the method of making Pokéblocks. As the team's "chef," Shuckle was adored by all his companions, and he had always played a support role within the group.
Because of this, after Kingdra, no other Pokémon set their sights on Shuckle as a target, causing his position to miraculously remain at fourth place.
"Does any other Pokémon want to challenge?" Ethan asked, looking at the Pokémon who had yet to battle.
However, none responded.
"Then we'll go from the bottom up. Litwick, it's your turn. Which companion do you want to challenge?"
Upon hearing Ethan, Litwick floated forward. Then, his gaze swept over his companions, visibly hesitant.
As a companion, Litwick actually didn't want to challenge any of them, but Ethan had set a condition: each Pokémon had to challenge at least one.
After hesitating for a while, Litwick directed his gaze toward Kingdra.
After all, Shuckle had secretly told him that he would prepare a delicious meal made especially for him.
So, not knowing whom to choose, Litwick decided to challenge Kingdra, who had intimidated Shuckle.
"Kiinggdd!"
Seeing that a small Pokémon dared to challenge him despite the type disadvantage, Kingdra immediately jumped into the battle and accepted the challenge.
Because of the previous defeat caused by his carelessness, this time Kingdra had no intention of holding back at all and decided to fight with all his strength.
At first, Kingdra thought that by relying on his type advantage and attacking at full power, he could suppress Litwick without any trouble.
But Litwick activated his invisibility ability as soon as the battle began. Then, constantly relying on the move Substitute, he interfered with Kingdra's attacks, secretly absorbing the energy of the substitutes thanks to his Flash Fire ability.
In the end, when Litwick pushed his Flash Fire ability to the extreme, he used the move Inferno, directly overpowering Kingdra's fully powered Hydro Pump and defeating him decisively.
After the defeat, Kingdra was clearly stunned.
Losing to Shuckle could still be blamed on carelessness, but now he had been defeated head-on by Litwick, which caused him to begin doubting himself.
"Kingdra, have you realized the gap between you and your companions now?"
"As you are right now, perhaps you're the weakest of them all."
Ethan felt the timing was right and spoke to him with a serious expression.
Kingdra stood still for a moment and finally admitted that during this time he had become far too relaxed. He lowered his head in silence.
"When you go back, reflect on it carefully."
As he spoke, Ethan took out a Poké Ball and recalled Kingdra into it.
"I hope that after reflecting, Kingdra can correct his attitude."
Ethan sighed softly and placed the Poké Ball back on his belt.
In truth, Kingdra's potential was quite good. If he were willing to train diligently, combining his natural talent with Ethan's training, he could undoubtedly become a powerful long-range attacker. With the Sniper ability, Kingdra possessed an innate advantage.
"Litwick has passed the challenge. You now occupy ninth place."
"Next is Riolu. Choose your opponent."
After hearing Ethan, Riolu hesitated for a moment and chose to face Litwick, who was just ahead of him in the rankings.
The battle between the two was extremely exciting. Thanks to his mastery of aura, Litwick's invisibility had no effect, and even the move Substitute proved useless, since the real body was easily located by the power of aura.
Nevertheless, even though Litwick's real body was exposed, the substitutes truly existed. Coupled with Riolu's low physical endurance, he eventually collapsed from exhaustion in Litwick's "war of attrition" with the substitutes, losing the battle due to lack of energy.
After the battle ended, Riolu's face showed no disappointment. On the contrary, his eyes shone with hope. Through this battle, he was able to clearly see how much he had progressed during that time, and his confidence in Ethan increased even further.
(End of chapter)