Within the pure white space, a small creature appeared before Caesar.
Its body was light blue, encased in a hard turtle shell, with short limbs and a small wavy tail sticking out. A pair of large eyes sized up Caesar curiously.
Squirtle.
One of the internet's most popular pokémon, often active in various forms as emojis in chat software.
Looking at this harmless-looking little turtle, Caesar hesitated for a moment.
Should I... try Auto-Battle?
He had always been curious about this feature, and testing it against this seemingly weakest initial form was the perfect opportunity.
As soon as the thought occurred, Caesar exited the matchmaking and re-selected the [Auto-Battle] mode.
In the next second, Caesar felt his field of vision suddenly soar, as if in a Soul Emergence, arriving high above the field and switching to a spectator's perspective overlooking the entire battlefield.
Meanwhile, on the field, his Gabite body had already assumed a fighting stance on its own.
As for the effectiveness... how should he put it?
It wasn't exactly a disaster, but it was a typical case of bot-on-bot flailing.
Caesar never dreamed that his majestic, fierce Gabite, under the System's automated control, would actually trade blows back and forth with a tiny Squirtle in such an inextricable struggle.
His AI only knew how to close in and then attack.
The opposing Squirtle's AI, on the other hand, kept using [Withdraw] and [Water Gun].
Even more ridiculous, that Squirtle actually carried [Chilling Water], a move that was quite niche even in the games. Streams of icy water hit Caesar (the bot version) one after another; while the damage wasn't high, the attack-lowering effect was triggering consistently.
Watching his own body shivering from the cold, Caesar's dragon face was written with speechlessness.
What the hell!
Since an Auto-Battle couldn't be stopped once it started, Caesar was forced to be a spectator, helplessly watching two blue creatures—one large, one small—engage in what could only be described as a primitive scrub-fest on the trial Grounds.
However, the massive difference in base stats eventually mattered.
After a long period of chip-damaging each other, the scales of victory finally began to tilt toward Gabite.
Since he had nothing else to do, Caesar simply used the third-person perspective to analyze the Squirtle line's tricks while watching the fight.
As the original starter trio, Bulbasaur represented support, Charmander represented offense, and Squirtle represented defense.
—'Water-type,' a powerful attribute capable of both offense and defense, which could undergo a marvelous qualitative change when combined with most other types.
But precisely because of this, the world of Water-type pokémon was incredibly competitive.
In the entire Pokédex, nearly a third of all pokémon are Water-type. Standing out in such a massive group and being remembered by trainers was definitely no easy feat.
The Squirtle line, in the competitive battles of the first four generations, was basically in a 'missing in action' state, relegated to NPCs.
It wasn't until the fifth generation, when it gained the hidden ability [Rain Dish]—which restores HP every turn in rainy weather—that it started to thrive in Rain Teams.
Excellent durability combined with a steady stream of healing in the rain made Blastoise, for a time, a super water-tank that was almost impossible to Breakthrough.
Although from the sixth generation onwards, the official rules limited the number of turns for weather, causing Rain Teams to decline and Blastoise to lose its luster.
But Caesar knew very well that in this real world, as long as he consumed mana, weather was practically permanent!
This meant that what he was about to face was likely a monster so tanky it was hair-raising, and one that could constantly heal itself.
Even more deadly was that Caesar currently didn't have a single skill that was super effective against the Water-type.
And as the saying goes, 'Water and Ice are never far apart'; Water-type pokémon usually possess one or two Ice-type skills.
For a Ground/Dragon like him, who had a quadruple weakness to Ice, this was an absolutely fatal threat.
Thinking of this, Caesar's expression turned solemn.
This battle probably wouldn't be easy.
Of course, in the sixth generation, Blastoise also received its Mega Evolution.
Mega Blastoise! Its durability and Special Attack skyrocketed, and its ability became [Mega Launcher], which could boost the power of all pulse-based moves.
But compared to its two Seniors—Mega Venusaur and Mega Charizard—Caesar actually wasn't that afraid of Mega Blastoise.
Because in his view, the [Mega Launcher] ability was quite mediocre.
While Mega Blastoise could learn a series of skills like [Water Pulse], [Dark Pulse], [Dragon Pulse], and [Aura Sphere], the threat these moves posed to Caesar was nowhere near as great as a single, straightforward [Ice Beam].
Most importantly, Caesar already had experience fighting this kind of mid-speed artillery-type opponent—namely, that previous Venusaur.
As long as the opponent wasn't fast enough, he had plenty of ways to deal with it.
Unless... Caesar thought of another possibility.
Unless this Blastoise brought the [Shell Smash] skill.
[Shell Smash] significantly increases Physical Attack, Special Attack, and Speed at the cost of lowering both Defense and Special Defense.
This was an extremely powerful divine boosting technique.
But if the opponent really brought [Shell Smash], Caesar would be even less afraid of its Mega Evolution.
Because in this trial space, if it chose to Mega Evolve, it couldn't possibly carry a [White Herb] to negate the negative stat drops. Against a glass-cannon artillery piece with lowered defenses, Caesar had plenty of ways to quickly one-shot it!
Therefore, after final consideration, Caesar reached a conclusion—
The greatest threat to him was actually a conventional Shell Smash Blastoise that didn't use those fancy tricks but carried a [White Herb].
"It seems I must prepare for both weather and Shell Smash boosts."
While Caesar was lost in thought, the battle on the field finally came to a close.
After taking countless Water Guns, AI Caesar finally caught an opportunity and used a [Dragon Breath] to take down that persistent Squirtle.
[Experience Points +1400]
Seeing that he had less than half his HP remaining, Caesar decisively switched back to manual control.
This AI was way too brain-dead; if he let it keep fighting, he probably wouldn't even get to see Blastoise's face.
In the second round, the opponent was an indigo-colored Wartortle.
Caesar wasted no time and opened with a [Bulldoze]!
Boom!
The Ground shook, and the Wartortle, which had just barely found its footing, instantly lost its balance and fell backward.
Seizing the chance, Caesar condensed a bluish-purple shockwave in his mouth.
[Dragon Pulse]!
The spiraling shockwave roared out, hitting the fallen Wartortle dead-on and blasting it away. The battle was over.
[Experience Points +1600]
Clean and efficient.
After finishing the two rounds, Caesar checked his status; he had about 40% of his HP left.
And before him, the final opponent slowly materialized.
It was a body even larger than his own. From the front of its hard turtle shell, two menacing metal water cannons extended, their muzzles flickering with a dangerous, eerie light.
[NO.009 Blastoise]
Caesar took a deep breath, his gaze becoming incredibly focused—
A one-life clear, right here, right now...!