Chapter 32: Riolu Shows A Satisfied Smile
“Riolu, charge up!”
The moment the Referee’s voice fell, Li Wei issued his command.
Charging up, a shortened term for accumulating Aura in place, was applied to the extremely competitive volleyball matches during a pool party before this simulated training battle.
Originally, it meant tossing the ball high before serving, using the time of its descent to intensely gather the surrounding Aura.
Although the current situation was different from then, it was clear that Riolu in the arena understood Li Wei’s intention. He took a step forward with his left foot, cupped the ball with both hands, and focused his energy.
Meanwhile, the Onix, which had been lying on the ground, raised its upper body. Its rocky form made creaking sounds. After roaring, it coiled in place, motionless, staring at the Riolu not far away, waiting for its first move.
But.
A full half-minute passed, and Li Wei showed no intention of having Riolu act. The Onix couldn’t help but impatiently tap the ground with its tail, and the Instructor expressed surprise at Li Wei’s tactics.
Clearly, he had not expected Li Wei to have Riolu attack first.
“You’re not going to attack? That’s not a good strategy.”
“Are you concluding so quickly, Instructor? Isn’t that a bit hasty?”
When it came to trash talk, Li Wei had plenty.
Battles were not just about raw power; they were about psychological warfare.
Whether it was the ranked Double Battles back then or the current one-on-one practical battle, some fundamental principles remained the same.
Chatot! Solo is always the best!
“Very good!”
Li Wei’s tone and dismissive expression perfectly unleashed the move ‘Taunt’.
The Instructor pinched the brim of his hat and directly issued an attack command to the Onix.
“Onix, Tackle.”
“Roar!!!!”
Upon receiving the command, it let out a long roar towards the sky, its echo filling the empty arena.
Then, it slammed its tail hard against the ground. Stirring up the dust and carrying immense power, the Onix charged rapidly towards Riolu.
“Wow!!”
Seeing the Onix’s terrifying momentum and the swirling dust in the air, the spectators outside the arena erupted in gasps.
This Onix was indeed as terrifying as their initial impression!
┌(。Д。)┐
Some students even secretly felt that it was a wise decision to obediently shut up when they first saw the fierce Instructor.
But…
To the Onix, which appeared terrifyingly fast and fierce to onlookers, Riolu perceived it in a rather subtle way.
【 That’s it? 】
Riolu felt a little disappointed.
Its speed wasn’t even as fast as Eevee sis, and its charge-up wasn’t as intimidating as Dragonair brother’s volleyball attack, Dragon’s Dance.
Was this Onix looking down on him by only using this much strength to charge at him?
Riolu couldn’t help but think so.
He felt that with this kind of power, he could press the Onix’s head into the ground with just one Aura Sphere.
While the students outside the arena held their breath, not daring to watch the young Riolu get blown away by the Onix, covering their eyes, Riolu was silently contemplating this with his small fists.
……
After some deliberation, Riolu decided to be an obedient Pokémon.
Remembering Li Wei’s command, Riolu watched the Onix about to collide with him, pushed off the ground with his feet, and with a beautiful backflip, easily dodged the fiercely charged attack from the Onix.
“Wow!!!”
A wave of exclamations rose from outside the arena again.
They were astonished by Riolu’s quick thinking and leap at the last moment.
“Wow!!! Riolu dodged it!”
“This rich guy is quite something!”
Everyone present aspired to be part of the Combat Department. While watching, they became overly invested, completely forgetting the Instructor’s previous intimidating presence, acting as if they were spectators in an arena, discussing the events unfolding on the field.
Unlike the other students’ assessment of Riolu, the Instructor was very surprised by Riolu’s dodging maneuver.
As a seasoned battler, he knew very well whether Riolu had narrowly escaped a desperate situation or if he had dodged the Onix’s attack with ease and composure.
He looked intently at Li Wei, who stood indifferently not far away, and the Instructor gained a new understanding of this wealthy student who could afford a Riolu.
“Onix, use Iron Tail on the ground!”
Realizing that this student was not a novice, the Instructor adjusted his mindset from wanting to crush a beginner and commanded the Onix to launch a second attack.
One of the most easily injured groups in the Pokémon World – the battle arena.
Suddenly, the tip of the Onix’s tail began to flash with white light, and its massive tail slammed heavily onto the ground.
With a deafening crash, the ground struck by the tail instantly cracked, and huge fissures spread towards Riolu’s feet.
Anticipating that Riolu would be unstable due to the terrain disruption, the Instructor continued to issue commands to the Onix, “Wrap!”
Even before the Instructor finished speaking, the Onix had already acted.
This combo showcased the perfect tacit understanding between trainer and Pokémon.
It was hard to imagine such a large Pokémon moving so nimbly around the arena. Its immense strength tore up the ground, and it then charged rapidly towards Riolu.
The fluid coordination, even predicting Riolu’s dodging path, severely underestimated Riolu’s strength.
Riolu again pushed off with both feet, leaping high and using Aura to control the airflow, drifting behind the Onix at a bizarre angle.
The Onix’s second attack missed entirely. The two Pokémon once again swapped positions, facing each other on opposite sides of the arena, and the battle had seemingly reached a stalemate.
“Uwah!!!”
╰(°°)╯
Another round of gasps from below the stage.
Those off-stage didn’t know the inner thoughts of the two battling Pokémon. They only knew that the Onix had suddenly attacked with terrifying power, but for some reason, Riolu had managed to escape danger every time and dodge directly.
“Dodging twice in a row, that’s impressive!!”
A student standing in the front stated truthfully.
“Yeah! If it were my Bulbasaur, it would probably be KO’d by the first Tackle.”
“My Jynx might have cried from fear.”
“I think my Rattata could try Dig…”
Discussions erupted among them. While the novices were shocked and Riolu dodged swiftly, some trainers with combat experience marveled at Riolu’s nurturing.
Although Riolu seemed to be in dire straits, in reality, the Onix was the one cornered.
Its massive size posed no threat to Riolu, and it was at a disadvantage in terms of speed. Its attacks were useless, only wasting stamina.
After using three moves in a row, Li Wei’s Riolu had only jumped twice.
This… It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there was almost a crushing difference in strength!!
Even Li Wei’s acquaintances, like Tian Bai, were stunned by this scene!
What’s going on?
Didn’t everyone have their physical examination and get their Pokémon on April 1st?
Why is yours so outstanding???
This Li Wei isn’t just a flake! He’s a powerful flake!
So all these days he wasn’t replying to messages or hanging out with them was because he was tinkering with this stuff!
Good heavens!
So you were the one secretly studying on your own, you little rascal!!!
At this moment, the group that Li Wei had flaked on were filled with such thoughts of complaint.
Mo Jiu, as a new member of their small group, also covered her mouth in surprise. The Morpeko on her shoulder had, at some point, turned completely black, entering its Full Belly Mode, and with angry crimson eyes, it stretched out its paw to climb onto Mo Jiu’s head.
However, the moment it jumped onto Mo Jiu’s head, its scruff was grabbed, and it was thrown to the ground.
After its chubby body bounced a few times on the ground, it got up with a somewhat wronged look and quietly crawled back to Mo Jiu’s lap. It then took out a bag of daily nuts from her clothes pocket and began to eat.
After two rounds of probing, Li Wei looked at the mess on the arena and made his own judgment about the Onix’s strength.
Similarly, Riolu, facing the Onix in the arena, also had his own comparison in mind.
【 Weaker than Eevee sis, but its body seems very hard to break… 】
Sensing the information conveyed by Riolu’s Aura, Li Wei smirked with a touch of relief and mused that it was fortunate Eevee didn’t understand Aura.
However, Riolu’s assessment was similar to the intelligence he had gathered from a god’s-eye view. Understanding this, Li Wei decided to proceed to the second step of his plan.
“Riolu, use Quick Attack and jump onto it!”
Li Wei began his counterattack.
As the Onix’s consecutive missed attacks with its tail attack missed again, Riolu’s body paused slightly in mid-air. In a way that was difficult for ordinary people to comprehend, he accelerated in the air and used Quick Attack.
Li Wei disliked the move Quick Attack. His teaching to Riolu and Eevee was that while the move could be used, they shouldn’t charge into the opponent like other foolish Pokémon; just using it for acceleration was enough.
At first, Riolu didn’t fully understand this approach, but now, looking at the Onix covered in rocks, he understood Li Wei’s good intentions.
After a period of acceleration, the small Riolu easily leaped onto the Onix’s head.
“Grab its horns and slam it!”
The moment Riolu landed, Li Wei issued another command.
But this command stunned all living beings present, except for the Dragonair, whose eyes suddenly widened, Eevee watching from the audience, and Riolu in the middle of the field.
“Riolu!”
Having received the order, Riolu grabbed the Onix’s horns on its head with both hands, took a deep breath, and a blue light erupted around him. He turned, raised his hand, and exerted force.
When everyone thought the trainer and Pokémon had gone mad, Riolu, in front of everyone, swung the Onix’s massive body and, with a thundering sound, slammed the Onix onto the ground, face up.
Instantly, stone fragments flew, and dust swirled. The arena, already damaged by the Onix, now bore another mural, this one courtesy of the Onix.
“Grab its tail and do it again!”
Riolu’s movements were almost synchronized with Li Wei’s commands, as if they had practiced beforehand, so skilled and swift were they.
Taking advantage of the Onix’s momentary daze, Riolu pushed off the ground with his feet, using Aura to control the airflow, and in the blink of an eye, he had reached the Onix’s tail.
Guided by Delibird, and with Dragonair as the victim, Riolu, mimicking the remembered movements, grabbed the Onix’s small rock tail with both hands, used Aura to control the airflow around the Onix, enveloping it, and assisted him in swinging the large brute around.
Bang, bang, bang!
After three consecutive slams, Riolu then used the momentum from the impacts to perform a horizontal swing, throwing the Onix out of the arena.
In just over ten seconds, Riolu had turned the tide of the battle with his agile footwork and technique.
“Wow!!!!”
Another wave of astonished shouts from outside the arena.
The students’ mouths hung open, stunned by the previously pure spectacle of violence.
The Dragonair, having opened its eyes, felt a chill run down its spine. It instinctively shivered and slowly retreated further into the corner.
It felt like the world was full of malice towards it.
The Instructor in the arena was also quite shocked. However, compared to the audience, who could only open their mouths and shout “wow,” his extensive combat experience allowed him to make a remedial judgment immediately.
“Onix, Rock Slide.”
The Onix, having been thrown, roared angrily. The dust and rocks that had been flying around the arena instantly converged towards its direction.
Unlike the original Sand Tomb, the target of the move release was not Riolu but itself.
The quicksand summoned by its Rock-type ability, mixed with the perfect materials from the arena, formed a solid wall, blocking its body from being thrown out of the arena.
The Instructor used the arena’s advantage to stem the losses in time, thus salvaging the situation.
“Roar!!!”
The Onix, having returned to the ground, raised its head high towards the sky and roared, as if venting its displeasure.
Its fierce roar even echoed within the training ground, and the students watching from below couldn’t help but tremble.
Even Li Wei, in the command area, could clearly feel the anger radiating from the Onix.
“Wow, it’s angry, it’s angry, it’s flustered, it’s flustered.”
Li Wei made no attempt to hide his voice, even wishing he could snatch a megaphone from the Referee and shout at the Instructor.
Anger??
(¬_¬)??
This… is a good thing!
Anger means emotionality, means reduced rationality, means recklessness, and recklessness means an opportunity.
He liked opponents with large bodies and low intelligence.
Although the first wave of offense had failed, Li Wei happily curved his lips. Meanwhile, Riolu, quietly dusting off his hands, sensing the anger emanating from the Onix and its chaotic Aura, couldn’t help but smile.
As Li Wei’s most proud disciple, his thoughts mirrored his trainer’s.
However, Li Wei thought ‘wickedly,’ while Riolu thought ‘earnestly.’
“Riolu, Quick Attack.”
What is this called? It’s called using the same trick twice.
However, the Instructor had no intention of letting his Onix endure another powerful slam from Riolu, empowered by Aura.
The Onix was now covered in dust, far from the bright sheen it had at the beginning, with occasional scratches making it look quite disheveled.
Dealing with this novice, Li Wei, had taken far too long compared to his initial expectations.
The battle, which he had expected to end with a single Tackle from Onix, had turned out so embarrassingly!
As the Instructor, being beaten by a Pokémon that had only hatched for a month, even if it was just a Level 1 Onix equivalent to a Trainee Trainer’s Pokémon, was a loss of face!!
Therefore, he decided to use his ultimate move.
“Onix, Rock Slide!”
The intention behind his earlier command for Onix to use Iron Tail to damage the arena became apparent.
The abundance of rocks provided ample material for the Onix to use freely, saving him the effort of using Rock-type abilities to form dust and condense it into rocks. He could directly use what was available on site for his attack.
Instantly, dozens of rocks of various sizes, swirling with yellow sand, hurtled towards Riolu with immense force.
Facing the threat of massive projectiles, Riolu stopped his forward charge and leaped backward, dodging the first few flying rocks.
“Break them.”
Immediately, Li Wei’s instructions came.
Instead of just dodging, this time Li Wei chose to directly take Onix’s attack.
“Riolu!”
Riolu’s limbs rapidly gathered a large amount of Aura. With swings of its fists and kicks, accompanied by the sound of “clatter” as stones were smashed and fell, Onix’s swift Rock Slide attack was easily neutralized.
As the last piece of giant rock was shattered by Riolu’s punch, and Li Wei used Aura to blow away the surrounding yellow sand, Riolu and Li Wei were shocked to find that Onix had vanished from the arena.
“Riolu?”
Riolu was momentarily confused and looked around frantically, adopting a defensive stance.
【 Does Onix fly like Dragonair older brother??】
The young Riolu was somewhat bewildered, doubting its own knowledge, and even resolved to diligently memorize the League’s Pokédex later on…
But while Riolu was young, Li Wei was not.
As a seasoned veteran who always checks for the latest tricky strategies and a master of detective games, his mind was racing.
Rock Slide, large amounts of broken stones, loud noises, the lingering effect of Sand Tomb with its yellow sand filling the air, deliberately using Iron Tail to shatter the ground, Onix…
“Riolu, jump! Ascend!!”
In a flash, Li Wei shouted at Riolu.
Although Riolu didn’t understand what was happening, it understood the urgency in Li Wei’s tone!
It channeled Aura into its feet and leaped up!
In that very instant, with a “boom,” the ground beneath Riolu suddenly cracked, and emerging from the earth was the missing Onix!
‘As expected,’ Li Wei understood.
“Aura Sphere!”
Seizing the moment when Onix was emerging from the ground and its body movements were restricted, Li Wei seized the opportunity to issue the command.
This was one of Riolu’s few mastered Fighting-type skills, though its initial purpose for learning it was merely to catch a ball.
It clenched its fist, gathering power into its small fist. Accompanied by the flow of Aura within its body, after a brief charge, it instantly unleashed it. All the energy was channeled and sent out in an arc of waves.
The wave-like gas, carrying a whistling sound, dispersed all the sand surrounding Onix. Furthermore, the subsequent wave of power sent the Onix, which had only half its body emerged from the ground, crashing to the ground.
This was merely the first punch from its left hand.
Under the stunned gaze of the audience, who were too shocked to make a sound, Riolu, still airborne due to the force, slowly raised its right hand. It charged up again, but this time the charge took significantly longer.
The moment Onix shook its head from the dirt and prepared to attack again, Riolu unleashed another Aura Sphere directly at its face.
Boom!
The tremor made even the students close to the battleground unsteady. With such terrifying force, Onix was driven firmly into the ravaged arena.
Seeing this, Dragonair tightly closed its eyes. Eevee quietly sat back down, gracefully coiling its tail around its paws. Riolu landed back on the ground with a satisfied smile.
When the smoke cleared and the entire arena was revealed, Onix lay on the ground, unconscious.
After the referee stared in disbelief for three seconds, a whistle blew, and he announced the result of the battle.
“Onix is unable to battle! The winner of the simulation battle is Riolu!!!”
￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥
Today’s collaboration: 《My bathroom has a dungeon》. Song Yingsheng woke up this morning to find a dungeon had appeared in his bathroom. In this dungeon, all the NPCs have obsessive-compulsive disorder and will attack if you disagree. Go to the toilet, and if you pee first, you’ll be beaten to death. If you don’t pee, you’ll be forced to hold it. And you can’t win a counterattack!
Death either way! It’s outrageous!
If you like it, the link is in the author’s notes for you to take at your leisure.
Timo’s Flop Diary
July 6th, Sunny
【 Yesterday’s Recommendation Votes （ July 5th ）, 1580, six extra chapters 】
↑
I’ve opened a post in the Reader Circle to record this separately. From now on, I’ll just mention it briefly in parentheses and won’t dwell on it.
This thing takes up space that I could use for my diary, hmph hmph hmph!
￥￥￥￥￥
I’ve submitted the application for the July event, “Pokémon on the Tip of the Tongue.” If you’re interested, you can check out the Reader Circle. Timo will be participating personally.
Honestly, I’ve been craving this for a long time.
This is a hungry midnight, thinking about the Pokémon plot that led to bloodshed.
￥￥￥￥￥
There’s nothing much to say about today’s Flop Diary; I was catching up on sleep.
ε=(ο｀*))) Sigh
It’s mostly just emotions.
I feel like people must grow; some things are simply not as simple as they initially imagined.
At first, I thought being a web writer was just sharing chuunibyou stories from my head. I’m just a book writer, and you guys are just unfeeling subscription machines.
As “Slice-of-Life” progressed, I realized something felt a bit off.
Fans aren’t unfeeling subscription machines; they’re unfeeling “whipping” machines. Although I flop, overall, life is happy.
Now, as the word count for “Trainer” increases, I’ve realized that writing books isn’t just about sharing stories anymore; writers also need to grow.
This is probably the advantage and disadvantage of fan culture.
Yesterday was intense, and the day before yesterday was also heh heh heh, but your comments saying “Timo, scold me quickly” were too hilarious.
Next time a great author asks a question, I’ll specifically go scold you, ahahahahaha.
That’s all for today. I’m going back to sleep.
End.
