Chapter 128: Pride’s Thunder
Zuo Hang came before the stone sculpture, bent down, and picked up Pikachu.
“Your eyes are very dangerous.” Zuo Hang thought the interval before their second conversation wouldn’t be too long, but he didn’t expect that he himself would be the one who couldn’t hold back and spoke first out of anger.
“I know…” Lilia had no intention of hiding it.
“The little white dragon you mentioned resonates with me, which proves that the image of that dragon is infinitely close to the Dragon of Arrogance in the legend.”
“Clearly just an ordinary person, yet able to establish a connection with the Dragon of Arrogance… I feel like you’re hiding a lot from me.”
“Our relationship is far from the point of having nothing to hide from each other.” Zuo Hang said, “Secrets create distance. I’m starting to believe the rumors about the Cursed Woman a bit now… Though I’m not afraid of dying, dying easily might be quite troublesome for me.”
“To prevent the young lady of the Alsteria Family from killing another ordinary person, I think distance is something very necessary between us…”
“However…”
Zuo Hang changed his tone.
“Before keeping our distance, I want to battle you. The power of the Dragon of Arrogance… honestly, I’m really curious.”
Hearing that there was going to be a fight, a different glint suddenly appeared in Lilia’s mouth, eyes, and pupils.
“I take back what I said on the train… Your Pikachu is strong, but compared to my Dragonite… it’s still far from enough!”
Zuo Hang said, “How far? We’ll only know after battling. Lightning Queen, who’s been made into official art in all sorts of games, I hope you’re not just a poster pretty face.”
“The sarcasm is too obvious; that’s not the attitude a guest should have.” Lilia said.
“You’re mistaken again. We’re exchanging intelligence as equals; there’s no host-guest relationship.”
“But you’re staying in my home, the Alsteria Family home!” Lilia’s hand reached toward her lower back and touched the first Poké Ball on her Pokémon Belt.
—From height and appearance, it was no different from the Dragonite Zuo Hang had seen before; the only difference was the eyes, far from the harmless look of ordinary Dragonite, with brown pupils revealing emotions hard to describe at the moment.
Ferocious, brutal, angry.
Zuo Hang thought of many words while locking eyes with the Dragonite, but the one that perfectly matched these eyes was probably only “arrogance.”
It showed no sign of considering Pikachu and Zuo Hang as opponents at all, as if this Dragonite could instantly kill Pikachu just by unleashing electric light.
“Pika~~!!!” Pikachu bristled a bit. This arrogant gaze made him very unhappy.
“Thunder Punch!”
“Volt Tackle!”
Two commands rang out simultaneously.
Black electric light gathered on the Dragonite’s right hand, while pale and dark gold dual-colored thunder light gathered over Pikachu’s entire body!
Facing the arrogant electric light head-on for the first time.
The eerie black electricity was far from as dazzling as Pikachu’s, but the space near the Dragonite’s right fist seemed to be wailing.
There was no mutual probing like between strong opponents upon meeting; as soon as the electric light lit up, Li Dong’s dynamic vision in this body could no longer capture their movements.
Lilia stood still, but Zuo Hang had to retreat.
Li Dong’s frail body would immediately shut down if even touched by the overflowing electric currents from the battle.
“Possessing an Electric-type Pokémon that can wield two kinds of different colored electric light at the same time, yet your own physique doesn’t match this Pokémon at all. I’m getting more and more curious about you.” Lilia narrowed her eyes slightly. “Dragonite! Charge!”
—Charge: Electric-type status move: Boosts the power of the user’s next Electric-type move, and also raises its own Special Defense after use.
“Pikachu! Electric Terrain!”
—Electric Terrain: Electric-type status move: Spreads electricity across the area, creating terrain that prevents Pokémon from falling asleep; Electric-type moves used by Pokémon on the terrain have increased power.
Two enhancement moves: Charge leans toward single-target boost, while Electric Terrain leans toward group boost.
This was a 1v1 battle, so the group boost seemed a bit unwise, and Electric Terrain’s damage boost was far weaker than Charge.
The arrogant electric fist swung toward Pikachu’s face; Pikachu’s tail was immediately covered in silver-white.
Iron Tail and Thunder Punch were about to collide, but Pikachu’s body suddenly turned into a pale afterimage.
—Volt Switch!
Pikachu appeared without warning behind the Dragonite’s head, flipped its body, and slammed a fierce Jump Kick Iron Tail onto the back of the Dragonite’s head!
This was Pikachu’s unique combination technique, achieving a Teleport-like effect using Volt Switch and Electric Terrain.
Volt Switch is originally a move for switching with a reserve Pokémon in a Poké Ball, but Zuo Hang and Pikachu had developed this effect comparable to Teleport.
However, the movement range is limited to the Electric Terrain, not as flexible as Teleport, but this combination technique isn’t just for escape-type movement.
Pikachu’s force was heavy; one hit smashed the Dragonite’s head into the white stone bricks on the castle ground.
The Dragonite’s current posture was very undignified, and the black electricity on its arms had already extinguished.
Pikachu zipped back and forth in the Electric Terrain; its body was a bolt of lightning, indistinguishable from the other electric lights in the terrain. As long as Pikachu maintained the teleport state, it could achieve near-invisibility in the Electric Terrain.
It took the Dragonite over ten seconds to pull its head out of the bricks. The Alsteria Family’s bricks were exceptionally sturdy—easy to go in, hard to come out. Pulling its head out without using moves was truly difficult.
The Teleport caught the first move, turning a battle full of suspense suddenly simple.
The Dragonite wore a Mega Evolution Stone around its neck, but it probably wouldn’t get a chance to use it. In a real battle, the time with its head buried in the ground would have been enough to kill it several times over.
The two were just sparring, and this wasn’t a formal battle arena anyway.
The Dragonite’s gaze toward Pikachu was still fierce, but the arrogance had vanished, replaced by a trace of embarrassment.
“You win.” Lilia said frankly.
“Luck.” Zuo Hang said.
“A win is a win; no need to be modest. People from the Alsteria Family aren’t so arrogant that we can’t face our own failure.” Lilia changed her tone. “Training ground, let’s battle again.”
Her tone was extremely serious; clearly, she wasn’t as indifferent as her words suggested.
“I’m not battling.”
Zuo Hang was far from the main battlefield, having retreated to the castle gate.
That battle was a bit too terrifying for Li Dong; even at a hundred meters away, he could feel the scorching electric light in front of him, as if touching it directly would pierce his body.
The space left for trainers in a battle arena is so small; if inside, Zuo Hang figured he had no chance of survival.
Just days before the Master Cup begins, what Zuo Hang should consider isn’t how to improve Pikachu’s strength, but how to get “Li Dong’s” body up to the average human level in this world.
（ps: Recommendation votes are in your hands, everyone!）
（ps2: I’ve been really busy lately; the only day off I squeezed out was only enough for two chapters. Apologies to everyone first—I’ll make up the owed chapters once things calm down!）
I think I wrote about the Volt Switch and Electric Terrain combination technique before, but I can’t quite remember if it was in Phantom Sovereign or Unsuitable One. I added a bit more detail here; not intentionally padding, I really forgot.
