Steven was sowhat puzzled by Cain’s words.
Soone else was waiting for him?
He rembered that, apart from Cain and a few close friends, there weren’t many people in his life. If soone were waiting for him in Leafy Town, they would have surely sent him a ssage to let him know.
At that mont, the person they were talking about appeared.
Cain looked past Steven and saw Cynthia standing at the gym entrance, dressed in her signature black cloak.
Before Steven arrived, Cain had already returned all of Cynthia’s Pokémon.
"There she is, right behind you. Do what you think is best," said Cain nonchalantly, as though he had done all he could.
Steven was montarily taken aback.
He turned around and, seeing Cynthia—tall and majestic at the entrance—was briefly surprised before realizing who she was.
"Cynthia?" Steven asked.
"Steven Stone, I challenge you to a battle," Cynthia replied with her usual composed expression.
"Alright!" Steven answered, surprisingly quickly and enthusiastically.
Then, turning to Cain, he whispered, "Is Cynthia the person you ntioned?"
Now it was Cain’s turn to look confused. Did Steven and Cynthia already know each other?
"Yes," Cain replied.
"Whew! Good thing—it’s not so fan. If it’s Cynthia, I’m very excited for this battle," Steven said, relieved, patting his chest lightly.
"Huh?" Cain reacted.
"You didn’t know? Cynthia is very famous on the internet. Her popularity isn’t lower than mine; in fact, I’d say it’s even higher."
"The difference is that her fa cos entirely from her battling skills. They call her the ’Battle Queen,’" Steven explained, wearing a look that seed to say, Have you not been online?
"By the way, did you battle her?" Steven asked.
Cain nodded earnestly. "Yes, it was a one-on-one battle."
"How did it go?"
"She’s very strong. I lost."
"You lost too? Then I definitely want to face her. I’ve improved a lot during this ti, and I want to see who’s truly stronger," Steven said with a confident smile.
As Cain and Steven whispered to each other, Cynthia slowly approached, trying to overhear their conversation.
Although Cynthia had a cold and reserved personality, after spending a week with Cain, their relationship had ward enough to consider him a friend.
Once Cynthia grew comfortable with soone, her deanor softened slightly. This was her true nature—she could restrain her coldness among friends, but to strangers, she remained distant.
However, when Cynthia entered a battle, her personality changed dramatically.
"I’ll prepare the battlefield," Cain said, noticing Cynthia now standing beside them. He gave Steven a look that indicated he’d have to handle the situation himself and left to organize the gym staff.
The battlefield didn’t need any special setup—it was already clean and ready for use—so it didn’t take long to prepare.
After Cain left, Steven and Cynthia seed unsure of what to say, making the atmosphere slightly awkward.
But soon, Cain returned to announce that the battlefield was ready. All that remained was to let the battle speak for itself.
Cain had a general sense of Steven’s strength at that point.
During their adventure together on Mt. Chimney, Steven had been strong but still slightly below Cynthia’s level.
If Cain had improved significantly during his ti away, Steven had likely improved even more—perhaps even surpassing him—given that his two tang had already fused into one.
That fusion wasn’t just a simple combination of strength; it rged two complete sets of experiences and growth.
The new tagross possessed more abilities and accumulated experience than any other Pokémon, undoubtedly reaching a new level of power.
Cain decided to act as the referee as the two began their battle.
After a brief discussion, they agreed it would be a one-on-one match, each trainer using three Pokémon.
When all three Pokémon from one trainer were defeated, the other would be declared the winner.
Today, there were no spectators. Only three people were present in the entire arena.
As a gentleman, Steven courteously revealed his first Pokémon.
When he threw his Pokéball, a gleaming Shiny tagross appeared.
He started with his strongest card, showing that Steven was taking the battle with Cynthia very seriously.
Seeing Steven’s Pokémon, Cynthia’s expression beca more serious.
She knew Steven had a pseudo-legendary Pokémon from Hoenn, so she wouldn’t have the upper hand in terms of Pokémon choice. Now, everything depended on how their Pokémon had been trained and their strategic abilities as trainers.
When tagross appeared, Cain activated his system to scan the Pokémon’s details.
Pokémon: Shiny tagross (Purple)
Gender: Genderless
Level: 49
Type: Steel Psychic
Ability: Clear Body
Held Items: tal Coat, Occa Berry
Egg Moves: None
Basic Moves: Confusion, tal Claw, Take Down, Pursuit, Bullet Punch, Miracle Eye, Scary Face, Agility, teor Mash, Hamr Arm
Learned Moves: Gravity, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Zen Headbutt, Magnet Rise, Icy Wind, Signal Beam, Ally Switch
TM Moves: Protect, Psyshock, Hidden Power (Flying), Hyper Beam, Earthquake, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Brick Break, Rock Slide, Substitute, Flash Cannon, Grass Knot, Rain Dance, Rock Polish, Confide
Steven’s tagross had reached the peak of the advanced level, just shy of becoming a quasi-elite Pokémon.
Its excellent ability and higher level gave it an edge over Cynthia’s Garchomp, whose move Sandstorm wouldn’t be very effective against tagross.
Moreover, Steven had taught tagross several moves, including Rain Dance, which countered Garchomp’s Sandstorm.
Although tagross had a double weakness to Ground-type attacks, it could use Magnet Rise and its psychic capabilities to evade so of those moves.
To top it off, tagross also resisted Dragon-type moves twice over.
In terms of type advantages, tagross had a slight upper hand.
The battle would hinge on the skills of each Pokémon and the trainers’ ability to adapt on the battlefield.
From Cain’s perspective, either could win.
Steven’s Shiny tagross was slightly better trained than Cynthia’s Garchomp, partly thanks to the support Cain had provided Steven over ti.
Although Garchomp had regained its peak condition thanks to Cain in recent days, it was still slightly behind Steven’s Shiny tagross.
However, Cynthia likely had better battlefield reaction skills than Steven.
After all, Steven spent much of his ti managing his company, while Cynthia could focus entirely on Pokémon battles.
"Garchomp, use Earth Power!" Cynthia commanded.
"tagross, use Magnet Rise and then Ice Punch!" Steven responded.
Hearing the words "Ice Punch," Cynthia couldn’t help but feel her eyelid twitch.
(End of Chapter)
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