"I'm not teaming up with you. I can beat them by myself."
Roki narrowed his eyes.
He swept those people with a contemptuous glance, his expression full of disdain.
He was the kind of person whose confidence bordered on arrogance.
Especially after returning from Dragon Valley—
After capturing that Elite Four-level Salamence,
he'd swollen to the extreme.
He no longer took any of his peer "geniuses" seriously.
Seeing the way Roki looked down on them,
those talented freshmen from the Pokémon universities
were so furious their teeth itched.
"Think it through—if we lose, you'll be facing a one-versus-five!"
"I advise you to fight alongside us!"
"..."
The other four Pokémon university contestants present
suppressed the anger in their hearts
and calmly laid out the pros and cons to Roki again.
Even though they were a hundred times unwilling inside,
for the sake of getting into Mt. Silver,
they had no choice but to coax this obnoxious guy with soft words.
"Doesn't matter."
Roki shrugged with his hands spread.
"I said I don't need to team up with you. The four of you would only drag me down."
"And even if it's one versus five, I can still win."
Roki snorted, already basking in his own delusion.
"This guy is beyond saving!"
"Let's see how you die later!"
"Unbelievable. He's stupid to the extreme!"
Watching Roki stubbornly refuse to budge,
the other Pokémon university prodigies, wary of making things uglier, endured it and stopped talking.
If he wanted to throw his life away out of overconfidence,
then let him.
The Military's side also acted like proper gentlemen.
Only after Roki's side finished their negotiations
did they choose to command their Pokémon to launch the attack.
"Golem! Rock Tomb! Slow them down!"
"Drapion! Wide-area Pin Missile! Lock down their room to move!"
"Golduck! Soak!"
"Full power output! Ampharos! Thunderbolt!"
"Luxray! Finish them! Wild Charge!"
The Military's contestants
didn't exchange a single word.
Relying only on the professional habits they'd built up day after day, plus sharp analytical instincts,
they took one look at the Pokémon their teammates sent out
and immediately prepared the most perfect sequence of moves.
Rock Tomb to cut the opposing Pokémon's mobility.
Then Pin Missile to further compress their movement space.
Then a wide-area Soak to tag every opponent with the Water type.
And finally—
have Ampharos and Luxray, the two highest-output attackers, unleash high-voltage electricity as area damage.
This swift, disciplined, and extremely coordinated combination assault
produced outstanding results.
Across from them, a mid Gym-level Hypno and a mid Gym-level Houndoom
passed out on the spot, losing all ability to battle.
Only a high Gym-level Beartic and a peak Gym-level Arcanine remained standing.
But even though they still had fighting power,
their stamina had already been cut down by more than half.
Their condition had dropped badly.
What happened next didn't need saying.
A two-versus-five fight was hard to begin with—
and the five opponents on the other side were coordinating so smoothly.
After holding on for a few minutes,
Arcanine and Beartic finally hit their limit under the opponent's saturated bombardment and collapsed unconscious.
On the Pokémon Academy side,
four people were eliminated.
Now only Roki was left.
And on the Military's side,
all five Pokémon were still in decent condition.
As long as they defeated Roki,
then
all five slots to enter Mt. Silver this time
would go entirely to the Military.
"Let's see how you win!"
"You idiot—an arrogant loudmouth with no brain!"
"You buried such a good opportunity with your own hands!"
The four defeated Pokémon university contestants
glared at Roki in fury, spitting nonstop trash talk.
It was all because Roki hadn't chosen to fight together with them
that their disadvantage in numbers had turned into outright defeat.
If he'd joined in,
a 5v5 match might not necessarily have been a loss.
Roki dug his little finger into his ear.
He automatically filtered out their mocking insults.
His gaze turned to the five Military members standing in front of him and their five Pokémon.
"Nice presence. Too bad you still can't beat me."
Roki said it with a hint of emotion, a smile hanging at the corner of his mouth.
His words made the Military members laugh.
Seriously?
They'd already beaten the other four just now.
Now only this one guy was left.
Five-versus-one and they still couldn't win?
Was there something wrong with this kid's head?
Who did he think he was?
Just a freshman with a bit of talent who'd only been enrolled in a Pokémon university for a short time…
So why did he talk and act like he was some Elite Four figure?
"That student—he's the S+ rated freshman you recruited this year, right? Why does he look like he's not very bright?"
Not far away,
Minister Kenjiro turned his head and spoke to Principal Jiro from First Pokémon University beside him.
Principal Jiro looked at Roki,
his expression complicated and strange.
He knew Roki's temper—
a bit conceited and arrogant.
But geniuses were often like that; Roki's level used to be within the "normal" range, not too outrageous.
However,
ever since he came back from Dragon Valley a few days ago, he'd become a little different.
His confidence had somehow inflated extremely.
He carried an air of looking down on everything, as if nothing in the world mattered.
Principal Jiro had asked him what was going on,
but Roki didn't even acknowledge him now, refusing to reveal anything at all.
If it weren't for the fact that they'd already invested a lot of resources into cultivating him early on,
Principal Jiro would've been so furious he would've taught the brat a lesson and kicked him out.
"Maybe he got stimulated by something."
Principal Jiro thought for a moment and replied vaguely.
His eyes stayed fixed on Roki, hoping this guy wouldn't make Pokémon University lose face too badly.
If not a single one of the five slots went to their Pokémon University,
this would become a laughingstock the moment it got out.
"Within one minute—I'll take all of you down!"
As Roki spoke,
he unhooked a Poké Ball from his waist and held it in his hand.
Pff—
That chūnibyō, show-off line instantly made the five Military contestants across from him laugh out loud.
This guy was kind of funny.
"Salamence! Let them feel fear!"
He threw the Poké Ball.
A red beam of light shot out.
A Dragon-type Pokémon with blood-red wings spread across its back
appeared before everyone.
"ROOOAR!!"
Salamence threw its head back with a sky-splitting roar.
A terrifying aura and overwhelming draconic pressure surged out in an instant, sweeping across the field.
In a heartbeat,
the entire venue fell silent.
Everyone's expressions
filled with shock and astonishment.
This Salamence—
it looked like…
an Elite Four-level Pokémon!
(End of Chapter)
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