Pokémon from Galar

The Tearful Lizard, which sensed the whirlpool, reacted even faster than Yuri. However, the speed of the Tengju Junior was so fast that the Tearful Lizard couldn't even hold up its light barrier in time.

bang——

The tearful lizard's small body was sent flying backward by the straight collision, but the young Tengcui had no intention of stopping there.

"Double kick!"

"careful!"

Time was of the essence, and almost before the two trainers had finished speaking, the two Pokémon collided again.

Snapped--

With a sound like bubbles bursting, a thin barrier of light in front of the Tearful Lizard narrowly defended against two kicks from the Tengchu Junior.

Then, arriving late, the lingering vortex, guided by the Tears-Eyed Lizard's conscious will, was once again trapped in the middle, engulfing the Little General once more. This gave the Tears-Eyed Lizard a brief respite.

This series of actions surprised Hop quite a bit. In that short period of time, the tearful lizard was pulling the vortex while also using its protective ability before the double kick could land.

How did Yuri train like this? Is her control over energy that amazing?

Although Whirlpool is a continuous move, it doesn't mean that it can automatically follow the Pokémon it hits around the field; that's unrealistic.

This ability is indeed the result of the teardrop lizard's hard training.

Perhaps because he's usually timid, he practices this kind of move that allows him to control his opponent's movements from a distance with great enthusiasm, making it hard for him not to improve quickly.

Even though she learned the skill through a skill machine, she uses it more skillfully than she did with a water gun, which she learned much earlier.

"Alright! Maintain this position, Water Pulse!"

Seeing the teardrop's performance, Yuri became happy. She had been worried, but she didn't expect the teardrop to be so fearless in the face of its old rival, instead showing great fighting spirit.

"Storm Flame Strike! Evaporate this entire vortex!"

Hop's commands were much more aggressive. It was unclear whether he was confident or simply believed his Pokémon could do it, but Scorbunny seemed to be infected by Hop's emotions after hearing his voice.

"just--!!!"

He roared as he was swept away by the water, and flames even more powerful than before erupted from his entire body!

Boom boom—

Like a suppressed explosion, the flames surprised Yuri and directly shattered the swirling water, heating it into mist that spread throughout the area.

"ah--!"

The teardrop reacted quickly. Even though it hated the scorching atmosphere in the arena, the battle continued. The Water Pulse, which had been gathered long ago, was launched through the mist in the most likely direction.

This was also one of Hep's goals. The scorching water vapor could interfere with the teardrop lizard's vision and senses at the same time. Although the tumbler's vision was also affected, the tumbler clearly had a slight advantage.

"Hide yourself, then flash by! Double kick!"

Following Hep's instructions, the young Tengchu suppressed his flames and then almost instantly switched to lightning-fast mode, rushing off to the left in the direction of the tearful lizard from his memory.

The instant the water ripples missed, Sobble and Yuri sensed something was wrong.

"Use the whirlpool to protect yourself!"

Yuri remembered the speed of the previous Teng Kei. If she had changed her move immediately after the Water Pulse was activated, she might have had a chance. But now... there was no time to use Guard. She could only gamble on whether her most familiar move could be used successfully before her opponent attacked.

The Tearful Lizard instantly understood Yuri's intention. The surrounding water reappeared, centered on the Tearful Lizard. Just then, the Tengcui General, enveloped in white light, suddenly burst out of the mist and appeared in the Tearful Lizard's field of vision.

Almost the instant the Tearful Lizard noticed, the Little Tiger leaped up and kicked at the Tearful Lizard again.

P.S.: Thinking about battles is so brain-draining lol. I have to keep looking up the move descriptions and then fill in the blanks in my head.

P.S.: Then there's the damage calculation for each battle. I used the calculator in the Pokédex, but it often has bugs that prevent it from calculating, especially for Generation 8 Pokémon. Does anyone have a recommendation for a simple, easy-to-understand, and user-friendly damage calculator?

Author's note on the product launch~

I didn't expect it to be available now... After all, I'm only updating once a day, and based on the word count, it should have been available by the end of this month or early April.

Then, the day before yesterday, Orange Mom suddenly contacted me and said that I'm going to be listed this Friday 233333333333

What can I do? I'm so desperate! ヘ(*–-)ノ

If I don't put it on the shelves, I can still fool myself into thinking that someone is reading it... But once it's on the shelves, I might not be able to keep that illusion anymore, lol.

I've actually wanted to write a Pokémon novel for a long time, but my gateway into the genre was Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Back then, I got a used 3DS cheaply from a friend and bought the cartridges.

Playing my first Pokémon game was quite an experience. I don't know whether to call it good luck or bad, but as my first Pokémon game, I was able to immediately buy the official version and play Pokémon Nikki, which has a Mandarin dub.

However, the result was an early-generation version, and because the pixel art style was too strong, I couldn't really get into it.

Then, after playing Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, I heard that Pokémon was going to switch platforms next year, and I was stunned!

I still vividly remember how confused I was back then, lol.

Then, after I started writing novels, I wanted to write about Alola. But after looking around at fanfiction, I found that hardly anyone was writing Alola novels. After asking around, I learned that Generation VII wasn't that popular. Anyway, the longest Alola novel I found was only about 400,000 words, right? I think they were all cut up.

The result was that even after Sword and Shield came out, and after finishing the game, I realized there was really not much story content. But I still couldn't resist opening the book.

Actually, the initial plan was to have Yuri as the main character, and then have her relentlessly flirt with Mari along the way—that kind of development.

But after writing a few chapters, I realized I was following the original plot too closely, and I couldn't help wanting to do something strange to the Thousand-Faced Assassin...

Feeling there was a risk of the draft being taken down (404 error), I scrapped the first draft and changed the protagonist to Mari. To be honest, I actually preferred to pursue Mari; Yuri is, after all, a player character, and everyone's impression of her personality would likely be different.

If the Yuri I created isn't that cute, I'll probably feel bad myself.

Well... after all that rambling, what I really want to say is—

Please give us a first subscription! o(*￣3￣)

Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Evolution of the Tears-Eyed Lizard

The kick from the young general was incredibly fast. Before the water vortex could fully form, he broke through it forcefully and kicked the tearful lizard solidly.

"ah--!!"

Seeing the Tearful Lizard flying backward, Hop had no intention of stopping. The young Swift Scout was now unleashing its Blazing Fire ability, which was powerful but also dangerous.

Hep excitedly clenched his fist and shouted:

"Charged Flame Strike! Let's take this battle!"

"just--!!"

Although Tengchu himself prefers kicking techniques, he trusts his trainer's judgment, and the surge in his attack power has given him confidence.

"Sobbing Lizard! Hold on! Then use the water gun!"

Yuri could only hastily devise her own response, watching the exaggerated flames erupting from the young general Tengju. She hadn't felt anything when she was enveloped in the whirlpool earlier.

Now that I see it, I realize that this power boost is truly impressive.

Bang-!

Once again, like the sound of bubbles bursting, it signaled that Teng Cu's attack had failed once more.

"ah--!!"

While the Tearful Lizard's counterattack after its defense was impressive in terms of the power and speed of its water gun, the Tumbler, whose speed had increased three times, nimbly dodged the attack the moment it landed, landing on its feet.

But at that moment, a sudden change occurred!

"Young warrior Tengju! Get out of the way behind you!"

"just--?!"

Just as he dodged the water gun attack and was about to run again, the little tumbler heard his trainer's voice and, without time to react, instinctively rolled to the side in a hurry.

The swirling vortex that barely grazed the toes of the young general, which the Tearful Lizard had originally intended as a chance to launch a sneak attack, saw this scene...

He didn't continue to greedily attack, since the speed of the Tide Whirlwind couldn't keep up with the current Tengju Xiaojiang. So he nimbly turned a corner and returned to the side of the Tearful Lizard, successfully wrapping up and protecting him.

"Phew—that was close! Yuri, your Sobble Lizard keeps surprising me. Your manipulation of moves like that is just amazing!"

Even Hop's strong heart was startled by the Tearful Lizard's sneak attack. Who would have thought that the whirlpool, which hadn't even formed properly before, would maintain a weak current and stealthily approach, only to suddenly unleash its power at the last moment?

If I hadn't spoken up in time, and if Tengchu hadn't trusted me and reacted quickly enough, that last move would definitely have been our second defeat.

"No, it's all thanks to the teardrop lizard itself!"

Although Yuri was aware of the Sobble Lizard's control abilities and noticed the lingering water on the ground, she couldn't possibly communicate with the Sobble Lizard and devise such a plan in such a short time.

That sneak attack just now was entirely the teardrop lizard's own judgment.

Hep looked at the Tearful Lizard, which was completely enveloped by the surging water, and knew that he couldn't let Tengchu continue to fight head-on. Now, all of his skills were close-range attacks, and rushing over now would be a suicide mission.

Moreover, if the young Tengchu player maintains such a high level of alertness and looks for opportunities, including the physical strain from the three accelerations, his stamina might not be able to sustain it. After thinking it over...

Somewhat reluctantly, Hop took out a Poké Ball and said to the Scorbunny in the middle of the field:

"Come back now, young Tengcu, and then it's your turn to take the field!"

He skillfully switched Poké Balls, then threw out his third Pokémon, and a rather cool-looking Blue Raven appeared on the field.

I felt a little regretful. I should have gritted my teeth and bought a Baton Pass skill card earlier. The advantage of the three speed stacks of the Soaring Striker was wasted.

"Gah—!!"

Looking at the Blue Raven in the center of the arena, which had become somewhat presentable, Yuri pursed her lips. Another evolution... Hop's two Pokémon had both evolved, but on her side, only Appledra, which could evolve after eating an apple, had evolved.

"Oh dear...? (Yuri...?)"

Perhaps sensing the change in its trainer's emotions, Sobble turned its head and called out twice to Yuri with some concern.

After staring at the Sobble Lizard for a moment, Yuri suddenly laughed. What does evolution matter? If the Sobble Lizard doesn't want to evolve, then it won't evolve.

"Don't worry, Tearful Lizard, I'm fine."

Then, Yuri took the Sobble's Poké Ball and continued speaking to her Pokémon:

"Come back now. You worked hard just now, you did a great job!"

"Ah—! (No! I can still continue!)"

However, Sobble shook its head, indicating that it was unwilling to change partners. Having been with Yuri for so long, Sobble had learned a lot from her and understood the basic attribute relationships.

I've learned about the opponent's Blue Raven's attributes because Little Chirp keeps cawing all the time; it's a Flying type.

Yuri's Pokémon Sobble is obviously very easy to beat. Both Cottonfish and Appledra are Grass-type, so Yuri is completely at a disadvantage. The difficulty of fighting against a type disadvantage has already been proven by the Scorbunny earlier, hasn't it?

The young stamina was failing, and even with the type disadvantage, Appledra's aerial advantage combined with Dragon-type moves should have made victory easy. But this Blue Raven...

As the first Sobble to join the team, it felt it necessary to do something to give its Pokémon an advantage when they came out later.