Chapter 23: Crossing: Can someone please do something about him??

Page (1/3)

In truth, one could hardly blame Lance for reacting this way. The two Pokémon standing before him were genuinely rather unusual...

One was an Ambipom, and the other a Dedenne.

Lance could not help feeling puzzled.

If he remembered correctly, Aipom was only a blue-quality Pokémon, while Dedenne was not even that—it was white.

In a competitive Pokémon game where numerical stats mattered so much, how could anyone possibly use Pokémon like these in ranked battles?

It seemed this really was just a lucky newcomer.

At the same time, the atmosphere in Ling Feng’s livestream was filled with laughter.

【Good grief... Ambipom is one thing, but he actually brought out a Dedenne too?】

【Did the streamer mistake this for a Little Cup tournament?】

【Kid, come back after evolving them one more stage...】

【Hahahahahaha!】

【Streamer, why not just surrender and start handing out red envelopes?】

In everyone’s minds, Dedenne was barely distinguishable from a mascot. Throughout history, no Elite Four member or Champion had ever been known to raise one.

There was only one reason: Dedenne was simply far too weak. It was timid by nature, had a painfully narrow movepool, and did not even have the potential to evolve further.

Generally speaking, trainers who owned a Dedenne merely liked its adorable appearance and hoped it could accompany them on their travels.

They certainly did not expect it to make much of a contribution in battle...

So when everyone saw Ling Feng send out a Dedenne, the livestream—and the audience beyond it—was naturally filled with gleeful amusement.

Ling Feng, however, paid no attention to the comments and decisively issued his command:

“Dedenne, Ambipom, use Fling on the opponents in front of you!”

At the same time, Lance spoke from the other side.

“Garchomp, use Earthquake! Kommo-o, jump and use Boomburst on them!”

Earthquake was an extremely powerful Ground-type move. While capable of inflicting tremendous damage, it also struck every Pokémon standing on the ground—including allies.

By having Kommo-o jump beforehand, however, it could avoid the damage from Earthquake.

It was a fairly simple yet practical tactical combination.

After giving his orders, Lance felt slightly disappointed.

A battle where he simply crushed a novice trainer was genuinely rather boring for a Champion.

He might as well hurry up, climb the rankings, and match against stronger opponents...

As he pondered this, the game finished calculating, and the scene began to move.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

Yet the next moment, something completely beyond his expectations happened!

Before either dragon could make a move, two objects came hurtling through the air from far away. With a pair of loud thuds, they struck the dragons squarely on the head.

The HP bars above the two dragons’ heads immediately dropped by an almost imperceptible amount.

“?”

Lance took a closer look and saw that the objects were a battered golden crown and a strangely shaped, razor-sharp fang.

Those were... a King’s Rock and a Razor Fang?

So they were the items held by the opposing Pokémon?

While he was thinking, he looked up and discovered that his Garchomp and Kommo-o had frozen in place.

Two notifications appeared in succession—

【Garchomp flinched!】

【Kommo-o flinched!】

What was going on?

After a brief moment of stunned confusion, he immediately understood.

That was right—it had to be Fling!

The move allowed a Pokémon to throw its held item as an attack, with the power and effect varying according to the item thrown.

If it threw something with considerable weight, such as an Iron Ball, it would inflict heavy damage.

The King’s Rock and Razor Fang, on the other hand, should cause the target to flinch...

The move sounded fairly useful, but in actual combat, no one would ever want their Pokémon to use it.

That was because Fling was completely one-time-only. Once used, it consumed the item the Pokémon was holding.

After all, once the item had been thrown, it was not as though one could simply pick it up and throw it again.

The opponent was not an idiot. Why would they just stand there and watch you retrieve it?

And this disposable move directly consumed a Pokémon’s precious—and only—held-item slot.

In most situations, it was a choice that brought more harm than benefit.

Now that Garchomp and Kommo-o had entered a flinching state, they naturally could not act normally, and the game immediately advanced to the next command phase.

Lance was not worried.

This amounted to nothing more than delaying him for one turn. It had no real effect. At most, they could rely on their negligible damage and poison to wear down some of his team’s HP.

Next turn... he would like to see how the opponent planned to survive!

With that thought, Lance issued the same commands as before.

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

Yet the next moment...

The King’s Rock and Razor Fang lying on the ground suddenly rose into the air as if by magic. They switched positions, one flying to the left and the other to the right, before returning to Ambipom and Dedenne!

【Dedenne’s Pickup ability activated!】

【Ambipom’s Pickup ability activated!】

Lance: ???

Wait, you actually picked them up?

Hold on... didn’t that mean...

Just as Lance’s expression changed and he realized that things might not be quite so simple...

The next turn began. With Tailwind behind them, the two objects once again flew forward at astonishing speed and struck Garchomp and Kommo-o!

The King’s Rock landed squarely on Garchomp’s face, while the Razor Fang went straight up Kommo-o’s nostril...

Their bodies instantly stiffened!

Flinching activated once more!

What happened afterward was nothing short of theatrical.

Whenever Pickup activated, the two items returned, only for Dedenne and Ambipom to throw them out again with Fling.

Turn after turn passed. Garchomp and Kommo-o remained completely unable to move, forced to watch helplessly as their HP slowly dwindled.

Two mighty Dragon-type pseudo-legendaries could do nothing but stand there and be pelted with garbage!

On top of that, the poison laid in advance by Glimmora caused their HP to drop a little further every turn...

And so, when the ninth turn began, Garchomp and Kommo-o could endure no longer. They collapsed to the ground, defeated!

Lance immediately sent out Hydreigon and Goodra.

The moment they entered the field, they were hit as well...

Lance was utterly dumbfounded.

Seriously, was this really how Pickup was supposed to be used?

At that moment, sitting before his computer screen with an expression that had begun to twist, he finally understood why his opponent had chosen that game name.

“A Person of Quality”?

This guy had absolutely no quality whatsoever!!!

Could somebody please do something about him?