Pokemon: I refuse to be a supporting character!

Read advance chapters for both of my work, exclusively on Patreon at - www.patreon.com/Sniperwoof

-----------------

"Sorry for the trouble."

Li Xiang played along, giving the Rotom in his phone a grateful look.

Hearing this, Rotom immediately got flustered and stammered, "W-well, as long as you know! But I'm magnanimous—you don't need to buy another machine. I can make do with this one."

It seemed to have developed a concept of money and didn't want Li Xiang to spend more on appliances.

But its tsundere nature made it incapable of speaking straightforwardly, forcing it to hint at its thoughts in a roundabout way.

'Such a cryptic little thing.'

Li Xiang found it amusing, though a bit too stubborn. If he kept stroking its ego, maybe one day the "tsun" would fade, leaving only the "dere."

His gaze returned to the appliances.

Five different machines, representing five moves of different types and power.

Hydro Pump, Overheat, Leaf Storm, Air Slash, and Blizzard.

They were perfect for covering type weaknesses. In the games, their imperfect accuracy might be a problem, but in reality, aim could be trained.

"Do you have a favorite form?" Li Xiang asked softly as Torracat and the others circled the appliances curiously.

From the phone, Rotom replied, "Not really. But according to my research, Heat Rotom and Wash Rotom are the most popular and strongest in battle…"

In other words, it preferred those two.

As a trainer, Li Xiang also favored strong type combinations. Among them, Water/Electric stood out the most—only weak to Grass, which his team could easily handle.

So he asked Rotom to stay in Wash Form for battles.

Rotom naturally agreed. The only downside was that these appliances were too bulky to carry around. If they were portable, switching forms freely would be incredible.

A spatial storage bag could fit the electric fan, though. If Li Zhehan bought a smaller microwave, washing machine, or fridge—or even commissioned custom mini-appliances—they could carry at least two or three.

'Hey, that's not a bad idea.'

If the appliance's power output didn't affect Rotom's moves, miniaturization could be very useful.

Li Xiang decided that after the new year, he'd find a way to get his hands on some mini appliances.

...

Battle Testing.

Wash Rotom vs. Riolu.

The main goal was to test Rotom's strength after form-changing, while also letting Riolu practice its move combos.

Standing at the edge of the field, Li Xiang rubbed Torracat's round head and asked, "What do you think of the name Rokushiki?"

Rokushiki—Soru, Tekkai, Kami-e, Geppo, Rankyaku, Shigan.

It perfectly matched Riolu's frequently used moves:

Soru (High-Speed Movement) → Agility

Tekkai (Iron Body) → Iron Defense

Kami-e (Paper Drawing) → Detect

Geppo (Moon Step) → Electromagnetic Levitation

Rankyaku (Storm Leg) → Leg-version Force Palm

Shigan (Finger Gun) → Bullet Punch

The resemblance was uncanny.

"Meow."

Torracat rolled its eyes, unimpressed. It was certain Riolu would hate the name.

"Come on, don't be so picky. The whole point is to make move usage more flexible, confuse opponents, and shorten commands," Li Xiang said, turning to Corviknight. "Right?"

"Caw!"

Corviknight nodded—it was a follower, rarely forming strong opinions of its own.

Frogadier, however, was nowhere to be seen.

On the Field.

Riolu used Detect to dodge Rotom's Thunderbolt, then countered with a leg-version Force Palm.

This was a newly mastered skill—most Pokémon couldn't execute the move with their feet.

Rotom grabbed the hose on its back with its energy-formed hand and unleashed a grayish-purlish gust of wind, dispersing the incoming Force Palm shockwave.

This Rotom had multiple ways to unleash moves. The hose could fire Hydro Pump, and the blue valve on its chest could also release Hydro Pump—or even both at once.

While this split the move's power and increased energy consumption, it expanded the attack range, making it harder to evade.

What satisfied Li Xiang most was that if a move hit Wash Rotom's body, the appliance itself remained unharmed, retaining its Ghost-type intangibility.

Otherwise, appliances would become consumables—and who could afford that?

After five or six minutes of sparring, Rotom lost.

Even with its boosted form-change strength and innate talent, it couldn't beat Riolu. The gap was simply too wide.

"…Hah."

Riolu calmly steadied its breathing. Aside from refining its speed combos, it had recently been experimenting with using Aura in battles.

If it could maintain Aura constantly, its strength would skyrocket.

After all, with Aura, everything in the world would be laid bare before it.

As a pragmatic Pokémon, Riolu didn't pin its hopes on the vague, unpredictable prospect of evolution. Hard work, physical training, and leveling up were the true path to power.

Even as its teammates evolved and grew exponentially stronger, Riolu's determination never wavered.

Only by improving could it protect Li Xiang from those elusive Ghost-types next time.

'The Aura is with me.'

Riolu crossed its arms over its chest.

An invisible ripple spread outward before snapping back into its body.

Outside the Field.

Li Xiang approached, first praising Riolu before comforting Rotom.

The latter remained tsundere, claiming it didn't care about losing a single match.

But Li Xiang knew better—Rotom did care. Otherwise, it wouldn't have disappeared for a while to vent in his phone before returning with its Siri voice.

Nobody liked losing.

"You're actually really strong. It's just that you haven't battled much before. For a beginner, you're already amazing," Li Xiang said generously.

"You just lack experience. A few more battles, and your strength will shoot up."

"Really?"

"Of course. So I'll be counting on you from now on, Rotom," Li Xiang smiled.

"Hmph! Since you need my help so badly, I'll lend you a hand!" Rotom sniffed. "But only because I'm kind! Beep!"

When happy, Rotom would add electronic beeping sounds to its speech, like a malfunctioning gadget.

This made it easy for Li Xiang to gauge its mood.

If this Rotom were a galgame heroine, it'd be a terrible one.

Next Match.

Wash Rotom and Riolu stepped down.

The next combatants were Corviknight and Frogadier, the latter already standing in the field unnoticed.

Corviknight was training its ability, Mirror Armor, to reflect light-based moves by strengthening its body.

Frogadier, meanwhile, focused on increasing its move execution speed.

Protean changed its type before using a move—meaning even if the move missed, its type still shifted.

Thus, Frogadier's true strength hinged on how fast it could act.

If it reduced its move wind-up and recovery, it wouldn't be one-shot by anything short of a massive level gap.

And if it couldn't be one-shot, it could start one-shotting others.

Battle Start.

Frogadier opened with Camouflage, followed by Double Team.

Without careful observation—or prior knowledge—it was nearly impossible to tell Frogadier had already turned invisible.

Corviknight, faced with a swarm of illusory Frogadiers, knew its Taunt had come too late to stop the setup.

So it decisively used Defog.

A fierce gust scattered the clones like mist.

Defog lowered evasion, making it a natural counter to Double Team. But sometimes, things didn't go as planned.

Like now.

Five illusions survived the wind and closed in on Corviknight, firing icy-blue lightning from all directions.

Corviknight scanned left and right, trying to spot the real one materializing from thin air, but overthinking backfired.

One of the five illusions was real—the very one Corviknight dismissed as fake.

Frogadier's Stealth ability paired perfectly with Double Team.

Opponents would unconsciously ignore the real body, even if they sensed something off.

Ice Beam hit!

Corviknight raised its mirror-like wings to shield itself, attempting to reflect the attack, but this advanced technique was still theoretical.

Its wings froze over, and though it avoided being fully immobilized, its body stiffened. Corviknight had to lower its altitude to avoid a painful crash.

A second Ice Beam followed.

Again, five indistinguishable beams, but Corviknight had locked onto its target. Its body glowed crimson as it lunged like a hawk snatching prey—

Body Press!

A direct hit!

Thud!

Frogadier's body flew backward like a snapped kite string, the surrounding illusions shattering—

Wait..

One illusion remained!

Corviknight's peripheral vision caught a Frogadier illusion still standing, its Ice Beam condensing into a bolt that struck true!

'How?!'

Corviknight turned its head in shock, watching the "Frogadier" it had just hit dissipate into smoke.

—Substitute!

Had it been used from the start? Or just now?

Corviknight could hardly believe its eyes. It had been watching closely yet still mistook the substitute for the real Frogadier.

'This is too much!'

Outside the Field.

Seeing this, Li Xiang glanced at Torracat and Riolu. Their resigned expressions confirmed they'd fallen for the same trick.

"That Stealth effect is just unfair," Li Xiang muttered.

Admittedly, even he had mistaken the substitute for the real Frogadier.

The key to countering this was to remember: The more something seems real, the faker it is.

Because the real one had already been subconsciously ignored.

Absolutely disgusting.