Pokemon: I refuse to be a supporting character!

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Song Jie's battle was utterly dominant.

Although the Sigilyph was quite strong, it was no match for Lycanroc. In a moment of desperation, Sigilyph managed to use Hypnosis, putting Lycanroc to sleep.

—Earlier, it had swapped abilities with Lycanroc using Skill Swap, revealing that Sigilyph's ability was likely the Hidden Ability Tinted Lens.

However, Lycanroc was already prepared for this—or rather, Song Jie had long anticipated such a situation.

Within Lycanroc's move pool was a move called Sleep Talk.

Sleep Talk is a Normal-type status move that allows a Pokémon to randomly use one of the moves it has learned while it is asleep.

And sure enough—

While sleeping, Lycanroc raised a fiery fist and struck Sigilyph with Fire Punch. The blazing punch nearly shattered the bird Pokémon's stick-like head.

With that, Sigilyph expended the last of its strength and fell into a brief faint.

The referee blew the whistle, picked up a pen, and began scoring both sides.

Off the field—

"Not bad! Lucky that you didn't draw a status move," Li Xiang said with a smile. Once a Pokémon has learned too many moves, Sleep Talk becomes highly luck-dependent.

It's not uncommon to see it select moves like Growl, Leer, or Sand Attack instead.

If it happens to select a move with poor effects or very low power, it can be a frustrating experience.

For this reason, Sleep Talk is a very situational move—awkward to use but something most offensive Pokémon are forced to learn.

After all, at mid- to high-level matches, the sleep status can be a huge disadvantage.

"Hmm? What are you doing here?"

Song Jie walked out of the field, with Lycanroc cracking its right arm. Its right shoulder had been dislocated by Sigilyph's Psychic.

Li Xiang casually replied, "I finished early, so I came to watch. You've got bad luck, always running into such tough opponents."

"Hah, says the guy with a smooth ride."

"Don't rub it in."

"Come on, share a bit of that good fortune."

The two boys laughed and joked as they headed toward the medical room.

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The next day, it was Riolu's turn for the final two matches.

Li Xiang's luck held—he didn't run into any of the top five challengers. Instead, he faced a classmate, making it an internal match.

"Class rep, please go easy on me. We're both student leaders, after all."

The speaker was the class math representative, an eleven-year-old boy who stood at an impressive 1.7 meters tall. Thin as a pole, he resembled a stick figure.

This guy knew Li Xiang's strength was far from average, so he opened with a plea for mercy.

"No problem," Li Xiang replied perfunctorily. His position as class vice-president dated back to the first monthly exams.

Since Li Xiang's performance was so outstanding, their homeroom teacher, Sun Chengbin, insisted on giving him a leadership role. Unable to refuse the honor, Li Xiang reluctantly accepted the position.

On the field, the referee was reciting the rules.

Meanwhile, Li Xiang recalled the Pokémon his opponent had used in the past.

—A Bug/Fighting-type Heracross.

The Heracross, with its M-shaped jaws, tree sap obsession, and resemblance to an oversized stag beetle, was a fierce contender for the title of Bug King.

In official tournaments of yesteryear, Heracross was once a terrifying creature, achieving legendary reversals by taking out three opponents with just 1 HP.

Of course, the math rep's Heracross was nowhere near that level, still, its resistance to Fighting-type moves was problematic.

Well, not the best start.

Li Xiang maintained a calm expression, silently waiting for the referee to announce the start of the match.

The moment the words "Begin!" were uttered, he swiftly threw his PokéBall.

Bang!

Two soft pops accompanied by two flashes of light. Two drastically different Pokémon appeared on the battlefield!

"Use Swords Dance!"

"Bullet Seed!"

Huh???

Li Xiang was stunned by the math rep's choice of move. If it weren't for his trained reflexes and sharp hearing, he might have thought he'd misheard.

He'd never seen the math rep use this before!

But there was no time for second-guessing.

Riolu dashed forward, surrounded by the phantom images of long swords. The swords encircled it, clashing above its head before disappearing.

"Dodge!"

Li Xiang gave a swift command.

Heracross opened its M-shaped jaws, firing a barrage of glowing green seeds at Riolu!

The sheer number of seeds—seven or eight—was staggering!

As if its name suggested, the seeds flew like bullets, cutting through the air at high speed and reaching Riolu in the blink of an eye!

Although Riolu had started dodging the moment Heracross opened its mouth, two seeds still managed to hit its body.

"Riolu!"

Riolu let out a grunt, its forward momentum slowing slightly. Even minor damage was still damage—pain was unavoidable.

Li Xiang frowned. Sure enough, relying solely on base speed to dodge "projectile" moves was too difficult. Next time, he'd need to use Agility first, then follow up with Swords Dance for better results.

"Use Agility!"

"Aerial Ace!"

Riolu's speed visibly increased, though it didn't leave afterimages yet. It darted across the field with incredible agility.

But Heracross wasn't letting up.

It opened the carapace on its back, revealing thin, lightweight wings that allowed it to lift off the ground. Its massive black horn glowed pale blue as it charged straight toward Riolu!

Was it trying to feint, fly past, and then strike back?

Underestimating me, huh?

Li Xiang smirked and shouted, "Stop in your tracks!"

Riolu halted abruptly, its gaze icy as it locked onto the oncoming Heracross.

As expected!

When Riolu stopped, Heracross misread its intentions and turned its body to feint past. It then flipped upside down in midair, attempting a fancy maneuver.

"Left step, Blaze Kick, spin counter!"

The moment Li Xiang issued the command, Riolu responded as if reading his mind.

It sidestepped to the left, its right leg igniting in fierce flames!

Whoosh!

The fiery kick narrowly avoided Heracross's horn and struck its cheek with tremendous force.

Bang! 

Boom!

The flames exploded, accompanied by the sound of impact.

Heracross's body hurtled toward the edge of the field, slamming into the wire fence with a loud clang. The impact bent the fence outward before bouncing Heracross back into the arena.

It let out a peculiar cry of pain, its body trembling.

The power of the Blaze Kick was unmistakable.

Gotcha.

Li Xiang could practically read the shock on the math rep's face. Heracross's flashy Aerial Ace was simply too predictable.