Chapter 47: Breakthrough! Advanced Level!
Seeing Quinn's expression of astonishment, Aron was slightly taken aback.
But since it was field military training, not a real battle, and since each student had a healthy competitive relationship rather than bad competition, Aron understood the situation.
After experiencing the incident in the Peace River Forest, Aron specially trained his vigilance ability, especially during battles, he would always keep an eye on his surroundings to prevent being spied on secretly, or other Pokémon launching Surprise attack.
Aron had already noticed that Quinn was hiding in the dark, and kept silent all this time, just wanting to see what he was going to do.
However, when Quinn was about to leave without a word, Aron stopped him.
Seeing that Aron's expression seemed genuine, Quinn was momentarily stunned, then hesitated before replying, "Thank you for your kindness, but I really just strayed into this area and didn't mean to disturb you."
He paused for a moment and then continued, "I also have a suitable camp, so thank you for your concern. That's all, goodbye."
With that, Quinn quickly waved at Aron and walked off with his three Pokémon, leaving Aron standing in confusion.
After walking far enough away, Quinn stopped and stood still, catching his breath.
"Father once said that we as dark type trainers should always be cautious, prudent, calm, and collected."
"When facing strangers, always keep a safe distance and be wary of their overtures."
"Even though it's just field military training, I should still follow these principles."
"Be cautious and live long."
With that, his expression changed slightly, and he muttered to himself, "Wait... No! I wasn't careful enough!"
"I was still found under the cover of darkness, which shows I wasn't cautious enough in some respects."
"Caution! Caution! Caution!"
...
Seeing the figure of the strange boy drifting away, Aron scratched his head, really unable to understand what was going on with this guy.
"Forget it, I'll get some rest and aim to break through to the Advanced level tomorrow."
With that thought, Aron set up his tent and settled into his sleeping bag. It was a quiet night, with cold moonlight shining down.
---
The Next Day
Early in the morning, Aron and Combusken quickly finished their breakfast and began today's leveling journey.
Before leaving, Aron took a special look at a ranking, and as expected, today's ranking is still very fierce.
Instead, the first and second places switched positions. It seemed that the two had been fighting each other for a while.
And because he successfully passed the day, he gained fifty more survival points
"Shouldn't someone be eliminated on the first day?" Aron thought to himself.
Not long after, Aron encountered his first prey of the day.
It was a spider-like Pokémon with a red and black abdomen, two pairs of yellow and purple legs, and purple eyes watching Combusken quietly.
[Pokémon: Ariados (Bug/Poison)
Ability: Swarm
Qualification: semi-Gym
Level: 27 (intermediate)]
This Ariados was Intermidiate level—quite a pleasant surprise for the start of the day.
"In that case, I'll give you a treat." Aron muttered.
He stretched out his arm and shouted, "Flamethrower!"
"Combusken!"
Combusken opened his mouth, and orange flames surged. A thick pillar of fire gathered instantly and blasted toward Ariados with a loud bang!
The flames were fast and fierce, reaching Ariados almost in the blink of an eye.
Ariados tried to dodge, but its reaction speed couldn't keep up with the attack.
Boom!
Ariados was engulfed by the Flamethrower, the heat rolling and the flames burning fiercely.
When the flames dissipated, Ariados was blackened and collapsed to the ground.
Ariados, being twice weak to Fire-type moves, was no match for Combusken's powerful Flamethrower, which was Combusken's most proficient move.
After defeating Ariados, Aron checked Combusken's experience points and saw that it was only halfway to leveling up.
"Alright, let's keep going!"
---
Several hours later, in the afternoon, Aron and Combusken found themselves in an open area facing a burly Machoke. Combusken was now close to leveling up.
By this point, Aron's ranking had risen to third place, only 110 points behind the second-place contender,Clara Angel.
The first two were true scoring machines—Aron suspected they either trained 24/7 or were lucky enough to stumble upon intermediate level Pokémon.
Fortunately, Aron had been lucky as well, and after just half a day of effort, he had climbed up the rankings.
At this moment, Machoke's strong body was covered with scars, and it had already suffered a lot of damage in the battle with Combusken.
Despite its injuries, Machoke was undeterred and charged forward with a low growl, its palms glowing white as it prepared a Karate Chop.
"Combusken !" Facing the majestic Machoke, Combusken was not afraid.His eyes froze,his right palm also turned into a hand knife, facing Machoke head-on!
Brick Break!
Boom!
The palms of the two Pokémon collided in a clash of force and strength.
In terms of strength, Machoke has never been afraid of anyone. After thousands of polishing, it has trained the most perfect figure, and its strength has reached its peak!
But this time, it obviously encountered a difficult opponent.
Machoke clenched its teeth, its muscles tensed,veins were exposed, and its face was ferocious. It exhausted all its strength, but it was still unable to repel Combusken.
Instead, it felt a powerful force rush toward it—like a massive rock crashing in, overwhelming it instantly!
Machoke staggered, its knee buckling slightly as it took several steps back.
Combusken seized the opportunity, covered in flames,he charged at Machoke.
Boom!
This time,Machoke was knocked to the ground, its eyes spiraling from the impact.
Looking at the fallen Machoke, Aron shook his head.
"It's not that Combusken is too strong..."
"It's because you've been injured and you can't exert your full strength at all."
In short, after defeating this Machoke, Combusken's experience value finally broke through the critical point and was promoted to the next level.
Advanced Level!!!