Chapter 50: A Local Battle

Candice was also a student at this Pokémon trainer school. As soon as they found out that there was going to be a battle to watch, many students in the school got excited. Watching a battle between trainers was simply too attractive for these kids who had yet to have their own beginner Pokémon.

Candice was full of confidence and led Darren to the battle arena, where she found a middle-aged man from the school to act as a referee.

"The rule will be 1v1," Darren said.

He only had two Pokémon, Beautifly and Swablu, and could only choose between 1v1 and 2v2. To save time, Darren chose the former.

"Okay, no problem!" said Candice.

"Then I'll send out my Snover!" Candice continued, throwing his Poké Ball onto the field.

As a white light flickered, a Pokémon resembling a tree stump wearing a woven bamboo hat appeared. However, its hat was all white, and its arms were a deep green. Standing on the field, it looked very calm.

"Snover, huh?" Darren looked the opponent over.

Snover was a Grass/Ice type Pokémon that usually lived on snowy mountains and rarely encountered humans. If it did encounter humans, it would often approach them curiously.

"Then I'll send out my Beautifly," Darren said.

Beautifly didn't know many moves yet, and Darren had not specifically trained it in that regard. For Beautifly, the battlefield was the stage of the Pokemon contests, and the degree of mastery of its moves was the primary consideration.

This could even be demonstrated in an ordinary battle!

"This Pokémon is…" Candice looked over curiously. "Beautifly, are you a trainer from the Hoenn area?"

"Beautifly has a type disadvantage, but I won't hold back!" Darren smiled. "Speaking of which, this is my first battle against a trainer."

"But I advise you to give it your all. I think our strength is quite strong," Darren added.

Darren did not expect anyone to hold back, and if it came to battle experience, he was not lacking at all.

"What? Your first time?" Candice looked surprised, but then she thought about it and realized that his age, it did match that of a new trainer.

"The battle rule is 1v1. Once one side's Pokémon loses its ability to fight, the battle ends. Now I declare the battle to begin!"

"You go first," Candice shouted.

"Okay then, Beautifly, whip up Gust," Darren commanded without hesitation.

As Beautifly let out a cry and flapped its beautiful wings, the already cold weather felt even colder due to the gust of wind. Snover was the main target of the move, and the gust blew Candice's skirt, but she didn't seem to mind. "This level of cold wind won't harm Snover. It has been born on Mount Coronet!" she said.

"Oh, I see," Darren smiled.

Even though the wind blew fiercely, Snover remained standing still, seeming to have little effect on it.

"Now it's our turn to attack. Snover, retaliate with a Blizzard," Candice said.

Compared to Beautifly's Gust, Snover's icy blast was mixed with ice crystals and looked more magnificent and powerful, like an a storm of ice.

As Beautifly was engulfed in the blizzard, it showed a painful expression and its movements became slower. The cold environment was still very uncomfortable for Beautifly.

"Overcome it!" Darren said.

"Can you feel the airflow around you? Glide along the Blizzard and use Tailwind!" Darren commanded.

Tailwind!

In the fierce wind, feeling the airflow, Beautifly used the wind's power to increase its speed.

Struggling to flap its wings, Beautifly created a whirlwind in the blizzard and, to Candice's surprise, managed to fly gracefully in the blizzard.

In the sky filled with ice crystals, Beautifly controlled its magnificent movements, and its flying motion was like the most moving melody, embellished with sparkling ice crystals, adding a dreamlike beauty to its flying.

"Interesting, very interesting. But how long can Beautifly hold out in the blizzard?" Candice became excited. She found this opponent to be very special and different from trainers she had fought before.

"That must consume a lot of energy. So we'll take advantage of this and attack. Snover, use Ice Shard to disrupt Beautifly's movements."

Upon hearing this, Snover quickly created numerous ice blocks and threw them at Beautifly, successfully blocking most of its flight paths.

Candice looked pleased as she believed Beautifly was trapped and had no way to escape.

Candice's attention was drawn to Darren's composed state, causing her to observe the situation on the field with greater focus.

Then, she witnessed a truly astonishing scene.

Beautifly not only was not affected by the flying ice blocks but instead flew more freely and flexibly in the sky. This was the only evaluation Candice could think of for Beautifly at the moment.

Facing the freezing wind and double attack of the ice blocks, Beautifly perfectly utilized its agility to avoid all attacks with ease, relying on every critical point of the air flow.

"How is this possible!"

Candice was stunned. She clearly saw Beautifly's uncomfortable expression in the freezing wind and how it was threatened by the ice blocks. Yet, it still managed to concentrate and control its flight.

"Beautifly, use Electroweb!"

As Candice hesitated, a golden electric current covered the sky, and a large web of electricity came towards Snover.

"Not good...Snover, use Razor Leaf to break it!"

Faced with the attacking Electroweb, Snover threw out several leaves, and their sharp edges collided with the electric web.

As the leaves made contact with the web, they encountered the electric current which hindered their progress before eventually slicing through the silk. Despite Snover's use of Razor Leaf, the limited number of leaves and the interference of the electric current resulted in only partial destruction of the electric web's structure.

"Use Razor Leaf again!"

Candice was clearly unwilling to give up and gave the command. Snover once again launched its Razor Leaf at the electric web, focusing solely on destroying it. At the same time, Darren's voice came again.

"Checkmate."

The Razor Leaf successfully cut through the remaining parts of the electric web, but as Darren's voice fell, Snover's feet were entangled by strands of silk, causing it to fall to the ground.

"What...that angle..." Candice widened her eyes and looked towards the sky. Beautifly, who was still far from Snover, spewed out a straight line of silk like a steel wire, directly wrapping around Snover's ankles!