Chapter 18: Encounter with Zhen Xing
"Brother Zhen Xing, you were right! They evolved, they evolved into Gyarados!"
Seeing the appearance of these Gyarados, the Spirit Hunters instead showed joyful expressions.
Not one of them felt any fear due to the Gyarados' appearance; instead, they were filled with joy.
"Alright, alright, stop wasting time. Capture these Gyarados, and I'll treat you all to a good meal when we get back today!"
Zhen Xing looked at the scene before him and proudly waved to his subordinate hunters.
In an instant, these few people summoned their Small Elves to besiege the Gyarados in the river.
These Gyarados looked extremely fierce, but facing the well-prepared Spirit Hunters, they were merely making a desperate struggle.
At this moment, Chen Xi did not intervene to rescue the Gyarados.
Because it was meaningless; what truly blocked the Magikarp's advance was not these few Spirit Hunters, but that large net.
So Chen Xi wanted to go around to the back and break that net.
However, as Chen Xi took his Small Elves around to the back, preparing for a sneak attack to destroy it, Zhen Xing sensed Chen Xi's arrival.
He decisively summoned Bronzor and commanded, "Psywave!"
In an instant, a Bronzor unleashed Psywave, accurately striking towards Chen Xi.
"Grotle, use Leech Seed!"
Chen Xi glanced at Zhen Xing's level 31 Bronzor and decisively summoned his Grotle to take the hit head-on.
With two layers of Charge and the Eviolite, Grotle, even though its level was much lower than this Bronzor's, took the attack with almost no effort.
This round of confrontation was very cost-effective for Turtwig.
One could only see Leech Seeds successfully landing on Bronzor. Regardless of how strong Bronzor's defense was, for Leech Seed, it didn't matter.
"Come out, Golbat! Bronzor, return!"
Zhen Xing didn't resist but chose to release Golbat, then looked at Chen Xi, who emerged from the bushes, and said, "Who exactly are you! Why are you obstructing our hunt for Gyarados!"
"Hunting Gyarados..." Chen Xi heard this and then looked at his Spirit Hunter attire, suddenly realizing.
Chen Xi understood that this guy had accepted a commission to capture Gyarados.
Generally, although theoretically Magikarp can evolve into Gyarados at level 20, most Magikarp almost never choose to evolve.
It's not that they don't want to evolve, but basically, wild Magikarp at that level don't have enough nutrition to evolve into Gyarados.
And any Gyarados that evolve naturally, if they are in a group, are usually level 30 and above.
But if they are solitary, they absolutely wouldn't show their face if they weren't at least level 50.
So, for the Trainer in front of him, who only had Small Elves in their thirties, it was quite dangerous.
Therefore, he chose a relatively clever method. After learning that the Magikarp fishing season was in these few days, he decisively made a fishing net, restricting the Magikarp's advance and forcing some of the Magikarp to evolve into Gyarados.
And he would then directly capture these newly evolved Gyarados. Firstly, these Gyarados' combat power was not strong, making them easy to deal with.
Secondly, the time and place were set by him, giving him control over the timing and terrain, meaning the battle was half-won from the start.
Chen Xi instantly understood the cause and effect but did not condemn Zhen Xing. He simply said, "Since the Gyarados have successfully evolved, can this blocking fishing net be removed!"
"Removed..." Zhen Xing smirked disdainfully and said, "By what right do you say that, with just this Grotle!"
"Yo-shi..."
Feeling Zhen Xing's disdain, Grotle let out an unwilling cry.
However, facing the Golbat flying in the sky, it was naturally impossible for Grotle not to be worried.
After all, whether it was Golbat's Flying Type moves or Poison Type moves, they were naturally countered by Grotle itself.
"Grotle, use Razor Leaf to destroy that giant net!" Chen Xi also commanded Grotle impolitely.
"How dare you!" Zhen Xing didn't expect Chen Xi to directly order Grotle to attack the fishing net, and immediately commanded Golbat, "Use Air Cutter to block the opponent's attack."
In a flash, Golbat decisively unleashed Air Cutter, precisely knocking down every single Razor Leaf from Grotle.
"Air Cutter..." It seems this Golbat is quite well-trained, Chen Xi smiled slightly.
To be honest, Chen Xi originally just wanted to see what was happening. If this group of people really attacked the Magikarp group, then Chen Xi would definitely intervene.
He would act as a righteous enforcer maintaining ecological order.
But now that he understood these people's goal was not to wipe out the entire Magikarp group, but merely to capture a few Gyarados, he was no longer in a hurry.
After all, this kind of thing had no direct relevance to Chen Xi.
So there was no need for Floette to make a move, and Floette had already reached a bottleneck, so there was no need to participate in the battle.
And the little guy in front of him was perfect for Grotle to practice with. Although Golbat was almost ten levels higher than Grotle, and was a natural counter to Grotle.
But for Grotle, who had a complete battle system, if it couldn't defeat a Small Elf from a commoner Trainer by fighting above its level, then it would be too disrespectful to Chen Xi, a representative of the Yuan Family.
One must know that Chen Xi's Grotle possessed the best aptitude, the best resources, and the most optimal training methods.
At the Turtwig stage, this advantage wasn't very obvious, but as a Grotle, it was already sufficient to fight above its level against commoner Trainers.
Of course, Chen Xi had absolute confidence in his Grotle, but mishaps are not uncommon.
Therefore, Chen Xi commanded Floette, "Lucky Chant!"
He intended to compensate for Grotle's last weakness.
At this moment, Floette softly sang an unknown song, and a golden array of musical notes encircled Grotle.
And this layer of golden imprint quickly branded itself onto Grotle, making this Grotle appear even more confident.
It must be said that the triple boost of the Charge system is most troubled by tactics that target vital points for attack.
Although Golbat is not a Small Elf of that style, its mastery of Air Cutter indeed makes it possible to land critical attacks.
And in the case of critical attacks, the defense boost from Charge is as good as useless.
Therefore, Chen Xi immediately had Floette cast Lucky Chant on Grotle, blocking any potential critical attacks from the opponent.
In a formal competition, doing this would naturally be illegal, but now they were in a wild battle, and such a practice of having one's own Small Elf subtly assist with skills was something no one could criticize.
"Golbat, use Air Cutter on Grotle!"
Zhen Xing didn't know the skill Lucky Chant because it was simply too obscure.
For ordinary Trainers, it was truly difficult to encounter this skill.
But Zhen Xing's battle awareness was quite good, and at this moment, he decisively had Golbat launch an attack.
It must be said that Zhen Xing was indeed worthy of being a future core backbone of Team Galactic, an Elite cadre with Tianwang-level strength.
Even though he wasn't even an official hunter yet, he had a clear purpose in training his Small Elves.
At this moment, the Air Cutter that Golbat unleashed, when it had just knocked down Grotle's Razor Leaf, demonstrated precise control over Air Cutter, ensuring that not a single leaf shot out by Razor Leaf escaped.
And now, the Air Cutter, in the instant it was fanned out, intersected and merged, forming a cross-shaped blade, then continuously spun and attacked Grotle!
Cross-shaped Air Blade.
This was Zhen Xing's Golbat's signature skill. Due to instinctive caution, Zhen Xing went for a decisive kill from the start.
There was no fuss; he simply wanted to defeat Chen Xi, this sudden intruder, in the shortest possible time.
"The commoner's ultimate move."
Chen Xi looked at the cross-shaped Air Cutter in front of him and muttered.
This kind of simple fusion and superposition basically held the potential for commoner Trainers to unleash this ultimate move.
Because the theory behind this tactic is the simplest: everyone knows the extremely simple truth that there is strength in numbers.
However, that was as far as it went.
Chen Xi calmly said to Grotle, "Endure it, Leech Seed!"
In an instant, the cross-shaped wind blade landed on Grotle.
The defensive power brought by two layers of Charge plus the Eviolite allowed Grotle to easily withstand the Air Cutter, even though it was a 2x super-effective attack, and then it retaliated by spitting out Leech Seeds.
"Use Double Team to dodge, get close to it, and use Poison Fang!"
Instantly, this Golbat agilely unleashed Double Team, and at this moment, it unhesitatingly bit towards Grotle.
Grotle's movements were not agile, so it was simply unable to dodge.
It could only allow the poison to slowly inject into Grotle's body.
But Chen Xi also seized this opportunity to have Grotle retaliate with a Leech Seed, finally planting the Leech Seed on Golbat's wing, and the spreading vines drew life force from Golbat.
"Not poisoned?!"
Seeing Grotle looking like it was still very capable of fighting, while his own Golbat began to pant, Zhen Xing was a bit bewildered, completely unable to understand what was happening.
He knew that Golbat's Toxic was something Zhen Xing himself had concocted, so he naturally knew how potent the poison was.
But now it seemed that this Turtwig was not poisoned at all, as if it hadn't just been hit by Poison Fang.
In this world, if poisoning is caused by a Poison Type move, there's a chance of getting poisoned.
But if it's a poison specifically formulated by a Trainer, combined with a Small Elf's Poison Type attack, then the opponent will definitely be poisoned.
It's just that the effect of the poisoning is determined by the dosage, but Zhen Xing couldn't understand why Grotle was unharmed.
Of course, it was still because of Floette.
Although she didn't directly attack, she was the best support.
Her Flower Veil ability protected Grass Type Small Elves, making them immune to all negative status conditions except for fainting.
And Grotle, as a shield, had a weakness in dealing with negative status conditions, which Floette's ability compensated for.
"Synthesis!" Chen Xi was not in a hurry, calmly issuing the command to Grotle.
Grotle, hearing Chen Xi's words, also began to restore its own condition.
Under Synthesis, the damage Grotle had just sustained from Golbat's attack began to recover at an extremely fast rate.
It also took the opportunity to drain some blood from Golbat with Leech Seed.
To be honest, the damage caused by Leech Seed was probably the most damage Grotle could inflict right now.
Currently, Grotle, relying on the Charge system, indeed had the qualification to challenge opponents of a disadvantageous type at a higher level.
But facing Poison/Flying dual types, even if Grotle possessed a top-tier Grass Type offensive skill like Seed Bomb, the damage it would inflict on Golbat... it was better to save the effort.
After all, Golbat exhausting itself and being drained by Leech Seed would cause more damage than Grotle's direct attacks.
"The defensive system is good; at least it should be fine up to Superior level, but its offensive side definitely needs some planning. It can't just rely on Growth to strengthen itself and then slowly counter-kill, right!" Chen Xi pondered, looking at the scene before him.
So, let Grotle continue to use Growth to strengthen itself.
At least with Leech Seed to replenish its stamina, Grotle, even in its Charged state, should have no difficulty adding one or two layers of Growth to its attack status.
Of course, Chen Xi would naturally not shout loudly when it came to strengthening his own status.
After giving Grotle some hints, he patiently waited for Zhen Xing's reaction, ready to set a trap for him.
And after attempting both Air Cutter and Poison Fang attacks on the Grotle in front of him without achieving a clear advantage, and instead seeing his own Golbat slowly fall into a passive rhythm, Zhen Xing frowned.
Because the Grotle on the opposite side was truly too annoying.
It wasn't that other Small Elves wouldn't work, but where else was there a Small Elf that could counter Grotle like Golbat could?
If he switched to other Small Elves, they would still be greeted by Leech Seed against Grotle, and if they couldn't break Grotle's defense, then using any Small Elf would be meaningless.
Although he didn't want to admit it, Golbat was already the Small Elf with the highest attacking power in Zhen Xing's possession.
Especially after Zhen Xing developed the Cross-shaped Air Blade, it had been invincible.
But now, facing this seemingly dull, slow-moving Grotle, he had no counter-measures, which left Zhen Xing in a difficult position.
And just then, the few Trainers who were hunting Gyarados rushed over to their location.
Chasing and shouting loudly, "Brother Zhen Xing, we succeeded! We successfully caught the Gyarados!"
When they arrived, they saw Zhen Xing in a confrontation with Chen Xi. This group of people immediately took out their Small Elves, one by one, commoner Small Elves of levels twenty to thirty, and stood by Zhen Xing's side, declaring their allegiance!
"It seems Floette will have to make a move." Chen Xi raised an eyebrow, without any fear.
At this moment, a middle-aged man walked out and shouted, "That's enough! Take down the fishing net."
"Yes! Boss!" Zhen Xing and the others all replied when they saw the middle-aged man, no longer showing any arrogance.
"Hello, I am the Gym Leader of Yuanzhi Gym, my name is Shi Ying." The middle-aged man said as he approached Chen Xi.