Pokemon: I refuse to be a supporting character!

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Lunch Break.

Two hours—a good chunk of time.

Some chose to nap for a while, but most took the opportunity to find a battle venue and have a Pokémon battle.

It not only honed their combat skills but also helped their Pokémon grow.

Li Xiang's scheduled battle with Lin Feng was set for this time.

"Just you today?"

Lin Feng glanced behind Li Xiang but didn't spot Qu Sheng or Yang Tianwang.

"They went somewhere else."

Li Xiang waved dismissively. Those guys weren't his followers; they were just classmates. There was no need to stick together all the time.

"Hurry it up! Let's get started quickly. If we're lucky, we might squeeze in four rounds. Same one-on-one format."

Having barely battled over the past two days and only earning basic candies, Li Xiang felt like he'd lost out big time.

Seeing Li Xiang's impatience, Lin Feng skipped the small talk and quickly entered the arena.

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Round One.

As usual, Litten opened for Li Xiang.

Riolu, meanwhile, was stationed on the sidelines, cheering them on.

The pup enthusiastically complied.

However, to everyone's surprise, Lin Feng's Charmander suddenly unleashed some new moves.

For example—

A fiery blast tinged with azure and crimson flames.

"Dragon Rage?"

Li Xiang was stunned as Litten was knocked back.

This move hadn't been in Charmander's arsenal on Friday.

Lin Feng rubbed his nose, grinning proudly. "Just learned it last night. Pretty cool, huh?"

Dragon Rage, a Dragon-type special move, deals a fixed amount of damage in games, regardless of typing, making it especially effective at lower levels.

It's akin to the Normal-type move Sonic Boom, though the latter is slightly weaker.

"Impressive."

Li Xiang genuinely praised him. After battling him so many times, even the previously straightforward Lin Feng had started to play dirty—concealing moves and deliberately luring opponents into traps.

In this case, he'd baited Litten into closing in, only to counter with Dragon Rage, sending it flying.

"Even the sheep grows sharp," Li Xiang mused. "No wool is that easy to pull."

"And there's more where that came from!" Lin Feng shouted excitedly, eager to unleash Charmander's next move.

With a sharp cry, Charmander's claws glowed green, forming two enormous energy talons that enveloped its paws like gloves.

Dragon Claw, a Dragon-type physical move.

Another one! And another new move at that!

Li Xiang's lips curved into a smile. After all, it wouldn't be fair if Lin Feng learned new moves while he stayed stagnant.

Before the semester started, Lin Feng's Charmander had already mastered Smokescreen and Fire Fang. Now it had learned two more moves, showcasing its astonishing "talent."

Learning moves seemingly at will and at breakneck speed—it was the hallmark of someone blessed by fate.

Of course, these "protagonist types" had an even more exaggerated trait:

Manifesting their will into reality.

Charmander's Dragon Claw slashed at Litten, but the nimble feline dodged cleanly. As Charmander's attack missed, Litten retaliated with a sharp Crunch.

However, Li Xiang stayed alert, his eyes locked on Charmander's movements.

"Use the move I taught you!" Lin Feng shouted.

What move was that?

Most people might hesitate, pondering the question, but Li Xiang decisively commanded, "Defend! Duck!"

Litten, just inches from biting down on Charmander, swiftly abandoned its attack and crouched low to the ground, flattening itself.

The next moment, Charmander's tail swept over where Litten had been, missing entirely. But the crafty Charmander had prepared for this. Its mouth opened, releasing a thick black smoke aimed straight at its tail.

It was like a circus performer spraying a fire torch with alcohol—the Smokescreen reacted strangely with the flames on Charmander's tail.

"Boom!"

A muffled explosion erupted between the two Pokémon, sending out blinding flames and an overwhelming, acrid black smoke.

This Smokescreen was far more potent than the feeble puffs Charmander had released previously.

"A gaseous odor?"

Li Xiang instinctively covered his nose and mouth with his shirt after catching a whiff.

Even in a world with enhanced human endurance, inhaling too much toxic gas would make anyone dizzy.

From across the smoke, Lin Feng's gleeful laughter echoed.

"How's that! Tell me, is your big bro Feng amazing or not? Can I pull off Xia Chunyu's special techniques or what?"

The boy's tone brimmed with pride and confidence, clearly feeling accomplished.

Xia Chunyu…

Ah, Li Xiang had almost forgotten. Lin Feng had cribbed a whole bunch of so-called "secret techniques" from various magazine articles about Xia Chunyu. Was this one of them?

But those magazines Lin Feng bought were full of speculative gossip and wild fan theories. How could Xia Chunyu casually share "secret techniques" with random readers?

Even the autobiography Li Xiang read earlier felt more reliable than those tabloids.

This was over the top.

Even leveraging the flame of life on Charmander's tail? And actually pulling it off successfully?

It felt like everyone around him was hacking reality.

Li Xiang unleashed a flurry of some choice words in his head, then turned his focus back to checking on Litten while issuing new commands.

The Smokescreen had drastically reduced visibility. Though it was starting to dissipate, Li Xiang wasn't foolish enough to approach recklessly.

"Meow!"

Litten responded with a sharp cry and exhaled a fiery gust of wind peppered with embers!

Charmander's sneak attack had indeed been clever, but Li Xiang's orders had been timely enough to counter.

As a result, the polluted Smokescreen failed to blind Litten or interfere with its vision. The fiery explosion barely caused any real damage, though it did increase the distance between the two Pokémon.

On the battlefield, the Smokescreen slowly dispersed, improving visibility.

When Litten used Heat Wave, the arena instantly cleared, revealing—

Charmander standing diagonally behind Litten, its glowing green claws raised like Tom the Cat sneaking up on Jerry, ready to pounce.

However—

Charmander was within the area of effect for Heat Wave.

"Char!"

Charmander staggered as the heat buffeted it, extinguishing the glow from its claws. It straightened up with a pout, clearly frustrated and thinking it should've moved faster.

"Ah, not heavy enough," Lin Feng lamented, visibly annoyed. Litten's wave could only knock around something as light as Charmander.

Li Xiang smirked. "Crunch."

"Meow!"

Litten seized the opportunity, chaining Flame Charge into Crunch to decisively finish off Charmander.

The new moves of Charmander had surprised Li Xiang and even caught Litten off guard momentarily.

However, at this stage, the candy-enhanced stats gave Litten too big of an advantage. Although the level gap between Charmander and Litten wasn't nearly as wide as the one between Qu Sheng's Pokémon and his own, Charmander's clever tricks and fresh moves couldn't bridge that gap.

Lin Feng looked a bit dejected.

If the Smokescreen had blinded Litten or if Heat Wave hadn't hit Charmander, the outcome might've been different.

But there were no "ifs" in battle.

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Round Two.

Litten faced Porygon.

Porygon, with its blocky, geometric body, relied entirely on its "feet"—which resembled building blocks—for movement until it learned Magnet Rise.

As such, expecting it to be agile wasn't realistic.

But where there's a challenge, there's innovation.

Lin Feng proved his ingenuity by exploiting Porygon's Sharpen move, which altered its shape. He transformed its blocky "feet" into pseudo-circular structures.

What's a "pseudo-circle"?

It's something that looks round but is actually made of countless tiny edges, like gears—perfectly aligning with Sharpen's description of adding "edges" to its body.

With this adjustment, Porygon's mobility increased significantly, allowing it to zip around the arena like a remote-controlled car.

And to make matters worse, Lin Feng had Porygon use Agility, further boosting its speed.

At this point, its movement was downright dizzying.