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Scatterbug, who had just been released from its Poké Ball, lay on the grass with a confused expression, like a baby that had only recently been born.
"Gu?"
Scatterbug raised its upper body and cried out in confusion.
The unfamiliar battlefield, along with the fierce-looking blue creature across from it, made it shrink back in fear.
Then, it saw Quinn behind it.
"Gu!"
The moment Scatterbug saw its Trainer, it seemed to find something to rely on. It let out a happy, affectionate cry.
Its three pairs of short, light-brown legs crawled beneath its body. Completely ignoring Kael, who was already prepared for battle in front of it, its tiny body wriggled across the grass toward Quinn.
At that moment, if Kael's current mood were drawn in manga form, there would probably be several vertical black lines on his forehead, along with a huge, obvious question mark behind his head.
"Uh…"
Kael looked at this absurd scene and felt somewhat speechless.
He could not help feeling sad about how much he had overthought things earlier.
So it had all been wishful thinking on his part.
In the end, he had misjudged him.
"Cough, cough."
"Challenger, please prepare for battle."
Even the square-faced referee at the edge of the field could no longer watch this ridiculous scene and spoke up to remind him.
Quinn also knew this was not the time for affection, so he repeatedly waved his hand at Scatterbug, who was crawling toward him, signaling it to stop where it was.
"Gu?"
After being stopped by its Trainer, Scatterbug obediently stopped wriggling.
Its black eyes looked toward Quinn, filled with confusion.
"We're battling, Scatterbug."
"Your opponent is over there."
Quinn raised his hand and pointed at Kael as he explained to Scatterbug.
"Gu!"
As if it had suddenly realized that it was currently in a battle, Scatterbug immediately became full of energy.
It turned around, raised its upper body toward Kael, and lifted its small head topped with three white hairs high, as though declaring its coming victory to its opponent.
"Sigh…"
Kael silently sighed.
By now, he had finally understood.
This tall, thin player whom he had previously taken so seriously was actually just a comedy act.
What a waste of all that mental effort.
While silently complaining about the Gym's challenger selection system, Kael's originally tense and focused state disappeared.
He returned to the same lazy, unmotivated look from earlier.
He really did not know what requirements this Gym had for Trainers participating in Gym battles. How could people like this be allowed to challenge?
Forget the weak NPCs from the past two days. But now, even a Trainer who had clearly just obtained his starter Pokémon, someone so new he could not possibly be any newer, could actually receive challenge qualifications.
Kael even began to suspect whether anyone could waste his time here as long as they registered with the League.
Curling his lips, he slowly walked toward the Scatterbug across from him, looking extremely relaxed.
Based on Kael's conservative estimate, the opponent's actual combat strength was probably only around level 6 to 8 according to the system's level calculation.
He would even need to control his strength later and be gentler, so that the opponent would lose the ability to battle without suffering serious injuries.
"What a pain…"
Kael could not help sighing again.
In truth, as mentioned before, Quinn was not a player who was passionate about Pokémon battles.
When he first entered the game, he chose a playstyle that was completely opposite to most other players.
Compared with raising Pokémon, he was more interested in studying the human culture and history inside the game.
Even Scatterbug had been an accidental quest reward he obtained while completing an exploration mission.
Compared with other players who had worked hard for many days, going through all kinds of trouble before finally buying a starter Pokémon, he could be considered lucky.
Unfortunately, his ambitions did not lie here.
Even after obtaining his starter Pokémon, he had not spent much time or energy on it.
As a result, even though he had already had Scatterbug for more than a week, Quinn had basically never participated in Pokémon battles.
And this Gym battle, in the truest sense, could even be considered the first official Pokémon battle he had ever commanded.
His extreme lack of battle experience and training time meant that although Scatterbug had been born for more than a week and its level had naturally grown to 8, its battle techniques and mental maturity were still stuck at the stage of a newly hatched Pokémon.
Because of that, when it appeared on the battlefield, its first reaction was not to stay alert against an enemy attack, but to look for its Trainer to soothe the unease in its heart.
It was honestly ridiculous.
Just as Kael had worried before, an irresponsible player could absolutely ruin those adorable Pokémon who offered them sincere trust.
As a player, Quinn had entered Pokémon: World to satisfy his own desire for exploration.
To him, those vivid Pokémon, who were no different from real living beings, were still nothing more than empty, illusory data.
Rather than partners, for most players, Pokémon were more like tools.
And this was also the point Kael, who had truly possessed a Pokémon body, found most unbearable about players.
Many of the conflicts that would happen later would arise from this fundamental difference.
Of course, that would come later.
"Scatterbug, use String Shot."
Seeing Kael walking over step by step without hurry, Quinn naturally could not remain indifferent.
Following the way Trainers gave commands in the anime, he shouted clearly and properly at the Scatterbug in front of him.
This method of command seemed formal and proper, as if there were no problem with it.
But in reality, it revealed his extreme lack of commanding experience.
Leaving aside those master-level Trainers standing at the top of the pyramid, even a professional Trainer with only a basic understanding of battle command would know that instructions in a Pokémon battle had to be concise and clear.
While fully conveying one's intention to the Pokémon, one also had to shorten the command as much as possible to give the Pokémon more reaction time.
Trainers with deep bonds with their Pokémon generally relied on regular training to form muscle memory in their Pokémon. During battle, the Pokémon would mostly follow the steps and style rehearsed in ordinary practice.
Only at key moments in battle would the Trainer use their advantage as an observer to give commands.
If this were a truly high-level Pokémon battle, the mere two seconds Quinn spent giving that command would have been enough for the opponent to secure victory.
"Pfft!"
Following its Trainer Quinn's instruction, Scatterbug suddenly raised its upper body high toward Kael.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)
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