Travis sighed repeatedly. Injuring Tetsuya's Piloswine like that made him feel very guilty. The battle just now had indeed been somewhat extraordinary. After all, it was Rollout used after Defense Curl, and it had rolled for a while before hitting Piloswine.
It could almost be said that the power of Rollout had been pushed to its limit.
Precisely because it displayed such powerful destructive force, many people were intimidated and stopped challenging Travis. This made Travis even more troubled. If no one came to challenge him, he would lose his source of income.
Without income, how could he afford to raise a Pokémon like Snorlax? Now even if he had to give away those two TMs, he would have to lose one battle so everyone could see hope. Only then might he continue earning food expenses for Snorlax here.
The crowd of onlookers was preparing to disperse, but Tetsuya saw through the situation clearly. He shouted loudly, "I want to challenge!"
With Tetsuya's shout, all the spectators stopped in their tracks…
Travis also stood up excitedly, already having made his decision in his heart.
Seeing that it was still Tetsuya, the spectators also recognized him as the owner of the Piloswine that had just been knocked onto the main road.
"I say, young man, you were beaten so badly just now… How do you still dare to challenge again?" an ojisan said directly.
Tetsuya replied helplessly, "If you bite your tongue while eating, does that mean you stop eating?"
"This kid really has admirable courage!"
"It costs a thousand Pokédollars. Looks like he is a rich kid, throwing money around like that~"
"Just now Travis injured his Piloswine like that. This time he should feel too embarrassed to charge a challenge fee again, right?"
---◓---
"About earlier… I am really sorry." Travis still greeted Tetsuya when he came over.
"It is nothing. Such injuries are common even in League tournaments. The injuries Trainers suffer while surviving in the wilderness are ten times or even a hundred times worse than this." After speaking, Tetsuya once again took out one thousand Pokédollars and handed it to Travis.
Travis hesitated for a moment. He originally intended not to accept Tetsuya's money, but when he thought that he would deliberately lose to Tetsuya next so the crowd could see hope, it would mean losing two TMs. Naturally he accepted the one thousand Pokédollars.
Travis thought that Tetsuya spending a total of two thousand Pokédollars to obtain items worth twenty thousand Pokédollars was already a huge bargain.
"My Pokémon will naturally still be this Snorlax." Travis was already prepared for battle.
"Mm, my Pokémon is this Ditto."
After speaking, Ditto jumped down from Tetsuya's shoulder and stood facing Snorlax.
In front of Snorlax, Ditto was like a tiny Cutiefly. Such an extreme contrast in size immediately triggered bursts of laughter.
"Huahuahua! So this Ditto is here to make people laugh?"
"Tch, there is no need to watch. We already know the result. What is the point?"
"What is this gaki doing here, giving away money~?"
The spectators continued discussing endlessly. Travis also felt embarrassed. With such a tiny Ditto, there was almost no way for his Snorlax to lose.
However, Ditto had already gathered its might, determined to use its own power to make these people slap their own faces!
"Transform."
In an instant, Ditto had changed from the tiny creature just now into a Snorlax. Its size was exactly the same as Travis's Snorlax.
Everyone was stunned!
Although Ditto had the move Transform, its size and weight were normally far smaller than Snorlax's.
It was almost impossible for it to transform into something as huge as Snorlax, unless it was the Legendary Pokémon Mew that specialized in Transform!
Tetsuya's Ditto had undergone long-term training, and its basics in all aspects were already quite remarkable. Being able to successfully use Transform did not surprise him very much.
Now it had essentially become a battle between two Snorlax!
Facing a confrontation between two strength-type Pokémon, Tetsuya still had some confidence in his heart. This was partly due to his research on Travis in his previous life, and also because of Johto Region's Rikishii Town[1]¹, a town famous for sumo matches between strength-type Pokémon.
In order to obtain the prize of that competition, the King's Rock, Tetsuya had also participated in that tournament once. Although he did not succeed, he still obtained a King's Rock. As for the method he used… well, there was naturally no need to mention it.
Looking at the Snorlax transformed by Ditto, Travis finally let out a sigh of relief. In this way he could deliberately lose this battle in front of the crowd to attract more people to challenge him.
"Snorlax, charge!"
A casual command came from Travis's mouth.
Snorlax took a step and the ground trembled. It slowly approached Ditto.
"Brick Break."
After Snorlax approached, Ditto directly swung its arm and struck out. Snorlax instinctively raised its arm to block.
Snorlax and Ditto pressed their four palms against each other, forming a stalemate like a sumo match.
"Snorlax, come on, push it down!" Travis deliberately shouted loudly as if reminding Tetsuya.
Tetsuya smiled slightly. Since you intend to let me win, then I will not be polite.
"Ditto, relax. Turn sideways."
The scene Travis wanted to see appeared exactly as expected. Ditto suddenly withdrew its strength and turned sideways. Snorlax immediately leaned forward. With the inertia of such force combined with Snorlax's huge body, its two legs could not support it at all, and it was about to fall.
"Brick Break!"
Tetsuya seized the "opportunity" and launched a fierce attack. He would not refuse to fight simply because the opponent was holding back, nor would he stubbornly insist the opponent fight seriously just to prove he was powerful.
If the opponent held back, there was naturally a reason for it. In a life-or-death battle no one would "hold back". Moreover, which Gym Leader did not hold back?
Ditto swung its arm with the "strength of a thousand pounds" and smashed it onto Snorlax's head!
With a loud thud, Snorlax fell to the ground, and the entire central park shook violently once again.
"Body Slam!"
Once again the ground trembled. Ditto had already pressed down onto Snorlax's body.
At this moment the surrounding crowd had already begun clapping and shouting. With Ditto guarding beside it, Snorlax had no ability to successfully get up. With such a huge body, even standing up required great effort, and Ditto could stop it at any time.
Therefore, as long as a way could be found to knock Snorlax down, it could almost be considered a guaranteed victory.
Ever since the move Grass Knot became popular, Snorlax would tremble whenever it saw a Grass-type Pokémon!
When a Pokémon was tripped by Grass Knot, the heavier its weight, the greater the damage it suffered. One could imagine the situation of a nearly five-hundred-kilogram fat man being tripped…
Moreover, after Snorlax was tripped, what followed would be draining moves such as Leech Seed. No matter how abundant your stamina was, it could still be drained away.
Grass-type Pokémon also had boosting moves like Growth, which increased both physical Attack and Special Attack. If one was not careful, a Grass-type Pokémon could even develop into a dual-attacking fighter.
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¹. Anime-exclusive.
[1] Anime-exclusive