Damian sat on the grass, posture leisurely and relaxed, ready to fully enjoy the battle in front of him.
Strictly speaking, this was a sparring battle between his future wife and his daughter.
"Let's go, let's go~!"
"Both sides better go all-out and win~"
"Ge-sii~"
"Victini~!"
That one Jirachi who loved butting into lively scenes every now and then somehow pulled out a bunch of glowsticks from who-knew-where and handed one each to Diancie, Terapagos, and Victini.
Then it started cheering on the battlers in a clear, sweet, adorable voice—though no one could really tell which side it was cheering for.
"Mmm~
She's got a really heavy Arceus aura on her."
Azelf sat on Damian's shoulder, staring at Akari in surprise.
As one of the six creation "Spirits," Azelf was extremely sensitive to Arceus's aura, and it could literally smell that thick Arceus scent on Akari.
"She's my daughter.
Not exactly shocking."
Damian replied with total composure.
Azelf:"..."
Azelf tilted its head and thought about it.
That… kind of made sense.
Arceus's attitude toward Damian had always seemed pretty friendly.
Compared to Damian, Caitlin and Serena were much more focused, paying close attention to the battle.
The battle had already started.
Akari's Hisui Arcanine didn't have Intimidate as its Ability, so Intimidate wasn't triggered at the start.
Even with the type disadvantage, Dawn didn't recall Froslass.
Like people always said: a Trainer who can't fight a type-disadvantaged battle is definitely not a proper Trainer.
Besides, Dawn mainly wanted to gauge Akari's current level with this match.
"Flamethrower!"
Akari launched the attack directly.
Hisui Arcanine's body lowered slightly, then it suddenly burst forward toward Froslass.
The flames in its already-burning jaws flared even stronger.
It opened its mouth and blasted out a scorching hot stream of fire.
A Fire-type Flamethrower!
"Shadow Ball!"
Dawn gave the order to counter.
Froslass's body slowly floated upward.
Its hands cupped together as a jet-black shadow orb condensed between them, then fired straight at the incoming Flamethrower.
The black Shadow Ball and the red Flamethrower crashed hard into each other midair.
The violent clash of energy turned into shockwaves whipping out in all directions.
The two attacks slammed against one another crazily.
And under Dawn and the watching Caitlin and Serena's shocked gazes, the Flamethrower slowly pushed the Shadow Ball back.
Yes—
Hisui Arcanine's Flamethrower was gradually overwhelming Froslass's Shadow Ball!
"This…
This Arcanine was really trained by Akari herself?"
Serena blurted out in a hushed, shocked tone.
This wasn't right!
She and Dawn did battle special training together all the time, so she was very, very familiar with the strength of Dawn's Pokémon.
Sure, among Dawn's main roster, Froslass was indeed closer to the bottom in power—but this was Dawn.
Dawn was already on the verge of becoming a complete Champion-tier Trainer.
She was practically a guaranteed next top-tier Team Rocket Admin.
Froslass's strength was already extremely close to Champion-tier.
Yet in a straight head-on clash, Froslass's STAB Shadow Ball was actually being suppressed by this Hisui Arcanine's Flamethrower.
That meant this Hisui Arcanine was in no way weaker than Froslass—maybe even stronger!
But… was that even right?
According to Akari, she'd only been out on her journey for four months.
Champion-tier in four months?
Was that even fucking real?!
"No mistake.
She trained it herself."
Damian's lips curved in a faint smile.
Then he took out his phone and started recording the two's battle video.
As for Akari's strength, Damian wasn't actually that surprised.
In truth, he'd already noticed something:
even though the "protagonists" of this world could all be called monsters, their growth speed actually wasn't as insanely fast as in the original works.
Hitting Champion-tier in a year was already jaw-dropping for ordinary people.
But compared to the "protagonists" in the original, one-year Champion-tier was basically the bare minimum starting line.
Not only did every "protagonist" hit Champion in a single year, they also had crazy feats to back their level up.
Red became Champion, then headed to Cerulean Cave to beat and catch Mewtwo.
May became Champion, then went to Sky Pillar to beat and catch Rayquaza.
Dawn also caught Dialga (Palkia), and Serena caught Xerneas (Yveltal).
Those were all real, in-game plot events.
Selene, before even becoming Alola Champion, triple-beat Necrozma, forcing it into submission and catching it.
After she became Champion, she soloed the entire Team Rainbow Rocket—practically a nightmare-difficulty dungeon boss.
Worth reminding: that nightmare-difficulty dungeon boss referred to Selene, not Team Rainbow Rocket.
Because to Team Rainbow Rocket, Selene was the true nightmare.
And all of those feats came from only a single year of growth in the original.
Yet Damian was very sure that in this world, for them, one year was enough to hit Champion solidly, and their power at Champion-tier absolutely wouldn't be weak—
—but they definitely couldn't reach those absurd original-work heights.
For example, among Pokémon of myth and legend, even the "lowest" would be in the range of pairs like Solgaleo/Lunala, Reshiram/Zekrom, Ho-Oh/Lugia.
To beat them, you'd at least need to reach Top-tier Champion level—
people like Leon, Giovanni, Lance.
Those guys were Top-tier Champions.
With the combat power of their wielded main rosters, they could wage war against high-tier legends and even win—
but it was never easy.
At their current growth speed, Dawn, Rosa, Serena and the others absolutely wouldn't reach Top-tier Champion by year's end.
So Damian reasonably suspected that their growth rates hadn't reached the original-work level—
where in just one year they smashed various legends and toyed with them like ragdolls.
That really was too broken.
That was definitely this world nerfing them.
However, even with their growth speed nerfed, they were still talented freaks strong enough to shake any ordinary person's worldview.
At most, it just slowed down how fast they'd peak.
But by next year, Dawn and the others would completely catch up to the Leons of the world.
That was also why Damian set the World Championship to next year—
because next year was when Dawn and the others would be "barely finished growing."
Yet even under the same "world nerf," there were still gaps between protagonists.
Like Selene.
Selene had already reached Champion-tier last month, and in a full-team battle, she beat Kukui.
Meanwhile, as fellow "protagonists," Rosa and Dawn were only just barely stepping into being Champion-tier Trainers now.
(You only counted as a Champion-tier Trainer if you had six Champion-tier main roster members.)
And now here came an even more terrifying Akari!
"Hiss!—"
Even Serena, for the first time, felt what it meant to be crushed by talent.
From childhood to now, she'd always been the one praised.
From the moment she debuted, she'd always been recognized, admired, even called a "monster."
But now Serena finally understood what "monster" really meant—
and the more she thought about it, the less surprised she actually felt.
"As expected of Mr. Damian and Dawn's offspring.
This is way too scary."
Serena genuinely sighed from the heart.
Damian and Dawn were two talented freaks, and together they'd made an even more monstrous talented freak.
What could you say?
In a way, it made perfect sense.
But Serena couldn't help thinking—
if she had a child with Damian one day, would it also be a "monster" that surpassed them both?
While Damian and Serena weren't paying attention, Caitlin's brows knit tightly.
Her sense of crisis was skyrocketing.
She was screwed!
For her, the worst-case scenario had arrived—
Akari really was a terrifying "monster"!
No wonder Arceus in person had chosen her for trials.
Champion-tier in four months—
what kind of talent was that supposed to be?
Why don't you just go ascend to the heavens already!!
Caitlin bit her soft pink lip.
She was honestly so mad she could laugh.
Damn!
On the field, the battle continued.
Not only was Akari's Pokémon strength insane, Akari's commanding was also extraordinarily good.
She let Hisui Arcanine use its superior mobility and intermittent bursts of Extreme Speed to close the distance perfectly on Froslass.
A reckless Fire-type strike landed cleanly on Froslass.
Then, in the push-and-pull, she deliberately left an opening, baiting an attack—
and dodged Froslass's close-range Water Pulse.
And that Water Pulse was four times super effective against Hisui Arcanine!
Akari just had the guts to walk that knife's edge, and Hisui Arcanine didn't betray that trust.
After successfully dodging Water Pulse, a perfectly landed Double-Edge Head Smash slammed into Froslass.
The Rock-type Double-Edge Head Smash beat Froslass flat.
Froslass directly lost the ability to fight.
Akari took the first point.
"Good work."
Dawn recalled Froslass into the Poké Ball.
She comforted it softly first, then stared at the ball in her hand for a while before lifting her head.
Now, there was a hint of change in Dawn's gaze toward Akari.
"Mom, how was it?
How did my Arcanine do?"
Akari asked, smiling with her eyes.
To Dawn, Akari in that moment really looked a lot like Damian.
Damian often smiled like that too.
Though, in his case, most of the time… it wasn't exactly with pure intentions.
But Akari probably didn't mean anything like that.
She'd just subconsciously picked up some of Damian's habits while growing up.
"Amazing, Akari~
I still can't believe you only started training it after you got to Hisui."
Dawn didn't hold back on the praise.
In a full-team battle, losing the first one or two rounds wasn't a big deal.
Right now, what shocked her more was:
how the hell was Akari this strong?!
"Of course.
Arcanine's one of my main roster."
Having gotten Mom Damn's recognition, Akari was obviously happy.
Her eyes curved into crescents again.
It's one of your main roster, but it's not your core main roster.
Definitely not your ace main.
Was that how she was supposed to read it?
Dawn's eyes shimmered slightly as she looked at the daughter from her future standing across from her.
As expected, Akari had inherited the excellent Trainer talent from her and Damian—and had surpassed her.
Dawn pressed her lips together and smiled.
But that was a good thing, wasn't it?
Even if she hadn't gone through ten months of pregnancy to give birth to Akari, that didn't stop her from being happy about how strong Akari was now.
Still, she couldn't just let her daughter be disappointed either.
"Garchomp!"
Dawn decisively sent out her own core main roster—
Garchomp.
Hisui Arcanine—
four-times weak to Ground!
"Mom Damn Garchomp, huh."
Akari was clearly not unfamiliar with Garchomp.
After all, it was one of the core main roster Pokémon that had always been by Dawn's side.
And that stayed true in the future.
Akari didn't recall Hisui Arcanine.
Her trust in her Pokémon was absolute.
But this time, Dawn didn't underestimate her.
She threw her full focus into the battle.
She didn't let Garchomp Mega Evolve, because Akari hadn't mastered any buff modes yet.
So Dawn wasn't planning to use any either.
Even without Mega Evolution, Dawn's Garchomp was still a beast.
After a fierce fight, it defeated Akari's Hisui Arcanine at a not-too-heavy price.
"So strong~
Mom Damn Garchomp really is both cool and powerful."
Akari sighed in admiration.
She recalled her Hisui Arcanine that had lost the ability to fight and comforted it.
Then she pulled out another Poké Ball.
"Then the next kid is gonna be a lot harder to deal with than Arcanine.
Be careful, Mom."
Hearing that, Dawn was pretty curious.
It was probably another Hisui-unique Pokémon.
Akari's crescent-moon eyes narrowed, and she tossed out her second Poké Ball.
"Sneasler, go!"
With a flash of white light, a silver-gray bipedal Pokémon slowly straightened up.
Its two claws were long, sharp, and black-red.
Its face carried a thick, malicious grin—
enough to send chills down anyone's spine.
This was Sneasler, evolved from Hisui Sneasel.
Typing: Fighting / Poison.
"Sneasler, huh.
Yeah, that one's a real pain."
Damian took in this Sneasler with its dark, evil aura and chuckled lightly.
He didn't even have to think about it.
This Sneasler was definitely rocking Poison Touch as its Ability.
And a Sneasler with Poison Touch was truly a nightmare to fight.
From its presence and build, Akari had trained it extremely well.
This Sneasler's strength was probably much higher than that of the earlier Hisui Arcanine—
most likely one of Akari's core main roster.
But purely in terms of typing, Akari had chosen to fight at a disadvantage.
Because Sneasler was weak to Ground.
Damian sent the video he'd filmed so far to Giovanni, with a short message attached.
"Dad, come check out your daughter-in-law and granddaughter's battle."
Meanwhile, in Viridian Gym, Giovanni was in the middle of thinking about how many prodigies it would take to get Groudon to walk back, when he saw the message.
Even someone as steady as Giovanni couldn't stop a flash of joy.
I'm a grandpa now?
Nice work, Damian!
Just thinking about holding his granddaughter in his arms made Giovanni genuinely happy.
He was a grandpa now!
But when he opened the video, he saw two twin girls battling.
Giovanni, expressionless, sent Damian back a single question mark.
Where the hell did this "granddaughter" come from?
Then he thought about it for a bit, and remembered his all-rounder son's only real flaw.
Yeah, this did look exactly like some stunt Damian would pull.
Giovanni couldn't help letting out a sigh.
"Damian, I know you're a ladies' man.
But I still gotta tell you—
don't go too wild."
"?"
Damian replied with a confused question mark.
~~
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