The two Teddiursa on the opposite side watched as Zorua withdrew from facing their attack without a second glance.
Instead, the seemingly much weaker Pokémon stepped forward alone, which made them even angrier.
"Ursa~ (How dare they look down on us...)"
They simply abandoned their focus on Zorua and rushed furiously toward Riolu, intent on teaching this opponent a harsh lesson.
"Aura-Enhanced Force Palm!"
"Rio~"
Facing the pincer attack from both Teddiursa, Riolu's Aura immediately gathered in his paws, but it didn't condense into an Aura Sphere as it normally would.
Instead, a pale blue stream of energy spread outward, coating his arms in shimmering light. Riolu tapped the ground lightly, and his speed suddenly surged, allowing him to instantly outmaneuver the two Teddiursa.
Riolu hadn't been idle during the past semester.
Although Riolu couldn't compare to Zorua and Ralts in terms of level progression—those two had their own advantages—as the most diligent member of the team, Riolu refused to be discouraged by his rapidly advancing companions. Instead, he trained even harder each day.
After half a semester of dedicated effort, Riolu and David successfully developed "Aura-Enhanced Force Palm," a technique based on manipulating Aura Sphere's energy in a new way.
"Bam!"
When the Teddiursa using Take Down lunged forward, Riolu easily sidestepped with a fluid motion, then sent it flying with a single enhanced punch.
The other Teddiursa, which had been preparing to use Slash, had its attack interrupted by Riolu's relentless assault before it could fully execute the move. It too was sent tumbling backward.
"Ursa~!"
The Aura-Enhanced Force Palm, developed from Aura Sphere principles, was naturally a Fighting-type technique. The two Teddiursa already bore injuries from Zorua's earlier Dark Pulse, and now they were struck by Riolu with a move that was super effective against their Normal typing. The outcome was inevitable.
Riolu had already become quite skilled at manipulating Aura, so the power behind this enhanced technique was formidable.
Both Teddiursa immediately collapsed to the ground, their eyes spinning in dizzy spirals.
After defeating the two Teddiursa, David walked toward the spot where he'd first noticed them—it was time to claim his reward.
Just as David reached out to pick up the supply package, a dangerous surge of Aura suddenly emanated from nearby, startling him the moment he sensed it.
Fortunately, he'd had the foresight to keep Ralts ready in her Poké Ball.
Before David could even react consciously, the Poké Ball at his waist instantly popped open. A red light flashed, and a familiar blue and white figure materialized before him.
Without hesitation, Ralts used Teleport, instantly transporting David away from his original position in a shimmer of psychic energy.
Moments later, a massive golden beam of concentrated energy struck the exact spot where David had been standing.
The intense power of the attack pierced through the ground's surface, kicking up clouds of smoke and debris.
Several dozen meters away, David—who had narrowly escaped danger thanks to Teleport—stared at his previous location with lingering fear.
"What the hell? Is this practical assessment supposed to be this dangerous? If I hadn't kept an ace up my sleeve, and if I didn't have a Pokémon like Ralts on my team who's mastered Teleport, I'd probably be seriously injured right now."
"Even I almost got caught in that. If it were other rookie Trainers, wouldn't they be guaranteed casualties? What is the League thinking?"
David's mind raced, shocked by the sight before him.
As the smoke and dust cleared, the silhouette of his attacker slowly emerged from the distance.
"ROAR!"
Name: Ursaring
Type: Normal
Gender: ♀
Level: 39 (Superior)
Potential: Deep Blue
Ability: Guts
Held Item: None
Moves: Scratch, Leer, Lick, Payback, Play Rough, Slash, Hammer Arm, Scary Face, Take Down, Belly Drum, Crunch, Metal Claw, Stomping Tantrum, Cross Chop, Hyper Beam...
Accompanied by a thunderous roar, the newcomer was indeed an Ursaring that had reached the peak of Superior level.
David looked at his opponent, then glanced at the unconscious Teddiursa lying nearby, and immediately understood his predicament.
An angry mother bear was not to be trifled with—and a mother bear driven to fury over her cubs was even more dangerous!
He could only wonder what the League staff had been thinking when they set up this assessment area.
However, David had indeed misjudged the League's intentions. The League never expected any single participant to actually encounter this Superior -level Ursaring alone!
It was now three in the afternoon, and David had been traveling deeper into the mountain range since morning.
Excluding his rest periods, he'd been moving at a rapid pace for nearly five hours straight. Apart from David, perhaps only participants with mount-type Pokémon could have covered this much ground so quickly.
By reaching this particular jungle, he had already entered the central area of the mountain range—though admittedly still only its outer perimeter.
This Ursaring should be considered the territorial boss of this jungle section, and the staff wouldn't have anticipated any participant challenging it solo!
Originally, in a day or two, after other Trainers gradually converged on this area, they could challenge it as a coordinated team. Even without David's level of skill, working together would give them a reasonable chance of defeating this Ursaring.
Moreover, the assessment venue wasn't just monitored by professional Rangers on patrol and surveillance cameras—they'd also deployed a large number of newly developed stealth drones for aerial tracking this time.
So even if participants couldn't defeat the Ursaring, their safety was completely guaranteed. After all, the League wouldn't actually risk the lives of these rookie Trainers over an examination.
The reason the supply drops were so abundant was because the League had assumed they would eventually be distributed among multiple participants working together.
But through sheer unfortunate timing, an accident occurred. The Ursaring, which had been resting in its den for quite some time, happened to venture out to forage for food. David happened to arrive at precisely that moment.
And the scene where he defeated the two Teddiursa happened to be witnessed by the mother bear returning from her foraging trip.
Through multiple unfortunate coincidences, this led to the heart-stopping moment where David was nearly struck down by Hyper Beam.
One could only say it was unclear whether his luck was extraordinarily bad or strangely good—how could he encounter a boss-level Pokémon on the very first day?
David couldn't help but grumble internally at his situation.
However, if he wanted to get a decent night's sleep tonight with that tent and supplies, he had no choice but to face the Ursaring.
Besides, at this point, even if he wanted to retreat, the enraged Ursaring probably wouldn't simply let him leave. Ralts's Teleport currently had a range of only about a hundred meters per use.
Against an Ursaring determined to pursue him relentlessly, he might not actually be able to escape successfully.
What David didn't realize, however, was that the monitoring center outside the assessment venue was already in complete chaos because of his situation.