After all, Protect wasn't an absolutely invincible move.
At that moment, Misty happened to see the faint smile on Gu Qiu's face—and her heart grew even more unsettled.
What did that smile mean?
The truth was, the moment Gu Qiu saw that Kingdra knew Protect, he had already prepared a counter.
Kingdra using Protect would certainly block an attack.
But if used consecutively, the success rate would drop drastically.
The probability of successfully using Protect three times in a row was pitifully low.
Of course, Gu Qiu would never leave victory to probability alone.
He had prepared multiple contingencies.
"Rasengan Barrage!"
Boom!
Greninja carefully staggered the timing of the Rasengans, attacking from different angles and directions.
"It's over…"
Misty's face turned pale.
Kingdra possessed Dragon typing—its defenses were formidable.
But she didn't believe it could withstand Rasengan.
The outcome proved her right.
Kingdra barely endured two Rasengans at its absolute limit—
Boom!
It was blasted away, rolling across the ground before completely losing the ability to battle.
[Your Greninja defeated Kingdra and gained 12,547 EXP. Level increased to 44!]
Three levels at once!
A Level 56 Kingdra provided an enormous amount of experience.
After Level 50, each level required a massive amount of EXP.
"All three of Misty's Pokémon have lost the ability to battle. The winner—Gu Qiu!"
As Lorelei's voice fell—
The entire Gym erupted.
Though the crowd wasn't large, the cheers roared like a crashing flood.
It was astonishing.
A high school senior—
Had defeated one of the Cerulean Gym Leader's main Pokémon.
"I won."
Gu Qiu exhaled deeply.
He had finally done it.
In that instant, mission rewards flooded into his mind.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the mission: Conquer the Cerulean Gym. Evaluation: S-Rank (Perfect). Rewards as follows:]
[Ding! Host has learned the Ninjutsu Rasengan, along with its complete theoretical principles!]
[Ding! Host has learned Beginner-level Aura Power!]
[Ding! Host has obtained one Shiny Fruit!]
[Ding! Host has obtained Chakra ×5000!]
[Ding! Host has obtained 1,000,000 Pokécoins!]
The generous rewards made Gu Qiu's mouth fall open.
Every single one was top-tier.
His mind was suddenly flooded with profound knowledge about rotational chakra principles.
Not superficial understanding—
But the combined comprehension of Jiraiya, Minato Namikaze, and Naruto Uzumaki.
With this knowledge, Gu Qiu could develop even more powerful variants of Rasengan.
Combined with Flying Thunder God—
It was practically unbeatable.
"Aura Power…"
Aura Power, Psychic Power, and Viridian Power were known as the Three Great Powers.
Among them, Psychic was the most commonly learned.
Aura Power, however, was extremely rare.
It was a power of the heart.
It enabled telepathy, detection, combat applications—
A mysterious and overpowered force.
Then there was the Shiny Fruit.
Once consumed, it granted a Pokémon a Shiny transformation.
Currently, Gu Qiu only had one Shiny Pokémon—
Kirlia.
Shiny transformations enhanced a Pokémon's power in mysterious ways.
The exact effect varied by individual.
As for Chakra ×5000—
It pushed Gu Qiu's reserves toward Super-Kage tier.
At this point, even the Fourth Hokage couldn't compare to his chakra volume.
And 1,000,000 Pokécoins?
The more, the better.
"Gu Qiu, this is the Cascade Badge."
Misty quickly recovered from her disappointment and handed him a blue badge.
"Thank you."
This was his second Gym Badge.
A smile spread across his face.
"Gu Qiu, I hope in the near future we can have a true, all-out battle."
"I look forward to it as well."
He smiled at her.
"Alright. Since the match is over, you should head back and rest. Those mysterious figures have started moving again. Route 24 is extremely dangerous right now."
"If we weren't worried about alerting the enemy, we would've sealed it off already."
Sealing Route 24 would only temporarily reduce trainer casualties.
But it might also allow the enemy's scheme to succeed on a larger scale.
"Understood."
Gu Qiu didn't refuse.
He also needed time to digest the rewards.
As he left, Lorelei turned her gaze toward Li Hong and Ye Munan.
The two had planned to leave last night.
But Lorelei had deliberately kept them—to witness Gu Qiu's strength.
Even she didn't know where her confidence had come from.
"Lorelei… I support Gu Qiu as well."
"Me too."
"Good. Since both of you support him, then our Western War Zone will nominate Gu Qiu."
"What about the others?"
"Forget the others."
The four major war zones—East, West, South, North—each had three nomination slots.
The Central War Zone had four.
Sixteen in total.
Of course, nomination didn't guarantee entry.
There would be multiple rounds of selection before forming the final ten-person team representing the region against the other seven regions.
Under these circumstances, Lorelei saw no point in wasting resources on two additional names.
"Forget the others? They won't agree to that."
Lorelei glanced sideways.
"In the Western War Zone, I make the decisions."
Her tone was calm—
Yet filled with undeniable dominance.
Li Hong and Ye Munan hesitated.
"Fine. Let them select their candidates. Then Gu Qiu can defeat them one by one."
"Let's see what those old men have to say then."
Lorelei smirked.
She might as well give Gu Qiu some extra experience.
…
Back at the hotel,
Gu Qiu immediately took out the Shiny Fruit.
Who should he give it to?
There was no hesitation.
His strongest Pokémon—
Without question—
Was Pikachu.
Based on Pikachu's strength, Gu Qiu estimated it could fight Misty's Gyarados—even if she used Mega Evolution.
As for the outcome—
He wasn't sure.
After all, Pikachu had never revealed its full power.
"Pikachu, come out. I've got something good for you!"
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