Chapter 46 – The Final Reward

Blaziken—renowned as a powerhouse among Fire-type Pokémon.

Its strength was unmatched, though when it came to speed, it lagged a bit behind its peers.

Still, when its Blaze ability combined with that explosive physical power, even a behemoth like Aggron wasn’t beyond its reach.

But if the Blaziken possessed the Speed Boost ability...

[Speed Boost: Its speed increases with every passing turn in battle.]

That meant the longer the fight dragged on, the more unstoppable Blaziken would become.

Once that boost stacked high enough, its opponent would be facing a monster with both strength and speed maxed out—a dual-A ranked boss.

Even though Kawaki wasn’t a trainer himself, he instantly understood what the young boy was planning.

But still… its opponent was a Slaking!

The match officially began.

The boy opened with a Flare Kick, testing the waters.

But the Slaking on the other side simply lay there, propping its head lazily on one hand, yawning as Blaziken’s attack struck its body without so much as a twitch.

The girl across the field didn’t panic at all. Her sharp eyes analyzed every detail of the battle. Once the attack landed, Blaziken quickly leapt backward, trying to keep its distance and avoid getting caught in close quarters.

Slaking might look lazy—sprawled on its side, unmoving, almost harmless—but in truth, it was a Pokémon with terrifying strength. One hit from it could crush most opponents.

Unfortunately for the boy, Blaziken’s retreat left just the slightest opening.

The girl seized her chance and shouted, “Slaking, Body Slam!”

In the next instant, the supposedly lazy Slaking moved.

That enormous, bulky body launched into the air at a shockingly fast speed, slamming down toward Blaziken like a meteor.

A surprisingly agile fat guy!

“Blaziken, dodge it!” the boy cried out—but it was too late.

Slaking came crashing down, pinning Blaziken completely to the ground, flattening it like a pancake.

A one-hit KO.

“W-what?!” The boy’s face twisted in disbelief. “How can Body Slam be that strong?!”

The girl only smirked. “You lost the first round.”

In truth, what Slaking had used wasn’t a simple Body Slam at all—

it was a Body Slam combined with Counter.

Most people assumed that Slaking’s habit of lying around mid-battle was just laziness. But in reality, that was when it was quietly storing up energy for retaliation.

The girl had trained her Slaking to use this natural tendency as a strategy—keeping it constantly ready to unleash Counter.

So the moment someone struck first, what awaited them was Slaking’s full-force revenge.

“How amazing,” Kawaki exclaimed, leading the crowd in applause.

Then he noticed the small light on the learning device attached to his Growlithe’s collar flashing rapidly.

A line of text appeared above the puppy’s head:

EXP +2681!

Huh? That… was the experience gained from watching a battle?

Kawaki quickly opened Growlithe’s status screen.

[Pokémon: Growlithe]

[Gender: Male]

[Ability: Intimidate]

[Moves: Tackle, Sleep Powder, Baby-Doll Eyes, Swords Dance, Leer, Ember, Morning Sun, Howl, Flame Wheel, Bite]

[Condition: Healthy]

[Mood: Happy]

[Joy: 30]

[Friendship: 100 (It sees you as its dearest family.)]

[Profile: “Woof woof woof!” —Growlithe]]

Compared to before, three new moves had appeared!

That meant this high-level battle had directly boosted its strength. In gaming terms—Growlithe had leveled up!

One battle for over two thousand EXP… but from what Kawaki remembered, a Pokémon needed over a million experience points to reach max level.

So, if Growlithe just watched five hundred battles like this, it could reach the top?

No… that probably wouldn’t work.

After all, Growlithe had just hatched less than a month ago. It was still a beginner-tier Pokémon.

It only gained so much EXP this time because the Blaziken and Slaking were way above its level.

As Growlithe got stronger, the EXP it earned from watching similar battles would drop sharply.

Naturally, the stronger you became, the harder it was to grow further.

To test his theory, Kawaki removed the learning device from Growlithe and placed it on his Bewear instead.

After Blaziken was knocked out, the boy sent out a Beautifly for the second match.

But against that well-trained Slaking, Beautifly soon fell as well.

Kawaki’s eyes stayed fixed on Bewear’s head.

Sure enough, when Beautifly fainted, a number appeared:

EXP +69!

So for Bewear, this elite-level match barely taught it anything.

If it wanted to keep improving, it would have to watch battles between Elite Four-tier, Champion-level, or even Legendary Pokémon.

Kawaki put the learning device back on Growlithe and kept watching the tournament.

As time passed, more and more EXP numbers popped above Growlithe’s head:

EXP +2961!

EXP +1565!

EXP +1186!

By the end, each battle only earned around two hundred points.

When evening came and the sun dipped below the horizon, the tournament finally drew to a close.

The final winner was a boy about Ash’s age.

He wasn’t exceptionally strong, but what stood out was the deep bond between him and his Pokémon.

Several times, he’d nearly lost, but his Pokémon pushed through at the last moment—fighting for their trainer and turning defeat into victory.

As the crowd cheered, he grinned wide, his teeth gleaming white under the sunset.

“Yes! Beautifly, Azumarill, Pelipper—we did it!” he called out to his team.

His Pokémon cried back in joy.

Even the defeated trainers didn’t leave. They all wanted to see what the final prize would be.

Kawaki didn’t keep them waiting.

He nodded to Bewear, who carried out the prize—a Trapinch egg—and placed it carefully into the champion’s arms.

The boy beamed, clutching the egg tightly.

“Congratulations! You’re the champion. This egg is your reward,” Kawaki said with a smile.

“Boss, what kind of Pokémon’s inside?!” the boy asked eagerly.

“It’s a Trapinch,” Kawaki replied warmly.

The Hoenn League had sent him two Trapinch eggs. One had already been sold, and the one left came from two Flygon-level parents—both Gym Leader-tier Pokémon.

For any regular trainer, this was an incredible prize.

Especially since Trapinch could only be found deep in the most dangerous parts of the desert—it was truly rare.