Alex changed out of his suit into a basic, all-white gi and stepped back into the battle hall. He met up with the young man who had challenged him and accepted, with one of the others acting as referee.

“Ready? Fight!”

The young man, an Expert ranked trainer, charged forward and threw a clean straight punch. His movements were fast and precise, his form perfect, the strike powered by every muscle in his body.

Alex appreciated the technique and its flawless execution, but the gap between them was absolute. He caught the young man’s fist mid-strike and held it there, unmoving, before slowly tightening his grip.

“Agh!” the young man shouted, doubling over as his hand was crushed, bones creaking under the pressure, on the verge of breaking.

“Stop!” the referee shouted, prompting Alex to let go as he gestured toward him. “The challenger wins!”

“Challenger?” Alex asked. “I was the one who was challenged.”

“You’re here to challenge the dojo like the others, right? That makes you a challenger.”

“Well, no. I’m here to meet with—”

“Wow!” Klara hastily interrupted, stepping forward and grabbing Alex’s hand. “You were amazing, mister! I didn’t know you could fight. How strong are you exactly?”

“I’m a Cha—”

“Hey!” another young man stepped forward, this one Elite ranked and clearly older. “Pick on someone your own size!”

“Sure,” Alex said, stepping onto the mat without hesitation.

“Ready? Fight!”

As before, Alex watched the young man execute flawless form. He rushed forward, planted his feet in a stable stance, then snapped into a perfect roundhouse, his foot arcing toward Alex’s head.

Alex caught the kick with his bare hands, gripping the man by the ankles and holding him in place.

This time, the young man tried to spin through into a jumping turning back kick, but Alex’s grip didn’t give. The young man’s body rotated, yet his ankles remained fixed in Alex’s hands, locking him at an awkward angle and stopping the motion halfway through. The torque twisted back into his joints instead, pain spiking as his ankles threatened to snap.

“Agh!” he shouted, pitching backward and slamming face-first into the ground, his trapped leg still held high in the air.

“Stop!” the referee called, prompting Alex to release him. “The challenger wins!”

This time, a crowd of students gathered, drawn by the growing interest in Alex’s matches. He had already won his first two bouts with ease, each one a clean display of overwhelming power.

“How about a Pokémon battle instead?” another Elite ranked trainer said, stepping forward. “If you’re that strong, your Pokémon must be just as strong, right?”

“Sure,” Alex replied with a shrug. “I have Elite and Champion ranked Pokémon. Which rank do you want to battle?”

“C-Champion?” the trainer stammered. “Um… Elite ranked, please.”

“Very well.” Alex released Shiny Lucario’s attack team, then glanced at them. “Who wants a one-on-one?”

Lucario immediately shot her hand up, eager to get into a fight. Lopunny hesitated, while Gallade conceded and decided to watch for now. Between the three of them, Lucario was the rambunctious troublemaker, while the other two often supported her and made sure she didn’t get into too much trouble.

Apart from Lucario’s strength over the others, this was another reason she was the leader. Alex figured the other two would be too passive in battle, which wasn’t good for his attack team.

Seeing a Shiny Lucario, the trainers in the hall were starstruck. Shiny Pokémon were rare and practically unheard of, a quality in Pokémon that was often associated with the rich and powerful. It being a Lucario was another matter entirely, as they were among the most popular Pokémon for Fighting type trainers, which most of the students in the dojo were.

Alex’s opponent was intimidated, but it was fortunate that Alex had released his Pokémon first. This meant he could choose a Pokémon with a favorable type matchup.

“Go! Cinderace!” the trainer shouted as he tossed out his Poké Ball.

Cinderace materialized, quickly noted its opponent on the other side, and took a taekwondo fighting stance. Lucario, meanwhile, shifted into a horse stance, legs spread for stability, arms at her waist, fists clenched, and ready to strike.

“Ready? Fight!”

“Pyro Ball!” the trainer shouted.

“Water Pulse!” Alex commanded.

Cinderace acted first, creating a ball of fire at his feet before kicking it towards Lucario with full strength. Lucario meanwhile simply punched out, creating a ring of water that honed in on Cinderace. Both attacks clashed mid air and canceled each other out. Pyro Ball might have been powerful but Water Pulse was its direct weakness.

Cinderace attacked again with the same move, and Lucario did the same, the clash creating an explosion of steam that heated the battle hall. One key difference, however, was that Cinderace was quickly using up its stamina, while Lucario could keep this up all day long.

“Cinderace! Move closer before using Pyro Ball! Make sure Lucario can’t cancel your attack with its Water Pulse!” the trainer shouted, while Alex simply observed.

Cinderace followed as instructed and bolted forward at high speed. Before it could get close, however, Lucario fired another Water Pulse. The attack’s precision couldn’t be overcome by Cinderace’s agility, so it took the hit to the face, dealing significant damage, but pushed forward anyway.

Once Cinderace was right in front of Lucario, it immediately prepared to attack with Pyro Ball. It created a ball of fire at its feet, pulled its leg back, and kicked out. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

That was when Lucario moved. With surprising agility, she stepped forward and kicked without using her energy. She targeted Cinderace’s lower shins with a front kick, stopping the attack before it could connect with the ball of fire. Then she followed up with a gut punch that released a point-blank Water Pulse, sending Cinderace flying back from the sheer power of the attack.

“WHAT!?” the trainer shouted in shock while the students watched in awe.

They had no idea energy attacks could be canceled by pure physical might. They understood it barely did any damage but the mere fact that it cancelled a powerful attack was surprising.

To be fair, Alex didn’t know about that either. He had simply operated under the philosophy that all his Pokémon had to learn to fight with their bodies, especially the attack team. That was how he trained with them, after all. Using a non-energy attack to counter an energy attack was entirely Lucario’s initiative.

Lucario, noticing Cinderace’s imbalance, immediately rushed forward with Extreme Speed to catch it off guard.

“Protect!” the trainer shouted urgently, to which Cinderace responded by producing an energy shield mid-flight out of pure instinct from being commanded.

This stopped Lucario in her tracks, but she wasn’t done. She followed after Cinderace and grabbed it by the leg once the energy shield disappeared. She then executed a flying knee bar, one of the many techniques Alex had taught his humanoid Pokémon.

Both of them landed harshly on the ground, with Cinderace twisting in agony as its leg being bent the wrong way.

“Overheat!” the trainer shouted.

“Finish it!” Alex commanded.

Cinderace burst into a flaming furnace, radiating intense heat, while Lucario ignored the attack and mounted it. Then she began pounding its head with alternating punches using Bone Rush.

Left, right, left, and then, with a final right punch to the jaw enhanced with Ground type energy, Cinderace was knocked out, its raging fire immediately extinguished.

“Winner! Lucario!” the referee declared, to the stunned shock of the onlookers.

Lucario stood, suffering severe burns, but took the time to smile at her fainted opponent before making her way back to Alex, who quickly applied a Full Restore without hesitation.

Klara watched on in stunned silence. She had no idea this snake oil salesman was so powerful. She had only wanted to play a trick on these annoying salesmen who kept coming to the island, hoping to turn it into an even more crowded tourist destination than it already was.

‘Maybe he really is here to meet with the old man. Maybe he’s even one of his friends,’ she realized with dread. ‘I better call the old man over just in case.’

The students in the crowd moved closer, eager to be the next one to fight Alex, who was clearly a powerful trainer. The earlier matches had only fueled their curiosity, turning hesitation into anticipation as more of them began sizing him up.

Above the battle hall, through a window on the second floor, an onlooker watched with equal admiration. It felt that Alex was an interesting trainer who could finally challenge it and allow it to grow stronger.

“Nice job,” a Champion ranked challenger said as he stepped closer to Alex, the same one Alex had lined up with outside. “How about a sparring match between us? Since you said you had Champion ranked Pokémon, you must have the matching physique, right?”

Alex turned to him and immediately profiled him as a bully. The man was taller than Alex, with thick muscles hidden beneath a respectable layer of fat. He had the build of a lumberjack, a powerful upper body that made his presence feel heavier in the room. He was here for something, and Alex was getting in his way. He likely figured he should get rid of the competition now before it became a complication later.

“Sure,” Alex said with a growing smile. “Do you need to take a break though? I saw you sparring with their Champions earlier.”

“They didn’t put up much of a fight, and their head student is apparently preoccupied, so I’m bored. We should keep each other company until then.”

Alex was honestly itching for a proper fight since he had arrived but was disappointed with the trainers in the battle hall so far. The majority of them were young Expert ranked trainers with a few Elites mixed in. There were also a handful of Champion ranked trainers, but they were easily thrashed by this challenger.

Getting to fight him while waiting for Mustard to show up was just the kind of exercise he had been waiting for.