They kept calling them "aniki, aniki," but the defiance and arrogance in their eyes was plain as day.
Sato didn't get mad. In fact, he found these little brats kind of cute in a naïve -dumbs- sort of way.
Trying to act all grown-up about things, but getting smug before even succeeding…
"I'll do it, I'll do it! Aniki won't bully you. I'll send out my Pokémon first, 1vX, I don't care~"
Mark jumped in loudly. There was no way he was going to miss out on the fun of messing with little kids.
With a flash of red light, Mark's newest partner, Spiritomb, appeared before them.
Its flickering, flame-like ghostly face was hideously weird, and the kids all pulled disgusted expressions at once, feeling even more that Cynthia was being wronged.
Beautiful, kind, gentle, generous, wise, upright, brave, tenacious, powerful, beautiful, beautiful again… how could Cynthia have a travel companion whose Pokémon was so ugly?
"Bron… zong… DEFEAT THAT UGLY FREAK FOR ME!"
One of the kids shouted with full chūnibyō energy and sent out a Bronzong, an Elite one, which wasn't bad for his age.
Cynthia saw this and didn't bother stopping the farce. In fact, she figured it was a good thing for these arrogant kids in the town to be taught a lesson. If she stepped in, it wouldn't have the same effect.
The kids were all full of pride, and of course, they refused to gang up on Mark. As far as they were concerned, besides Cynthia, they were unbeatable.
"I… declare… the start of the 1v1 Trainer match between Veran and Mark. Each side may use one Pokémon. The battle ends when one Pokémon loses the ability to battle. Any questions from either side?"
These kids were full of talent…
Just as the match was about to begin, one of them ran up and acted as referee with a completely serious face, like this was a sacred event.
"No problem!" x2
"Then… battle start!"
"Bronzong, use Iron Defense!"
"Spiritomb, use Dark Pulse!"
Veran and Mark shouted their commands simultaneously. Iron Defense sharply raised physical Defense, while Dark Pulse was a Special Attack move.
The kid's face shifted, but remembering that Bronzong had high defenses on both sides, he didn't change the command.
Then, Dark Pulse hit the Bronzong, which was glowing with a metallic gray light.
Boom!
The energy clash exploded, and the heavy Bronzong was blown straight into the air before crashing into the ground, embedded there… completely motionless.
One-hit KO!
The kids, who had just been loudly speculating on the battle's direction, fell silent. Eyes wide, they stared at the fainted Bronzong… then at the hideously strange Spiritomb…
'H-How could it be this strong?'
'It had to be luck.'
'It must've been type advantage.'
'Veran let his guard down.'
'The opponent was sneaky…'
"That didn't count! I didn't even have time to react before it started! Let's go again, let's go again!"
Veran panicked. He'd stepped up so confidently to "slay the evil monster", only to get taken out in one hit.
How embarrassing!
"Whatever, come at me all at once, I don't mind~" Mark crossed his arms and raised his chin, looking down at the kids with a smug expression.
At that moment, he fully tasted the joy of acting cool.
"Machoke, use Karate Chop on that… Spiritomb!"
It could use Dark-type moves and had the word "tomb" in its name. Naive little Veran guessed Spiritomb must be a Rock/Dark-type Pokémon, so what could be better than a Fighting-type move?
Machoke's hands glowed as it stomped toward Spiritomb, then suddenly swung its arm.
Whoosh~
Karate Chop passed straight through Spiritomb's ghostly face. Machoke had put so much force behind it that he couldn't pull back in time and ended up stumbling straight into Spiritomb.
"TOOOMB!"
Spiritomb let out an angry shriek. If you want to fight, then fight properly. 'Why are you trying to pin me down…? And you're not even wearing clothes!'
'You… PERVERT!'
A dark purple Psychic burst out violently. Spiritomb flung Machoke sideways with pure psychic force, sending it crashing into a rock wall fifty meters away.
Another one-hit KO!
Veran stared blankly at his motionless Machoke, and the image of Spiritomb's ghost face flashed through his mind.
'Was it… the devil?'
"I'm not targeting anyone in particular. I mean all of you here… cough cough, there's still room for improvement~"
Mark was getting cocky and was about to go full dramatic!
…But then he caught a glimpse of Sato and the others' dangerous stares and instantly changed his tone.
On the other side, Veran silently returned Machoke to its Poké Ball and hid behind the other kids, not daring to step forward again.
The rest looked at each other in hesitation.
The enemy was much stronger than expected. And many of them noticed that Cynthia hadn't shown them any kindness from the beginning.
Were they in the wrong?
"I, challenge, YOU!"
True chūnibyō spirit: facing the harsh reality of defeat, embracing it head-on…
Anyway, another hard-headed kid stepped forward.
His legs were shaking, a few drops of sweat formed on his forehead, but he didn't hesitate to send out his Pokémon.
Empoleon: the Water-type Sinnoh starter. Water/Steel-type with excellent resistances and great Special Defense.
"COME ON, BODE! LET'S GO!"
"You can do it! BEAT THAT UGLY MONSTER!"
"…"
The kids were fired up again, roaring loudly thanks to Bode's "brave" stand; and no one was louder than Veran.
Mark clicked his tongue. Somehow, even though he'd been winning, he was starting to feel like the villain.
No time to think about that now, Bode was already commanding Empoleon into battle.
Starter Pokémon were starters for a reason. Spiritomb used brute force to clash with Empoleon's Hydro Pump, and after three rounds of back-and-forth, it finally defeated the "tough" opponent.
Then the kids got excited. Spiritomb wasn't invincible after all. Didn't Empoleon manage to hold out for four turns?
Round it up, and that basically meant they could win!
"I'm going first!"
"I'M NEXT! Nobody steal my spot!"
"Hmph! I've already figured out that ugly thing's weakness, so it's my turn…"
---
"Aniki, would you dare accept my challenge?" While everyone else was lining up to battle Mark, a clever one turned his gaze to Sato and Joseph.
"…What do you think?" Sato looked at Cynthia. He was really asking if she wanted him to help "teach" her younger "friends" a lesson.
"Please do… Let them understand there's always someone stronger out there," Cynthia said gratefully.
Celestic Town might be small, but it had a long-standing legacy of Pokémon training.
As a result, the kids here often had their noses in the air, thinking they were already top-tier just for stepping outside the town.
And as the "spiritual leader" of Celestic's younger generation, Cynthia was held in very high regard by these little brats.
It just so happened that Sato, Joseph, and Mark were all male, and that was more than enough to spark the kids' envy and resentment…
"Cacturne, time to have some fun."
"Gallade, it's going to be a gauntlet match, manage your stamina."
No further explanation needed. Sato and Joseph sent out their Pokémon and began their streak of low-difficulty battles.