Chapter 554: The Power of Waves
Might Guy looked at Lucario.
Given his personality, he would naturally agree. The best way to grow stronger was to familiarize oneself with new power through battle.
However, they were partners under contract, and Might Guy respected Lucario's choice.
"Luc!"
Lucario looked at Lycanroc with eyes full of fighting spirit.
Its narrow defeat back in its Riolu stage had always left it unwilling to accept the result. Now that it had evolved and grown stronger, it wanted to avenge that loss and bring victory to Might Guy.
Although Kakashi and the others could not understand the Pokémon's language, they understood that Lucario had accepted Kakashi's request for a battle.
"Go for it. Your body, honed day and night, will answer your call," Might Guy encouraged Lucario.
Might Guy was extremely satisfied with Lucario. Its diligent and unyielding spirit reminded him of his younger self.
"Lycanroc, you haven't forgotten how to fight an enemy whose abilities you don't know, have you?" Kakashi stroked Lycanroc's head and gave one final reminder.
Although Nin Beasts usually fought alongside their contractors, Kakashi had taught Lycanroc a great deal of combat knowledge in preparation for special situations.
"Awoo!"
Lycanroc let out a confident howl.
It had defeated Riolu before, and it could do the same again this time.
With Kakashi's careful guidance, there was no way it could lose.
After spending some time communicating with their respective contractors, Lycanroc and Lucario walked to an open area nearby and waited for the fight to begin.
"Shisui, who do you think will win?" Obito casually asked.
"It's hard to say," Shisui replied, shaking his head. "We know Lycanroc's strength, but Guy's Nin Beast just evolved."
Evolution was a massive variable.
Before Milotic had appeared, none of them would have imagined that Feebas, which once had no real combat ability, could evolve into a Milotic with elite jonin level strength, and a difficult one to deal with at that.
So even though Lycanroc had defeated Riolu before, and even though Lycanroc had evolved earlier, Shisui still could not say for certain that Lucario would lose.
No one knew what kind of improvements and new abilities Lucario had gained from evolution.
"I think Lycanroc will probably lose," Obito whispered.
"Because it headbutted you before?" Shisui asked.
Obito's judgment was obviously mixed with a great deal of personal emotion.
Obito stared at Shisui with wide eyes. They were from the same clan. Shouldn't they be joining forces against the evil white haired faction? Why was Shisui exposing him instead?
"Shisui, you've changed." Obito glared at Zorua.
It had to be that hateful fox's fault, leading his simple and honest nine year old clansman astray.
Zorua glared right back without hesitation. A mere Obito was nothing.
For a moment, one person and one fox engaged in a fierce staring contest with no clear winner.
"Judging from past performance, Lycanroc really does have a good chance of losing," Shisui said after thinking for a moment.
Although Lycanroc had beaten Riolu before, it had been a narrow victory. It was obvious that Lycanroc could not match Riolu head on and had only won through strategy and perseverance.
Now that Lucario had evolved and become stronger, if Lycanroc still could not confront it directly, then the battle would be very difficult.
"That's right, exactly. I'm just judging based on the previous fight," Obito quickly agreed the moment Shisui analyzed it that way.
"Battle start!" Seeing that both sides were ready, Kakashi, acting as the referee, gave the signal.
The other disciples and Pokémon watching nearby all focused their attention on the match.
The instant Kakashi finished speaking, Lycanroc immediately drove its claws into the ground and activated its Earth Release chakra nature transformation.
[Sand Attack!]
As Lycanroc swung its claws, a large amount of earth turned into sand and blasted toward Lucario.
The move had no killing power, but it was extremely practical. No matter how strong the body was, the eyes remained vulnerable.
Lucario, however, had already prepared for this. The moment Kakashi gave the signal, it had already condensed a large amount of chakra into its fists.
[Vacuum Wave!]
With a swing of Lucario's arm, a shockwave shot forward, dispersing the sand almost as soon as Lycanroc launched it, then continued charging at Lycanroc without losing momentum.
Last time, Lucario had suffered enough from Sand Attack, so this time it had come prepared.
Lycanroc had not expected Lucario's reaction to be so fast or so effective. Caught off guard, it was hit by the incoming Vacuum Wave and sent flying backward into a tree.
Lycanroc had indeed tested the enemy, but not in the way it had intended.
[Quick Attack!]
Enduring the pain, Lycanroc strengthened its body with chakra and shot forward at high speed, dodging the punch Lucario threw next.
Bang!
The large tree behind it exploded the moment Lucario's fist struck it.
"Such strong taijutsu ability," Kakashi muttered in surprise as he watched Lucario's power.
Kakashi was not too shocked that Lycanroc had fallen into a disadvantage so quickly.
This was the result of failing to adapt because of insufficient information. If Lycanroc had known about Vacuum Wave beforehand, it never would have started with Sand Attack.
[Rock Throw!]
Lycanroc rapidly condensed chakra and formed three large stones around itself.
If it had been facing a different opponent, Lycanroc would have used Shadow Clones to create confusion and look for an opening.
But Lucario possessed a sensory ability that Lycanroc did not know how to bypass, so now it could only compete with Lucario head on.
[Rock Smash!]
Lucario kept charging at Lycanroc without changing expression. Every time one of the stones dropped toward it, it shattered it with a punch.
[Rock Slide!]
After Lucario smashed through several stones in succession, Lycanroc spent a large amount of chakra to form a giant boulder, larger than all the previous ones combined, and brought it crashing down toward Lucario.
It had intentionally avoided using the stronger Rock Slide at first, hoping that the repeated Rock Throw attacks would lower Lucario's guard.
The giant boulder descended, but Lucario still showed no fear.
It poured all its strength into its right arm, then swung its fist upward with full force.
Rumble!!
The moment Lucario's fist connected with the boulder, cracks appeared across its surface and spread instantly.
In the next moment, the entire rock shattered, and Lucario remained standing amid the falling debris as calmly as ever.
"So strong," Rin said in astonishment.
Lucario's response had been impressive in every way. It perfectly displayed overwhelming power and steady composure, like a mountain standing firm even as the sky collapsed.
"How youthful!" Might Guy gave Lucario a thumbs up.
To the spectators, Lucario looked cool.
To Lycanroc, however, the feeling was far from pleasant.
Pressure. Lycanroc felt an enormous amount of pressure.
"I can't lose. The opponent only just evolved," Lycanroc told itself.
Even though it had fallen behind, it did not feel that victory was impossible, because during the battle it had discovered one area where Lucario was inferior to it.
Speed.
Lucario's speed was clearly below its own.
That meant Lycanroc still had many opportunities, and even if it made a mistake, it could still rely on its speed advantage to avoid Lucario's attacks.
[Rock Throw!]
Lycanroc once again condensed chakra to form stones.
Although Rock Throw was not even among the top five strongest offensive moves in its arsenal, it had two advantages: low chakra consumption and the ability to attack from a safe distance.
Lucario shattered the stones almost casually, then gathered Aura into its paws, forming a brilliant blue sphere.
Lycanroc sensed that something was wrong and continued using Rock Throw to interfere, but Lucario dodged.
[Aura Sphere!]
Once the Aura had been fully condensed, Lucario locked onto Lycanroc and hurled the Aura Sphere.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
Lycanroc slammed its claws into the ground, raising an earthen wall in front of itself.
Bang!
The Aura Sphere punched a deep depression into the wall, then continued surging toward Lycanroc.
Lycanroc reacted calmly and reinforced its body with chakra.
[Quick Attack!]
Its speed suddenly increased, and it flashed up onto the top of the Earth Flow Wall.
That was its battle plan: wear Lucario down from long range while using Earth Release for defense and its speed advantage to evade attacks.
But just as Lycanroc was about to launch another move, a sense of danger suddenly struck it.
Lycanroc turned its head and saw that the Aura Sphere, which should have slammed into the ground, had curved in midair and was flying toward it.
It wanted to dodge, but by the time it realized what had happened, the Aura Sphere was already too close, and Lucario was charging in as well.
Boom!
The Aura Sphere struck Lycanroc directly.
The tremendous force blasted Lycanroc unconscious on the spot, and its eyes turned into spirals.
"Lucario wins!" Seeing that Lycanroc had completely lost the ability to fight, Kakashi declared the outcome.
Kakashi found the result both surprising and understandable.
It was surprising because he had not expected Lycanroc to lose by such a wide margin once the battle began. Lycanroc had barely managed to deal any real damage at all.
It was understandable because Kakashi had watched the entire fight. The two decisive turning points had been Vacuum Wave and Aura Sphere, both of which came from Lycanroc making misjudgments because it lacked information, which ultimately led to its defeat.
"The fact that it could curve its attack that much means it can probably only be blocked with defensive ninjutsu or offset by an attack of your own," Kakashi thought.
The Aura Sphere Lucario had used to finish the match was no ordinary move. It was powerful and flexible, making it extremely dangerous.
"See? I told you it wouldn't work," Obito said, suppressing his surprise and acting as if he had seen through the whole thing from the start.
In truth, Obito had never expected this result.
Lycanroc had been the first Pokémon to hatch, and back when it was still a Rockruff, it had defeated Charmeleon before evolving. Obito had always thought it was very strong.
Still, since he had already said so and had happened to guess right, not showing off a little would have gone against reason itself.
"So strong. Doesn't that mean Guy is even harder to beat now?" Obito suddenly felt troubled.
When would it finally be his turn to sit on the throne of strongest disciple?
Before graduation, Shisui had always been recognized as the strongest disciple.
Later, Obito and the others had grown rapidly through battle and crisis, and only then had Shisui's era ended.
During that time, Might Guy had not yet become as dominant as he was now, and Kakashi had even briefly held the title of strongest disciple.
But once Might Guy mastered Rock Breathing Chakra Mode, he had completely pulled ahead of the others and monopolized the title of strongest disciple through overwhelming power.
The combination of the Eight Gates and Rock Breathing Chakra Mode was simply too strong. Even after beginning to learn Azure Flame, Obito still found it intimidating.
After all, he had Azure Flame, but Might Guy had Golden Skyline.
The more Obito thought about it, the more distant the title of strongest disciple seemed. It would take a huge amount of effort.
"Luo!"
Lucario pointed at Charizard, clearly indicating that it still wanted to continue fighting.
It had sensed Obito's desire to defeat Might Guy.
Since Might Guy was currently injured and unable to fight, Lucario intended to defeat Obito's Nin Beast in his place.
Besides, the previous fight had not consumed much of its stamina.
"Awoo?" Charizard scratched its neck and looked at Obito.
It had just been challenged out of nowhere. Did Obito have any idea why?
Charizard was not especially eager to fight Lucario. Lucario's performance just now had been too fierce.
Charizard did not want to lose to a Pokémon that had only just evolved, especially in front of Milotic. That would make it look weak.
"Charizard, just accept it. Think of the enemy as Obito and beat it up. You'll definitely win," Zorua urged from the side.
"You're the only one here who's evolved twice. What are you scared of?"
At those words, Charizard proudly puffed out its chest.
That was true. Its number of evolutions really did leave the others far behind.
"Awoo!"
Charizard accepted Lucario's challenge.
It thought Zorua was right. It had evolved twice. If it still feared Lucario, a Pokémon that had only evolved once and only recently at that, it would truly be too embarrassing.
As it responded, Charizard turned its head and glanced at Milotic.
Seeing a hint of curiosity in Milotic's eyes, Charizard's fighting spirit instantly flared up. If it performed well this time, Milotic might really start looking at it differently.
Obito: ...
His mood became extremely complicated.
On the one hand, he wanted Lucario to beat up the rebellious Charizard.
On the other hand, he absolutely did not want Charizard to lose.
After all, Charizard was his Nin Beast, something he had hatched and raised from the start. If it lost, that would also damage his pride.
Since Lucario had just fought one battle, Kakashi, in the name of fairness, let Lucario rest for a while first.
"I wonder if Charizard can do it. Lycanroc's loss was also partly because of type disadvantage. Charizard doesn't have that problem," Kakashi thought.
Mugetsu had once explained the type advantages among their Pokémon.
When the rest period ended, Lucario opened its eyes and calmly walked toward the battleground.
Charizard also stepped forward under the encouragement of the other Pokémon.
"Well done," Lycanroc encouraged after waking up.
"Keep your spirit up. Don't lose face," Zorua added as Charizard's best friend.
.....
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