Chapter 325: Elder Venom vs. Li Songnian
When Kenji returned to the waiting area, he found Elder Venom still seated on the sofa.
However, the box of fried chicken had vanished without a trace, likely tossed into a nearby trash can while he was walking down the tunnel.
"You took your sweet time," Grandma Liu "complained" casually. "I was going to save you two pieces, but they're long gone now."
Kenji smiled to himself. He knew that even if he had ended the match in five seconds, he wouldn't have seen a single crumb of that chicken. Grandma Liu might be nearly two hundred years old, but her personality was increasingly childlike.
Maybe this is what they call 'returning to one's true nature,' Kenji thought as he sat back down beside her.
Grandma Liu showed zero interest in the matches on the screen. To a woman who had been a regional Elite Four member a century ago and had witnessed countless wars and high-stakes duels, these "elite" matches were probably as exciting as watching two Magikarp splash at each other.
After a few more rounds, the name Elder Venom finally flickered onto the jumbotron.
Elder Venom vs. Li Songnian!!
Kenji felt a jolt of surprise.
He remembered that name clearly. Li Songnian was the trainer ranked #3 on the Championship Candidate list.
Li was a veteran in his seventies and a high-level psychic practitioner. His Ace was a legendary Alakazam. To be ranked third in a sea of Huaxia's best meant his power was undisputed.
Kenji instinctively turned his head toward the corner of the lounge.
There sat a tall, thin man with a long, white goatee. He was seated in a meditative posture, eyes closed, radiating a sense of profound calm. He wore deep brown robes, a string of heavy beads around his neck, and gripped a single, perfectly bent silver spoon.
This was Li Songnian.
Kenji looked at the old psychic with a gaze tinged with genuine pity.
Of all the people to draw in the third round... he had to get Grandma Liu.
It was a tragedy. Li Songnian was a man who realistically could have made the Top 6, yet his journey was likely ending right here.
Li Songnian opened his eyes and glanced toward Kenji's corner.
After a brief, silent exchange of looks, both sides looked away. Grandma Liu hadn't even deigned to look at him once.
A moment later, Li Songnian stood up and began the long walk to the arena. Grandma Liu rose as well, leaning on her cane as she swaggered out of the waiting room with a deceptive air of frailty.
...
In the center of the arena, the two elders faced off.
Grandma Liu stood hunched, her weight supported by her cane, her face hidden behind the demonic Arbok mask.
Opposite her, Li Songnian stood straight as a spear despite his age. He studied the masked woman, his brow furrowing into a deep scowl.
As a master psychic, Li could usually read a person with a single glance—their past, their temperament, the weight of their soul. But looking at the woman in the mask, he felt nothing but a vast, chilling desolation.
It was like staring into a bottomless, ancient wasteland.
This sudden loss of sensory control made him deeply uneasy.
"Battle... Begin!!! —"
At the referee's signal, both trainers threw their Poké Balls.
"Go!! Claydol!!!"
"Rise, Drapion!"
Two beams of red light hit the floor.
Li Songnian, being a psychic master, naturally specialized in Psychic-types. His first partner was the super-ancient, man-made Pokémon: Claydol.
Claydol, evolved from Baltoy. It was a species that predated most modern civilizations, often found in large numbers within the ruins of the most ancient empires. Kenji often marveled at this world's history—how prehistoric civilizations had possessed such sophisticated "artificial" Pokémon technology.
Unlike Kenji's past world, where technology progressed in a steady line from primitive to modern, this world was a graveyard of advanced civilizations that had risen to heights far beyond the current era before mysteriously collapsing into dust.
[Claydol]
Gender: None
Level: 93 (Champion)
Type: Ground / Psychic
Ability: Levitate (Immune to Ground-type moves.)
Potential: A
Claydol hovered in mid-air, its black, saucer-shaped body decorated with a ring of unblinking pink eyes and mysterious ancient sigils.
On the other side, Grandma Liu's partner appeared.
[Drapion]
Gender: Female
Level: 98 (Champion)
Type: Poison / Dark
Ability: Sniper (Critical hits deal more damage.)
Potential: S-
Grandma Liu specialized in Poison, while Li Songnian was a Psychic master. Logically, Li held the type advantage.
However, there were exceptions to every rule. Drapion was that exception.
Thanks to its secondary Dark typing, it was completely immune to the Psychic-type moves that were the bread and butter of Li's team.
Drapion, the Ogre Scorpion Pokémon. Its body was encased in a suit of interlocking, violet-black armor as hard as diamond. Its head could rotate a full 180 degrees, and its massive tail claw was notorious for its lethal precision.
In the wild, Drapion were apex predators of the desert, famous for their cruelty and their habit of hunting both humans and Pokémon alike. They were feared as the "Demons of the Sand."
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