Having obtained the number 18 card, Jack led Mew, who had transformed into Pikachu, to search for the owner of number 15.
Two minutes later, Jack found the owner of the number 15 card. It was a young woman, in the middle of a challenge. Her Grass-type Bayleef was battling a Fire-type Magmar. A few minutes later, the result was a defeat due to type disadvantage.
After transferring the three thousand dollars challenge fee to her opponent, she saw Jack and his Pikachu on his shoulder standing to the side.
"Are you challenging me?" the young woman asked, raising an eyebrow.
Jack nodded.
"Then let's begin," she gestured for Jack to go to the opposite side.
"Aren't you going to send your Bayleef to the Pokémon Center for treatment first?" Jack asked in surprise, as that Bayleef had been quite badly beaten by Magmar earlier. It certainly didn't look like it could fight again.
"Who said I only have one Pokémon?" she said with a smile, taking out a Poké Ball. "Come out, Breloom."
A red light flashed, and a Pokémon, shaped like a kangaroo with a mushroom-like head, appeared.
"Sorry, I also have a Grass-type Pokémon. It's not too late to go to the Pokémon Center after I win your money to make up for my recent loss," she said, looking very confident in her Breloom.
Jack shrugged. Since she was so confident, he could only apologize.
"Return, Pikachu."
Walking to the opposite side, Jack directly took out a Poké Ball and recalled the Pikachu on his shoulder. After muttering a few words, he pretended to take out a new Poké Ball from his backpack.
"Come out, Quilava."
The next second, a Quilava, whose waist and head could emit flames, appeared.
After it appeared, Jack said with an embarrassed tone, "Sorry, I also have a Fire-type Pokémon."
Hearing this, the young woman almost choked on her own breath. This was truly a case of picking up a brick and dropping it on her own foot. This guy actually had a Fire-type Pokémon. If she had known earlier, she would have gone straight to the Pokémon Center. Maybe this guy, finding it too long to wait, would have gone to challenge number 16.
But no matter how she thought about it, it was too late. With the idea of striking first, she quickly gave an order.
"Breloom, Stun Spore!"
Immediately, an exotic-smelling pollen emanated from Breloom's head and drifted towards Quilava.
"Quilava, Quick Attack to dodge, and emit smoke from your mouth."
A flash of fire passed, and Quilava vanished from its spot, reappearing on a boulder, emitting dark smoke that began to shroud the battle arena.
"Breloom, Iron Head to interrupt it."
Although she didn't know what Jack was trying to do, she knew that if she didn't do something, she would definitely be waiting for defeat.
Breloom, hearing its owner's command, stomped its foot, and the next second, as if stepping on a spring, lunged towards Quilava. Its mushroom head emitted a strong vortex under the powerful impact.
Jack said calmly, "Quilava, Quick Attack to dodge, don't stop the Smokescreen until the entire field is covered."
As he spoke, Quilava began to dodge all over the challenge arena. Breloom, on the other hand, pursued relentlessly.
About six seconds later, the entire battle arena was so shrouded in smoke that nothing could be seen. Quilava and Breloom waited inside for their respective owners' instructions.
But Breloom's owner was already bewildered because she couldn't see the situation inside at all, and she didn't know how to command Breloom for the rest of the battle.
Only Jack spoke calmly, "Quilava, execute Tactic No. 2."
"Tactic No. 2?" The young woman on the opposite side frowned slightly, her face full of unease.
Not long after, she heard Breloom's pained cries from within the smokescreen. She was immediately anxious but helpless. She could only stand outside and wait.
As Breloom's cries grew louder and louder, the young woman couldn't take it anymore and finally shouted her surrender.
Jack immediately shouted into the smokescreen, "Quilava, that's enough."
As his voice fell, there were no more pained cries from Breloom inside.
After about ten seconds, the smoke cleared. A scene that left the young woman stunned appeared.
Breloom was completely unharmed, merely standing in place, flustered. Quilava, on the other hand, was lying on the ground, yawning.
"Wh-what's going on?" the young woman asked in shock.
Jack smiled and didn't rush to answer. Instead, he first used a Poké Ball to recall Quilava before speaking, "It's simple. All those cries just now were from Quilava. My Quilava is quite talented with languages; it can mimic the cries of many Pokémon. All those pained cries just now were made by it."
"This..." The young woman was speechless. There's such a trick?
She found it somewhat unacceptable. It meant Breloom had been perfectly fine, and all her worry had been for nothing.
A few seconds later, the young woman, getting angrier the more she thought about it, said indignantly, "You just wait! I'll definitely get my revenge for this."
After saying that, she took out the number 15 card, exchanged it with Jack, and then stormed off in a huff.
This feeling of being played made her feel like it would have been better to just be thoroughly beaten. Anyway, she was going to the Pokémon Center later.
Looking at the young woman's angry retreating figure, Jack expressed his incomprehension. Wasn't it good that the Pokémon was safe and sound? Did she have to be thoroughly beaten to be satisfied?
A woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea!
Jack sighed, picked up the token, and began searching for the owner of the number 12 card.
However, his previous answer was a lie. How could Mew have cross-species language talent? The real situation was that Mew was told to use its Transform ability in the smoke to change from Quilava into Breloom's appearance and then emit pained cries until the opponent's owner couldn't take it anymore and surrendered.
This was the so-called Tactic No. 2, one of the tactics he had devised. It was also Mew's favorite tactic because this way, it wouldn't cause harm to other Pokémon. Jack searched for the owner of the number 12 card for ten minutes, finally finding them by asking an owner of a card who had just dropped from 12 to 14.
That challenger with the number 12 card was a bit clever; as long as he knew the opponent's Pokémon had a type advantage over his, he would challenge someone else, only seeking out those he had a type advantage against.
When Jack found him, he was challenging number 11 because the owners of number 10 and 9 cards primarily used Water-types, and he was Fire-type, so he didn't dare to fight them.
Thus, while the number 12 challenger was still dueling, Jack could only stand by and wait.
After waiting for two minutes, he didn't get number 12, but instead, a challenge for number 17 came. Since the owners of number 14 and 16 cards had gone to the Pokémon Center, he could only challenge Jack.
Jack accepted. After all, being challenged meant earning money.
Two minutes later, the two found a battle arena. The young man with the number 17 card eagerly took out a Poké Ball.
"Come out, Croconaw."
Jack looked at the Croconaw opposite him, then glanced at the number 12 challenge arena not far away. He found that the battle there still seemed to be in a stalemate, and even with a type advantage, it wouldn't be resolved anytime soon, so he decided to have some fun.
Picking up a Poké Ball and muttering a few words, he said, "Quilava, come out."
The red light of the Poké Ball appeared, and he once again had Mew appear in the form of Quilava.
The young man opposite, seeing that Jack also sent out a Quilava, excitedly said "YES," then provocatively beckoned to Jack.
"Come, baby!"
Jack looked at his confident expression and couldn't help but show a playful smirk, saying, "Quilava, Smokescreen! Follow up with Tactic No. 2."
He planned to replicate the winning strategy from the previous match, to play a trick on this young man and see his reaction when he eventually learned the truth.
After about ten seconds, when the smoke covered the entire challenge arena, the young man opposite first confidently mocked Jack a few times, stating that even in a situation where neither could see, his Croconaw, even if it charged recklessly inside, would still be able to brutalize Jack's Quilava due to type advantage.
Jack just smiled and said nothing. Because the next second, the black smoke began to emit Croconaw's agonizing cries. Jack then circled around and came to the young man's side, beginning to enjoy his caught-off-guard, panicked expression.
"Th-this, how is this possible!" The young man was full of disbelief, unable to understand why it was Croconaw's pained cries coming from inside and not Quilava's.
A few seconds later, he began to frantically give orders.
"Croconaw, use Water Gun! Whichever direction you're hit from, spit there."
There was no movement in the smoke, only Croconaw's pained cries could still be heard, and they were getting more and more agonizing.
Jack saw that it was time to speak and said, "Little brother, are you going to surrender and transfer the money quickly, or wait until it can't make a sound at all before transferring?"
The young man gritted his teeth and hesitated until the cries of Croconaw inside truly began to grow softer and softer, and he finally couldn't take it anymore.
"I surrender," the young man said unwillingly, picking up his phone and transferring three thousand dollars to Jack.
Tens of seconds later, the smoke dispersed. The young man, seeing the unharmed Croconaw and Quilava, was also stunned, just like the young woman before him.
"Th-th-this... what's going on?" The young man was so shocked he stammered.
Jack took out a Poké Ball, recalled Mew, and repeated the explanation he had given to the previous young woman.
"The pained cries just now were made by Quilava. My Quilava is quite talented with languages; it can mimic the cries of many Pokémon. It was just lying on the ground mimicking Croconaw's pained cries and didn't attack it. That's why when you ordered Croconaw to attack the Quilava that was harming it, it remained motionless, not knowing where to strike."
The young man took a deep breath after hearing this, then, suppressing his raging anger, said, "You just wait! I'll never fall for your trick again. After I complete one challenge, I'll challenge you again. Don't worry, next time my Croconaw will definitely make your Quilava cry even more terribly than it did just now."
Jack shrugged, said nothing, and turned to leave with a calm demeanor. If he could fight him again, he wouldn't let Mew transform into Quilava, but directly into a Grass-type Pokémon that would have an advantage over Croconaw.
At this moment, Mew's voice echoed in Jack's mind.
"Master, let's use Tactic No. 2 again next time, it's fun."
Jack smiled, picked up a Poké Ball, and whispered, "Then let's just keep using Tactic No. 2 from now on, until someone doesn't fall for it."
"Okay," Mew replied joyfully.
Returning to the number 12 challenge arena, just then, the battle between those two had also just ended. The Trainer with the number 12 card had defeated the Trainer with number 11, and their number cards were exchanged.
This meant that Jack's opponent had become the Trainer who had dropped from number 11.
"What kind of Pokémon do you have?" This Trainer, hearing that Jack wanted to challenge him, didn't rush to accept but instead asked tentatively.
Jack, hearing this, raised an eyebrow, picked up a Poké Ball, muttered a few words, and then said, "Come out, Magikarp."
A red light flashed, and a red carp with a golden crown on its head appeared.
The Trainer, seeing it was a Magikarp, immediately excitedly accepted the challenge, ran to the opposite side, and without a word, took out a Poké Ball and released his Pokémon.
"Come out, Ariados."
A red light flashed, and a red poisonous spider appeared. But the next second, this Trainer froze.
Because the Magikarp on the other side was gone, and instead, Quilava stood there.
"Where's your Magikarp?" the Trainer frowned.
"Magikarp, of course, was recalled. I only brought out Magikarp to show that I have one, but I didn't say I'd use it. I'm not stupid," Jack said playfully.
"You sly one, still trying to play tricks on him. If he had directly brought out Quilava, this person in front of him would probably have run away using the excuse of going to the Pokémon Center. Why would he be so eager to fight him now?"
"You!"
The Trainer was speechless. Finally, unable to find a rebuttal, he could only accept his fate and battle Jack.
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