"Haunter, Shadow Ball!"

  "Kehehehehe~"

  Haunter grinned as it unched a detly powered Shadow Ball at its oppo, who was already suffering from both paralysis and poison. The attaded ly, knog out the opposing Pokémon with ease.

  "Graveler, you did well!" The ohusiastic young trainer now looked utterly dejected as he retrieved his fainted Graveler into its Poké Ball.

  Sato g his watch—twenty minutes until lunchtime. Seeing Haunter's eager expression, he quickly made a decision.

  "Anyone else?"

  "Damn it! I'll take you on! I refuse to believe that there's no one in all of New Bark Town who beat you!"

  One of the boy's friends stepped forward, burning with determination.

  Ten mier, a rather strong Gligar y ft on its back, to, pletely defeated.

  Its trainer, now just as crushed as his friend, recalled it silently before both boys walked away, disappointed.

  "Kehehehehe!" Haunter gleefully twirled in front of Sato, making all sorts of ghostly gestures. For a Pokémon with ambition, winning secutive battles was definitely worth celebrating.

  "Not bad." Sato tried praising his Pokémon like an ordinary trainer would.

  It didn't feel too bad.

  After lunch, Sato took his three Pokémon to the forest behind the Pokémoer, settling uhe shade of a rge tree. Zorua's eyes lit up and it immediately burrowed into Sato's p.

  Haunter, however, suddenly materialized nearby.

  "Kehehe~ Kehehehe!"

  Whatever it said clearly irritated Zorua, as the little fox chased after it furiously, blue eyes burning with frustration.

  Haunter didn't even bother to phase out, instead cirg around the tree and Sato repeatedly, with Zorua howling in rage behind it.

  Every now and then, Haunter would deliberately ge dire, leading Zorua straight toward the most posed Pokémon in the group—Larvitar.

  Once or twice, it was no big deal…

  "Larvi!!"

  But after Zorua jumped over it for the third time, the supposedly calm and quiet Larvitar finally snapped!

  "I am a future pseudo-legendary! Have some respect!"

  "Zor!"

  Zorua transformed into a Larvitar, its eyes sparkling with excitement, as it ihe real Larvitar to team up against Haunter.

  "Lar…"

  Larvitar genuinely sidered the proposal, its bright eyes gng toward Haunter.

  "Kehehe! Kehehe!"

  Haunter dramatically begged for mercy, putting on its most pitiful expression before quickly floating over to Larvitar with a submissive look.

  And then…

  "Sllllluuurp!"

  "LARVI!!"

  Larvitar shuddered violently as Haunter licked half its body in one disgusting, wet motion. For a moment, Larvitar experienced pure rage, like a deity about to asd in fury.

  "So you think you just bully the quiet one, huh?!"

  Larvitar kicked off the ground, its fangs glowing with dark energy, and cmped down oill-smirking Haunter!

  "Kehehe—?! KEHEHEHEHE!!"

  Haunter had been ughing at Larvitar's disfort—until it realized too te that it had uimated the sequences of provoking the quiet type.

  Ghost-type Pokémon had one major fw—against Dark-type moves, their bodies would be forced into a solid state, leaving them pletely defenseless.

  Meanwhile, Larvitar was used to mung on solid rocks like they were dy. Its jaw strength was no joke—Haunter howled in pain, filing in the air.

  Sato leaned back against the tree, watg his three Pokémon pyfully roughhouse. He could tell that Larvitar wasn't using its full strength—otherwise, it could have easily taken an actual bite out of Haunter.

  Ghost-type bodies were ily ethereal, meaning that even if a piece of them was torn away, they wouldn't die.

  However, regeing lost mass took a long time, and a missing limb could severely impact their energy stability, making them unusable in battle—one of the reasons why Ghost-types teo be fragile in fights.

  Sato let out a deep sigh.

  "Even when my Pokémon are just messing around, my mind immediately jumps to missing limbs and battle injuries. Clearly, I still haven't adjusted my thinki."

  In official Pokémon battles, the League had strict rules—severe injuries or perma damage were not allowed.

  If a Pokémon suffered from paralysis, burns, poison, or any other status dition, and standard healing treatments didn't work due to their unique physiology, their trainer was required to provide a valid recovery method.

  For example, trainers who specialized in Poison-types often had teams with various venoms, including pnt toxins, snake venom, or i poisons.

  During battles, their oppos frequently ended up with multiple yers of poison or severe status ditions, making their treatment far more plicated.

  This type of trainer would usually report all their officially used toxins to the Pokémoer, where Nurse Joy would prepare antidotes specifically for their Pokémon.

  Of course, if someoo use toxins i, or poison their oppo in an underground battle arena, no one would step forward to enforce justice.

  Looking at it from anle, if Sato wao tinue walking the city streets, then he had to adapt to formal battle formats.

  That was why he chose to stay in New Bark Town and battle against the likes of Youngsters and Backpackers. He wao gradually adjust both himself and his Pokémon to this style of fighting.

  If he spent all his time battling wild Pokémon in dangerous terrains, he would eventually lose trol and step into the fight himself.

  With Dark Energy, he wasn't just some helpless trainer who could only give orders from the back.

  "Larvitar, let go now. If you keep biting Haunter, it's really going to cry."

  "Lar..."

  Larvitar obediently released its grip. Sio was someone who helped it grow stronger, it listeo him without hesitation.

  However, the moment Larvitar realized what it had just do suddenly felt like all the posure it had worked so hard to maintaihe past few days had pletely colpsed.

  "Lar…"

  It couldn't help but let out a sigh.

  "A pseudo-legendary… without any dignity left…"

  "Kehehe~"

  Haunter floated over to Sato, looking pitiful as it raised one ghostly hand, pointing directly at the bite mark Larvitar had left on its head, pining like the true victim.

  "Hmm… but your eyes are below . How did you evehe bite mark on your own head?"

  Sato asked his genuine question with a pletely straight faly to watch as Haunter froze in shock, pletely petrified.

  Off to the side, Zorua burst into ughter, rolling onto its back, clutg its stomach, its little face sched up in amusement.

  Larvitar squis eyes, watg Haunter's dumbfounded expression. It wao ugh as well, but tried desperately to hold it in, its rocky face turning bright red from the effort.

  Sato smirked.

  This kind of moment never existed in his past life.

  The stant pressure of living on the edge of a bde meant that he and his Pokémon never had the time to stop and rex.

  "Let's go. We'll battle a few more times this afternoon. Especially you, Haunter—your level has increased too fast, and you haven't caught up on your basic training. You 't even use your full strength properly."

  The chaos ended with Sato's final decision, leaving Haunter dejectedly trailing behind.

  Zorua cheerfully stuck its to at Hauhen quickly climbed onto Sato's shoulder, affeately nuzzling against him.

  Meanwhile, Larvitar was deeply disappointed in itself.

  It felt unworthy of its pseudo-legendary title, realizing the huge gap between itself and its father's imposing presence.

  "Lar!"

  Determined, Larvitar raised its arms, giving itself a small pep talk.