Hearing the news that Giovanni was coming, Axel's scalp went numb.
As the boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni's strength could be said to have always been a mystery.
In the anime plot, he pulled out Mewtwo at the Viridian Gym, easily defeating Gary, who had trained for an entire "season."
In the special manga, with just a Beedrill, he even faintly suppressed Lance the Dragon Master.
Who was Lance the Dragon Master?
Even though players joked and called him Doduo, he was still a genuine champion-level force.
Although Axel's development speed was very fast, from obtaining Pokémon until now, it had only been a little more than half a month in total.
Even with a level 70 Mewtwo in hand, it would still be very hard to beat the current Giovanni.
'Emmm...'
'It's not that the skill level is lacking, it's just that Mewtwo's current moves aren't very easy to use.'
After a brief thought, Axel decisively withdrew Duraludon and Pheromosa, and retrieved the Toxic Orb from Murkrow.
Hurriedly pulling Gardevoir and Mewtwo, he appeared on the deck of the S.S. Anne.
["Master...this is...what are you doing?"]
"Taking Mewtwo and you guys to run away."
Speaking of running away, Axel had no psychological burden at all.
That was one of the big bosses of the Pokémon villain world; what's wrong with a little shrimp like him who's had Pokémon for less than a month running away?
Mewtwo, Gardevoir: "..."
Family members, who understands this? They even thought there would be a big battle.
However, Axel hadn't packed up for long when, just as he was asking Mewtwo whether to follow him to Aurient temporarily or go to Unova, a whistling sound suddenly appeared above the S.S. Anne.
A huge Flygon streaked across the sky and steadily landed on the deck of the S.S. Anne.
'Raihan!'
The moment he saw who it was, a glint of excitement flashed in Axel's eyes.
So many days had passed with no news that Axel thought Raihan hadn't seen Duraludon's battle footage.
Unexpectedly, Raihan still came, and came at just the right time.
In Axel's mind, at the current point in time, there were very few people who could contend with Giovanni, and Raihan just happened to be one of them.
Even if he couldn't win, he wouldn't be beaten too miserably.
"Gardevoir, stop packing up, we're not running anymore."
"Mewtwo, you hide for now, your level isn't high yet. If someone sees you, it's very likely you'll be hunted down by Team Rocket."
Mewtwo nodded and instantly leapt into the sea, completely concealing its aura.
"Gard?"
Gardevoir blinked, not understanding why Axel changed so fast.
But when her gaze likewise fell on Raihan, Gardevoir immediately understood.
She remembered this person.
During the previous Rainbow Rocket invasion, while other regions were mostly trying to protect themselves, only a few freaks in Galar weren't panicked at all, forcing Rainbow Rocket not to dare step into Galar.
This person called Raihan was one of them.
If not for the territorial restrictions of Dynamax, they might have even chased Rainbow Rocket around and beaten them...
"Hey!", Raihan showed his signature smile, his gaze falling on Axel who was looking at him the same way, and flamboyantly flicked the cape behind him.
Flygon: "..."
'Tch!'
'If I had known you would pull such a stunt, I would've let you ride Duraludon here instead.'
"Raihan Gym Leader, why have you come?"
"Hahaha!", Raihan laughed, striding towards Axel and getting straight to the point.
"This time I mainly came to take a look at your Duraludon."
"A few days ago, I already saw the little guy's appearance, and back then I even replied to your post on the forum."
"Huh?", Axel was slightly stunned, suddenly feeling that the world was really small.
He didn't expect that just casually posting something on the forum would get seen by the world's number one Duraludon trainer.
But thinking about Raihan's surfing-loving personality, it wasn't that strange.
Seeing Axel's expression, Raihan chuckled mischievously, feeling secretly smug.
'As expected, among all the Duraludon trainers, I am a very special existence.'
Thinking about the scene of this nurturing master Axel being conquered by him and helping him train Duraludons in the future, Raihan couldn't help but laugh while scratching his head, completely immersed in the fantasy of crushing Leon.
Axel waved his hand in front of Raihan, breaking his daydream.
"Raihan-senpai, you are?"
"Oh, I just thought of some happy things."
Raihan instantly switched back to a serious mode.
"How about letting your Duraludon out for a look?"
"This time I'm acting as the examiner for your Aurient Central Region, and I'm very interested in the potential it has shown."
"If properly nurtured, it might even become the number one Duraludon in Aurient."
Raihan skillfully tossed out a big pie (grand promise). On his way here, he had already figured it out: if he wanted Axel to help him train Duraludon in the future, then appropriate investment was indispensable.
And coincidentally, he had recently found an opportunity with relatively frequent chances, where he could take Axel along.
Axel took out Duraludon's Poké Ball, and with a flash of white light, Duraludon's body appeared instantly.
During this period of nurturing and battles, Duraludon had already reached around level 20, and during the recent level-up, it even simultaneously comprehended two moves.
The Steel-type move Metal Sound, and the Dragon-type move Breaking Swipe.
Metal Sound was a debuff move, capable of greatly lowering the opponent's special defense.
Breaking Swipe, on the other hand, was a Dragon-type move that dealt damage by fiercely sweeping with the tail, and could lower the opponent's attack.
Axel's gaze fell behind the little guy.
'Just didn't know, with such a short tail, how exactly it used that move...'
Raihan took out a Rotom Phone and scanned Duraludon.
Then he couldn't help but exclaim.
"Level twenty, your Duraludon is already level twenty?"
"How did you raise it?"
The current little Duraludon's hatching time was still short.
Since it hadn't experienced bodily changes like evolution, its body still maintained a size of just a few dozen centimeters. (No change in the Secret Realm)
According to Raihan's understanding of Duraludons, even if Axel's Duraludon was naturally small in size, it had probably been born for no more than two months.
His gaze towards Axel immediately changed.
'Level twenty in two months, are you sure this is a Dragon-type Pokémon?'
'Even Bug-types aren't this fast!'
Axel blinked; of course he couldn't say that both he and Duraludon had growth-type traits.
"He just really likes eating the food I make. He leveled up just by eating and eating."
Raihan's eyes instantly became fervent.
He had heard before that some people could make Pokémon level up quickly with food, and he had also seen a few food-specialized breeders.
Without exception, none of their results were this exaggerated.
After all, this was a strong Dragon-type, whose natural leveling speed was the slowest among all types.
Judging from Axel and Duraludon's performance, one of them definitely had an extraordinary talent.
Raihan became more and more interested in Axel.
"In a while, I'm going to Blueberry Academy to find an opportunity for Duraludon to evolve. Are you interested in coming along?"
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