Chapter 641 - Complete defeat

This is the real first official battle after Floette joined Aoki's team.

After more than a month of training, she is no stranger to fighting.

Because there are often internal battles within the team, especially the daily battles against Flygon, she does not falter.

Immediately after appearing on the field, Floette automatically used Camouflage to change her own attributes to Grass-type.

During this time, Floette has officially reached level 40 and has gained strong control over her two newly learned moves, Petal Blizzard and Aromatherapy.

Once Floette mastered the ability to shift her attributes to Grass-type at will, Aoki focused on training her specialized Grass-type moves.

Now, it's not unreasonable to consider Floette a fully capable Grass-type Pokémon.

"Floette..."

Hearing Aoki's explanation, Steven and Roxanne couldn't help but murmur the name.

They were aware of the Kalos region, a newly discovered territory by the League, but their knowledge of its Pokémon was limited.

Even Steven, who reviews countless documents daily, hadn't studied these newly discovered Pokémon in depth.

Only Cynthia, upon seeing Floette, recognized her immediately. Given her extensive travels, she was more familiar with rare Pokémon.

With Floette's Grass-type transformation, her ability Flower Veil activated, preventing stat reductions for allied Grass-types and shielding them from status conditions.

This made Floette completely immune to all debuffing moves in her current form—her strongest state yet.

Roxanne was at a loss on how to counter an unfamiliar Pokémon.

From Floette's appearance, she appeared to be a Grass-type, which posed a major problem for Kabutops. As a Rock- and Water-type, Kabutops suffered quadruple weakness to Grass-type moves.

After twenty minutes, the battle concluded with Floette standing victorious on the field.

Roxanne's defeat stemmed from three key factors:

First and most crucially, her lack of knowledge about Floette left her without a strategic foundation, stripping her of the academic Trainer's greatest advantage.

Second, Floette's Grass-type transformation granted her quadruple effectiveness against Kabutops, while Water-type moves only dealt half damage.

Third, Floette's Synthesis and Aromatherapy made her incredibly resilient. Unless Kabutops could land a one-hit knockout, Floette consistently recovered her strength while expertly utilizing support moves to control the battle.

The prolonged fight resulted from Kabutops being gradually worn down until he could no longer fight.

Under the relentless pressure of Grass-type moves, both Kabutops and Roxanne found themselves struggling to counter Aoki's tactics.

Even Steven, acting as referee, shuddered at Aoki's strategy—it was outright oppressive.

This victory was a testament to Aoki's tactical mastery.

Though Roxanne adapted as the battle progressed, she couldn't break Aoki's control.

She became the third Trainer to feel utterly outmaneuvered by Aoki.

The first was Steven, the second Cynthia, and now Roxanne—though unlike the first two, she lost outright.

Her mental exhaustion was palpable.

But the true sufferer was Kabutops.

Collapsed on the ground, he looked utterly defeated.

Aoki might have overdone it. After the battle, Floette used Grassy Terrain to heal Kabutops, who nearly cried in relief.

It had been too much.

Roxanne recalled Kabutops once he recovered.

She couldn't deny the gap between herself and Aoki—not just in Pokémon strength, but in tactical skill.

Had Aoki used Telepathy, the battle would have been even more one-sided.

Storing Kabutops' Poké Ball, Roxanne took a deep breath.

Despite the frustration, she had learned much from this battle.

Victory or defeat no longer mattered—she had already gained invaluable experience.

Her final Pokémon was Rhyperior!

Still light blue in aptitude and at level 43, its Rock- and Ground-typing made it quadruply weak to Water and Grass.

Had Aoki continued using Slowking or Floette, victory would have been effortless.

But his third choice was Drapion!

Drapion, long absent from battle, emerged with a dominating presence.

"Screeech!"

Facing the far larger Drapion, Rhyperior felt the same despair Kabutops had.

This was impossible.

Drapion didn't rely on ranged attacks like Slowking or stall tactics like Floette.

With sheer brute strength, he lifted Rhyperior off the ground.

Roxanne stared in disbelief.

She knew about Drapion—its type shift upon evolution was a key topic in Pokémon academia.

But she had never seen one so massive.

The average Drapion stood just over a meter tall. Aoki's?

A towering 2.5 meters, with overwhelming physical power. Lifting a rocky Rhyperior like it was nothing defied belief.

At that moment, Roxanne accepted total defeat.

Aoki's three Pokémon had effortlessly overpowered hers.

Though her team was skilled, the gap in Trainer ability was undeniable.

The loss, however, taught her more than any lecture could.

It gave her clarity on applying academic knowledge to real battles.

In gratitude, Roxanne presented Aoki with the Stone Badge.