Pokémon Detective: Cynthia Forces Me to Adopt a Pokémon

Chapter 238 The Wildfire - Hugo's Real Plan

Turtwig and Chimchar, two starter Pokémon from the Sinnoh region, are standing adorably in the battle arena of the Tower of Paradise.

The former energetically swayed its tender shoots, its forelegs digging at the hard paving stones beneath its feet, looking eager to try. The latter, on the other hand, looked around curiously, and upon seeing the flames burning on the fire moth, revealed an expression of both envy and longing.

Unlike Axew, which Iris trained using special methods, these two little guys show absolutely no signs of impending evolution, whether in terms of size, aura, or the details of their behavior. They are truly two innocent beginner Pokémon, as pure as blank sheets of paper.

Can they really withstand even a single move from the champion Pokémon of Alder?

If Hugo were carrying only borrowed champion mainstays like Garchomp, that would be one thing. But with the team he's currently facing, even if he had a hundred chances to reload and start over, there's absolutely no way he could pull off the miracle of defeating the Alder Champion with four against six.

There may be instances of the weak defeating the strong, but quantitative changes can lead to qualitative changes.

When the gap between us and the enemy has reached such a point that even if the most novice trainer faces the most powerful champion player, the scales of victory will never tip in favor of the former, no matter how many unforeseen events occur that favor the former.

Even if Victini were present, it wouldn't be possible. If Victory Star did everything he could to help Hugo, Victini would definitely pass out before the detective wins the match.

This is a gap of despair that transcends even myths and legends.

Are you hoping I'll expose my weaknesses out of sympathy?

After eliminating all possibilities, what remains is the truth—that's all Adek could think of his young, black-clad opponent at this point.

However, the other party's next move still took him by surprise.

"Grasshopper, 'Quicksand Hell'. Chimchar, 'Digging'."

As soon as Hugo gave the command, the two small and adorable elves immediately began to use their respective skills on the spot.

For some reason, these two Pokémon seemed a bit clumsy when using their moves, as if it were the first time they had successfully used such moves.

Could the other party really be so reckless as to bring a Pokémon they just adopted to challenge the Champion? Isn't that practically abusing a Pokémon?

Out of sheer shock, Champion Aldace didn't immediately order Double Ice and Volcarona to interrupt his opponent's attack.

In this sense, Hugo's sympathy tactic did work—no matter how hard Alder was to fight, when he faced two beginner Pokémon, what could he possibly do to seriously compete with such young Pokémon?

Despite their initial awkwardness, the two Pokémon actually didn't take long to execute their moves; it was just that the Champion and Elite Four members saw numerous openings in their attacks.

In fact, they completed the release of their moves almost seconds after Hugo gave the command.

Since Victini became a witness to this match, the Victory Star has been shining above the heads of the two challengers, providing a uniform boost to all Pokémon that appear in the Tower of Paradise.

This enhancement might seem insignificant to Garchomp and Volcarona, but it's quite effective on Turtwig and Chimchar. It can even help them push their limits and accomplish things that were previously impossible.

The grass turtle successfully used "Quicksand Hell," softening the half-tile in front of it into soft sand. The sand grains slowly swirled under the pull of the ground-attribute energy, as if they could pull everything standing on them into a bottomless abyss.

Meanwhile, the little Chimchar finished condensing the energy of its move on its claws. After the pre-animation of "Dig" was complete, the little guy with flames burning behind it struck a diving pose and leaped into the "quicksand tiles" created by Turtwig.

Huh?

Aldak realized something was wrong at that moment, but it was too late.

Leaping into the soft sand, the Chimchar uses the "Dig" move, its arms swinging wildly, sending dirt flying all around, instantly carving a hole large enough for it to pass through in the quicksand.

Furthermore, unlike the normal "Dig" move, Chimchar doesn't move sideways to the opponent's feet after burrowing into the ground; instead, it continues to dig deeper...

—Until the boundary between the top floor and the floors below of the Tower of Heaven is completely dug through.

The Tower of Paradise has withstood the test of time for over a hundred years. Even after being bombarded by the legendary Pokémon Landorus and the aftershocks of the Elite Four's battle with the Champion, it still maintains its stability perfectly—it shouldn't have been so easily destroyed by the starter Pokémon.

However, perhaps the repeated battles during the day thinned the floor of the Tower of Heaven, or perhaps Garchomp did something wrong with its "Stomp" move upon entering the battle, or perhaps it was a combination of both...

In short, the two Pokémon's weak moves combined to break through the sturdy and thick partition between the floors.

The little fire monkey poked its paw out of the hole and dragged the grass turtle into the dark hole as well.

Seeing this, among everyone present, only Adek realized Hugo's intention—

"Vulcan Moth, use 'Silk Shot' to block the stairwell on the other side! Double Ice, use 'Ice Wind'!"

The detective in black was retreating silently, his black trench coat making him appear barely noticeable in the night.

Under the cover of the elves in front, Hugo had already quietly retreated to the edge of the floor—only a few meters away from the exit passage.

Seeing that the other party had discovered his plan, the detective simply stopped hiding it and immediately turned around and ran, taking long strides toward the stairwell.

Fueled by the wind, the silk threads emitted by the Volcano moth became even more powerful under the influence of the "freezing wind." In a flash, just as it was about to overtake the fleeing detective, it blocked the only passage connecting the upper and lower stairs.

The silk threads combined with the ice seal. One can imagine that if the opponent were allowed to unleash his attack, the passage in front of him would undoubtedly become a barrier even more difficult to breach than the vault walls... No, perhaps before the passage was sealed off, the black-clad detective himself would have already turned into an ice sculpture.

Just then, Hugo suddenly turned around, and there was another Pokémon standing in front of him.

Blue eyes, a round, dark blue head, and a not-so-sharp yellow beak—this is Piplup, a fellow beginner Pokémon from Sinnoh.

While retrieving Chimchar and Turtwig, Hugo also acquired this Pokémon.

Ultimately, the culprit behind the Poké Balls flying everywhere was the Garchomp sent by the Detective. Through prior coordination, Garchomp controlled the force of its "Stomp" to make the seemingly scattered Poké Balls land in a position convenient for Hugo to pick them up—this was not a difficult task at all.

All the scheming and calculations have led to the current result—Hugo held his partner, with whom he had spent more than half a year, in his arms, supporting it in using its proud water-based skills.

Piplup did not disappoint its trainer's expectations, instantly understanding the command and barking as it unleashed a move in retaliation.

Instead of using more powerful water-type moves like "Water Cannon," the little penguin spat out a "Bubble Beam" composed of a large amount of foam.

The enemy's attack came in an instant.

The frigid wind instantly froze the ray of light, solidifying it into a giant ice rock resembling an avant-garde art sculpture, filled with a massive number of crystal bubbles that would trigger trypophobia in anyone on the spot.

These bubbles were then shattered by a powerful "spit silk" move, making a crackling sound like firecrackers—strangely, the sound of ice breaking did not disappear as soon as the skill broke through the barrier, but continued to ring out continuously.

"Look, Bogarman is still using his moves!" Alice exclaimed.

"Yes."

Watching this scene, despite still having doubts about the detective's actions, Wanlong couldn't help but praise the starter Pokémon's tenacious will with shining eyes.

"Young Pokémon, lacking sufficient energy, struggle to unleash moves for extended periods. However, this Piplup was able to continuously spew 'Bubble Beam' from its mouth, consistently facing the opponent's attack head-on from start to finish, using the most energy-efficient method to counter its power—it was as if it were highly skilled in using this special move."

Low temperatures freeze the foam, and the silk threads shatter the ice crystals, but the remaining ice crystals also block, pull, and hinder the advance of the "silk-spinning" and "freezing winds".

As the distance increased further, the insect silk and freezing wind that had been released all at once finally lost their momentum and weakened.

The moves of the two champion ace Pokémon were thus thwarted by the resistance of a starter Pokémon, leaving behind a long string of strangely shaped ice crystal artworks on the field.

Having gained ample time to escape, the detective seized the opportunity and disappeared down the stairs.

Only the Ardek champion, who was fighting against him, remained standing there with a grim expression.

The chilling air left behind by the "Frozen Wind" echoed on the top floor of the Tower of Heaven. Alice, Wanlong, and the referee Victini were all equally bewildered.

They shared the same confusion—

What exactly did Hugo want to do?

As if to answer everyone's questions, the detective's voice suddenly rang out again in the space where he himself had disappeared—startling Victini so much that he did a somersault in mid-air.

"Both sides use a team of up to six Pokémon for a full-scale battle until one side forfeits or all of one side's Pokémon are rendered unable to battle—isn't that the most basic rule of this championship challenge?"

The voice, seemingly coming from nowhere, said this.

"Then it would be quite reasonable for me to move the battlefield slightly away from the top floor of this cold and small Tower of Heaven, wouldn't it? What do you think, Mr. Adek?"

"I see. So that's what you were really up to before the match started, explaining the rules and inviting referees."

The champion, who was asked the question, shook his head and sighed with a helpless expression.

"If this were just a tacit duel, then the moment you stepped out of the passage, you would have already tacitly accepted your defeat. But the situation is not like that. In order to continue this twisted battle, you deliberately stated vague rules before the match began, and even invited a referee for this purpose—all to prove that you have not violated the combat rules we set at this moment. The battle continues."

As he spoke, Adek himself burst into laughter.

"In order to break the rules in the championship, you even went so far as to rebuild a whole set of competition rules—only treaties that are mutually agreed upon have the value of being exploited, tripped up, and played word games. Challenger Hugo, using a borrowed Garchomp, trying to use a weak Pokémon to fight against a strong one in terms of quality and quantity, you are a cunning fellow. I really have to admire you."

"Ahem, Mr. Adek could actually deny the legitimacy of this match right now, after all, I've used so many tricks."

The detective's voice continued to come from the corner. As the fire moth slowly flew towards the source of the sound, everyone could now clearly see the source of Hugo's voice—a cubic wireless communication device.

"As the Unova Champion, even if you declare that my actions at this moment violate the spirit of Pokémon battles and constitute a serious foul, and directly determine that I have lost the match, it would be perfectly fine—there are absolutely no word games or traps involved, such as admitting defeat first being the same as surrendering, or the champion giving up being considered a victory for us. I have absolutely no such intention. On the contrary, I am actually looking forward to you doing so."

The detective's voice, emanating from a dice-shaped wireless speaker, sounded particularly glib.

"To have my challenge to the Champion end in a satisfying defeat due to my trickery, and to leave Fuyuki City with this result is actually the ending I most desired. After all, this would give an explanation to everyone I've troubled, and I wouldn't have to continue battling powerful trainers with trepidation. So, Mr. Alder, how about letting me go this time and place?"

"Hahaha, dream on."