Rookidee moved with incredible speed, its wings f two sharp air bdes that sliced toward Scorbunny from both sides.

  "Dodge it!" Bryan anded with a wave of his hand.

  With Scorbunny's speed, a mere Air Cutter couldn’t hit it.

  "Scor!"

  Scorbunny leaped just in time, evading one of the air bdes, but the razed its ear.

  Hone Cws didn’t only boost attack power. It also increased accuracy, enhang Rookidee’s dynamic vision aion speed.

  These two air bdes were precise, and one of them shaved off the red fur at the tip of Scorbunny’s left ear.

  "Don't stop! Quick Attack!" Shiro ordered without missing a beat, pressing forward with relentless aggression to take down Scorbunny.

  "Tch, Fire Kick!" Bryan knew he'd miscalcuted with the Air Cutter and, seeing Shiro’s tinuous attacks, he decided to ter with a direct csh.

  Fire Kick was a move that bined Ember and Double Kick. At the current Beginner level, it could deal devastating damage, enough to leave an oppo of the same level badly injured.

  Experierainers always traiheir Pokémon to master move binations, maximizing their attack potential.

  Otlefield, Scorbunny saw Rookidee charging forward, its body glowing with a gray-white energy. Without hesitation, it jumped and igs legs in fmes.

  But its Fire Kick hit nothing but air.

  Rookidee hadn’t used Quick Attack to rush in. Instead, it remained airborne, using Hone Cws once more.

  "Damn it!" Bryan cursed. He had reminded himself before the match to watch out for Shiro's deceptive ands, yet he still fell for it.

  This wasn’t about the Pokémon’s strength. The real gap was irainers’ tactics.

  By now, Rookidee had pleted its Hone Cws, and without hesitation, Shiro issued the and.

  "Air Cutter!"

  "Damn… Protect!" Bryan couldn't risk Scorbunny dodging this time. With Rookidee’s accuracy boosted twice, it had a high ce of nding a hit.

  For a Beginner-level Pokémon, Scorbunny was quite fragile. It cked the endurao take a direct hit from the Air Cutter. If it got struck, its movements would be restricted, leading to aable loss.

  Bang, bang, bang....

  A few soft impacts echoed as the Air Cutter struck the green protective barrier, sending ripples across its surface.

  At the same level, Protect was nearly uable, easily blog Rookidee’s attack. But it couldn't be used in quick succession.

  "Keep using Air Cutter!" Shiro anded.

  Rookidee remained airboraying just out of reach of Scorbunny. With its ratacks, it could wear the oppo down freely.

  Bryan uood this all too well. His expression ged, but he couldn't think of a way to turuation around.

  Before the Air Cutter could nd, he recalled Scorbunny into its Poké Ball. "I give up!"

  Bryan ceded without hesitation, pulling his ID card from the metal pilr.

  "Thanks for the match." Shiro retrieved Rookidee and removed his own ID card.

  “Ugh…” Bryan scratched his head repeatedly, his gray hair now resembling a half-formed bird’s .

  He sighed, “I didn’t expect to lose so quickly. Your anding ability is truly impressive, much more than someone ye would have.”

  “Heh, I just have a lot of ideas,” Shiro casually replied, accepting the money Bryan handed him.

  It was 5000 Pokédolrs. Shiro quickly g it before looking back at Bryan.

  “A small gesture, sider it a greeting gift.” Bryan waved his hand dismissively a. He had only booked the one-hour package, and otle was enough.

  Shiro stood there for a moment, w if he had seen this guy before during his travels from Spikemuth to Hammerlocke. After recalling and dismissing the thought, he pocketed the money and prepared to leave the pbsp;

  It was still early, and he had to make the most of his time to train. Not only for Rookidee and Gastly, but also for himself.

  Shiro could feel his physical fitness improving from the intense daily training.

  In the Pokémon world, food is ofteo the Pokémon, providing unimagirition. As a result, his body recovered very quickly.

  After exiting the passage, Shiro asked Pym for an intermediate level training room and got straight to work.

  Before he k, it was already afternoon.

  During the training, Shiro noticed that after two victories, Rookidee’s strength had not only stabilized, but was now close to evolving.

  Rookidee was now at level 17, almost on the brink of evolution. It seemed ready to reach level 18 at any moment.

  At level 18, Rookidee would evolve into Corvisquire, but now was not the time for evolution.

  “Rooki-dee!”

  Ihe training room, Rookidee fpped its wings and nded on Shiro's shoulder.

  Its chest muscles were now more developed, and its wings had grown slightly longer due to tinuous training and flying-type resources. However, its beak still remaihe same.

  Shiro po buy a Metal Coat from the bck market tthen its beak. Os beak’s strength was improved, he’d let it evolve.

  The accumution during a Pokémon's early stages is beneficial for their evolution. Many Corviknights lose their potential right after evolving and remain stuck at the Advanced-level for the rest of their lives, often because they weren't properly trained during their Rookidee stage.

  Shiro gently stroked the feathers on Rookidee's head. Rookidee nuzzled its yellow belly fur against Shiro’s shoulder, shaking its head and fpping its wings to show Shiro that it could always feel a strange energy and impulse is body.

  But it held back that impulse, feeling like its training wasn’t enough, like its body wasn’t fully developed yet.

  “Your feeling is right…” Shiro recalled the advice from Grant.

  He said that Flying was in the wings, and Steel was in the beak. This meant the two attributes of Corviknight o be trained in these areas. Right now, Rookidee’s beak isn’t fully trained, and its body cks steel-type energy. That's why it feels inplete.

  Corviknights that became stagnant were often affected by this. They didn’t train their beaks with Metal Coat when they were Rookidee, causing them to ck steel-type energy in their bodies and making them weak after evolution.

  “Looks like I o buy not only Metal Coat but also some Steel-type Pokéblocks,” Shiro muttered to himself, holding Rookidee in front of him and massaging its body.

  Whether for Shiro's current job as a sparring partner or for Rookidee itself, evolution isn't the best choice right now.

  “Gass!”

  Gastly, who had been silently watg them, shook its head and looked at Shiro with wide, pitiful eyes, its mouth open as if begging for a massage too.

  “Alright, alright. O a time…” Shiro said calmly.

  **

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