Leon didn't expect Bounsweet to deliver the final blow to Ursaring, using the move he thought was useless, Rapid Spin.
He now felt like Bounsweet had slapped him hard across the face.
But as long as the outcome was good, Leon was happy to take the slap.
"Boun!"
Bounsweet didn't know what Leon was thinking. It was just excited that it had helped.
It hopped over to Leon, lifting its little face, wanting praise.
But Leon was staring blankly ahead, not paying attention to Bounsweet.
"Boun boun!"
Bounsweet got angry. No praise was fine, but now he wouldn't even look at it?
It spun its flower crown and bumped into Leon, finally snapping him out of it.
He looked down at the pouting Bounsweet and picked it up.
"Sorry sorry, I was distracted. You did great this time! That last hit was a huge help! You can have any reward you want!"
Leon lifted Bounsweet proudly.
This praise was genuine. Though most of the damage came from Scyther and Aron, without Bounsweet's final hit, the outcome might have been different.
"Boun~" (//ω//)
Bounsweet blushed. It didn't want any reward. Helping Leon was enough.
"Can you still use Grassy Terrain?"
"Boun!"
Bounsweet nodded. It had wanted to use Grassy Terrain earlier, but the fight moved too fast, and Leon kept leading Ursaring around, leaving it unsure where to place it.
Now, with plenty of energy left, it focused briefly and successfully activated Grassy Terrain.
Leon released the two Pokémon he had recalled into their Poké Balls, letting them rest on the Grassy Terrain to heal.
He then pulled out two bottles of Super Potion from his system and asked the two female players to help apply them.
This battle had been intense. Both Scyther and Aron were badly injured.
Leon worried their condition might worsen on the way back, so he chose to treat them on the spot.
After the medicine was applied, the two Pokémon visibly improved, easing Leon's worries.
"You all did great today. Rest in your Poké Balls for now. We'll let you recover properly once we're back."
"Scy!" "Aron!"
After praising them, Leon returned them to their Poké Balls.
"Let's go check on that Ursaring."
He was curious about why Ursaring had entered its frenzied state.
Before he could get close, he overheard the two male players muttering around Ursaring.
"You think if I had a Poké Ball right now, I could just catch this Ursaring? Even Leon had to fight hard to beat it. I'd be unstoppable."
"Unstoppable? Maybe. But you'd also be banned. Remember, the main character has admin powers."
"Yeah, what a shame."
Leon's face darkened. This player had guts, thinking about stealing his victory. If he didn't teach them a lesson now, who knew what they'd try later.
He cleared his throat.
"Ahem. As you saw, we won this battle. I hope you learned something about commanding Pokémon in battle."
"May you all find Pokémon that suit you and fight alongside them."
"Of course, I repeat, it's best to catch them yourselves. It'll help in future battles. Don't expect free handouts!"
Here, Leon made sure to lock eyes with Dylan.
"Oh shit, he definitely heard us. Our favor just tanked!"
Dylan panicked, while Ethan remained calm.
"Not 'our.' Just yours. I didn't say anything wrong."
"You—"
"Me what? This is your fault for running your mouth. The NPCs here are AI. They react to what you say."
"Especially Leon, the main character with ban powers. We should be sucking up to him, not pissing him off. You wanna get blacklisted?"
"Shit, what do I do?"
Dylan freaked out. In other games, he'd just quit if things went south. But this was the only VR game in existence.
He didn't want to be on Leon's bad side forever.
"Nothing we can do now. Just work on raising his favor later."
Ethan shrugged.
Dylan sighed, already thinking of ways to fix this.
Seeing their reactions, Leon knew his warning worked. Players were reckless. Without a scare, who knew what they'd try next.
Leon took out a Poké Ball, ready to catch Ursaring, when he noticed something odd on its head.
"Huh? What's this?"
He crouched and pried out a small, dark, diamond shaped object about half the size of a pinky finger. Its black surface seemed to swallow all light.
"Could this be why Ursaring went berserk?"
Leon didn't recognize it, but it felt off.
Yesterday, after hearing about Ursaring attacking players, he'd been suspicious.
Ursaring were temperamental, but they rarely attacked humans unprovoked, usually just scaring them off.
This one had been unusually vicious, killing a player instantly and even entering a frenzy.
At first, Leon thought it was an individual quirk. But finding this black crystal made him reconsider.
It reminded him of the recent Pokémon stampede. Survivors said the Pokémon had acted unusually aggressive.
Normally, Pokémon only stampeded when desperate, but there'd been no recent conflicts or food shortages.
"Was it really because of this crystal?"
Leon examined it closely. If this was the cause, then the stampede was man made. Nature didn't produce such perfectly cut stones.
"Better take it back for study."
After finding nothing else unusual, Leon pocketed the crystal, planning to research it later.
He successfully caught Ursaring in the Poké Ball, then returned to the territory with the players.
Back home, he rushed to his study.
He began his usual ritual, praying to Arceus.
Time to roll the gacha. His earlier daze had been from a system notification.
[Congratulations! Achievement Unlocked: First Major Victory. Reward: Intermediate Gacha Roll x1.]
According to the system, this should have been a basic roll, but Ursaring's enhanced state upgraded the reward.
This was Leon's first intermediate roll. He was excited.
"Arceus, bless this roll!"
[Congratulations! You obtained—]
(End of Chapter)
[黑色晶石 - Black Crystal]