“What is it?” Lu Li asked groggily.
“The demon beasts downstairs seem to be fighting.”
Lu Li: “???”
Lu Li instantly became wide awake and shot upright in bed.
“What exactly is going on?” Lu Li asked while putting on his clothes.
“It’s that group of humanoid demon beasts and the rat demon beasts. They’re making a huge commotion. I’m honestly worried they might bring the whole mall down,” Fatty Lei explained.
Out of curiosity, Lu Li really wanted to go and watch the battle, but reason told him that he should not go join the excitement.
After all, Pokémon battles were dangerous. It was entirely possible to die from some unidentified AoE attack.
After struggling with himself several times, Lu Li gritted his teeth and made up his mind—this fight happened to be an excellent opportunity to gauge the true strength of the Machoke and the Raticate group. If he missed it, it would be hard to find another chance like this.
Lu Li saw Fatty Lei at the doorway.
“Brother Lu, I knew you’d be interested, so I’ve been waiting here for you,” Fatty Lei said smugly.
“Where is the battle happening? Where would it be safer to watch from?” Lu Li asked directly.
Having already expected this, Fatty Lei quickly replied, “The battle is happening outside the underground bridge tunnel outside Basement 1. I suggest taking Emergency Exit No. 6 on the first floor. Once you turn the corner, you’ll be able to see the scene.”
“Thanks.”
Lu Li patted Fatty Lei on the shoulder, then headed straight for Emergency Exit No. 6.
Fatty Lei watched Lu Li hurry away and silently prayed that he would return safely.
The reason he was so attentive to this matter was partly because he wanted to curry favor with Lu Li. After all, Jun Shutong’s pistol was now out of bullets. Although her position as leader was still stable, what if something unexpected happened?
And with the demon beast under Lu Li’s control, plus Lu Li’s deep understanding of demon beasts, if Jun Shutong were ever driven from the position of leader in the future, then Lu Li, as the second leader, would very likely become the leader of the camp.
On the other hand, Fatty Lei also hoped that Lu Li could gather more information about demon beasts. The deeper Lu Li’s research into demon beasts went, the greater their chances of surviving in this apocalypse.
Lu Li sprinted all the way from the sixth floor to the outside of the first floor. Crouching at the corner, he poked his head out and quietly looked toward the battle taking place not far away.
“Little Beauty, keep watch for me. If you sense danger, shake the Poké Ball to warn me,” Lu Li said to Feebas inside the Poké Ball.
The Poké Ball trembled lightly.
Seeing this, Lu Li gripped the Poké Ball in his hand and continued watching the battle between Machoke and the Raticate group.
A sturdy Machoke stood facing more than a dozen Raticate, accompanied by another Machoke and six Machop that looked somewhat malnourished.
“Ho~ha!”
Machoke flexed its muscles, then pointed at several Rattata that were already lying flat on the ground.
“Raa!!”
A Raticate with especially long front teeth cried out aggressively.
Lu Li could not understand what the cries of the two Pokémon meant, so naturally he had no idea what they were communicating about.
But soon, both sides gave up on communicating through cries.
At the long-fanged Raticate’s command, the surrounding Raticate and Rattata hurriedly launched an attack on Machoke.
The female Machoke behind Machoke quickly shielded the Machop, then led them back some distance, clearing out enough space for Machoke to fight properly.
Machoke showed no fear at all in the face of the Raticate group’s encirclement.
As the Raticate lunged at it, Machoke first struck an extremely muscular pose. The muscles all over its body instantly tensed, and a burst of golden-yellow energy surged out from within Machoke before quickly disappearing.
“Did Machoke just use Bulk Up?” Lu Li muttered in confusion.
In the games, Machoke did not learn Bulk Up until around level forty-something. If the rules of the real world were similar to those of the games, then this Machoke had to be at least level 40, conservatively speaking.
Its level might even be higher than Indeedee’s.
After giving itself a buff, Machoke’s left fist became engulfed in blazing flames, while golden-yellow arcs of electricity flickered around its right fist.
Facing the first Raticate that lunged at it, Machoke swung a backhand punch and sent it flying.
“Fire Punch with the left hand, Thunder Punch with the right—how is that not cheating?” Lu Li’s eyes turned red with envy.
Putting aside Machoke’s already high level, the fact that it could use different types of moves with each fist at the same time was enough to show that its mastery of moves had already reached a remarkable level.
Even though he had never seen other Pokémon use moves before, he knew that simultaneously using two punching moves of different types could not possibly be simple.
The Raticate that were sent flying slammed into the wall, but unexpectedly did not break through it. Instead, they looked like lumps of rubber, their bodies flattening against the wall before bouncing off and falling to the ground.
The most absurd part was that even after being flattened like that, these Pokémon still were not dead. They merely lay on the ground like corpses, barely breathing.
Facing Machoke, which looked like a god descending to earth, the entire group of Raticate was completely helpless. Almost none of them could withstand even a single move from Machoke.
Even with so many Raticate attacking at the same time, they failed to inflict any meaningful injury on Machoke.
Of course, this might also have been because the moves those Raticate were using were relatively simple.
Whether it was Tackle or Hyper Fang, both were close-range attacks, and close combat happened to be exactly what Machoke excelled at.
As the saying went, high damage with the left fist and high damage with the right. Every punch Machoke threw was enough to make one Raticate lose the ability to fight.
Just as Lu Li thought the outcome had already been decided, the Raticate with the enormous front teeth moved.
Its entire body seemed to transform into a streak of lightning as the long-fanged Raticate instantly charged right up in front of Machoke.
Machoke had just sent one Raticate flying and was preparing to knock away the next Rattata when it was suddenly confronted by the long-fanged Raticate that had rushed directly in front of it.
Before Machoke could block or defend, the long-fanged Raticate’s teeth had already bitten into its chest.
The expected scene of its chest being torn open did not happen. Instead, the long-fanged Raticate’s teeth became firmly lodged in Machoke’s solid muscles.
Enduring the intense pain, Machoke punched the long-fanged Raticate and sent it flying.
After tracing an arc through the air, the long-fanged Raticate crashed onto the ground. It awkwardly climbed back to its feet, then stared at Machoke with bloodshot eyes.
After hesitating for a moment, the long-fanged Raticate let out a strange cry, then turned around and fled with the rest of the Raticate, disappearing into the mall building.
Machoke grinned smugly and nodded toward the other Machoke beside it.
After winning the battle, the Machop happily jumped and cheered, then entered the supermarket in high spirits and began methodically carrying out the protein powder inside.
This time, the Raticate did not try to stop Machoke and the others from entering the supermarket.
“So Machoke won?” Lu Li thought pensively.
When Pokémon competed with one another for territory, they seemed to decide the outcome through battle, and the victor apparently gained the right to freely dispose of the loser’s territory and resources.
Lu Li committed this observation to memory, though it could not yet be considered a confirmed discovery, because further verification was still needed.
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