Chapter 441. One Last Round

The sea air rolled in thick over the Fields of Honor, carrying the sharp scent of salt and sand as the wind brought with it the steady crash of waves and the heavy, rhythmic thuds of impact from two Champion ranked trainers fighting on the beach.

Alex and Bea were sparring as usual, their bouts far too dangerous and frequent for the battle hall. Here, they could fight to their hearts’ content without bothering anyone other than the wild Pokémon, who would have lounged on the beach after the students’ early morning training.

Alex stepped in close, slipping past a sharp kick from Bea and answering with a quick body shot. Bea adjusted, pivoting on her lead foot and firing another kick at his chest, forcing Alex to guard and give a step of space. He circled as he searched for an entry, while Bea held the center, her stance stable enough to keep him at range.

Alex charged again, intercepting Bea’s kick with a raised knee to check her, but Bea had learned her lesson. She hopped and turned with the motion, folding her leg to slip past the block before spinning into a more powerful roundhouse aimed at his head. Alex was forced to block with one hand while the other reached out and caught her pants. With a violent twist, he dragged her off balance, slammed her onto the ground behind him with a shoulder throw, and locked her leg into an inescapable leg bar.

“Agh! Damn it! I give, I give!” she shouted in agony.

“Not bad. You’re improving,” Alex said as he released her and stood.

“Improving my ass. I haven’t beaten you even once over the past seven months,” Bea said, working the pain out of her leg as she stood and checked for any serious injuries.

“You have improved. You’re forcing me to grapple much earlier now. It’s getting to the point where I have to take you seriously, or I get punished with a kick to the head.”

“You could have just let me land it at least once,” she complained, like a child.

“So you can get cocky?” Alex said with a dry smile. “I don’t think so.”

“Oh, come on! You’re leaving tomorrow. The least you can do is give me a parting gift.”

“You think a false sense of victory is a gift?” Alex asked, raising a brow.

“You could have just kept it from me,” Bea mumbled.

A month had passed since Alex completed the Scroll of Steel, totaling 8 months spent in the Galar region. He stayed to allow Urshifu to say his goodbyes and learn some tips and tricks from his fellow Urshifu on the island.

Now, he was loaded up on all the moves he could learn and had brought all of them up to Expert ranked proficiency. He had even started training with Azuking and Grimmsmarl as an attack team.

The formation training that usually followed was still a work in progress though and would take time to fully develop, which suited Alex just fine. He was already extremely satisfied with Urshifu’s progress as well as his updated Pokédex entry.

Name: Urshifu, Elite lvl 67

Type: Fighting Steel, Male

Ability: Unseen Fist

Moves:

Expert:

(+100% Damage): Rock Smash, Aerial Ace, Headbutt, Brick Break, Iron Head, Dynamic Punch, Counter, Close Combat, Focus Punch, U-turn, Fling, Thunder Punch, Low Kick, Low Sweep, Reversal, Fire Punch, Acrobatics, Dig, Ice Punch, Take Down, Facade, Body Slam, Tera Blast, Double-Edge, Zen Headbutt, Metal Claw, Bullet Punch, Adamant Strike, Smart Strike, Hard Press, Heavy Slam, Drain Punch, Body Press, Aura Sphere, Focus Blast, Trailblaze, Ice Spinner, Swift, False Swipe, Giga Impact, Poison Jab, Rock Tomb, Rock Slide, Stone Edge

(Effect Up +2): Leer, Endure, Focus Energy, Scary Face, Detect, Bulk Up, Protect, Sleep Talk, Swords Dance, Substitute, Helping Hand, Rest, Taunt, Coaching, Iron Defense

Description: Urshifu, the Wushu Pokémon. It is a legendary Pokémon that has reached the pinnacle of its training, having mastered a distinct fighting style through rigorous discipline in distant mountains. It possesses the unique ability Unseen Fist, which allows it to strike with such power and precision that its attacks can bypass the defenses of any opponent. Despite its formidable strength, it maintains a stoic and focused demeanor, continuing to sharpen its spirit through the absolute mastery of its new form.

In addition to Adamant Strike, which was Urshifu’s signature move as a Fighting Steel type Pokémon, he also learned Bullet Punch, Smart Strike, Hard Press, and Heavy Slam, all useful Steel type attacks that rounded out his kit.

If there was anything to complain about, however, it was that he couldn’t find a way to increase the priority of his moves. It seemed counterintuitive to his fighting style, which defaulted to precision rather than speed. Alex would argue that mixed martial arts should also accommodate that, but perhaps it was just a limitation of the Steel typing, which leaned more toward defense than offense.

Either way, he was overall satisfied with Urshifu and couldn’t wait to start sparring with him. Unfortunately, he still hadn’t been able to, because Bea was quite needy, always taking up his free time to spar with her.

To be fair, though, he had only started sparring with her regularly a month ago, when he finished the Scroll of Steel. Before that, he had been too busy, with only his mornings free to exercise his muscles, a time of day when Bea was usually occupied doing the same with the students of the dojo.

Now, she was squeezing every bit of extra time out of him before he returned to Kanto.

“It’s too bad we could only spar like this for a month,” Bea said.

“It can’t be helped,” Alex replied. “My daughter’s punishment is about to end soon, and I want to take her on a vacation to Alola. I’d better return before she runs off and gets herself into trouble.”

“I get that. It’s just that you spent 8 months here and we could only train for 1 of them. It felt like such a waste of time. It would have been better spent training with me,” she said with a greedy smile.

“I needed to focus on my calligraphy during my stay,” Alex replied. “You should try it sometime. It’ll help you sort out your fighting style.”

“Really? Isn’t that just basic writing practice? Mustard keeps trying to get me to start writing my own scrolls so I can eventually take over the dojo, but it just seems like a waste of time. It would be better to keep fighting to build my combat sense and reinforce muscle memory.”

“It’s the process of repetition and concentration that feels like meditation, enhancing your ability to focus in combat. At the very least, actually writing out the Scroll of Steel helped me understand my own fighting style.”

“Hm… I’ll think about it.”

“You should,” Alex said as he shook off the stiffness building in his muscles. “Ready to go for one last round?”

“You bet!” Bea agreed as the pair squared up.

They battled along the beach, moving up and down the stretch and kicking up explosions of sand as they fought. Their movements carved a clear trail across the shoreline, each exchange leaving the ground visibly marked by their passing.

Unlike usual, Bea began taking the battle beyond their regular sparring. She covered herself in the orange glow of her Fighting type energy, significantly increasing the power and speed of her muscles. Out of nowhere, she gained a boost that Alex was having difficulty dealing with. Worse was the fact that he had Dark type affinity, which meant he couldn’t power up the same way. A single hit would easily break his own energy coating, negating its effects and wasting his energy.

So he took a defensive approach, making sure he wasn’t overwhelmed while trying his best to lock her into a grapple. She was stronger, but so long as he could get a hold of her, he would likely win the exchange. Bea, however, was no slouch and understood exactly what Alex was planning, so she maintained distance and used her legs to whip him, ensuring they didn’t stay in contact long enough for him to intercept and catch them.

She was starting to develop a new fighting style, one that leaned into hit-and-run tactics, using her superior reach, strength and speed to bully her opponent. She was absolutely elated as the adrenaline of combat surged in a way no other trainer could draw out of her. Only Alex had ever pushed her to improve by leaps and bounds, giving her a chance to see beyond her limits.

It was an intoxicating feeling, and she reciprocated it as her kicks became deadlier, her punches heavier, and her stance freer, making her harder to grapple.

They continued this high-speed, no-holds-barred battle as they ran along the southeastern coast of the Isle of Armor, even fighting at high speed atop the water until they landed on a small island off the coast somewhere in the Workout Sea. Their battle continued briefly on the new island until they finally reached a turning point, with Alex managing to grab hold of her leg, which had been evading his grasp the entire time.

He tried to transition into another leg lock similar to before, but Bea countered. She faced the ground, placed both arms down, and pushed off while kicking out with her other leg, striking Alex square in the head. The blow was too fast to block and strong enough to jolt his brain, knocking him down.

“Alex!” Bea shouted as she knelt beside his head, checking his eyes to see if he was knocked out.

“I’m… fine…” he slurred slightly as he sat up. “Just… give me a second to reboot.”

“I’m so sorry! I don’t know what got into me. I was just so excited,” she explained, frantically.

“No, it’s good. You’ve definitely improved with that new fighting style, although your Fighting type energy did most of the heavy lifting.”

“I know… I’m so sorry. I just—”

“Shhh…” Alex said, placing a finger on her soft lips and catching her off guard. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. When you’re fighting me, feel free to go all out. I can take a hit like that, no problem. I’ll just need a potion or two to recover.”

With Alex’s finger resting on her lips, Bea suddenly became very aware of him. He was strong, powerful, thoughtful, a gentleman, and fun to fight. He was also, of course, incredibly attractive.

Her gaze drifted downward, noticing his gi had been torn during the fight, the Elite ranked material unable to withstand her Champion ranked strength and Fighting type energy. His muscular body was left exposed, his muscles rippling as seawater and sweat evaporated from his heat.

She felt the urge to touch him but knew she shouldn’t. He was married with kids, after all. Although… he did have a harem, so would it really matter?

Subconsciously, she bit her lower lip, accidentally taking Alex’s finger into her mouth, grabbing his attention.

“Bea?”

“Wha?” she said slowly, her gaze still locked on his body.

“You’re very turned on all of a sudden,” Alex said, his gaze piercing, a suggestive smile forming on his lips. “Need some help with that?”

“I…” She froze as naughty thoughts rushed through her mind, her breathing turning ragged from arousal, a deep blush coloring her cheeks. “Yes… please.”

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