Ryan didn't expect it would be Bounsweet who dealt the final blow to Ursaring, using a move he thought was practically useless—Rapid Spin.
At this moment, he felt as though Bounsweet had slapped him in the face.
But as long as the result was good, Ryan didn't mind getting metaphorically slapped.
"Bounsweet~"
Bounsweet had no idea what Ryan was thinking; it only knew it had helped, so it was extra excited.
It hopped over to Ryan, lifting its little face as if waiting for him to praise it.
But Ryan was staring blankly ahead, not even acknowledging Bounsweet.
"Bounsweet! Bounsweet!"
Bounsweet got a bit angry. Not only did Ryan not praise it, but he wasn't even looking at it! It spun the flower on its head and knocked into Ryan, finally snapping him out of his daze.
He looked down at the pouting Bounsweet and quickly picked it up.
"Sorry, sorry, I zoned out for a moment. You did great! That last hit was a big help! You can ask for any reward you want!"
Ryan lifted Bounsweet up, praising it sincerely. Although most of the damage was done by Scyther and Aron, Bounsweet's final attack might have changed the outcome of the battle.
"Bounsweet~ (//w//)"
Bounsweet blushed from the praise. It didn't want any reward; helping Ryan was enough.
"Can you still use Grassy Terrain?" Ryan asked.
"Bounsweet!"
Bounsweet nodded enthusiastically. It had been planning to use Grassy Terrain earlier, but the battle was moving too fast, and Ryan kept luring Ursaring all over, so it didn't know where to place it.
Now that its energy was still abundant, it quickly summoned Grassy Terrain after gathering power for a moment.
Ryan released the two Pokémon he had recalled earlier and laid them down on the Grassy Terrain to heal. He also took out two Potions from his inventory and called over two female players to help administer them.
This battle had been intense, and Scyther and Aron were both severely injured.
Ryan feared their injuries might worsen on the way back to the territory, so he decided to treat them on the spot.
After using the Potions, both Pokémon's conditions visibly improved, and Ryan finally relaxed.
"You both did great today. Take a rest in your Pokéballs, and we'll fully recover when we return to the territory."
"Scyther!" "Aron!"
Ryan praised the two Pokémon a bit more before returning them to their Pokéballs.
"Let's go check on that Ursaring," he said, curious about how it had gone into a berserk state.
Before he got close, he overheard two male players discussing something near the Ursaring.
"If I had a Pokéball right now, I could totally capture this Ursaring! Ryan struggled so much to beat it—if I catch it, I'll be unstoppable!"
"I don't know about being unstoppable, but I do know that if you try, you'll never be seen in the game again. Did you forget that the main character has the power to strip players of their titles?"
"Yeah, what a shame."
Ryan felt his eye twitch after hearing this. These players sure had guts, thinking of stealing his hard-earned victory. If he didn't teach them a lesson, this behavior might become a trend.
Clearing his throat, he spoke loudly:
"Ahem. As you can see, we've secured victory in this battle. I hope you've learned something about how to command Pokémon in a fight through watching."
"I encourage you all to capture Pokémon you connect with and fight alongside them in battle."
"Of course, like I've said before, it's best to capture Pokémon yourself. It'll help you in future battles. Don't just think about taking the easy way out!"
As he said this, Ryan intentionally locked his gaze onto Bryan.
"Oh no, the Lord must've heard us talking. My reputation is ruined!" Bryan panicked, while Virx remained calm.
"You're wrong. It's not 'us,' it's just you. I didn't say anything out of line~"
"You…"
"What? You deserve it. You need to stop running your mouth. The NPCs in this game are AI—they react to what you say. Especially Ryan—he's the protagonist, and he has the power to strip titles. We should be sucking up to him, not offending him. Do you want to be kicked out of the game?"
"Crap, what should I do?"
Bryan was even more flustered now. In other games, he could quit if he wasn't having fun, but this was the only virtual reality game of its kind. There wasn't a second one like it in the world.
He didn't want to be constantly targeted by the game's protagonist.
"There's nothing you can do now. You'll have to find a way to raise your reputation later," Virx shrugged, indicating he had no solution either.
Bryan resigned himself to his fate, thinking about how he could regain favor in the future.
Seeing the players' expressions, Ryan knew his words had made an impact. If he didn't scare them a little, who knows what trouble they might cause later.
After finishing his speech, Ryan pulled out a Pokéball, preparing to capture Ursaring. But before he could, he noticed something strange on its head.
"Huh? What's this?"
He squatted down and picked off the object with his hand.
It was about the size of half a pinky finger, diamond-shaped, and pitch black, as if it could absorb all light.
"Could this be the reason Ursaring went berserk?"
Ryan didn't recognize the object, but he had a bad feeling about it. Ever since he heard about Ursaring attacking players, he'd been suspicious.
While Ursaring was known for its bad temper, it rarely attacked humans unprovoked. Most of the time, it would just chase them away, not go all out to kill.
Yet this Ursaring was especially brutal, not only killing a player with one swipe but also entering a berserk state.
At first, Ryan thought it was just an individual difference, but after finding this black crystal on Ursaring, he began to doubt that.
It especially reminded him of the recent beast wave. According to those who had fled back to the territory, the Pokémon in the wave had also seemed unusually aggressive.
Normally, Pokémon wouldn't form a beast wave unless they were desperate, and there hadn't been any recent conflict between humans and Pokémon. Their food supply was also sufficient, so there was no reason for them to attack human settlements.
"Could it really be because of this black crystal?"
Ryan held up the crystal for a closer look. If this crystal was the cause, then the recent beast wave might have been orchestrated, as there's no way a naturally occurring stone would be so perfectly cut.
"I'd better take this back to the territory for further study."
After examining it for a while and finding nothing special, Ryan pocketed the crystal and decided to investigate it later.
He successfully captured Ursaring with a Pokéball and returned to the territory with the players.
Once back, he hurried to his study and quickly began praying for Arceus's blessing.
That's right—he was about to draw again. Earlier, he'd zoned out because the system had given him a notification.
"Congratulations! You've earned the achievement: First Time Defeating a Strong Opponent. Reward: Intermediate Draw."
According to the system, the reward was originally supposed to be a basic draw, but because Ursaring's strength had increased due to a special reason, the reward had been upgraded.
This was Ryan's first time using an intermediate draw, and he was filled with anticipation for the result.
"Arceus, please bless me! Let's go!"
"Congratulations, you have drawn…"