Swoosh…
As the umpire, Hash, announced the start of the ability evaluation, the sound of leaves rustling could be heard from time to time in this green venue.
It was the Leaf-eared Cat using the bushes to hide itself. It was changing its hiding spot.
The spectators could clearly hear the sound of the cat brushing against the leaves as it moved.
However, when they tried to use their naked eyes to catch sight of the Leaf-eared Cat shuttling through the bushes, they always ended up empty-handed.
“This Leaf-eared Cat’s body is clearly twice as large as when it was still a Green-tailed Cat, but its speed did not decrease because of its size. Instead, it is even faster than when it was still a Green-tailed Cat!”
“It seems like even though the Green-tailed Cat has evolved into a Leaf-eared Cat, Miss Annie’s main training direction for it is still to improve its agility!”
“No wonder Miss Annie specially chose this battle environment filled with bushes. The bushes and shrubs that can perfectly hide one’s figure are the best place for the Leaf-eared Cat to perform!”
“Most importantly, not only are the tall and dense trees limiting the Metal-feathered Eagle’s vision along with the bushes, but if the Metal-feathered Eagle tries to capture the figure of the Leaf-eared Cat, who is hiding in the bushes, by lowering its flying height, the Leaf-eared Cat can also use the tall trees as a springboard and seize the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on the Metal-feathered Eagle!”
“…”
Just as the spectators had speculated previously, the battle had just begun when Annie’s Leaf-eared Cat displayed the advantage the battle environment had given it.
Using the bushes and trees as cover, the cat hid its body completely in this green venue.
Moreover, it would move through the bushes from time to time to try and distract the Metal-feathered Eagle by making a sound.
At that moment, the Leaf-eared Cat was like an experienced hunter hiding in the dark.
It had been waiting for an opportunity.
A chance to defeat its enemy in one move and win.
Annie, who was standing outside the arena, gradually became serious after the battle began.
As the Beast Tamer of the Leaf-eared Cat, she was the other eye of the Leaf-eared Cat as she commanded it to fight from outside the arena.
Thus, her gaze was also focused on the Metal-feathered Eagle in the sky.
As long as the Metal-feathered Eagle revealed a loophole because it relaxed, she would seize this opportunity.
She would command the Leaf-eared Cat hiding in the bushes to attack the Metal-feathered Eagle.
Regarding this, as the umpire responsible for observing the entire venue, Hash could not help but nod and look at Annie in approval.
This was because the spirit beast that Elite Beast Tamer Hash had contracted, the Tree-tailed Alligator Snapping Turtle, was also a plant-type spirit beast.
Hash, who had started training the Tree-tailed Alligator Snapping Turtle from the time it was a Bronze-rank one-star spirit beast, knew very well that the attacking ability of a plant-type spirit beast was actually not strong.
Hmm… Compared to the recording from when Miss Annie challenged Starlux Gym, not only has she perfected her strategy before the battle, but the strategy she came up with is also very suitable for the current Leaf-eared Cat.
In that case, Giles, if you are currently accepting the challenge as the Gym Leader of Starlux Gym, how will you deal with the current predicament?”
Due to the Metal-feathered Eagle’s current predicament, Annie had predicted this battle environment in advance.
Hence, when Hash thought of this, she instinctively looked in Giles’ direction out of curiosity.
However, to Hash’s surprise, Giles was not nervous or flustered at all by the fact that he could not catch sight of the Leaf-eared Cat.
On the contrary, Giles was actually looking at Annie in admiration like she had done just now.
With a smile on his face, he even sighed softly.
Annie, it hasn’t even been a month since we last met. You and your Leaf-eared Cat have improved greatly!
The Leaf-eared Cat can now use the bushes to completely hide its body. Furthermore, after its size increased, not only did its speed not decrease, but it even increased greatly.
The reason should be that after it evolved from a Green-tailed Cat to a Leaf-eared Cat, its previous innate skill, ‘Leaf Disguise’, was enhanced.”
Ever since Giles started managing Starlux Gym last month, he had fought and trained with Annie several times.
Therefore, he clearly remembered that Annie’s Green-tailed Cat’s innate skill was ‘Leaf Disguise’.
When the Green-tailed Cat was in an environment with higher concentration of plant-type spiritual energy like grassland and shrubs, it could activate its innate skill, ‘Leaf Disguise’.
It would make its pure white and flawless fur have green patterns that were similar to the color of the surrounding grassland or bushes.
Under this camouflage skill that was similar to that of a chameleon, it was usually very difficult for the opponent to find the Green-tailed Cat that was remaining still and waiting for an opportunity in the green bushes.
Now, Annie’s Green-tailed Cat had evolved into a Leaf-eared Cat.
Under normal circumstances, if a spirit beast did not assimilate a new innate skill after its evolution, in that case, its previous innate skill would definitely be enhanced by its evolution.
Thus, as Annie’s Leaf-eared Cat began to move through the bushes, Giles realized that its innate skill had been enhanced after its evolution.
This was because when it was still a Green-tailed Cat, if it activated its innate skill, ‘Leaf Disguise’, it would basically not move.
Furthermore, even if it moved, it would only move softly and slowly. It would not deliberately create noise by rustling the leaves to distract the opponent like now.
In Giles’ opinion, Annie had especially devised this tactic for the Leaf-eared Cat.
That meant that she was extremely confident in the Leaf-eared Cat’s innate skill, ‘Leaf Disguise’.
Clearly, the Leaf-eared Cat’s performance in this battle environment did not disappoint Annie.
Not only did it not expose itself when it moved, but it also moved very quickly through the bushes.
Facing a spirit beast that was good at hiding its body like the Leaf-eared Cat, the reason Giles could easily win his match against Annie last month was also because his Gold-rank spirit beast, the Swan Beast, had the skill ‘Wind Wings’ that could create a gale to sweep across the entire arena.
It used the howling wind to forcefully blow the Leaf-eared Cat out of its hiding spot in the arena.
This was indeed the best solution for the current predicament.
However, although Giles’ Metal-feathered Eagle was also a flying bird-type spirit beast, as the Metal-feathered Eagle had yet to grasp its balance for a period of time before this, therefore, during the past two weeks of training, Giles did not let the Metal-feathered Eagle learn the skill ‘Wind Wings’.
However, even if the Metal-feathered Eagle hadn’t learned the skill ‘Wind Wings’, the so-called ‘predicament’ in front of it was actually not a problem.
Metal-feathered Eagle, your moving target training in the past two weeks wasn’t for nothing.
At the thought of this, Giles raised his head slightly and looked at the Metal-feathered Eagle flying above the arena.
He saw the Metal-feathered Eagle staring intently at a bush in the arena.
As if sensing Giles’ gaze, the Metal-feathered Eagle communicated with Giles telepathically to send him a message, “Giles, I’ve found it!”