Chapter 273 Beast Battle Commence!

Surprisingly, the park was rather sizable, betraying Satoshi's assumption that it was a miniature park with tracks around it. The park was located near the Urass Forest so the trees there were of the same species as the ones in the forest. Adding to that, the forest gave it a natural boundary as well as a tranquil feeling— a feeling one would get when one stood by the edge of the forest.

A cold gentle breeze lightly brushed agains Satoshi's cheeks as he assumed his position on the opposite side of the field. This field was one of the few open areas wherein anyone can have a beast battle as long as they are mindful of their surroundings. After all, certain beasts could actually go out of control when a beast tamer wasn't careful, hence the sign posted by the side of the field indicating that one shouldn't leave their beasts unattended.

There was nothing surprising about the two people walking into the open field to have a beast battle. This is just a common occurrence everywhere in the NIchijou Region so the people didn't bother looking at the general direction of Satoshi.

Then again, there were those who actually look forward to the fight and would stay by the park just so he or she could witness one. Most of these types of people are interviewers, or beast tamers seeking inspiration from spontaneous beast battles. The small minority of this group included the beast tamers who are looking to fight other beast tamers.

"I'm going to use three of my tamed beasts. We're going to have a three-on-three fight and the one who doesn't have any available tamed beasts would be the winner. How does that sound, Satoshi?" Bug catcher Ray called out, raising his voice so loud that almost everyone at the park heard his announcement. He was a well-known trainer in the city since he only uses bug-type beasts, but no one particularly looked forward to seeing him fight so there was no audience.

Frankly, Satoshi had no idea how the fight would go so he just nodded along at the conditions. He figured that he'd win anyways if he used his White Lion. He didn't bother using his fire familiar Lighter, or his fire-type Alpha Red Salamander since that would be unfair to his opponent. At the very least, White Lion is more in the blue lightning family which is of the electric type. Bug types aren't particularly weak to electric and electric types aren't weak to bug types either so this would be a fair fight with balanced advantages for both parties.

"Ash," Satoshi called from the sidelines before Ash could officially announce the commencement of the fight. Ash instantly nodded towards him before approaching him/

"Yup? What is it?" Ash asked in a lighthearted manner, relaxedly patting Satoshi on the shoulders as he eagerly waited for his question.

"I... this is actually my first time having an official beast battle so..." Satoshi trailed off, averting his gaze from Ash in embarrassment as he scratched his head. "I have no idea how the beast battle would go. Can you explain the rules?"

"Sure, why not. Everyone needs a little refresher from time to time. And the same could be said for beginners who had no idea how a beast battle goes." Ash shrugged before twirling his index finger in front of Satoshi. "Leave it to me."

Without further ado, Ash then went on to explain the general rules when it comes to beast battles. First and foremost, there was the quantity of the tamed beasts that one would use. The number of tamed beasts in the battle would be decided before the beast battle actually started. This wasn't a rule, but more like an etiquette since it would be awful if someone used more tamed beasts than their opponent.

The second rule was the type limitations. Some battles would require that you only use certain types of tamed beasts but that usually just happens in an official tournament. A casual fight wouldn't implement such a rule.

Third, there shouldn't be any interruptions when it comes to the fight. People stepping inside the ring, throwing grens at the opposing pokemon, and any form of foul play is frowned upon in a beast battle.

"That's way easier than I thought. I'm sure I'd be able to remember such rules. Thanks." Satoshi said, flashing a thumbs up toward Ash before he headed back to his previous spot as the referee.

"Now that that's settled with... let's have a fair battle between bug catcher Ray and Midoriyama Satoshi. I will be the acting referee for this beast battle, and if there won't be any objections, let the fight commence!"

"Go Scythewrath!" Bug catcher Ray called out, throwing out a Gren (as mentioned before, Gren is a type of dimensional storage that allows one to keep their beasts in their pockets. For the lack of a better term and for easier understanding, a Gren resembles a Pok*ball in its functions... however, it looks more like a grenade than a P*keball.)

Scythewrath is a bug grass-type beast that looks like a usual trilobite from Earth. However, it has two scythes as appendages and is more than three times the size of a normal trilobite from Earth. Aside from that, it has cute google eyes from the side of its face, giving it a nice cutesy vibe despite its threatening carapace. It let out a shrill growl as it hyped itself up for the beast battle.

"AAAND! Bug catcher Ray brings out one of his favorite bug-type tamed beasts! His Scythewrath!" Ash announced, much to the surprise of everyone in the park.

"Wow, that looks so cool and cute at the same time," Satoshi called out, pretending to rummage through his pockets for a Gren and then throwing it. "Let's go, White Lion!" Satoshi called out.

Due to the sudden announcement of Ash Grey as a referee, some of the park-goers that didn't even bat an eye at the fight were suddenly interested. After all, it wasn't every day that they see Ash Grey spectate and act as a referee in a fight. And when they saw that the entire Grey family was overseeing the match, they couldn't help but wonder why. This was the first time they saw Satoshi in the city so they had no idea what kind of beast tamer he was. But judging from his appearance, he must've come from a distant country.

"Look, even our region's beast master is watching. This fight is going to come down pretty well/"

"I know right, why don't we watch it? Ash Grey acting as the referee is a treat to watch due to his vast knowledge when it comes to tamed beasts. It's not every day we see ourselves in for a treat."

"Mom, I want to see the beast battle, can we watch it?"

"Oh, what's going on? Ash Grey is supervising a match? That's new."

"Right? This is rarer than a comet falling from the sky. We should watch this."

Slowly, a crowd started forming around the open field wherein Satoshi and Bug catcher Ray was about to have their match. They somehow felt nervous as they saw the ever-growing crowd. A few seconds later, the stalls that littered the park surrounded the open field as well, creating a spontaneous mini-festival right then and there.

"What's going on?" Satoshi asked, forcing a smile on his face as he felt his nerves get the better of him... just a little bit.

"Wow, who'd have thought these people would come to watch us." Bug catcher Ray said to himself, rubbing his nose. "Don't you get all jittery on me now, Satoshi. We have a fight, right?"

"You don't have to remind me."

Meanwhile, everyone started muttering, pointing at Satoshi's White Lion as they realized that it was an Altered Type— a rare occurrence wherein a beast's color is different from its normal counterpart. Some speculate that it comes from rare genetics that allows a tamed beast to become slightly stronger than most of its counterparts. In turn, the Altered Types color would be different from the usual.

"I've never seen an Altered Type White Lion before."

"It looks so fluffy! I wanna touch it, mom!"

"It's beautiful, I've looked at it for hours now."

"Yeah, it's pretty. I wanna tame one someday."

"Even though your tamed beast is an Altered Type, we all know that it comes down to how you raised your tamed beast. My Scythewrath and I had been companions for years now, there's no way we'd lose to your White Lion." Bug catcher Ray said.

"AND ON THE OTHER SIDE! We have Midoriyama Satoshi with his surprising and rare Altered Type White Lion! This is going to be a really challenging fight since the type advantages are even in this match. An electric type against a bug type, interesting..."

Ash then raised his hand in the air before he screamed at the top of his lungs. "LET THE BEAST BATTLE BEGIN!" He let out, prompting the spectators to cheer and yell as the fight commenced.