Alex returned to his private waiting room and sat down in front of the large television, which was already showing the introductions for the second semifinal.
The upcoming match was a 3-on-3 battle between Winona and Amber.
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Participant 1: Winona: 58.66
Pokémon: Noctowl LV 56, Tropius LV 58, Pelipper LV 58, Dragonite LV 59, Skarmory LV 60, Altaria LV 61
VS:
Participant 4: Amber: 56.66
Pokémon: Gardevoir LV 54, Dusclops LV 54, Walrein LV 55, Salamence LV 55, Blaziken LV 60, Entei LV 62
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Alex studied both teams for a moment.
Although the battle was only a 3-on-3, he still believed the matchup favored Winona. The advantage simply wasn't as overwhelming as it would have been in a full 6-on-6 battle, where Winona's deeper and more balanced team would have had far more opportunities to wear Amber down.
Winona held a modest overall level advantage, and her ace, Altaria, also had a favorable matchup against Amber's two strongest Pokémon. As a Dragon/Flying type, it resisted both Fire- and Fighting-type attacks, making it difficult for Entei and Blaziken to pressure it directly wit STAB moves.
The only noticeable weak point on Winona's team was Skarmory. It had a poor matchup against Amber's two strongest Pokémon, both of whom could threaten it with powerful Fire-type attacks.
Even so, Alex still considered Winona the favorite.
If he had to estimate the odds, he would give Winona roughly a seventy-percent chance of winning. The remaining thirty percent depended on Amber finding a favorable matchup and allowing Entei to take control of the battle, much like it had against Nadia.
Alex waited for the match to begin, and it didn't take long before the referee gave the signal for the semifinal to start.
Without any hesitation, both Winona and Amber chose to send out the strongest Pokémon on their respective teams as their opening choices.
Altaria and Entei—both Champion-level Pokémon—appeared on opposite sides of the battlefield, immediately drawing a loud reaction from the audience.
The moment Alex saw those two Pokémon facing each other, he instinctively felt that Winona's chances of winning had increased considerably.
Altaria was the only member of Winona's team capable of reliably standing up to Entei, and if she could even trade one-for-one with the Legendary Pokémon, the remainder of the battle would become heavily favorable for Winona.
Both Pokémon prepared their moves as they maneuvered across the arena. Altaria, being slower than Entei, tried to flee but failed to escape.
Alex then looked surprised as he witnessed something extraordinary.
Entei used Stone Edge; it landed a hit and dealt heavy damage to Altaria, though that wasn't what truly shocked him.
What surprised him was Altaria's move.
Altaria used a Master Rank version of Perish Song, successfully hitting Entei, who was within range.
Alex was so surprised because he knew there were moves in this world that were extremely rare and couldn't be stored in TMs.
A Pokémon could only possess it if it had been born with the move as one of its Innate Talent Moves, making every Pokémon capable of using it extraordinarily valuable.
Alex knew that the move's rarity alone made Pokémon with Perish Song highly sought after by collectors, breeders, and professional trainers alike, but its incredible power was the true reason why it was considered so valuable.
At the Master Rank, Perish Song could even affect Pokémon that were up to three levels stronger than the user, making it one of the few moves capable of threatening opponents who would normally be considered overwhelmingly superior.
Making it ridiculously overpowered—essentially a near-guaranteed delay KO.
Perish Song is a time-based KO move that placed an invisible countdown on every Pokémon (that the user want) affected by the song, and once that countdown reached its end, the affected Pokémon would inevitably collapse regardless of how much stamina or HP it still possessed.
The exact duration of that countdown depended primarily on two factors: the difference in level between the user and the target, and the user's mastery of the move itself.
However, even with the maximum level difference, the move never took more than a few dozen seconds to defeat the opponent. Not to mention that this move still worked even if the user had already fainted.
Whether in the wild or in a tournament setting, this move was basically impossible to counter unless you stayed out of range from the start or used Protect to block it (using Protect before the move hit, not when the timer ran out).
For the rest of the match, Altaria resorted to using only Roost and running away from Entei—a strategy that was somewhat successful thanks to the arena's unique layout.
Because there was water in the center of the arena and Altaria could fly, it was able to create some distance and buy a bit of time.
Although Altaria's Roost couldn't outheal the damage from Stone Edge, but it didn't need to.
By combining Roost with a single use of Protect, it managed to stall long enough for the Perish Song countdown to finish.
Alex watched as Entei collapsed, feeling that this was the most disgusting tactic he had ever seen.
He didn't mean this in a negative way; rather, he was impressed by how powerful and effective the tactic was.
The rest of the match was predictable once Entei had been defeated.
Altaria, left with only a third of its HP after the battle with Entei, managed to deal heavy damage to the next Pokémon, Blaziken, before finally fainting itself.
In the end, Winona won the match relatively easily.
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