Watching Serena's expression, Auron suddenly felt something stir in his chest—as if something were bumping around inside his heart.
Auron steadied himself and explained: "How could that be? The main issue is that this kind of thing is just too hard to explain. If I didn't let you see the result first and just told you directly—would you have believed that Charizard could evolve again?"
Everyone froze. Tim and Simon both shook their heads simultaneously. "True. If we hadn't already seen the result, and you'd just told us Charizard could evolve again—I'd have thought you'd lost your mind."
Auron spread his hands and looked at everyone with an innocent expression. "See? That's exactly it."
"Then Master, which other Pokémon from your research can evolve again? Do I have any Pokémon that can evolve further?"
"You do. After Vibrava evolves into Flygon, it can evolve again." Auron nodded.
At that, everyone's eyes lit up. They all started talking over each other, bombarding Auron with questions.
"What about mine? What about mine?"
"Right—which of my Pokémon can evolve further?"
"Can Milotic do it? Will it be even more beautiful after evolving?"
Seeing everyone's excitement, Auron's head started to pound.
"Don't rush, don't rush—one at a time."
After calming everyone down, Auron spoke: "Here's the thing—calling it a 'fourth-stage evolution' is... well, it's correct, but not entirely correct. Once this whole thing is fully demonstrated and explained properly, I'll tell you everything, okay?"
After Auron finished speaking and saw everyone starting to get restless again, he quickly continued: "Of course, it won't take long at all. As soon as the tournament ends and we're on break, I'll take you all through the full explanation. How's that?"
"Sounds good!"
"Now that's more like it."
"Mm, a bit slow, but acceptable."
Watching everyone begin excitedly discussing which of their Pokémon could evolve, Auron finally breathed a sigh of relief.
While Auron relaxed, the outside world was buzzing with excitement over his Mega Charizard X.
After watching that match, everyone—from the professors and school leadership in the VIP box to the student parents, business people, celebrities, and others in the audience—had begun mobilizing their social circles and networks, searching desperately for any information about Mega Charizard.
Though this had nothing to do with Auron. Right now, he was just feeling a bit melancholy. After showing off on such a grand scale during the match, why hadn't anyone from the VIP box come to ask him about it?
It made Auron feel like his show-off moment had been incomplete somehow—flawed. It felt really unsatisfying.
"Finally my turn!"
The moment Jace saw the current match end, he immediately rushed to the edge of the field, ready to head up the instant the previous contestant came down.
"Let's welcome our next contestants—Jace Rowan! Hu Lianna! Please take the field."
Jace couldn't wait. Under the startled gaze of the contestant who'd just stepped down, he strode onto the field.
Though his emotions were running high, with this many people watching, he still needed to maintain his image. He couldn't just leap onto the platform—that would look terrible.
Before long, both contestants were in position.
"Both contestants, release your Pokémon."
"Go, Charizard!"
"Go, Crabrawler!"
"Charizard! Another shiny Charizard just like contestant Auron's! Are this year's freshmen really this lucky? We've already seen two shiny Pokémon!"
Up in the commentary booth, seeing Jace's shiny Charizard, the commentator could no longer contain his surging emotions.
In their view, shinies represented pure, unadulterated luck—nothing else mattered. That was why they were so excited.
Ignoring the commentator's emotional surge and paying no mind to the commotion in the audience, the referee—though somewhat excited—still brought down the flag in his hand with practiced calm.
"Swish!"
The flag fell. The battle began.
Jace smiled slightly. Following Auron's example, without any extraneous movements, he pressed his right hand directly against the Key Stone.
He kept in mind what Auron had told him: "Only the most effortlessly casual show-off can create the most explosive reaction."
"What! Is! He! Doing?!"
The commentator in the booth immediately noticed the movement and cried out in alarm.
After all, the last person who'd done this—his Charizard had undergone an unbelievable fourth-stage evolution.
And now, not even much time had passed, and here was another person making the exact same motion. Same motion, same shiny Charizard—it was hard not to make the connection.
"Charizard, Mega Evolution!"
The moment evolution light appeared around Charizard, the arena fell silent once again. Everyone craned their necks to watch the scene unfold.
"ROAR!"
The evolution light dissipated. A black Mega Charizard Y appeared before the opponent and the audience.
Everyone froze. A second evolution form? Or was it...
"Evolution error?"
The commentator spoke the words with utter disbelief.
"But that's completely impossible! Could this be a new evolution form?"
"It has to be—a new evolution form, just like Gardevoir and Gallade." The commentator quickly settled on his hypothesis, because the weather on the field had changed.
"Intense sunlight! I can confirm this Mega Charizard is another evolution path, because the previous green Mega Charizard didn't change the weather just by entering the field!"
"Mega Charizard Y, Flamethrower!"
Charizard's action snapped the opponent out of her shock as well.
Jealousy began to take hold. She had to win this match. She had to defeat this Mega Charizard—to prove that she wasn't just background scenery, but part of a legendary moment!
"Crabrawler, Ice Hammer!"
Just as Mega Charizard Y rapidly closed in on Crabrawler, Hu Lianna spotted her opportunity and commanded Crabrawler to use its signature move Ice Hammer to attack the approaching Mega Charizard Y.
But what she didn't realize was that Mega Charizard Y had only closed the distance to ensure Flamethrower would hit.
"Crabrawler's fist is glowing with icy light—Mega Charizard is in danger! Getting this close makes it easy for Crabrawler to knock him down!"
"But Mega Charizard didn't get right in his face—staying just outside Crabrawler's attack range, he unleashed Flamethrower directly!"
Flamethrower engulfed Crabrawler's entire body in flames. Her plan to knock Mega Charizard down with a single punch ended before it could begin.
"Crabrawler?!"
"Crabrawler has lost the ability to battle. Contestant, please send out your next Pokémon. Failure to do so within the time limit results in a forfeit."
"Damn it!"
Looking at the swirly-eyed Crabrawler on the field and the cool black Charizard, Hu Lianna couldn't help but pound her palm in frustration.
"Return, Crabrawler."
After recalling Crabrawler, Hu Lianna took a deep breath. After calming herself down, she threw out her Poké Ball with ice-cold eyes.
"Go..."