"Dragon Rush!"
Zhong Lixing's heart leaped in alarm. Weren't we supposed to be probing each other? Why is he suddenly unleashing a finishing move?!
"Blastoise—quick! Withdraw into your shell!"
Watching Blastoise retreat into its shell, both Auron and the diving Mega Charizard X smirked at the same time.
"Dragon Tail!"
"SMACK!"
As Charizard closed in, he didn't collide directly with Blastoise's hard shell. Instead, he spun around and struck Blastoise with Dragon Tail, forcing it back into its Poké Ball.
Zhong Lixing froze for a moment before snapping back to reality. Gritting his teeth, he threw out another Poké Ball.
"Go, Clawitzer! Water Pulse!"
Seeing the Water Pulse that Clawitzer fired, Auron smiled inwardly. As expected—my opponent doesn't know that Mega Charizard X's typing is Fire/Dragon, not the previous Fire/Flying. Otherwise, he'd have used Dragon Pulse instead.
"Charizard, Dragon Claw!"
"Unbelievable! Mega Charizard is tanking the super-effective Water Pulse head-on, closing in and using Dragon Claw to send Clawitzer flying!"
Zhong Lixing gritted his teeth. "Why is this happening? Water Pulse doesn't seem to be doing any damage to Charizard at all!"
"Again—Dragon Claw!"
"Dark Pulse!"
"BOOM!"
"Once again—once again tanking the opponent's attack, once again striking Clawitzer! Clawitzer seems unable to withstand this kind of damage—you can see it—Clawitzer has lost the ability to battle!"
"Clawitzer 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—is it not Ghost type either? Dark blue-green—if it's not Ghost type, what else could it be?!"
Zhong Lixing recalled Clawitzer through gritted teeth. Though he'd guessed that Charizard's second evolution might have changed its type—
He had no idea what the new typing actually was. He could only judge based on Mega Charizard's appearance.
But he would never have guessed that Mega Charizard X was Dragon type—completely unrelated to the dark blue-green coloration. After all, he hadn't factored in that Charizard was shiny to begin with.
"Go, Blastoise! Rain Dance!"
"Interrupt him—Dragon Rush!"
As Charizard rapidly flew toward Blastoise, the corner of Zhong Lixing's mouth curved into a slight smile.
"Now—Surf!"
Just as Mega Charizard X closed in on Blastoise, Blastoise forcibly interrupted Rain Dance and instead unleashed a massive wave toward Charizard.
Watching the enormous wave approach, Auron bit down hard. "Charizard—crash through it!"
"BOOM!"
Charizard slammed headfirst into Blastoise. At the same time, the massive wave Blastoise had summoned crashed down on him.
"Mega Charizard 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."
"Phew~"
After taking a moment to compose himself, Auron calmly tossed out his next Poké Ball.
"Go, Clawitzer—Water Jet!"
Zhong Lixing had just been about to breathe a sigh of relief after Charizard fell—only to see Clawitzer rushing toward Blastoise at incredible speed.
Zhong Lixing's expression changed drastically. Without time to celebrate, he immediately ordered Blastoise to use Protect.
"Dark Snipe!"
Protect shattered under Clawitzer's Water Jet—but what came next left both Zhong Lixing and Blastoise completely unable to react.
Clawitzer's claw struck Blastoise's shell, flipping it over and sending it sprawling, unable to get back up.
"Blastoise has lost the ability to battle. Clawitzer wins. The victor of this match is Auron Vale."
The referee's declaration finally allowed Auron to relax. Without sparing another glance at the still-disbelieving Zhong Lixing, Auron recalled Clawitzer and headed off the field. He still needed to find Dax and ask him about this.
Auron left the field, but Zhong Lixing stood staring at Blastoise lying upside down on the ground with swirly eyes, sinking into deep confusion.
Why? Why had Clawitzer's move chain been so fast? Fast enough that neither he nor Blastoise could react?
Of course, he had no way of knowing that aside from working on learning Fire Punch, Clawitzer spent all his time training the proficiency of Water Jet, Knock Off, Dark Snipe, and Shell Blade.
If real-world proficiency had levels, Clawitzer's mastery of these moves had absolutely reached the pinnacle.
He'd practiced to the point where the instant Water Jet brought him face-to-face with an opponent, his claws instinctively followed up with Dark Snipe or Shell Blade.
"Contestant, you may exit the field."
The referee's words finally pulled Zhong Lixing out of his spiral of self-doubt.
Zhong Lixing looked up at the referee, then finally recalled Blastoise and headed off the field.
"Uncle Dax, are you still at the house?"
"Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"
"Nothing—I'll explain when I see you."
After hanging up, Auron glanced back once more at Zhong Lixing's retreating figure before striding toward his friends.
"You guys stay here. I've got something to take care of—heading back first."
"Need help?"
Seeing everyone's curious expressions, Auron shook his head. "No need. It's just a small matter."
"Alright, go ahead then."
Seeing Auron's serious expression, no one made any ill-timed jokes. They all told him to go handle whatever he needed to.
"Yeah. Keep it up—don't get eliminated."
Before leaving, Auron smiled and patted Jace on the shoulder.
"Don't worry—I'm going to meet you in the grand finals."
Jace grinned, completely ignoring Serena's eye roll.
"Mm. Good luck."
With that, Auron turned and left, heading toward his apartment.
Today, Auron had been the third among them to compete. Serena, who'd gone first, and Simon, who'd gone second, had both already won their matches. Only Jace remained.
Serena's luck continued to be absolutely extraordinary. After the main tournament started, she'd been the first to draw a special terrain—and it had been the water pool terrain at that.
The moment the terrain was revealed, Auron and the others had all sighed in amazement. She truly was Togetic reincarnated—her luck was simply unmatched.
"Uncle Dax, I discovered something important."
Auron pushed open the door to his apartment and addressed Dax, who was lounging on the sofa playing games with Metagross.
Over the past few days, Dax had been staying at Auron's place. Aside from attending the first day of the main tournament, he'd spent every other day planted on Auron's sofa, watching movies and playing games—the very picture of a shut-in.
"What is it?"
Dax didn't even turn his head. He and Metagross were in the middle of an intense match.
It had to be said—Metagross, with four brains, was truly something else. Even without hands and only using psychic powers to control the controller, he was wiping the floor with Dax.
Auron sighed helplessly and waited for Metagross to finish demolishing Dax before finally speaking.
"Uncle Dax, I found someone from Team Aqua at school. Not just anyone—the Team Aqua leader's son. Their young master."
Dax froze for a moment after hearing this, then broke into a strange smile.
"How did you figure out who he was?"