"Hehe, no problem at all."
Jace perked right up. Finally—his turn was coming.
Sure enough, before long, Galvantula collapsed under Alolan Dugtrio's Earthquake.
And at that point, it was Jace's turn to take the field.
The two of them exchanged a glance, further confirming their earlier theory about the matchups being rigged.
Because Jace's opponent also wasn't anyone on the watch list.
"Give it your all. Don't screw this up. Everyone who's made it this far can't be underestimated."
"I get it. I've never looked down on anyone."
Facing Auron's reminder, Jace smiled lightly, his expression resolute as he headed onto the field.
He still had big plans ahead. He couldn't afford to fall before the finals this easily.
Once on the field, Jace had no intention of holding back. Right from the start, he had Charizard Mega Evolve.
Jace's opponent this round was the Politoed that had eliminated Peter during the qualifiers. Though Jace had the type disadvantage, he still cleanly defeated his opponent thanks to the sunny weather from Drought.
As he left the field, Jace even gave the camera a big thumbs-up.
"Peter—I avenged you."
After Jace came down, only Auron remained in the waiting room. After contestants finished their matches, they went straight out—after all, the round of ten to five wouldn't happen until this afternoon, by the looks of it.
After Jace's match ended, it was Auron's turn.
Hearing the announcement over the speakers, Auron and another contestant both stood and headed toward the field.
"I'm going to prove to them that I'm strong too." Jiao Wanli stared at the battlefield with complete seriousness, speaking to Auron without turning his head.
Watching his opponent's serious expression and bold declaration, Auron simply smiled without saying anything.
The world wasn't short on smart people. And the fact that everyone here had made it into Skyspire proved it—no one was dumb. Most people could see through the school's match arrangements.
But strength wasn't something you could change just by talking big or making bold declarations.
Auron never thought himself invincible, but he did have some confidence in his own abilities.
"Both contestants, release your Pokémon."
"Go, Coalossal!"
"Go, Clawitzer!"
Pokémon: Coalossal
Gender: Male
Type: Rock / Fire
Ability: Flash Fire (When hit by Fire-type moves, absorbs the flames, and Fire-type moves used by this Pokémon become stronger.)
Aptitude: Orange
Basic Moves: Tar Shot, Smokescreen, Tackle, Rapid Spin, Smack Down, Flame Charge, Rock Polish, Ancient Power, Burn Up, Stealth Rock, Flamethrower, Stone Edge
Inherited Moves: Block, Mud-Slap, Explosion
Seeing Auron send out Clawitzer, his opponent's expression darkened.
The reason he'd talked big before the match was because he'd been confident about this battle. After all, Auron's ace was Charizard. Against his Flash Fire Coalossal, not only would Fire and Flying moves be resisted, but his Coalossal's Rock-type attacks would deal quadruple damage. Obviously, he had the advantage.
But he hadn't expected things to go south right from the start. Auron—who always led with Charizard—had actually led with Clawitzer instead. This made his heart lurch with sudden panic. Something felt off.
Seeing that his opponent had indeed sent out Coalossal, Auron couldn't help but smile faintly.
It wasn't like he'd been sitting at home eating, drinking, and playing all day. Last night, Peter had sent him information on all nineteen remaining contestants and their battle Pokémon.
So when he'd learned his opponent had a Coalossal, he'd kept it in mind and led with Clawitzer instead of Charizard. After all, when faced with resistance plus quadruple weakness versus advantage, everyone knew which to choose.
Moreover, his opponent's other Pokémon also wasn't one that could give Clawitzer much trouble.
"Swish!"
After the two sides had engaged in a brief mental chess match, the flag signaling the battle's start dropped.
"Coalossal, Tar Shot!"
"Clawitzer, Water Jet!"
Auron's opponent gritted his teeth. Whatever—Tar Shot first to apply the debuff!
(Tar Shot: After using this move on a target, Fire-type moves will deal super-effective damage to that target. 100% chance to lower the target's Speed by one stage.)
Sticky tar splattered onto Clawitzer. Though his speed dropped, he'd already closed right up to Coalossal's face.
Shell Blade activated instinctively—one heavy claw strike slammed into Coalossal.
"Coalossal is down! The quadruple-damage Shell Blade combined with the earlier Water Jet took Coalossal out in one shot!"
Up in the commentary booth, the commentator leaped to his feet and roared with excitement.
The further into the tournament you went, the rarer these instant KO moments became.
On one hand, in 2v2 battles, if the type disadvantage was too severe, trainers would normally switch Pokémon. But Coalossal's trainer had been thinking he'd apply the Fire-weak status to Clawitzer, then scatter Stealth Rock before switching.
Who could have predicted his opponent would be so aggressive—closing in immediately and taking him out in one shot? Where was he supposed to complain about this?
"Coalossal 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."
His opponent took a deep breath. Feeling somewhat stifled, he recalled Coalossal with an ashen expression and sent out his next Pokémon.
"Go, Camerupt!"
That's right—Camerupt. This was exactly why he'd been trying to apply the Fire-weak status to Clawitzer.
Once the Fire-weak status was applied, Camerupt could come out and take Clawitzer down with a single Flamethrower. Then when his opponent switched to Charizard and took Stealth Rock damage, he'd switch in his Flash Fire Coalossal and just keep using Stone Edge for target practice.
Good plan—except he hadn't anticipated his Coalossal getting one-shot the instant it entered the field. This forced him to abandon his strategy against Charizard.
"Return, Clawitzer. Go, Charizard!"
The moment his opponent's Camerupt appeared, Auron smoothly switched out Clawitzer.
With the Fire-weak status, Clawitzer would get taken out by one Flamethrower from Camerupt. Keeping him on the field served no purpose—it was just handing over a free knockout.
"Charizard, Mega Evolution!"
Once on the field, without hesitation, Auron had Charizard Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X.
"BOOM!"
Flamethrower struck Mega Charizard X dead-on. But Fire/Dragon had quadruple Fire resistance, so the Flamethrower barely scratched Mega Charizard X.
"Charizard, Belly Drum!"
A slight smile crossed Auron's face. Strike while the iron's hot—finish him off.
"Graow!"
"Rock Slide!"
His opponent's expression changed drastically. He immediately had Camerupt use Rock Slide.
Even if it couldn't interrupt Charizard's Belly Drum, this Rock Slide could at least take down Charizard after Belly Drum finished.
Unfortunately, Rock Slide was too slow. By the time the rocks condensed above Mega Charizard X's head, Charizard had already completed Belly Drum and was charging toward Camerupt.
"Dragon Claw!"