As the battle began on the field, the chancellor in the VIP box was bragging to Dax beside him.
"Let me tell you—that student on the field is someone I personally recruited."
"Which one?"
The old chancellor looked proud. "Greninja's trainer."
Hearing this, Dax's eyes rolled, and he said to the old chancellor: "So then, Teacher, who do you think will win this match?"
That's right—this old chancellor was Dax's former class advisor. Back when Dax was a student, he'd gotten along very well with this advisor.
The old chancellor looked at Dax suspiciously, feeling like the kid was up to no good.
But he'd already bragged. Making him swallow those words now—he still wanted to save face.
"Well, I think... the student I recruited will win."
Dax smiled as he watched the two on the field, pretending indifference. "I actually think the opponent will win. After all, it's Mega Evolution. That Greninja doesn't look too impressive to me."
Though Mega Evolution hadn't been publicly announced yet, for people at their level, this was no longer much of a secret.
"Bullshit!"
The old chancellor couldn't take it anymore. You're saying his Greninja isn't good enough? That's slapping me in the face!
"His Greninja is..."
"Hm? Is what?" The old chancellor's half-finished sentence left Dax confused too. Does this Greninja have something special about it?
The old chancellor's eyes rolled, and a plan immediately came to mind.
"How about this—let's make a bet. I'll bet my guy wins, you bet the opponent wins. How about it?"
"Mm... alright."
After pretending to think it over, Dax agreed.
The moment Dax agreed, both of them were secretly delighted.
"Got him."
Though they were happy inside, neither showed it on their faces.
"So, what are the stakes?"
"The stakes, the stakes will be..."
"Deal!"
As the bet was established below, the battle on the field didn't stop.
Air Slash cut through Water Pulse and continued flying toward Greninja.
But Greninja simply jumped lightly, dodging the Air Slash that had already lost most of its momentum.
"Not transforming? Looks like there are some differences from Ash after all."
Watching his opponent's Greninja, Auron's gaze shifted, and he understood what was going on.
In this situation, if Greninja could transform, the best move would be to transform immediately.
But Greninja remained as he was—which meant his Greninja was different from Ash's. They weren't connected heart-to-heart with the ability to transform at will.
Instead, it was more like the game version—needing to defeat an opponent first to trigger the ability.
Of course, it was also possible he could transform directly but chose not to, waiting for the right moment.
"If that's the case—Charizard, Thunder Punch!"
Mega Charizard X beat his wings once, eyes blazing as he rapidly charged toward Greninja, both fists crackling with electricity.
"Ice Beam!"
Greninja jumped back two steps, watching the charging Mega Charizard gravely. He exhaled a thick Ice Beam, trying to halt Charizard's advance.
But Charizard wasn't so easily hit. Air-to-ground already gave him the advantage, and recently Charizard had been learning aerial techniques from Crobat.
Though Greninja's Ice Beam was fast, Charizard was no slouch either. His agile form spun, dove, and climbed through the air, dodging the impacts of Greninja's ice beam.
Greninja was helpless. Seeing that Ice Beam couldn't stop Charizard's approach, he quickly changed tactics. While rapidly retreating to create distance, he silently gathered Dark-type energy in his hands.
In the end, Greninja's retreat speed still couldn't match Charizard's flight speed.
With nowhere left to retreat, Greninja had no choice but to steady himself and take Charizard's Thunder Punch head-on.
"BOOM!"
The two Pokémon collided. Under the clash of Thunder Punch and Sucker Punch, Greninja used the force to perform a backflip and once again create distance from Charizard.
"Well done!"
Wang Siyuan excitedly pumped his fist. Honestly speaking, he wasn't strong at commanding. He was decent enough at ordinary universities, but at a place like Skyspire, his commands always seemed a beat too slow compared to his opponents.
So his ability to make it this far relied heavily on Greninja's own performance.
After creating distance, Greninja stood straight, quietly in place. His unchanging expression made it impossible to guess his thoughts.
But in a place Wang Siyuan couldn't see, Greninja's right hand trembled slightly, and there was a patch of scorched black on his forearm where the lightning had burned him.
Greninja was standing quietly in place, but Charizard wasn't idle.
"Strike while the iron's hot"—this wasn't just something Auron said. In their regular training battles, Auron had always fought this way.
"Power-Up Punch! Block it!"
Seeing the lightning on Mega Charizard's hands, Wang Siyuan couldn't help but shout.
But with the boost from Tough Claws ability, plus the double damage of Electric against Water—what were you going to block with Power-Up Punch?
The instant Mega Charizard X made contact with Greninja, Greninja was sent flying.
Power-Up Punch couldn't stop Charizard's assault at all. It wasn't even as good as the Sucker Punch Greninja had used on his own initiative earlier.
At least with the guaranteed-hit property plus STAB bonus, even if he took the worse end of the exchange, it wouldn't be by much.
But this time? Greninja's Power-Up Punch was dodged by Charizard with a simple head tilt. Then Thunder Punch struck mercilessly, landing squarely on Greninja's body and sending him flying.
"Greninja!"
Greninja was sent flying backward and crashed heavily to the ground.
Then, hearing his trainer's anxious shout, he swayed unsteadily as he forced himself to stand.
After standing, Greninja panted heavily. He nodded to his trainer to show he was okay, then continued glaring intently at his opponent.
Watching Greninja's condition and Wang Siyuan's delighted expression, Auron felt slightly dissatisfied.
Greninja actually had very little stamina left—so little that if Charizard touched him now, he'd lose his ability to battle.
But Wang Siyuan still kept Greninja on the field instead of switching to his next Pokémon.
Though Auron had a vague idea why he was doing this, it didn't stop Auron from looking down on him.
Can't even see your own Pokémon's condition, yet you insist on forcing them to tough it out on the field—that's completely an unqualified trainer.
"Air Slash."
Auron shook his head and stopped dwelling on it. Other people's business was their own. What he needed to do was lead Charizard and the others to victory in this match.