After Serena chose the continuous recovery of Aqua Ring, Jace understood exactly what she was planning—nothing more than the endurance battle she excelled at.
"Too bad—when Cute Charm didn't trigger, you'd already strayed too far from victory this match. And Aqua Ring... haha."
Jace chuckled softly, then commanded Arcanine to attack again.
"Arcanine, Wild Charge!"
Another Wild Charge—but unlike last time, both Milotic and Serena were completely focused now, waiting for Arcanine's arrival.
Arcanine, boosted by Extreme Speed, moved incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, he'd already reached Milotic's side.
"Dragon Tail!"
Serena steeled herself. The reason she hadn't used Recover directly was because she wanted to give Jace an opportunity.
Give Jace a chance to charge in again. That way, she could use Dragon Tail to block Arcanine's assault and use Dragon Tail's effect to forcibly drag Jace's Charizard onto the field.
"BOOM!"
The two collided. Dragon Tail didn't completely block Arcanine's charge—Milotic's body bore some scars from the rampaging lightning.
But fortunately, the strategic objective was complete. Relying on Dragon Tail's effect, Arcanine had already been slapped back into his Poké Ball.
"Go, Charizard!"
"Milotic, Hydro Pump!"
The moment Jace threw out his Poké Ball, Serena had already commanded Milotic to attack.
"Charizard, Mega Evolution!"
"ROAR!"
"Fire!"
As Charizard evolved, Milotic's charged Hydro Pump slammed toward the just-landed Charizard.
"What a shame."
Jace shook his head. All of Serena's responses had been simulated in Jace's mind.
Including when Serena deliberately used Aqua Ring to lure Jace into attacking—Jace had played along with Serena's plan and launched his assault.
Originally, according to Jace's thinking—if Serena had used Recover directly, he would have immediately recalled Arcanine after using Sunny Day to change the weather and switched to Charizard.
If Serena had Milotic use Aqua Ring instead, then Serena's plan would be to use Dragon Tail to forcibly drag Charizard onto the field. So Jace played along—might as well cooperate and save me from actively switching Pokémon.
Serena's reasoning wasn't wrong. Between Charizard and Arcanine, Milotic would definitely have an easier time against Charizard.
Arcanine had Electric-type moves that countered her—Charizard didn't. Arcanine had already used Sunny Day to change the weather, so when Charizard came out, his Drought ability would be useless—essentially robbing Charizard of one ability.
It was a good plan, the logic was clear, and she'd executed it in practice. But what she hadn't anticipated was...
"Mega Charizard X?!"
Serena cried out in shock. At this moment, she'd completely abandoned any thought of maintaining her ladylike image.
"How could this be?"
Serena was now thoroughly flustered. Though Auron had explained the differences between the two Charizard and she knew how to distinguish them by name, she didn't know what different abilities or types the two Charizard actually had—Auron hadn't said!
That's right—what Jace was carrying this time wasn't the original Charizardite Y, but had been swapped for Charizardite X.
Compared to the Fire/Flying-type Mega Charizard Y, the Fire/Dragon-type Mega Charizard X had a much better type advantage.
Similarly, Mega Charizard X's Tough Claws ability and mixed attacker characteristics made him far more suitable for battling Pokémon like Milotic with sky-high Special Defense.
Only after Mega Charizard X appeared did Jace laugh openly and arrogantly without hiding it.
"Charizard! Thunder Punch!"
Hydro Pump struck Mega Charizard X. Because of Mega Charizard X's Dragon-type Water resistance, this Hydro Pump didn't do much damage to Charizard at all.
Mega Charizard X beat his wings once and charged rapidly toward Milotic.
"Milotic, Aqua Tail!"
"BANG!"
"CRACKLE!"
The two collided. Though Thunder Punch's force was reduced by more than half, the Electric-type attack still struck Milotic's body.
"Dragon Claw!"
Seizing the moment—in the instant when the electricity briefly paralyzed Milotic—Mega Charizard X raised his hand and struck with Dragon Claw on Milotic's body.
At the same time, hearts appeared in Mega Charizard X's eyes, though they quickly disappeared.
Because the source of the Infatuation status—Milotic—had already lost the ability to battle and collapsed with swirly eyes.
"Milotic 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."
Serena bit her lip lightly, recalling Milotic with slight irritation. Things had exceeded her expectations and were developing in directions she couldn't imagine.
"Go, Cloyster!"
By the time Cloyster appeared, Mega Charizard X had already completed one Dragon Dance boost.
There was no helping it—the two Charizard were blood brothers, so basically whatever Auron's Charizard knew, Jace's Charizard also knew.
Similarly, whatever Jace's Charizard knew, Auron's Charizard also knew. Moreover, Auron's Charizard could also Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard Y.
After all, their private evolution training wasn't just evolving into the same type.
"Rock Blast!"
The just-appeared Cloyster quickly formed hard rocks and rapidly fired them at Charizard.
Mega Charizard X simply ignited his fist with flames, punching through one rock first, then nimbly dodging the subsequent rocks while rapidly charging toward Cloyster.
"Cloyster, Withdraw!"
Cloyster quickly withdrew into her shell. The entire shell closed completely, leaving only spikes glinting coldly in the sunlight.
"BANG!"
Though Charizard changed tactics at the last moment—switching Fire Punch to Thunder Punch and avoiding the spikes on Cloyster's shell—one punch struck Cloyster's shell.
But this strike's damage only made Cloyster shake slightly. It barely made any impact.
"Cloyster, Iron Defense!"
Seeing Cloyster block Charizard's assault, Serena finally breathed a sigh of relief and commanded Cloyster to strengthen her defense again.
"What a shame."
Both Jace on the field and Auron below shook their heads simultaneously. Too bad—if Serena had Shell Smashed and gone all-in, she might not necessarily have lost to Charizard.
After all, Rock Blast's double damage, under the Skill Link ability, would mean Mega Charizard X couldn't withstand many hits.
And just endlessly boosting defense? Mega Charizard Y's Special Attack was stronger than his Attack—but that didn't mean Mega Charizard X's Attack was stronger than his Special Attack!
"Charizard, Flamethrower!"
Sure enough, Jace directly chose to use Flamethrower.
Water/Ice-type Pokémon facing Fire-type attacks—they just weren't weak to it, weren't resisted by it. Normal damage.
So even though the Sunny Day weather had already dissipated, Mega Charizard X's Flamethrower still scorched Cloyster right out of her shell.
"Cloyster has lost the ability to battle! Mega Charizard wins! The victor of this match is Jace Rowan!"