Following Agatha, the various Gym Leaders entered the competition arena. The referee was already waiting at the center for their arrival. Once Feng Che and Janine had taken their positions on the battlefield, the referee began to announce the rules.
"The first match: Feng Che of Viridian Gym vs. Janine of Fuchsia Gym."
Janine bowed modestly toward Feng Che. "Allow me to make up for my father's previous regrets. Please, Mr. Feng Che, fight me with all your strength. For this battle, I will use a special Poison-type Pokémon bred at the Fuchsia Gym. I want to show you the power of our 'Single-Strike Style' ninja arts. Please forgive any offense I may cause."
As she spoke, Janine pulled out a Poké Ball shaped like a shuriken. "Go, Muk!"
She hurled the shuriken into the air, and it spun rapidly before releasing Muk. The moment it materialized, a foul stench filled the arena. It smelled like socks that hadn't been washed for a month; Feng Che immediately used his psychic power to block his sense of smell.
Sabrina, sitting in the stands, let out a cold snort. She deployed a psychic barrier around the spectator area to prevent the odor from spreading to the audience.
"Sabrina, thank you so much. I could hardly stand that smell," Misty said, thanking the icy girl.
"Don't mention it. I did it for myself as well," Sabrina responded, her voice as detached as ever.
"Go, Sigilyph," Feng Che released his Pokémon.
"Muk, use Minimize!" Janine commanded. Her Muk was silver-white—a Shiny variant. It was massive, its body covering nearly two square meters of the ground. This Muk possessed Gym-leader level strength, as did the Sigilyph Feng Che chose to use (one of his secondary team members kept at the Gym).
Muk rapidly shrank until it was only the size of a thumb, squirming quickly across the floor.
"Sigilyph, use Confusion."
Sigilyph cast a psychic wave over the ground, bathing the area in a purplish-red glow. However, Janine's Muk was incredibly slippery; Sigilyph's telekinesis struggled to pin down the tiny, moving target.
"Muk, Sludge Bomb!"
Despite its reduced size, the power of Muk's skills had not diminished. It opened its mouth and fired a volley of purple-black sludge. The sludge projectiles shot toward Sigilyph like bullets but were intercepted mid-air by Sigilyph's psychic barrier.
"Muk, detonate the bombs!" Janine shouted decisively.
Boom!
The sludge projectiles exploded in mid-air, instantly filling the battlefield with thick, purplish-black smoke. Knowing the smoke was highly toxic, Feng Che ordered Sigilyph to isolate itself with psychic energy. Sigilyph's eyes glowed blue, and a spherical barrier formed around its body, blocking out the fumes.
Tch, the psychic barrier is holding, Janine thought, clenching her fists. The toxins were supposed to seep through the pores. If Sigilyph gets poisoned, this battle becomes much easier.
"Sigilyph, Air Cutter!"
At Feng Che's command, Sigilyph flapped its wings violently. Dozens of thumb-sized blades of air coalesced around it before raining down on the floor. A series of sharp pops echoed as the air blades dispersed the toxic smoke, but the impact with the ground kicked up even more dust. For a moment, visibility in the arena dropped to zero.
However, both Feng Che and Sigilyph were using telepathy and psychic senses to track Muk's exact location.
"Muk, Double Team!"
Suddenly, countless squirming Muks appeared on the floor, surging toward Sigilyph like a foul tide. Simultaneously, they exhaled a fresh wave of toxic gas.
"Sigilyph, Hurricane!"
Sigilyph beat its wings, creating powerful gusts of wind. Yet, even as the purple smoke was buffeted by the gale, it stubbornly clung to the battlefield.
"This toxic smoke is a special blend," Janine explained to Feng Che. "It won't be blown away even by a storm."
The Koga clan's mastery of toxins is truly top-tier, Feng Che mused. Janine has inherited much of her father's talent; her Poison-types are quite troublesome.
To deal with such a nuisance, the best method was Future Sight. At the start of the match, Feng Che had already quietly signaled Sigilyph to set the move in motion.
"Sigilyph, enough playing around. Use Miracle Eye!"
Sigilyph's eyes flashed with a brilliant white light. Struck by the radiance, Janine's Muk was suddenly unable to hide its true form or evade psychic tracking. Sigilyph then channeled a blast of wind directly at the real Muk.
"Muk, grow large and use Thunderbolt!"
Muk was a Pokémon capable of learning a vast array of moves. Beyond physical attacks, it could learn moves like Flamethrower and Thunderbolt. Growing back to its normal size, Muk used its massive weight to anchor itself against the wind and discharged golden arcs of electricity. The sparks coalesced into a snarling dragon of lightning that lunged at Sigilyph.
"Sigilyph, Protect!"
A milky-white shield appeared before Sigilyph. The lightning dragon slammed into it and dissipated. At that moment, Sigilyph's Air Cutter struck Muk. Since Muk had returned to its normal size, it was an easy target. The air blades sliced through Muk, separating its body into several pieces.
However, the pieces quickly squirmed and merged back together, reforming Muk in seconds.
I see, Janine's Muk has mastered a high-speed regeneration technique, Agatha thought to herself. In this state, it's practically impervious to physical harm. Janine is evolving the clan's poison arts in her own way; she may well become a Poison Master.
But Feng Che is even more surprising, Agatha continued. That Sigilyph is clearly one of his third-tier Pokémon. It seems that after this training camp, the World League will likely scout him to serve as an Elite Four member in another region. I know Hoenn and Unova have vacancies—Unova especially. I need to start considering a successor for the Viridian Gym.
The shrewd Agatha was already planning for the future. She knew Feng Che wouldn't be tied to a local Gym for long, and Viridian City was too strategic to be left without a strong guardian.