On the battlefield, Aaron stared at the referee with tousled hair, who was still frozen in place even though his flag had already slipped from his hand.
"Your flag fell," Aaron reminded him.
"Can you announce the result now?"
"Sorry... sorry."
The referee finally snapped out of it. Looking embarrassed, he hurriedly picked up the flag and raised it.
"Zebstrika is unable to battle!"
"Darren, send out your final Pokémon!"
He glanced toward Darren, whose expression had turned grim, and silently observed three seconds of mourning for him.
A monster like this had shown up among the freshmen.
Darren was in trouble.
...
Darren recalled Zebstrika from the wall and pulled out one last Poké Ball.
His final Pokémon.
He stared at Aaron across the field and gritted his teeth.
"You're strong."
"But I'm not giving up."
"Come out! My last Pokémon!"
He hurled the Poké Ball forward.
A flash of light burst across the field, revealing a metallic Pokémon hovering in midair, its body shaped almost like a strange spacecraft.
Magnezone.
Aaron brought up its information panel.
[Name: Magnezone]
[Gender: Male]
[Nature: Hasty]
[Type: Electric/Steel]
[Ability: Sturdy]
[Base Stats Total: 535]
[Level: Gym (Mid Stage)]
[Potential: Class Champion]
[Known Moves: Flash Cannon (Perfect), Zap Cannon (Perfect), Explosion (Master), Spark (Master), Electric Terrain (Master), Mirror Coat (Master), Thunder Wave (Proficient), Charge (Proficient), Electro Ball (Proficient), Thunderbolt (Proficient), Light Screen, Metal Sound, Tri Attack, Supersonic...]
[Description: Magnezone, the Magnet Area Pokémon. It evolves from Magneton under the influence of a special magnetic field and possesses powerful magnetism and electrical power.]
...
The moment Aaron saw Sturdy, he clicked his tongue.
"Sturdy, huh? Guess I can't one-shot this one."
Darren's face twitched.
At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to drag Aaron into the woods and beat the smugness out of him.
"Magnezone, go!"
"Close the distance and use Zap Cannon! I refuse to believe that Snorlax of yours is completely immune to electricity!"
"Magne... zone!"
Magnezone glided rapidly toward Snorlax, propelled by magnetic force. Electricity blazed across its body, gathering into a massive sphere of energy.
Magnezone fired Zap Cannon at point-blank range.
BOOM!
Aaron did not tell Snorlax to dodge.
At this point, he might as well let Darren see just how hopeless the matchup really was.
The Zap Cannon slammed straight into Snorlax, and violent currents erupted across its body. Orange-yellow electricity swallowed the huge Pokémon from head to toe.
"Let's see you shrug this off!"
"Zap Cannon is one of Magnezone's Perfect moves, and it gets STAB on top of that!"
"With that much power, there's no way you're shrugging that off!"
Darren stared at the storm of electricity with a grin.
Then the grin slowly disappeared.
Snorlax looked... comfortable.
Its eyes had narrowed contentedly, almost as if it were getting a free electrotherapy session.
The crackling current gradually faded.
Snorlax was still standing exactly where it had been.
Not a scratch on it.
If anything, it looked more refreshed than before.
"What the hell...?"
Darren's eyes nearly popped out of his head. The Poké Ball in his hand slipped to the ground, and he did not even notice.
"Snor... lax..."
Snorlax gave Magnezone an expectant look.
Another one?
That had felt pretty good.
"You..." Darren stared at Aaron. "What exactly is wrong with your Snorlax?"
Aaron put on an apologetic expression.
"Sorry. It ate a little too much rubber when it was young."
"Looks like it ended up just a tiny bit nonconductive."
Darren stared at him.
"Damn."
"That actually works?"
Aaron grinned.
"My turn."
"Snorlax—Armament: Mega Punch!"
"Snor... lax!"
Snorlax roared.
That floating tin can had refused to give it another zap. Fine. Now it was annoyed.
Pitch-black Armament Haki coated its fist as white light gathered around it.
Then Snorlax drove its fist straight at Magnezone.
"Magnezone! Take the hit!"
...