Owen didn't say a word. Instead, he reached up and slightly lowered the brim of his hat.
In many stories, when a protagonist makes this gesture, victory is close at hand. But as for whether Owen was truly the protagonist of this story... his own opinion didn't count.
"Begin!"
Two breaths later, the referee gave the command. The Oriental Pearl Arena fell into a collective hush. The thousands in attendance ceased their chatter, every gaze fixed firmly on the center stage.
Owen's Eevee and Aria's Abra faced off from their respective ends of the field.
The first to move was... Abra.
The moment Aria gave her command, the very atmosphere around Abra shifted. Though its eyes remained squinted as if in a light slumber, the sharpness of its psychic energy was impossible to hide.
Psychic!
"The Confusion move is just a weak ripple of mental force, but Psychic is a powerful, concentrated blast," a guest on the platform noted. "Aria is trying to lock onto Eevee immediately. It seems she wants a quick resolution to this match."
Buzz!
Blue psychic ripples enveloped Abra's body. A split second later, a powerful orb of kinetic mental energy tore through the air, heading straight for Eevee.
"Psychic?" Owen called out. "Do you really think your Abra can lock onto my Eevee?"
"Why don't we find out?" Aria countered calmly.
While Aria spoke, Eevee had already broken into a full sprint. Her body glowed with a faint white light—the hallmark of a Quick Attack being used for mobility. Faced with a Psychic blast, Eevee wasn't about to sit still.
As long as she moved fast enough, Abra wouldn't be able to "lock on." It was all part of the tactical plan!
In mid-air, the blue psychic mass followed Eevee like a guided missile under Abra's control. However, Eevee's movement was incredibly Swift.
Her superior coordination was on full display as she dashed in a series of jagged, unpredictable zig-zags, forcing Abra to expend more mental energy just to keep up.
Dodge... dodge... and dodge again!
Time after time, Eevee narrowly avoided the psychic strikes, leaving the audience and guests breathless with tension. Yet, despite her defensive maneuvers, Eevee's trajectory remained clear: she was closing the gap toward Abra.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The wind whistled around Eevee as she maintained her top speed. Upon reaching Abra's side, her movements became even more fluid as she searched for a gap to strike.
Flash!
Before Eevee could launch an attack, Abra—as if startled—instantly Teleported to the far side of the arena. The two Pokémon were back at their starting distance once more.
That brief exchange had left neither injured, but the stamina and mental cost for both was immense.
"This Young Ho-Oh Cup has been remarkable," the representative from the Metropolis Trainer Association smiled. "This level of strategic attrition wouldn't look out of place in a much larger tournament."
"Agreed. What's more impressive is that even against an over-leveled Abra, this Eevee has shown no clear weaknesses," another guest added. "If this keeps up, we might actually see an upset."
"It's too early to tell," Lu Hai said, a knowing smirk on his face as he looked at Aria. "Owen's strategy is clearly to wear Abra down, but my junior might still have a hidden trump card."
Abra still had one move it hadn't revealed yet—a move that could be the key to changing the tide.
"See? I told you Abra couldn't lock onto her," Owen teased.
Aria didn't look annoyed. Instead, she took a deep breath and issued a different command.
"Abra, use Calm Mind."
She was abandoning the offensive. Calm Mind allowed the user to focus their thoughts and, most importantly in this context, it was the most effective way for a Psychic-type to recover their mental energy.
Calm Mind? Owen's brow furrowed.
This was outside his calculations. He couldn't let Abra recover, or Eevee would be in serious trouble.
"Stop it!" Owen barked.
Eevee accelerated with Quick Attack again, rushing forward to disrupt the meditation. As she closed in, Aria's command suddenly shifted.
"Now! Use Psychic!"
It was a trap. Aria had baited Eevee into approaching. By releasing a Psychic blast at point-blank range, the accuracy was higher, and Eevee would have almost no time to react or dodge.
Owen hadn't expected the Calm Mind bait, but he had prepared for close-quarters combat. Based on his data regarding Abra's casting speed, he knew exactly what the "danger zone" was.
He knew he couldn't perfectly counter it, but he could mitigate the damage. And if it meant stopping Abra's recovery and forcing more exhaustion, it was a trade he was willing to make.
In an instant, Eevee exploded with even more speed, leaving four afterimages in her wake. However, this level of Double Team didn't fool a Psychic-type. Abra sensed the mental ripples of the real Eevee and adjusted its aim instantly.
But that tiny moment of "judging" the real body gave Eevee the window she needed.
"Sand Attack!"
Eevee kicked up a cloud of sand directly into the path of the incoming Psychic blast. The powerful mental force hit the grit like a giant hand squeezing a ball of dust.
The pressure caused the sand to explode outward, and the resulting backflow of grit sent Eevee tumbling backward.
She rolled several times across the floor before skidding to a halt and regaining her footing. Being knocked back by the debris of her own sand was a far better outcome than taking a direct hit from a Psychic blast.
Now, a small distance had been re-established between them. Abra tried to press the advantage, but at this range, its Psychic attacks lost their lethal "unavoidable" quality. Eevee was back in her element, dodging with ease.
She had purposefully used those tumbles to retreat to a "safe distance"—a distance Owen had carefully measured in his head.
The "sawing match" continued. Every time Eevee got close, Abra was forced to teleport away.
"Excellent!" a professional trainer shouted.
Neither of these trainers felt like "rookies." They were cautious, meticulous, and reacted with a maturity that made the veterans in the stands nostalgic.
"Actually, this isn't looking good for Aria," one guest whispered. "Psychic moves are best used for surprise or continuous control.
Once the 'surprise' factor is gone and it becomes a repetitive chase, the mental drain on Abra is much higher than the physical drain on Eevee."
"Aria needs to repeat her baiting tactic," another suggested. "Hide the mental energy, lure Eevee in with a fake Calm Mind, and hope for a mistake."
Sure enough, on the field, Aria's Abra began to meditate once more, and Eevee—true to form—charged in again.
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