"Masquerain!!"
At her trainer's desperate cry, Masquerain struggled back into the air, but its body was visibly twitching with paralysis. The situation was grim. April's expression turned heavy.
"The speed and density of that Light Screen... it's not normal," the other three Danning students noted solemnly.
"The Thunderbolt wasn't exceptionally powerful, but that Magnemite is incredibly proficient with Light Screen. It can even reshape its defensive form on the fly."
"April's going to lose, isn't she?" Maya asked worriedly.
"It's fine. If she loses, we've still got her back," one of the boys replied.
"Gee, thanks!" Maya snapped, glaring at him. Men. Can't they say something actually encouraging for once?
Ultimately, Magnemite secured the win using only Light Screen, Thunderbolt, and Thunder Wave. It hadn't even needed to reveal its Hidden Power.
Seeing April actually defeated, the two boys began bickering over who would go next. Maya sighed and stepped forward. "I'll go. You two official starters should save yourselves for last."
"Fine..." The boys stopped arguing and nodded.
"Nice one!"
Seeing Owen's Magnemite perform so dominantly, Lown was having a blast filming the match on his phone. He immediately sent the clip to the school team's group chat, bragging that the two of them were already out causing trouble.
Next, Maya took the field and sent out her Gloom.
"Stench... it isn't working?"
As soon as Gloom appeared, it scattered pollen, filling the immediate area with a foul odor. Maya was confused when she saw Magnemite remain completely unfazed. Even the starters on her own team hated dealing with Gloom's scent...
"Gloo?" Gloom looked equally confused.
Owen blinked. "Is it supposed to smell? Oh, right—my Magnemite doesn't have a nose."
Magnemite nodded in agreement: "Ku-ee, ku-ee!!"
The Danning students: "..."
Compared to the previous match, neither Gloom nor Magnemite had a major type advantage. However, Magnemite possessed a Psychic-type Hidden Power. Owen smiled.
"Razor Leaf!!" Flustered, Maya issued a quick command.
Swish! Swish! Swish!!
Several sharp leaves whistled toward Magnemite at impressive speeds. Since Magnemite hadn't focused much on speed training, Owen didn't even bother telling it to dodge.
Old rules: Reflect went up. The leaves slammed into the barrier as if hitting a steel wall, failing to leave even a scratch.
"Hidden Power."
At Owen's word, a faint blue glow enveloped Magnemite's body. Powerful mental energy condensed, and a surge of telekinetic force transformed into a shockwave, blasting toward Gloom!
Maya and Gloom: "???"
Faced with this sudden, eerie attack—resembling Confusion, Psychic, or Psyshock—they had no time to react. With a loud BOOM, Gloom was sent flying, crashing into the perimeter wall of the field.
"Gloo..." Gloom cried out in pain, though it remained conscious.
This was because Magnemite had held back. Otherwise, a Poison-type like Gloom would have been knocked out instantly by a direct Psychic hit.
"That move..." The two Danning starters stood up abruptly. A Psychic move?
"He's cheating!!" they shouted in unison.
"No, my Magnemite is definitely not cheating," Owen overheard the exclamation and quickly explained. "It went easy on her; Gloom will be fine. Alright, who's next?"
Owen could tell the two girls were likely substitutes. Their skill level was a bit low for meaningful practice. He turned his gaze toward the two "bodyguards" who looked like they actually had some bite.
One of the boys, Dustin, fell silent for a moment before speaking. "You've got a lot of confidence. I'm up. You're the ace of your school, right? I'm an official starter for Danning."
"Ace, my foot..." Lown muttered under his breath. Watching Owen act like a Final Boss while only using his second Pokémon made Lown feel like trust between humans truly didn't exist.
Meanwhile, the commotion had drawn a crowd. Several groups of students from other schools had noticed the battle and gathered around to watch.
Seeing people already clashing before the tournament officially started made many of them feel an itch to compete as well.
"Both trainers are in school uniforms. One is Fairview No. 1, the other is Danning High..." Someone pulled up their phone to identify the schools.
Owen noticed the crowd growing and felt a surge of joy. If the Danning boys didn't provide enough of a challenge, at least he had a fresh supply of opponents lined up for Magnemite.
If Eevee were here to write a headline for this, it would surely be: "Shocking! Poor Magnemite abused by heartless trainer, forced into a brutal gauntlet match..."
The Danning starter, Dustin, sent out a Snover. The small creature, wearing its white, mountain-like "hat," was a dual Grass/Ice type.
"Let's begin!" Dustin called out once both were ready.
"Right," Owen nodded.
The next second, an Icy Wind kicked up, the frost-laden gusts blurring the vision of both Owen and Magnemite. The bone-chilling wind surged toward the magnet almost instantly.
"Light Screen, Hidden Power!!"
No matter how the opponent changed their moves, Owen stuck to the "Light Screen + Hidden Power" combo. By alternating between Light Screen and Reflect paired with Hidden Power, they could handle almost any situation with ease.
BOOM!
In the clash, the Light Screen was frozen and shattered, ice beginning to creep across Magnemite's chassis, but the Snover was also sent tumbling by a powerful telekinetic blast.
"What the hell? A Magnemite that knows Psychic?"
"The power is decent, but the technique isn't 'elegant' at all," a passing contestant whispered to his friend. "Looks like the level of Fairview No. 1 and Danning isn't that high. If I went up, I could win easily."
"You? You think you could beat him?"
A voice of pure skepticism came from behind the trash-talking student. It was another group of onlookers.
"Who are you?" the student asked, annoyed.
"I am Brandon, the Captain of Riverside No. 1 High School." The student didn't even look at him, instead staring at the field with a complex expression.
The memory of Owen's Eevee using Return to one-shot his Magmar was still vividly etched in his mind.
This group was none other than the Riversid High School." No. 1 team, the school that had previously engaged in the exchange match with Fairview.
"It really is that jerk, Owen. Holy crap, is he commanding a Magnemite now?"
Wasn't his Pokémon an Eevee?
Damn it. This guy has two? To the Riverside team, Owen was the "Great Demon King" who had single-handedly humiliated their school.
He had left such a shadow on them that they had doubled their training intensity ever since that exchange match.
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