Author's Note: Remember I told I would work on the quality of fights or at least experiment here is something new I have tried to describe fights , the entire sequence is written by me and honestly I was surprised I could write in this way myself , well hope u guys enjoy it .
Grey's POV
I woke up early and stepped out of my room, making my way to the railing of the ship. The morning air was cool and calm, and the sea looked unusually peaceful. The water was almost still, with only small ripples moving across the surface. The sun was slowly rising in the distance, casting a soft orange glow over everything. A few Pidgey flew across the sky, their wings cutting through the quiet morning air. I could see Mantine gliding smoothly over the water before dipping back in, while a few Magikarp jumped out now and then, creating small splashes. The sound of the waves hitting the ship gently added to the calmness of the moment. For once, everything felt quiet and undisturbed.
After standing there for a while, I headed to get breakfast. I kept it simple, just some bread toast with butter and jam, enough to fill my stomach for the time being. I didn't plan on staying there long, so I ate quickly and got up to leave. I had no intention of getting into any conversations this early in the day.
While walking through the ship, I ran into Bill again. He noticed me immediately and smiled.
"Hey, Grey," he said, "I saw your matches yesterday. That was some solid battling."
I nodded slightly. "Thanks. They weren't much, though."
Bill chuckled a bit. "Maybe for you, but not everyone can pull that off so easily. That Shellder of yours is something else does it have the king gene. And your strategy not flashy, but effective."
"It gets the job done and yes it does have the King gene" I replied.
Bill then asked me if it would be possible for him to examine my shellder after the tournament if he had time as he was also researching on a pokemon with King Gene and shellder could help understand pokemon with that gene better.
I accepted the request .
He looked at me for a moment before continuing, "This tournament has some strong trainers, but you're definitely one to watch, best of luck for today. "
"Thanks," I replied, before continuing on my way.
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Normally, at times like this, I would be training with my Pokémon, but here I wouldn't even dare to do that. I needed my entire team in top shape for the matches. Heck, they might already be exhausted by tomorrow, since today included both the top 32 and top 16 rounds. There was a real chance that three of my Pokémon could be tired by the end of the day.
I went back to my room, fed my Pokémon, and rested for a bit. Before lying down, I set an alarm to wake me up in an hour, as we would get the schedule for today's matches around then.
Both my alarm and my watch woke me up at the same time. I switched off the alarm and checked my watch. My match for the top 32 had been decided. I was going to face Micheal in two hours at arena 11. It seemed that, after two rounds, I finally didn't have to rush immediately into a match. Still, Micheal might be a tough opponent.
I had watched Micheal yesterday as well, but I hadn't considered him a genuine threat at the time because he relied on a single Pokémon for both his rounds, and he had come through the prelims. The main reason I didn't rate him too highly was that I already had a counter to that one Pokémon.
His Pokémon was strong, no doubt. It was a Slowbro. The way he battled was very similar to how I used Exeggcute. He stalled matches. His Slowbro knew Rest and Amnesia, along with Water Gun, Confusion, and Mega Punch. With just that set, it became an insufferable opponent for most trainers. But from the prelims until now, he had only used that one Pokémon.
While it could be a trick and he might bring out another Pokémon, I still felt that Slowbro was his main one. It was likely his starter, and he probably didn't have another Pokémon of the same caliber, so he would stick with it.
I couldn't use Shellder for this. While I had confidence in it, Slowbro itself required a Shellder to evolve, and its stall-based fighting style could be problematic for Shellder despite its strong offense. There was also the chance that it might remind Shellder of Exeggcute's style, making it either more motivated to win or more aggressive and harder to control.
Exeggcute would be a good check, but that match would take ages. While I was confident that Exeggcute was the better Psychic-type due to its training, Amnesia could make things difficult. It would come down to how much damage Toxic and Leech Seed could deal over time compared to Slowbro's healing with Rest. It could still work, since I hadn't seen the Slowbro use Sleep Talk, but it was definitely the slower option.
That left me with either Axew or Persian. Honestly, I wanted to save both of them as trump cards for later matches. But if I got too arrogant here and lost, I wouldn't forgive myself. So I decided to go with Persian. It could counter both Water and Psychic typing with its Dark-type moves, and if Slowbro tried to stall, Persian could punish it with continuous attacks.
With that decided, I left my room and went to watch some matches on the screens. The ship had screens set up in multiple places, showing battles from different arenas.
I watched a few matches, including Red's and Aria's.
Red used a new Pokémon this time, an Ivysaur. It was both bulky and fast. It attacked continuously using a combination of Razor Leaf and Vine Whip, and it even mixed in Poison Powder along with Razor Leaf, similar to how Erika had used her Ivysaur.
Aria once again used her Piloswine. It bulldozed through its opponent using Ice Fang and Take Down. There wasn't anything particularly creative about it, but the line relied on brute force and bulk, and it got the job done effectively.
Soon enough, my wait was over. With about 20 minutes left, I headed toward my arena and waited outside, as another match was still going on inside.
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(Third POV)
After some time, Grey's chance to battle had come, and so had Micheal's.
Both stepped onto the arena, and the referee told them the rules as usual, then gave the orders.
"1, 2, 3… begin!"
Micheal released his Slowbro, and Grey released his Persian.
Both Pokémon came onto the field. On one side was a bulky pink bear, and on the other was a slender white cat.
Micheal, on seeing Persian, shouted, "No, why did you not use Exeggcute? We would have had a great match to see who outlasted who!"
Grey then said, "While it would be fascinating to see that, I have come here to win."
Micheal replied, "So have I."
Micheal told Slowbro to use Amnesia, and Grey ordered Persian to use Quick Attack into Shadow Claw. Slowbro used Amnesia to basically forget it had a brain, and was immediately hit by Persian, who came in at great speed with Quick Attack and slammed a Shadow Claw at its face.
Slowbro went skidding a bit behind, but just barely, and then looked at the cat, almost taunting it like, was that supposed to do something?
Micheal then said, "Super effective attacks don't mean much to Slowbro, it can tank them all."
Grey realised it was bulky as heck. Normally, any Pokémon would have been sent flying from such an attack, but not this one.
He ordered another Quick Attack Shadow Claw. This time, Micheal called for Confusion, and Slowbro was about to lock onto Persian to control the cat in place. But the moment it blinked for a second, the cat had already kind of teleported in front of it. When it tried to release its psychic energy to hold it, the foul, shadowy ghost energy of Shadow Claw, already right at its face, interfered with the effect, and it was hit again in the same spot.
This time it was sent a bit farther behind. Its tail, with the Shellder attached, hit the ground to stop its momentum, so it wasn't pushed back as much as expected, but the attack clearly hit hard. Its face had turned a bit red after being struck repeatedly in the same spot by the cat, who seemed to actually enjoy the damage it was causing.
Grey realised there was a chance Persian was developing sadistic tendencies. Great. I have a dragon that's a battle junkie, a shell and a group of eggs that bicker like siblings, and now the cat is a sadist. Just what I needed to evaporate my mental peace.
Micheal realised that yes, his Slowbro could tank, but for how long was the real problem. Consecutive attacks would beat it to a pulp, so he ordered it to keep distance using Water Gun.
Grey countered with an agile Thunderbolt, and Micheal had a sinking feeling, realising the opponent truly had a counter to his Pokémon. The Water Gun and Thunderbolt collided, but through the water, electricity travelled and hit the pink bear for minor damage, and also, by sheer bad luck, caused paralysis.
Grey called for a Night Slash onto Slowbro with Quick Attack, but Micheal told Slowbro to fire Confusion faster at a straight angle. Slowbro tried, but Persian jumped to the right, and the Confusion missed. Almost instantly, wrapped in the normal energy of Quick Attack, Persian shifted from the right back toward Slowbro. It moved in a zig-zag, almost L-shaped pattern, first diagonally right, then cutting back diagonally toward Slowbro.
At close range, it slammed Night Slash at the same spot again, sending Slowbro flying this time. The thing was, Persian had more experience using Night Slash than Shadow Claw and had perfected it down to the T, so it dealt more damage. The momentum from Quick Attack and Persian's speed also played a key role in sending it flying.
Slowbro hit the deck but got up again, very injured and now paralysed due to the accidental Thunderbolt proc.
Micheal immediately called for Rest to heal Slowbro and cure the paralysis by forcing it to sleep, which it did, recovering its condition.
Grey smirked, almost as if he had been waiting for this, and called for a strong Thunderbolt. The cat unleashed a devastating Thunderbolt on the bear, which didn't react due to being asleep, but it was clearly taking heavy damage.
Slowbro could have woken up instantly if it had an item like a Chesto Berry, but the use of items in this tournament was prohibited, as it would make things uneven and unfair. Some trainers didn't have access to battle items, while others could easily get them. It was a cheap attempt at balancing, since richer trainers could still buy Pokémon or feed them a bunch of TMs anyway. At best, it was a way to raise morale for regular trainers, but at this moment, it worked perfectly in Grey's favour.
As Slowbro was still asleep and Persian was slightly strained after using a strong Thunderbolt, since it couldn't spam powerful moves continuously, Grey told Persian to go all out with Night Slash and Shadow Claw.
Persian used Quick Attack and Shadow Claw to strike the sleeping Slowbro. After each hit, it moved back, built momentum again with Quick Attack, and launched either Night Slash or Shadow Claw, depending on what the sadist felt would hurt more. It kept attacking from different angles, continuously striking the helpless bear.
Micheal kept shouting at his Slowbro to wake up, but it didn't respond. After nearly the ninth attack, a Night Slash landed cleanly, and Slowbro finally went out cold, giving Grey the win.
Grey recalled Persian, and Micheal recalled Slowbro. Grey walked up to Micheal to shake hands. Micheal had mixed feelings after the match, but he did shake his hand. Grey said it was a good battle, and maybe sometime later they could have the stall match Micheal wanted, which made Micheal give a small smile.
Grey then went back to his room, unaware that the champions were talking about him because of this crazy match.
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Author's Note:How was the chapter did you guys like it . I could have pushed this chapter to 3000 words but would have delayed an update day and felt ending after a battle might be good as I could show the reaction later also , leaving at a high note post battle feels better. Anyway how was the battle in general better than previous ones I am asking in explanation of moves not in general as I know I have given better ones before. That said enjoy as you guys have been showering with stones in past few days so have I with chapters lets see how long we can continue for this week, without work overburdening me .