Grovyle snapped its arm-blades upright and, at Koga's command, slashed directly into the path of the incoming Psybeam.
The idea was to cut straight through it.
Grovyle's aim was good — but the strike lacked the raw power to back it up. The hardened leaf-blades stalled the beam for only a moment before the concentrated psychic energy tore right through. What hit Grovyle wasn't a Psybeam anymore. It was closer to an Ice Beam — a wave of freezing energy that could flash-freeze a lake's surface — and it slammed directly into Grovyle's arm.
Grovyle held on. It gritted through the burning cold and kept its feet, but by the time the beam faded, its arm had turned solid white with frost. The super effective damage had carved away nearly half of its remaining stamina in a single hit.
Before it could even catch its breath, a massive shadow fell over it.
Nidoking was already there.
The instant it had released the Psybeam, Nidoking hadn't waited for Nova's next order. It closed the gap in one powerful lunge, moving with practiced, relentless momentum. It felt something close to regret for the Grovyle — it truly did — but once a battle was underway, Nidoking fought without pause, without mercy. That was simply how it battled.
The ranged phase was over. Time to finish this up close.
"Nidoking — Megahorn!"
Megahorn is one of the most powerful Bug-type moves in existence. It's the signature technique of Pokémon known as Bug Kings, though many Trainers forget that Nidoking can use it just as naturally. Every Nidoking that evolves from Nidorino learns Megahorn automatically — it comes built in, already at high proficiency. Another crushing move. Another super effective hit.
Koga's only hope was that Nidoking might miss. Megahorn's accuracy sits at 85, and Grovyle was built for speed — a nimble, razor-quick fighter. Maybe, just as it had dodged the Flamethrower, it could slip out of the way again.
It couldn't.
Grovyle wasn't a protagonist. The moment of borrowed courage it had found didn't change the numbers on the field. In Pokémon battles, resolve and heart could push you further than most people expected — but they couldn't erase the gap entirely. If the strength simply wasn't there, it wasn't there.
With one arm locked in ice, Grovyle's usual agility failed it at the worst possible moment. It tried to leap left, lost its balance in mid-air, and came down directly onto Nidoking's horn.
The impact was brutal. Grovyle was flung into the arena barrier, the super effective blow leaving it crumpled at the base of the wall, eyes vacant. Whatever willpower it had been running on was gone. It was unable to battle.
With that, the battle ended.
Nidoking had swept through four of Koga's Pokémon on its own, battling with the kind of overwhelming, unstoppable force that left the watching students completely speechless. And even if Corvisquire had stayed on the field the whole time, the outcome would have been no different.
The arena was quiet.
Then, from somewhere in the stands, came the sound of slow, deliberate clapping.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Aresdra Cortana descended the stands steps with an expression of exaggerated thoughtfulness, each clap landing like a verdict.
"How strange," she said, tilting her head. "I could have sworn someone here was going to teach someone else a lesson today. Who was that again?"
She asked the question to no one in particular, completely unbothered by the sour expressions spreading across the surrounding students' faces.
It was hard to tell whether the tears running down Koga's face came more from the beating his team had just taken, or from Aresdra's cheerful, unhurried mockery.
Nova glanced at Koga with a calm expression. I actually preferred the confident look from earlier. Any chance you could bring that back?
"Koga, I genuinely don't think Professional Trainer is the right path for you," Nova said, tone easy, almost conversational. "Think about switching majors. No hard feelings. I'm just being honest."
Aresdra hopped down the last step from the stands and slipped an arm around Nova's waist without missing a beat. After growing up together, the two of them moved like that naturally — no signal needed.
"Although," Aresdra added, "I'm not sure the Performance Department would take him either. The look isn't there. The coordination isn't there. The stage presence definitely isn't there."
"Breeding Department?" Nova offered.
"His feel for raising Pokémon isn't exactly strong."
"Then I don't know. Koga, maybe just... find a regular job."
The back-and-forth between them was perfectly timed and completely merciless. The quiet crying turned into open sobs as Koga gathered up his Poké Balls and walked off the field, the rest of the spectating students quietly peeling away behind him, none of them willing to make eye contact with Nova or Aresdra on the way out.
Aresdra looked up at Nova with a small smirk. "Silly. You didn't even go for the full sweep — and you still completely destroyed his confidence."
Nova let out a short laugh. "There's always next time."
Though even as he said it, Nova suspected there might not be a next time. Not because sweeping Koga's entire team would be difficult — it wouldn't — but because Koga would likely never reach the level needed to stand in front of Nova again. He was the top student in the battle department of a small Specialized Vocational School in Harmony City. A big fish in a very small pond.
Across the entire Norlandia Alliance, there were dozens of schools just like that one, each with its own top-ranked student. And how many of those students ever went on to make a real mark on the Professional Trainer circuit? Not many.
The truth was simple: the kind of Trainers who would eventually stand across from Nova in a real competition would be people like Thelma. To even qualify to face opponents like that, someone like Koga would have to push themselves to their absolute limit — and that still might not be enough.
It came down to the Pokémon themselves. Koga's team just didn't have the potential.
That wasn't surprising. Very few people had access to something like the Cultivation System to read a Pokémon's talent clearly, or had Thelma's background and resources behind them. Most Trainers caught whatever felt right and figured out the rest as they went. It was the normal way of doing things.
Nova had taken a closer look at Koga's team during the battle. His Grovyle was genuinely solid — blue-tier potential, a reliable path to level 60, and the Iron Will trait on top of that. Worth investing in, if given the chance. The rest of the team had capped out at green-tier. Once they hit level 45, their growth would start to plateau.
Thinking about it now reminded Nova of something more pressing. He had already covered Aresdra's Starter Pokémon fee. That meant it was time to actually choose the Pokémon — and that was where things got complicated. The Pokémon handed out through Alliance distribution programs varied wildly in terms of raw potential. Drawing a green-tier Pokémon after a long wait in line? That would be a complete waste.
Every Pokémon was unique. Nova understood that. But when you had a Cultivation System and could see exactly what a Pokémon was capable of, settling for less felt wrong. He would have to find a way to pick one out himself.