Alex and Leonardo remained silent as they waited for the battle to begin. Neither trainer seemed interested in small talk.
A few moments later, the referee stepped forward and raised his arm high into the air.
The stadium gradually grew quieter as thousands of spectators focused their attention on the battlefield.
The referee swung his arm downward and shouted, "Release your Pokémon!"
Both trainers immediately threw their Poké Balls.
Two flashes of light appeared on opposite sides of the battlefield.
Blaziken landed gracefully on the outer ring of the arena, flames flickering faintly around her wrists as she fixed her sharp gaze on her opponent.
Across from her, Exploud appeared with a heavy thud. The massive Normal-type stood almost motionless, but its sheer size and powerful build made it seem intimidating. The large openings on the sides of its head twitched slightly as it observed Blaziken.
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Pokémon: Blaziken
LV: 57
Type: Fire/Fighting
Abilities: Speed Boost (Hidden Ability)
Gender: Female
Potential: Shallow Diamond (5%)
Moves:
- Growl, Scratch, Ember, Sand Attack, Peck, Double Kick, Flame Charge, Quick Attack, Bulk Up, Blaze Kick, Focus Energy, Sunny Day [M], High Jump Kick [M], Slash, Brave Bird
- (Perfect Talent) Attract [M], (Perfect Talent) Overheat [M]
- (TM) Protect [E], (TM) Flamethrower [E], (TM) Rock slide [M], (TM) Will-O-Wisp [M], (TM) Poison Jab [E], (TM) Solar Beam [M], (TM) Dig, (TM) Facade, (TM) Helping Hand, (TM) Brick Break, (TM) Acrobatics, (TM) Shadow Claw, (TM) Low Sweep, (TM) U-turn, (TM) Swift, (TM) Substitute
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Pokémon: Exploud
LV: 59
Type: Normal
Ability: Soundproof
Gender: Male
Potential: Deep Gold (14%)
Moves:
- Pound, Uproar, Astonish, Howl, Supersonic, Stomp, Uproar, Roar, Rest [E], Sleep Talk [E], Synchronoise
- (Innate Talent) Crunch [M], (Innate Talent) Boomburst [M], (Innate Talent) Counter [M]
- (TM) Protect, (TM) Facade [M], (TM) Toxic, (TM) Work Up [M], (TM) Substitute, (TM) Earthquake [M], (TM) Surf [M], (TM) Brick Break [M], (TM) Fire Blast [E], (TM) Rock Slide [M],
---------------
Alex had chosen Blaziken as his first Pokémon because she had favorable matchups against Leonardo's two strongest Pokémon: Mawile and Exploud.
The moment Exploud appeared, Alex quickly reviewed its information.
He was slightly surprised to see that Exploud only possessed Deep Gold potential.
Leonardo looked to be in his early twenties, meaning he couldn't have owned this Pokémon for much longer than ten years. If he had started his journey relatively late, like Alex had, then perhaps only five years.
Yet when Alex looked at Exploud's move list, that estimate felt completely wrong.
Three Master Rank innate moves. 6 additional Master Rank moves. Even by late Elite standards, that was an impressive amount of Master Rank moves.
Alex briefly wondered how much time Leonardo had invested in training this Pokémon before dismissing the thought. It wasn't important right now.
Alex stopped thinking about this unnecessary idea and started thinking about what he should do against three moves he had seen.
Earthquake, Counter, Boomburst
Each of these moves is at the Master Rank and could be very dangerous for him if he's not careful.
Counter, in particular, from the Master Rank, sounds like an extremely dangerous move to Alex if he's not careful.
Alex frowned slightly. Counter was easily the move that concerned him the most.
A Master Rank Counter from a Level 59 Exploud could instantly turn a winning position into a loss if he made even a small mistake.
His original plan had involved using Blaziken's powerful High Jump Kick to pressure Exploud early. Now that plan suddenly seemed far more dangerous than before.
Alex quickly began reconsidering his options. As he studied Exploud, a new strategy slowly started forming in his mind.
He thought to himself, 'My old plan is too dangerous against those moves. I'll need something safer.'
The referee raised his hand and shouted, "3, 2, 1, Go!"
Alex said telepathically, "N2."
At the same time, Leonardo said, "Exploud, show him what you can do."
Exploud and Blaziken both began preparing their moves. Exploud moved away from Blaziken.
Alex, who saw that Leonardo was apparently a trainer who had trained his Pokémon to know what to do without a direct move command, was somewhat impressed.
Although Alex encountered such trainers more frequently after reaching the Elite level, most still didn't utilize this useful tactic.
As Alex pondered this, he saw Exploud run straight into the center of the arena, which consisted of a pool of water ten meters deep.
Exploud jumped right into the water and dove five meters down.
Seeing this, Alex immediately understood Leonardo's plan.
Thanks to his knowledge from his old world, he knew that sound travels about four times faster in water and that even sound-based moves which are not strictly the same as sound are amplified underwater.
However, he didn't understand how Leonardo intended to exploit this amplification if Blaziken never entered the water and simply attacked from the edge.
Alex felt a bit uneasy when he didn't immediately grasp his opponent's strategy.
Blaziken finished first and used Sunny Day, which slightly intensified the heat in the arena.
Leonardo saw this and quietly remarked, "I'm really a bit unlucky."
Realizing that Exploud wasn't finishing at nearly the same time as Blaziken, Alex understood the situation immediately.
He said telepathically, "Be ready to use Protect."
Blaziken prepared Protect and looked toward Exploud, who was deep underwater.
Exploud then finished preparing his move and unleashed a combination of Boomburst and Surf.
"Echoing Surf" works like Surf, but the moment a Pokémon is struck by the water wave, the accompanying sound wave travels directly through the water to hit the target, inflicting massive damage.
Although this combo move was incredibly powerful, it could only be used when Exploud was surrounded by a large volume of water.
Blaziken saw a strange Surf-like move heading her way and used Protect.
Combined with the effect of Sunny Day, which slightly weakened the attack, she managed to block almost all of the damage.
Although she lost a little HP, she only lost about 10%.
Alex was quite impressed by the move but remained fully focused on the match.
He telepathically commanded, "Use Solar Beam and force him out of the water. Stay just within range, and after you fire the move, dash out of the range of most attacks."
Blaziken began charging Solar Beam immediately as Alex explained the finer points of the tactic.
Leonardo saw that Blaziken was still close by and said, "Go."
Exploud understood the order and prepared Echoing Surf once more.
Blaziken finished charging first and unleashed Solar Beam, which pierced straight through the water and struck Exploud.
Exploud, lacking agility while in the water, stood no chance of dodging and took a direct hit to the head.
a crit hit.
Immediately afterward, Blaziken started sprinting as far away as possible from the central pool.
Exploud wanted to give chase to keep her within range of his combo move, but because he had to remain in the water to prepare the attack, he couldn't move.
Alex noticed that Exploud wasn't leaving the water and was somewhat surprised.
He hadn't planned for this; originally, he had intended to dodge Echoing Surf using Quick Attack.
Realizing that Echoing Surf would no longer connect, Leonardo said with a bitter expression, "Cancel the move."
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