Leonardo quickly realized that his "secret weapon" wasn't working nearly as well as he had expected, despite having the advantage of surprise.
At that moment, he couldn't help but feel impressed by Alex.
The unusual positioning, the timing of Blaziken's movements, and the way she reacted to Exploud's combo move all suggested that Alex had already identified the purpose behind his strategy and had immediately issued commands to minimize its effectiveness and counter it.
Leonardo had heard Alex being called the Master of Tactics countless times before. To be honest, he had always assumed the title was at least somewhat exaggerated.
After all, the media had a habit of turning successful trainers into legends.
But now, standing across from him on the battlefield, Leonardo was beginning to understand why Alex had earned that reputation.
Alex wasn't simply reacting to what happened during the battle.
It felt as though he was constantly several steps ahead, adjusting his plans the moment new information appeared.
Even though Leonardo had prepared this tactic specifically to catch opponents off guard, Alex had adapted to it almost immediately.
Leonardo then called out, "Exploud, Plan B."
At the same time, Alex communicated telepathically, "D3."
Exploud moved out of the water just as it began preparing his move.
Blaziken, having sensed Alex's change in strategy, started preparing a new move and moved away from Exploud.
She sprinted along the edge of the water, positioning herself so that the central pool lay between her and Exploud.
Thanks to her Speed Boost ability, she was now significantly faster than Exploud and had no trouble keeping him at bay.
The fact that the center of the arena was filled with water helped Blaziken maintain a safe distance, as Exploud could not move through water as quickly as he could on land.
Unfortunately, Blaziken lacked moves at the Expert or Master Rank that could effectively capitalize on this distance.
Moves like Bulk Up—had they been at the Expert or Master Rank—would have been extremely useful in a moment like this.
Alex realized this too and had already resolved to train that move to at least the Expert Rank.
Blaziken sensed that her move was nearly ready and suddenly sprinted toward Exploud to get within range.
Exploud didn't expect this and hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do.
Leonardo quickly commanded, "Meet Blaziken head-on and use your move as soon as it's ready."
Blaziken's move was ready, and she unleashed Overheat; boosted by Sunny Day and the STAB (Same-Type Attack Bonus) effect, it was incredibly powerful—even though the move wasn't very effective against Exploud.
Exploud finished its move at almost the same time, unleashing Surf.
When Overheat sent an AoE wave of flames toward Exploud, the flames collided with the water wave; instead of canceling each other out, the two moves bounced off one another like rubber balls, barely deviating from their original trajectories upon contact.
Alex wasn't surprised to see this.
Energy-based moves usually behave this way—they might slightly displace one another's energy, but they don't directly react or clash destructively.
Even so, both Exploud and Blaziken were struck by the two massive AoE attacks.
Blaziken took heavy damage; it wouldn't be able to withstand another hit like that.
Exploud also sustained significant damage, leaving him with less than 40% of its HP.
Without a moment's hesitation, Blaziken immediately began preparing a move.
To Alex's surprise, Exploud also started charging a move right away, without waiting for a command from Leonardo.
Alex realized then that his plan wouldn't work exactly as intended, but he wasn't particularly upset about it.
He thought, 'It's a shame Blaziken won't get the first-strike advantage, but this way I can easily figure out which move Exploud is likely preparing. I doubt Leonardo's 'Plan B' involves something like Surf followed by Counter—that's too risky, and simply using Surf twice achieves the same effect.'
Blaziken sprinted straight toward Exploud, abandoning any attempt to maintain a distance of 20 to 30 meters.
Exploud reacted quickly and tried to run away from Blaziken, but it was far too slow.
Blaziken was soon just a few meters away from Exploud.
Leonardo instantly realized that Blaziken was likely preparing a Fighting-type move, but it was already too late to do anything about it.
Although Counter was a very powerful move, it required just as much preparation time as a standard move.
Blaziken finished preparing a split second sooner and immediately unleashed a High Jump Kick.
She leapt into the air, gathering Fighting-type energy around her feet. Then, like a meteor, she plummeted toward Exploud.
Exploud also finished preparing, and Water-type energy began to gather behind him, forming a massive wave.
At the same time, Exploud tried to dodge Blaziken's High Jump Kick.
He attempted to evade the attack but wasn't fast enough; struck by Blaziken's kick, he collapsed to the ground unconscious.
However, the Surf attack—which had already begun to form—surged rapidly toward Blaziken, continuing its momentum even though its user had been knocked out.
Blaziken didn't have enough time to prepare even a quick move like Quick Attack and was struck head-on by the wave of water.
Unable to withstand the impact, she too fell to the ground unconscious.
Once the massive wave had finally passed and the water settled, both trainers immediately rushed toward their Pokémon.
Alex arrived beside Blaziken and quickly sprayed a healing potion over her injuries.
At the same time, Leonardo hurried toward Exploud and did the same.
The referee looked at both Pokémon for a moment before raising his arm and announcing loudly, "Both Pokémon are unable to battle!"
Alex, who had already expected an outcome like this after seeing Exploud begin preparing the second Surf without receiving a command from his trainer, wasn't particularly happy with the result, but he wasn't especially upset either.
After all, Exploud had possessed a 2-level advantage, several Master Rank moves, and even a powerful combo move.
Trading 1-for-1 against a Pokémon of that caliber wasn't a bad outcome for Alex.
Exploud had been Leonardo's strongest Pokémon and the biggest threats on his team. Removing it this early with only losing 1 Pokemon significantly boosted Alex's win rate.
Of course, he would have preferred Blaziken to survive, but battles rarely unfolded perfectly.
*******
if the story total of 250 powerstones in 24 hours, I will upload 1 bonus chapter tomorrow.
-----
If you want to see the next chapters (40+ chapters) earlier or just want to support me
https://www.--patreon.com/alex02373