"A Raticate?"
Caster raised an eyebrow, then sent out his own lead Pokémon: Shellder.
"A Shellder? Trying to win through sheer defense? But against my Raticate, that hard shell might not hold up as well as you think."
Asahi's lips curled into a slight smirk, and his Raticate played along by gnashing its enormous front teeth, filling the air with a sharp clacking sound.
Raticate's incisors were legendary for chewing through reinforced concrete. Even Staryu's jewel couldn't withstand a bite, making its jaw strength genuinely terrifying.
Caster shrugged and smiled. "Talk after you actually land a hit."
At the side of the field, the designated referee wasted no time in raising his flags. "Begin!"
The match was officially underway.
"Shellder, Ice Shard!"
"Raticate, Quick Attack!"
Almost simultaneously, Caster and Asahi issued their orders as if sharing the same thought, and both chose priority moves.
When two priority moves share the same level, the outcome usually comes down to which Pokémon is faster.
And compared to Raticate, Shellder was undeniably much slower.
"Looks like the first strike is mine," Asahi murmured, a smile tugging at his lips. Then it froze.
Out on the field, Raticate had barely launched itself forward, its speed not even fully built up, when a chunk of ice the width of a child's arm slammed squarely into its chest.
A fierce wave of cold radiated outward, and Raticate shuddered involuntarily.
"How is that possible?"
Asahi stared in disbelief, unable to wrap his head around it. Raticate was clearly much faster than Shellder. So how had Shellder's Ice Shard arrived first?
It made no sense.
"Bee~"
Shellder stuck out its tongue, enormously pleased with itself.
Watching this, Caster folded his arms and said nothing, letting his smile speak for him.
Both moves shared the same priority level, yes, but the gap in technique between the two Pokémon was enormous.
Shellder's Ice Shard had been pushed all the way to Mastered under Caster's investment, while Raticate's Quick Attack sat at roughly Expert at best. Two full tiers separated them, and there was simply no comparison.
"Raticate~"
At the Mastered tier, Ice Shard didn't just move faster; its raw power and biting cold were nothing to dismiss either. Raticate had taken only a single hit, yet the drain on its stamina was severe.
Its entire body felt gripped by a deep chill, as though its blood had been half-frozen in place, and a thin layer of frost had already crystallized across its fur.
Seeing the opening, Caster pressed immediately. "Shellder, use Icicle Spear now!"
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Five thick, jagged spears of ice materialized in front of Shellder and launched forward like missiles: fast, ferocious, and screaming through the air with a shrill whistle that grated on the ears.
Boom.
With frost already coating its body and slowing its movements, Raticate had no hope of dodging. All five spears struck in rapid succession, the combined damage shattering the meter entirely.
The force of impact triggered an explosion that sent fresh waves of cold rolling outward, even freezing the ground beneath into a sheet of rime.
When the cold finally dissipated, Raticate was already lying with spiraling eyes.
The referee stepped forward without hesitation. "Raticate is unable to battle!"
"Your strength is impressive."
Having lost the first round, Asahi finally set aside any lingering contempt. He had assumed that Caster, looking so young, was probably a new trainer who had only just received his starter Pokémon this year. He had let that assumption color his attitude.
Now, he simply chalked it up to a baby face.
"Go, Arbok!"
Drawing a slow breath, Asahi released his second Pokémon.
Arbok resembled an enormous purple cobra, its body marked with thin black stripes. Its head was narrow, its eyes sharp and triangular — and the pattern on its belly had been arranged by nature into something unsettling: hollow dark eye sockets, red and yellow irises, the corners of a black mouth curling upward, and a pair of heavy, black, downward-pointing eyebrows shaped like arrows.
"Arbok, use Acid!"
Asahi swept his hand forward, seizing the initiative. He knew Shellder boasted formidable physical defense but weak special defense. One clean hit from Acid, and Shellder would have plenty to worry about.
"Cha~"
Lashing out its forked tongue with a sharp cry, Arbok spat a torrent of dark purple liquid that splashed broadly toward Shellder.
Even from a distance, Caster caught the thick, rancid stench drifting his way.
"Icy Wind."
Calm and unhurried, Caster directed Shellder to exhale a blast of brutally cold air. The moment that air met the incoming acid, the liquid flash-froze into dark purple crystals that clattered to the ground, unable to touch Shellder at all.
"Arbok, close the distance and use Thunder Fang!"
Finding his ranged attack neutralized, Asahi shifted tactics and went for close quarters.
Watching Arbok weave toward them at speed, Caster felt not alarm but anticipation.
He held his timing, waiting until Arbok's jaws were about to close on Shellder before finally speaking, calm as ever. "Now. Toxic."
"Toxic?"
Asahi nearly laughed out loud. He thought: does this guy not know that Poison-type Pokémon can't be poisoned?
Pop.
On the field, Shellder's pink tongue shifted abruptly to a deep purple-black. Poison-type energy gathered densely across its surface until a glob of venom launched itself forward.
Arbok was already right on top of them. There was no avoiding it.
"Cha~"
Flicking its forked tongue and driving forward with crackling electricity dancing through its fangs, Arbok ignored the spray of venom entirely and bit down hard.
Then came the burning sensation, searing and sudden, and Arbok's Thunder Fang sputtered and died before it could complete.
Dark purple bloomed across Arbok's face. Its expression contorted. Wherever the venom had touched, white smoke curled upward from dissolving scales — the acid eating through them with quiet, terrible patience.
Arbok had been badly poisoned.
"That's impossible."
Asahi's eyes went wide, his expression one of pure disbelief.
In the main hall of the Trainer Tower, several large screens were streaming live footage of matches taking place throughout the building.
Trainers resting and chatting in the hall snapped their attention toward the display — what they saw rippling through the crowd as a wave of stunned murmurs.
"Am I seeing this right? Shellder's Toxic just poisoned Arbok, a Poison-type? That completely defies the rules of the game!"
"Exactly, how can that Shellder's venom be that potent?"
"It's not even a Poison-type Pokémon itself!"
The crowd buzzed with debate.
It was common knowledge that Poison-type and Steel-type Pokémon were immune to poison. The only exceptions were Pokémon with the Corrosion ability, or venom so extraordinarily powerful it bypassed that immunity entirely.
But Shellder couldn't have Corrosion. That was the exclusive ability of the Salandit and Fomantis lines.
Which left only one explanation: Shellder's venom was simply that potent. But that raised the question of how a Pokémon without even a Poison typing was producing venom of that caliber.
Nobody could make sense of it.
"That Shellder has probably trained a special 'Secret Toxic Art.'"
One seasoned trainer offered a theory, addressing the group around him. "It's similar to what Koga at Fuchsia Gym does. The venom from his Pokémon can poison both Poison-types and Steel-types too."
The mention of Koga brought a momentary hush over the crowd.
Most of them had challenged a Gym at some point, and among Gym Trainers, Koga was widely regarded as one of the most nightmarish to face.
His command of poison was practically impossible to guard against, and once you were caught, the consequences were dire.
Someone in the crowd ventured a guess. "You don't think this kid is actually one of Koga's students?"
It wasn't an unreasonable thought. Trainers who specialized in Poison-types were rare in the Kanto region, and none were more renowned than Koga.