"Those two pieces of trash from Circhester. Nothing but lies coming out of their mouths. They deserve to die."
"So that Gordie really participated in the Gym Challenge twice...?"
"Of course! That idiot with those ridiculous triangular glasses and that fat body... exactly the same as last time, only dumber now."
"Oh look, Melony can't even recall her Pokémon..."
"Serves her right! Hit her, Corviknight! Hit her!"
In front of the Hammerlocke Stadium gates, Woods and the other loudmouths finally went silent when Rylan shot them a deathly glare. They shrank back, muttering under their breath, but none dared to keep yelling.
Standing nearby, Raihan wasn't paying attention to their curses. His arms were folded tightly across his chest, eyes locked on the corner of the broadcast screen where Shiro was shown standing shirtless. What caught his attention wasn't the battle itself, but the man's condition.
That battlefield was in Circhester. The coldest city in all of Galar.
On the screen, Eiscue had been pummeled over and over again. But even as it suffered, it never stopped releasing waves of chilling air. Every second, the surrounding temperature dropped further. Its Chilling Water had even passed dangerously close to Shiro.
How could someone bare-chested like him possibly endure this until now?
Earlier, when it wasn't even this cold, the overweight Gordie had fainted from hypothermia after only standing there for a few minutes. His thick body couldn't save him.
While Shiro looked strong, he wasn't like Rylan, who had trained his body alongside his Pokémon for years. Compared to men like that, he still looked a little thin.
For him to stand in below-freezing temperatures like this for so long...
Moreover, Melony probably hoped her Pokémon couldn't be recalled. If she dragged the battle out long enough, Shiro would eventually break down from the cold. Victory would come to her without needing to spend any effort.
Rylan also noticed this. He glanced at his cousin with doubt in his eyes, but Raihan just shook his head. Neither of them could figure out where Shiro's confidence came from.
* * *
Inside Circhester Gym.
"Hmph. Fine, I won't recall it. What can you do? Are you going to order your Corviknight to fly over here and kill me?" Melony sneered, one hand on her hip, still holding the Poké Ball tightly in the other.
"Corviknight, let go of Eiscue," Shiro said calmly from the opposite side.
Even if Melony had broken the rules, the match wouldn't be declared over instantly. She would only face punishment once it ended. He couldn't drag this out. The battle had to end quickly.
"Coor!" Corviknight gave a low growl. Its blood-red eyes glinted before it pushed forward with its claws, shoving the unconscious Eiscue toward its trainer's direction.
Melony, who had been waiting for this, raised her arm and pressed the button on her Poké Ball, pulling back the fainted penguin in a flash of red light.
She then squinted at Shiro, her gaze lingering on his bare chest. Despite the freezing air, he hadn't collapsed. Without hesitation, she released her next Pokémon.
"Go, Mr. Rime!"
The ice-skating gentleman appeared, gliding elegantly across the battlefield the moment its feet touched the ground.
"Freeze-Dry!"
"Corviknight, Quick Attack into Steel Wing!"
The commands rang out together.
Mr. Rime lifted its staff high. The icy rod, carved crudely from solid ice, flared with dazzling light. A surge of pale blue energy burst from the tip, racing forward in a straight line.
Where the beam touched the floor, jagged spikes of ice burst upward, forming a deadly row of frozen spikes.
Freeze-Dry wasn't like ordinary Ice-type moves. It could rapidly freeze an opponent and even double its damage against Water-types because of how unnaturally cold it was.
Shiro narrowed his eyes. He had anticipated this. His body shifted sideways in a swift motion, avoiding the beam's direct path.
But Melony hadn't aimed to hit him.
The beam carved through the battlefield, leaving a wide path of clear ice, spreading more cold through the air. The temperature dropped again. Even spectators bundled in thick winter coats felt the sting of the chill seep into their bones.
'A,' Shiro called silently in his mind. His body was reaching its limit. He could feel the heat draining from him fast.
A faint pink shimmer, invisible to the others, flickered across his skin. It formed a thin energy barrier that insulated his body from the freezing air.
Meanwhile, Corviknight had already closed in behind its opponent. Its black wings glowed faintly, sharp as blades, and cut down toward the back of Mr. Rime's head.
"Rime...!" The Pokémon cried out as the first strike broke its concentration. The Freeze-Dry beam stopped immediately.
Corviknight's wings slammed it into the air. The puppet-like figure shook violently, arms flailing. Then, the steel bird's second wing swept down in a vertical slash, smashing it into the ground.
Boom!
The clown crashed onto the jagged ice spikes it had just created. The spikes shattered under its weight, and its body ended up half-buried among the frozen shards.
It struggled, gripping its staff to push itself up. But before it could rise, several blades of compressed wind whistled down from above.
Air Cutter.
Corviknight didn't need a command. Its instincts, honed through numerous battles, guided it naturally. Strike when the opponent falters. Never let them breathe.
"Mr. Rime!" Melony shouted, alarm in her voice.
Her face twisted. Yet her eyes didn't stay on her Pokémon. They snapped back to Shiro.
Why wasn't he frozen solid already?
The temperature was biting even for her, and she had lived in Circhester her whole life. She was wrapped in a thick winter coat. Shiro, a boy from Spikemuth, was bare-chested. How could he still be standing?
The human body could only produce so much heat. To resist cold was to burn through that heat, and when production couldn't keep up, core temperature would plummet. Muscles would fail, shivering would turn into confusion, and then the heart and lungs would begin to shut down. That was hypothermia.
The question was... could an ordinary person stay exposed for more than ten minutes in a place with a temperature of minus ten or twenty degrees Celsius and not be hurt at all?
Especially when Ice-type attacks didn't just drop the temperature but actively pulled heat out of their surroundings. If it was said to be ten or twenty degrees below zero, in reality it was far colder.
Even Gordie, heavy as he was, should have been able to last at least ten minutes. But after an ice-type move filled the battlefield, he went down.
So how was Shiro still standing? She could not make sense of it.
"Unbelievable! Corviknight's assault is relentless, each strike following perfectly into the next! Gym Leader Melony seems distracted, her mind somewhere else... perhaps she's puzzled by why Shiro hasn't collapsed like challenger Gordie did? I'm curious as well. But Gym Leader Melony, you'll need to act quickly, or Mr. Rime will be finished any second!" The commentator Ryan's voice boomed across the arena, excited and urgent.
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