Orin felt suffocated. In terms of strength, he was by no means weaker than most of those who had advanced, but when it came to tactics and battlefield awareness, he was no match for Sato.
That was why Sato kept suppressing him again and again, preventing him from ever showing his full potential.
In the first Double Battle, Zoroark's Illusion completely disoriented him.
Just when he found an opening to counterattack, Sato had used U-turn to escape, switching to a toxic-based strategy that completely shut down Azumarill.
Now that he had finally cleared the remaining poison from the field, Gengar had taken the opportunity, putting his Blaziken to sleep with a single Hypnosis.
After all this, Orin was starting to question everything. 'Were geniuses really always this unreasonable in battle?'
"Gengar, Nightmare."
Sato's voice was calm and steady, but to Orin, it rang like a nightmare itself.
Gengar leapt next to the sleeping Blaziken and fired a purple-black beam from its hand.
Blaziken's sleeping face instantly contorted in pain, fists clenched and body curled up as if it were trapped in a terrifying dream.
Nightmare ended once, but Blaziken showed no signs of waking. Seeing this, Sato didn't hesitate to command again, "Again, Dream Eater."
Gengar launched another pale purple beam of energy. As it hit, waves of the same energy flowed back in reverse, absorbed into Gengar's body.
Nightmare continuously drains health/stamina from a sleeping Pokémon.
Dream Eater attacks the opponent by devouring their dreams; if the user is injured, it also recovers some of its own health/stamina.
Nightmare plus Dream Eater didn't just make Blaziken endure a horrifying dream… it would awaken with no memory of it, retaining only the fear and dread left behind.
If Cacturne's draining tactics left a hollow feeling in the opponent's body, then Nightmare + Dream Eater left the opponent's spirit feeling completely empty and terrified.
"Gengar, another Dream Eater."
"Geng~Gengengengeng~."
Gengar shook its head playfully, but its hands didn't stop; another Dream Eater hit Blaziken, draining even more of its stamina.
Finally, Blaziken opened its eyes, but they were unfocused, its condition clearly unstable.
"Blaziken, get up! Use Focus Energy!"
"B-Blaz!"
Blaziken seemed to remember it was still in a battle. Its fists clenched slightly as it struggled to push itself off the ground.
Sato didn't have Gengar ruthlessly attack a downed opponent. He simply watched in silence as Blaziken trembled and slowly stood up. Only when Orin gave the next command did Sato issue his own.
"Blaziken, Fire Blast!"
"Gengar, Shadow Ball… max power."
Blaziken channeled all its remaining strength into a roaring, blazing Fire Blast shaped like the kanji for big "大".
Gengar wasn't about to back down. It quickly spread its chubby hands, and a Shadow Ball began to form between them, growing larger and larger until it reached a full two meters in diameter.
Then, it hurled it straight into Blaziken's Fire Blast!
BOOOOOOM!
A massive mushroom cloud shot into the sky, rising beyond the height of the arena itself. Even tourists outside the venue could see it clearly, a testament to the sheer power of the explosion.
Inside, many front-row spectators began coughing nonstop after inhaling a large amount of smoke and dust.
The field's ventilation system kicked into high gear, and soon the situation within the arena became clear again.
Gengar was sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Blaziken, on the other hand, was still standing rigidly in place, but its eyes were already unfocused, and the flames on its wrists had died out.
"Blaziken has lost the ability to battle. Gengar is the winner, which means the victor of this match is Yuga Sato from Shadownight Town!"
"OHHH!"
Thunderous roars erupted from the stands, with many fans even shouting Sato's name at the top of their lungs.
After all, that moment when Gengar waited for Blaziken to get back up before finishing the battle had been way too charming, it won over countless hearts!
But all Sato had intended was to give his opponent a dignified way to fall.
With the match over, Sato and Orin walked to the center of the field. The two shook hands, drawing another round of applause.
"The younger generation always overtakes the old… and this old-timer got washed up on the beach… Since you beat me, you better carry my will to the end!"
"…I'll try."
"…That answer doesn't sound like a genius at all, hahaha!" Orin blinked in surprise, then laughed heartily before turning to walk off the field.
There was a certain melancholy to his back.
----
Back in the waiting room, every Trainer who had finished or was still waiting for their match looked toward Sato…
And all began applauding at the same time.
The applause didn't last long, because Flint and the others quickly rushed over, faces full of excitement as they dove into discussion.
"Wow, you're really making a statement, three Pokémon we've never seen before, and right in the first finals match! I remember Zoroark is your Starter Pokémon, right? You sent it out this early?"
Flint slapped Sato hard on the shoulder, grinning as if he had been the one who won the match.
"Gengar's Shadow Ball was pretty impressive… just a tiny bit behind my own Gengar's, of course~" Phoebe added, with the pleased expression of a proud senior, making Sato twitch the corner of his mouth.
"…You've grown this much already? Looks like I'll need to update my data," Will said from the side, his black-rimmed glasses flashing as if to reflect the fact that Sato's progress had far surpassed his predictions.
"…"
The rest of the group eagerly chimed in, filling the room with a lively buzz. It wasn't until the next match began that everyone reluctantly sat back down to continue watching.
But many couldn't calm down inside, Sato's performance had been simply too overwhelming.
Among the Trainers who made it to the finals, none were weak. Machamp's "hidden power", Azumarill's rare Huge Power… those were impressive feats.
But compared to Sato, they all paled in comparison.
Zoroark's Illusion tactic couldn't even be seen through by Foresight or Mind Reader. In the end, it was only broken by Azumarill's Supersonic… and that felt more like a lucky shot than a strategy.
Ariados's terrifying physique, which didn't seem like it belonged to a typical Bug-type Pokémon, hadn't even been fully revealed, yet many had already taken notice.
As for Gengar, those golden eyes and strange gestures made it clear from the start that it was no ordinary Pokémon. Not to mention its dream-based tactic, unless it ran into a perfect counter, it was practically unbeatable.
Even Honchkrow, who didn't seem to do much in the beginning… 'Seriously, look at that size. Could any normal Honchkrow even look like that?'
Most importantly, what really made Sato stand out and gain instant fame was… his perfectly youthful, collagen-rich handsome face that hadn't been touched by time in the slightest!
"…"
.
.
150 PS - CH
Patre0n/Romeloff