After a brief silence—
"I don't really mind," Silas shrugged. "But Celeb hasn't passed the League's assessment, so he can't serve as an official Gym staff member, right?"
"Ahahaha!" Blaine gave a strange laugh, and from who-knows-where, he pulled out a bright yellow wig. "As long as you wear this, there won't be a problem!"
"Sensei, the League officials aren't idiots. Any Gym battle where a Badge is awarded—they review the battle footage, you know," Celeb said helplessly, complaining about his own teacher.
This rule, of course, existed to prevent any Gym from handing out Badges irresponsibly.
"Relax, it'll be fine! Trust me!" Blaine flashed a big grin, showing his white teeth, and gave them a hearty thumbs-up.
Celeb glanced at Silas, hesitant.
"Let's go," Silas tilted his head, gesturing for him to follow while heading toward the battlefield.
He did trust Blaine to some extent—surely he wouldn't set up his own disciple to fail like that.
Besides, the League's rules hardly posed any real restriction for Blaine. Even if one day Blaine decided to give away a Badge on a whim, the League would probably just check in to see if something special had happened in his life.
"Put it on, kid. He's already agreed to battle you again, so why are you still dragging your feet? Haven't you been saying you wanted to fight him?" Blaine casually plopped the yellow wig onto Celeb's head.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Blaine strolled in, swaying leisurely.
Celeb gritted his teeth and quickly followed.
At the moment, Cinnabar Gym's battlefield was still its standard rock-type arena. The future volcano battlefield was probably still under construction.
And for a non-fire-type specialist like Celeb, a volcano terrain wouldn't necessarily be to his advantage anyway.
"The battle rules will be 2-on-2. Since it's a Gym match, the defending side sends out their Pokémon first and makes the first move. I won't bother explaining the rest—you two youngsters have no objections, right?"
Blaine slowly made his way to the referee's spot, asking both trainers.
They nodded in unison.
"In that case—battle start!" Blaine lazily waved the referee's flags. His form was far from regulation, but no one cared enough to say anything.
"My first partner will be—go, Poliwrath!"
Celeb tossed his Poké Ball.
A blue, round-bodied Pokémon appeared on the field.
Poliwrath—the Tadpole Pokémon. A Water/Fighting type with strong, muscular arms that looked like they were built for punching, giving it powerful fighting moves.
Not only that, it had incredible stamina and strength. With almost no body fat, it was practically pure muscle.
"Oh, so your Poliwhirl evolved with a Water Stone," Silas remarked, quickly realizing Celeb's intent. "Well then, let's do this again—the result will be the same. Go, Blaziken!"
"Blazi!"
Blaziken, recognizing its familiar opponent, let flames erupt from its wrists, looking eager to fight.
"Hmph, this time the victory will be mine." Hearing Silas's words, Celeb's eyes seemed to burn with determination.
He admitted Silas was strong, but he still refused to fully accept defeat. Last time, their battle had been evenly matched in terms of command—just bad luck on his part.
"Blaziken, Swords Dance!"
Instead of starting with Flamethrower like usual, Silas chose to have Blaziken boost its stats first.
"Interrupt it—use Hydro Pump!" Celeb shouted passionately.
Whoa—going straight for a water-type finisher right from the start? What's your follow-up going to be after that? Silas was startled by such a direct command.
But Celeb had miscalculated one thing—Blaziken had practiced Swords Dance to perfection. It only took two seconds to complete the boost.
For his Poliwrath, that same amount of time was just enough to finish gathering energy for Hydro Pump—it hadn't even fired yet.
"Bounce!"
The moment Blaziken finished its aggressive stance dance and raised its attack power, Silas gave his next command.
Blaziken bent its legs slightly, and with the tremendous jumping power its species was known for, it shot high into the air.
"BOOM!"
Poliwrath's Hydro Pump slammed into the wall outside the arena, blasting a deafening roar. From the black, spiral-patterned mark on its white belly, a massive torrent of water had just erupted.
The instant Celeb saw Blaziken complete Swords Dance so fast, his eyes narrowed slightly in alarm.
Was that even a normal speed for Swords Dance at this stage? he thought.
The fastest he'd ever seen was close to five seconds—and now here was Blaziken pulling it off in less than half that time.
But by then, Poliwrath's Hydro Pump was already past the point of no return. Even if he'd wanted to stop, he couldn't.
"This is bad," Celeb muttered, his expression dark.
It wasn't that his strategy was wrong—most Pokémon using Swords Dance were completely vulnerable for a while, making it an ideal window to attack.
A Fire-type like Blaziken, standing wide open in front of a Water-type Poliwrath—passing up Hydro Pump would've been a crime.
"Heh." Silas couldn't help smiling to himself. He'd only been baiting Celeb—he hadn't expected him to fall for it so earnestly.
He'd figured Celeb's careful nature would lead him to use something quicker, like Water Gun—still decent damage against Blaziken but much safer.
Looks like all that training to perfect Blaziken's Swords Dance had paid off.
"Blazi!"
Even worse for Poliwrath—before it could recover from Hydro Pump, Blaziken was already descending from the sky with a loud cry, heading straight toward it.
As a Flying-type move, Bounce was super effective against Poliwrath.
Blaine, on the sidelines, casually slipped on a pair of sunglasses. Behind the dark lenses, no one could tell what he was thinking—nor what emotions might have flickered in his eyes.
THUD!
Blaziken's twin legs, glowing with white light, stomped down hard onto Poliwrath's head, making it stagger backward. The Hydro Pump sputtered and stopped.
"Thunder Punch!" "Dynamic Punch!"
The next moment, both trainers issued their commands at the same time.
After borrowing momentum from its midair spin, Blaziken landed on the ground and locked eyes with Poliwrath, which had just recovered from the earlier blow. The fighting spirit radiating from the two Pokémon was practically visible to the naked eye.
"Blazi!" "Wrahhh!"
With a loud cry, Blaziken and Poliwrath rushed headlong toward each other.
This time, it was Silas's turn for his face to darken. He had overlooked one important thing—the height difference between the two Pokémon was a bit too great. Blaziken's Thunder Punch couldn't easily connect with Poliwrath.
A height of 2.3 meters going against 1.5 meters—if not for Blaziken's agility being above average compared to Poliwrath, it would have already been spun in circles by now.
Even so, thanks to Thunder Punch's type advantage and Blaziken's superior overall strength, it could probably hold its own for a while in a back-and-forth exchange.
I need to change tactics right away, Silas thought. Pulling away isn't an option. Fire against Water—no matter that Blaziken has both Charcoal and its natural talent boosting its power, at this stage those increases still can't offset the type disadvantage.
And Celeb's Poliwrath wasn't just some ordinary Pokémon with merely "Advance" potential.
As for why he didn't simply send out Pidgeot instead—well, come on. Celeb's challenge was so clearly laid out; how could he not answer in kind?
Truth be told, he still had a hot-blooded streak deep down. Winning against a type disadvantage? Just the thought of it was exciting.
I have to wait for an opening, Silas narrowed his eyes, watching the two Pokémon's movements closely. Celeb was equally focused, not daring to relax for an instant.
Bzzzt—
Electric sparks danced along Blaziken's fists. With its exceptional natural aptitude for fighting techniques, plus the battle skills it had honed alongside Silas during training, its movements were so smooth and precise that an onlooker might almost forget it was a Fire-type at all.
"A monster…?" Celeb muttered, a bead of cold sweat forming as he watched Blaziken—unhampered by its height disadvantage—fighting even more ferociously than before.
The "monster" he meant wasn't just the Blaziken before him—it included Silas as well.
Being the same age, he understood better than anyone just how incredible it was to have raised such a Pokémon. No matter how high a Pokémon's natural potential, so much still depended on its Trainer.
Give the same Pokémon to a Champion and to a rookie Trainer, and the difference in the results could be so vast it was almost unimaginable.
Blaine adjusted his sunglasses absentmindedly.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Blaziken and Poliwrath traded blow after blow—one claw for one fist, relentlessly hammering each other.
Blaziken's feathers were a tangled mess, its injuries visible beneath the plumage. Poliwrath's body was marred by black scorch marks here and yellow singe marks there.
At this close range, even if Celeb desperately wanted Poliwrath to retreat to avoid the crippling effect of paralysis and use its type advantage to launch ranged attacks, it was simply impossible.
Thanks to its Speed Boost ability giving it the upper hand in speed, Blaziken refused to give an inch. Even if it had to take a few solid Dynamic Punches, it was determined to stay on Poliwrath's heels.
With several of Celeb's retreat orders answered immediately by Silas's aggressive pursuit, Poliwrath's early advantage failed to produce the intended results.
Bzzzt— Yellow arcs of electricity crackled again—but this time, in a different place.
"Low Sweep!" Silas was still faster to react than Celeb.
"Back off! Dodge it!" came Celeb's command a moment later.
"Blazi!" Blaziken dropped low, white light gathering in its leg before sweeping out in a wide arc toward Poliwrath's lower body.
As a Fighting-type, Poliwrath's reflexes were naturally sharp, and it responded to its Trainer's order right away. But unfortunately, those electric sparks continued to flicker.
Poliwrath's body stiffened with paralysis, leaving it frozen on the spot.
CRASH!
That was the sound of Poliwrath being swept off its feet by Blaziken's Low Sweep.
Being a Pokémon of pure muscle and heavy build, Poliwrath might not have reached the 100 kg or 200 kg thresholds where Low Sweep's damage peaked—but even so, against it the move still delivered a solid 80 base power.
That was already on par with many of the strongest techniques under "signature move" level.
"Get up, Poliwrath! Don't give up!" Celeb shouted desperately as he watched his Pokémon struggling on the ground.
...
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