"Hello, everyone watching from home! Welcome to the Round of 16 of the Indigo Plateau Conference! I'm the host for today's matches, Hachie.
Before the battles begin, let's take a look at all the matchups for this round.
First up is a highly anticipated match between Silas Alaric and Shizuo Shinagawa.
In previous rounds, Silas Alaric, a rookie trainer attending the regional tournament for the first time, has shown an impressive and outstanding performance."
The host, wearing traditional Kanto-style clothing, smiled as she reported the live situation from the Arena.
At the Pewter Gym:
"Huh… Looks like our plan to go watch Silas' match live has to be canceled," Forrest muttered helplessly, curling up in the corner of the sofa.
The main reason was his own fault: he had some minor issues with this semester's final exams and would only be free to attend in person during the Quarterfinals. Otherwise, a few days ago, the exclusive viewing box at Pewter Gym should have already been occupied.
"Guess the kid's just unlucky. But at this point, advancing one more round wouldn't help him much," Flint said indifferently while picking his nose.
To be honest, Silas' progress to this point was slightly beyond Flint's expectations.
It had to be said that Serperior's rapid improvement played a key role. Otherwise, Silas' first-round opponent, Kane, wouldn't have been so easily handled.
Plus, the luck of the draw in the second round was favorable—they didn't encounter an opponent of equal strength but type advantage, just a naïve one.
In Flint's eyes, the trainer named Nina was a bit of a simpleton.
"It's not impossible to go further," Brock said seriously, forming a sharp contrast with his father and younger brother.
"Speaking of Forrest, Father, I think you should have Grandpa help train him too," he said calmly, squinting slightly, leaving Forrest pale.
"I'm still young, still need to go to school… is it necessary?" Forrest said weakly.
But clearly, at home, he had almost no say; no one paid attention to his struggles.
Flint stroked his chin, intrigued. He knew his own abilities in raising and commanding Pokémon, but teaching kids was a completely different matter.
Not to mention, if Brock hadn't gradually taken over the care of his younger siblings, who knows what misfortune Forrest and the others would have suffered.
"You two were educated by Grandpa but insist on dragging me into it!" Forrest cried in frustration.
Then he sensed trouble.
"He's still young. Fine, he can come with me for a while. Grandpa hasn't seen Forrest in a long time," Brock said, approaching his younger brother with a slightly menacing expression.
Flint straightened up and nodded. "I think Brock's suggestion is quite reasonable."
Forrest could only cry silently. Just as the TV switched the live feed, he quickly exclaimed, "The match is starting, the match is starting!"
The live broadcast showed Silas stepping onto the field.
"So this is the Silas you've all been talking about. He's really handsome."
A woman walking by with two potted plants commented casually.
"Mother, we already have enough plants at home," Brock said helplessly.
"I know, I know! These are for the gym~" Brock's mother, Lola, replied with a cheerful smile.
The only remarkable thing about Lola was her large, expressive eyes—which, compared to Flint's typical squint, were striking in the family.
Flint's genes were indeed strong; all ten children had squinting eyes, but for him, that was fine.
Lola hummed a tune as she carried the plants away.
"We are a Rock-type gym, after all," Brock mumbled, ignored by his mother.
He groaned, holding his head, and glancing at his lazy father only made him feel worse.
"Being a professional trainer and going on adventures… maybe it wouldn't be so bad," Flint mused, imagining his son taking over the gym.
"Perfect, Brock is grown up. Time for him to take charge of the gym. At worst, I just hang my name here. With me around, nothing can go wrong," Flint thought with excitement.
He wasn't worried about a potential doubles battle across generations with his eldest son and father, or using his younger brother as a scapegoat—mainly because he encouraged this plan himself.
"Then we'll decide after the next aptitude evaluation," Flint concluded happily.
Brock, watching the live broadcast, probably didn't expect his father to be scheming about "running away from home."
Fortunately, he was still sensible enough to consider the gym's reputation before doing anything rash.
"Alright, the match is officially starting! Blue side: Shizuo Shinagawa! Red side: Silas Alaric!
The first Pokémon from each trainer seems to be testing the waters. While Shizuo sends out his usual powerhouse, Onix, Silas sends out Gigalith, which only appeared once before. This is a showdown between Rock and Ground Pokémon—let's see what an exciting battle they'll bring us!"
The commentator's passionate voice echoed over the arena.
"Onix, Double-Edge!"
The slight Shizuo pushed up his glasses and gave a spirited command.
Onix, with its Rock Head that prevents recoil damage, had an advantage using a self-sacrificing move like Double-Edge.
Plus, with Onix's massive size leading all Pokémon, hitting even a resistant Pokémon like Gigalith would deal substantial damage.
And don't forget, Gigalith's own immense body weight gave it a huge advantage.
Silas' Gigalith, nearly 2 meters tall and extremely wide, weighed over 300 kg. Onix, despite being over 9 meters long, weighed only slightly over 200 kg. Just looking at the numbers, it was a different league.
Fortunately, a Pokémon's weight doesn't always correlate with strength. Otherwise, we wouldn't see those visually stunning moments in battles, like a Poliwhirl (standard size: 1.3 m, 54 kg) toppling a Mudsdale (standard size: 2.5 m, 920 kg).
That's one reason why Pokémon battles are so captivating—seeing a small Pokémon triumph against a larger opponent is incredibly thrilling.
Silas watched as the charging Onix approached, sweat forming on his forehead. This overwhelming assault was exhilarating.
Scared? Impossible. That word didn't exist in his dictionary.
Gigalith remained impassive, staring at the oncoming Onix, quietly waiting for its trainer's command.
"Gigalith, Flash Cannon!"
Silas swung his hand, choosing to confront Onix head-on.
"Gigalith!" "Vrr~"
The growl and the energy gathering for Flash Cannon sounded almost simultaneously. Gigalith's orange crystals faintly glimmered.
A silver-white energy orb formed in front of Gigalith.
Under the watchful eyes of all, the battle reached its first climax.
The battlefield beneath Gigalith cracked under the energy's force, the orb growing larger and larger.
Onix, kicking up dust like a roaring earth dragon, dragged its massive body, smashing through obstacles.
The audience instinctively held their breath, and even the commentator momentarily went silent.
Unnoticed, Flash Cannon was fired silently.
After a brief pause, "BOOM—" The collision between the energy orb and Onix resonated throughout the arena.
"Roar—"
A slightly weakened but furious roar emerged from the silver light.
Onix's gray rocky body reappeared on the battlefield, still charging, with silver light trails gradually fading behind it.
Compared to when it first appeared, it was covered in battle scars.
"Thud."
Despite injuries, Onix's Double-Edge hit Gigalith relentlessly.
"Gigalith!"
Gigalith let out a rare cry—not from pain, but to display its might.
Its eyes locked onto the nearby Onix, leaving deep marks on the ground beneath its four feet.
After being knocked back a considerable distance, Gigalith stopped, relying on its immense strength.
"Your turn now! Gigalith, Earth Power!"
Taking advantage of Onix's recovery lag after using Double-Edge, Silas wasted no time.
Onix's Rock Head ability prevented recoil damage, which was great, but it didn't help in reducing the downtime after a big attack.
Honestly, Silas was still surprised that Onix had survived a direct Flash Cannon hit.
To put it into perspective, Steel-type Flash Cannon should have dealt significant damage to Onix, whose Energy Defense and HP stats weren't particularly impressive compared to its massive physical Defense.
It might not have immediately knocked Onix out, but it should have at least stopped the reckless Double-Edge rush.
Fortunately, Silas had anticipated this.
Steel-type Flash Cannon was powerful, but Gigalith's version wouldn't match a fully trained Steel-type Pokémon. If Onix had fallen too easily, it wouldn't be much of a challenge.
Silas had prepared a second option—Earth Power, a Ground-type energy move effective against Onix, which was ideal.
Even a strong Pokémon couldn't endure two consecutive high-damage moves with limited HP, and Silas was confident in this strategy.
Gigalith's body sank slightly, faint yellow ripples transmitting subtly underground.
Shizuo adjusted his glasses again. In the sunlight, even someone as strong as Silas couldn't see clearly into his opponent's eyes.
"Onix, Rock Slide!"
His command was concise and calm, completely confident that he hadn't risked losing the early advantage.
The outcome was still uncertain.
"Roar!"
Onix let out a furious roar, tilting its massive head skyward.
Most Onix were calm by nature, but once provoked, they became exceptionally aggressive, often attacking humans or other Pokémon in both the wild and urban areas.
This made Onix an excellent battle Pokémon—well-suited for competitions.
Free from the recovery lag, Onix coiled its tail, and a huge boulder materialized.
Silas watched in surprise as the Rock Slide's boulder flew directly toward the area where Earth Power had been set.
Silas knew this because he was Gigalith's trainer. Their countless hours of training had built an intuitive bond allowing him to predict how Gigalith would react—but how could Onix sense it?
There was only one explanation: Onix had incredible energy perception.
Silas's gaze became serious.
This perception wasn't trivial. One weakness of Earth Power is that its energy isn't concealed from Pokémon of the same type, and most could detect traps.
Silas had trained Gigalith extensively to exploit this: in addition to depth and location, he even planted fake Earth Power signals, so that most opponents would see multiple potential sources of energy, only one of which was real.
Identifying the real source usually required reaction time but Onix bypassed this entirely, targeting the genuine Earth Power directly.
For a Pokémon not particularly adept at energy manipulation, this ability was extraordinary.
Just looking at Onix's physical move set, it was clear this Pokémon charged in recklessly—a true powerhouse.
"No blind spots at all," Silas muttered.
In high-level battles, it's not only about which Pokémon is stronger—it's about whose Pokémon has fewer weaknesses.
The fewer the weaknesses, the harder it is for your opponent to exploit them, and the easier it is to secure victory.
Lance isn't a match for Lorelei now, not because he's weak, but because Dragon-types are quite ineffective against Ice-types.
The same applies to Flying-types.
Only when you have a comprehensive advantage in strength will type not be a decisive factor. But if the difference isn't significant, the previous battle between Silas and Nina is the best example.
Of course, similar to the barrel principle, if your strengths are ridiculously strong, having more weaknesses isn't a problem; otherwise, Lance wouldn't have become the world's second-best, a Master Trainer second only to Leon.
The most obvious example is Slaking.
Its negative ability doesn't diminish its power. One wrong move and it can send its opponent flying .
"Seems Rock Slide took Silas by surprise," commented Flint from his seat at home.
Although not on-site, he could notice from the camera's close-up of Silas's face that this was a clever move.
Despite Flint's laid-back personality, he had a sharp eye for Pokémon battles.
To outsiders, it just looked like Onix had smashed the pre-set Earth Power boulder—but the strategy and skill involved were only apparent to the trainers themselves.
Timing and execution took countless hours and money to perfect.
"This Onix of Shizuo's is worth studying. Look at how well it manipulates energy. When your Onix struggles to improve, this is a good reference," Flint advised his eldest son.
Brock nodded quietly, considering the lesson.
Of course, how one adapted it to their own style was up to the individual. No trainer could simply follow in another's footsteps and become stronger—each Pokémon and trainer was unique.
"Keep it up!" Brock encouraged silently.
Silas couldn't perceive this from the battlefield, but his resolve remained strong.
"Gigalith, Stealth Rock!"
Silas's eyes flickered. His direct attack hadn't fully achieved the intended effect, so he switched strategies.
"Onix, Stealth Rock!"
Shizuo quickly responded.
The initial advantage began to show signs of being countered—this was not ideal.
The commentators struggled to keep up with the rapid attack-and-counter rhythm of the two trainers.
The audience was more forgiving—this pace was normal for top-level battles in the Round of 16.
Silas's performance exceeded expectations. Many assumed he had potential, but facing a top contender, he could have been overwhelmed.
The reality proved otherwise—he was holding his own.
"See? I told you this kid was good," said Goodshow, watching through binoculars from the top VIP box.
His assistant, initially skeptical, could only smile in acknowledgment.
Silas's combination of training and battle command at such a young stage was extraordinary—truly impressive for a newly rising trainer.
"Some are geniuses—you can't judge them by ordinary standards," Goodshow said confidently.
Silas instinctively looked up. The sunlight was harsh, but he felt someone watching.
Probably just the crowd, he thought, smiling. The tension of battle left little room to worry about spectators.
Taking a deep breath, Silas refocused.
Both Gigalith and Onix were heavily injured.
It was time to finish this—Silas's resolve solidified.
He hadn't expected the early advantage to devolve into such a tight contest—he realized he still had much to improve.
Shizuo's expression had also grown serious.
This rising trainer's skill exceeded expectations. He wasn't weak—far from it—but strong in ways unusual for his age.
"Time to end this in one decisive strike," Shizuo thought.
Both trainers met each other's gaze, silently agreeing.
"Gigalith/Onix, Earthquake!!!"
....
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