Unlike Shirley's palpable panic, Vulpix, facing the oncoming Eevee, remained surprisingly calm. It lowered its stance slightly, ruby eyes narrowed, intently tracking the brown blur speeding towards it.
The moment Eevee entered striking range, Vulpix acted. Not with a counterattack, but with a sudden, sharp sidestep, pivoting cleanly out of the path of the Quick Attack.
Eevee's claws slashed through empty air. The momentum of the missed attack carried it forward, throwing its balance off slightly. It stumbled, recovering quickly with practiced agility, but the initial aggressive charge was completely neutralized.
Seeing Vulpix execute the dodge perfectly, exactly as they'd practiced, a thrill of secret delight shot through Shirley, momentarily overriding her fear. 'It worked! Xiu's training actually worked!' She felt a surge of relief that she hadn't panicked and shouted a contradictory command, which likely would have disrupted Vulpix's timing.
On the opposite side, Chanel's confident smirk faltered, replaced by a flicker of surprise, then annoyance. Her Eevee, landing a clean hit with Quick Attack, was usually guaranteed. For Vulpix – Shirley's Vulpix – to dodge it so cleanly? It was unexpected.
Confused but undeterred, Chanel pressed the attack. "Again, Eevee! Quick Attack! Finish it!"
Eevee gathered itself, white light flaring around its form again as it launched another lightning-fast charge across the field. This time, its speed seemed even greater than before. Shirley barely had time to register the movement before Eevee became a white streak bisecting the arena.
But once again, the impossible happened. As the streak of light reached Vulpix's position, Vulpix was simply… not there. It had moved fractions of a second before Eevee arrived, another clean evasion. The light dissipated, revealing Eevee standing alone on one side of the field, Vulpix unharmed on the other.
Chanel's confusion deepened, visible now on her face. Shirley's confidence soared. Whatever Xiu had done, it was working.
"Again!" Chanel commanded, frustration creeping into her voice, refusing to believe what she was seeing.
— — —
Tucked away in a shadowed corner of the upper spectator stands, Xiu watched the battle unfold below. "Seems the training was effective after all," he murmured softly to himself.
"You didn't use it?" a familiar, deep voice asked quietly from beside him. Bao Ba had appeared silently at some point, observing the match alongside him.
"No," Xiu replied, shaking his head slightly. He casually retrieved the small vial containing the orange performance-enhancing drug from his pocket, turning it over in his fingers. "Shirley isn't stupid. If Vulpix suddenly displayed power far beyond its training level, she'd realize something was wrong. She needs to believe this victory comes from her effort— her bond with Vulpix. Relying on a potion now would undermine the entire point and destroy her confidence in the long run."
He paused, then added pointedly, "Besides, Director, surely you wouldn't want Shirley to rely on cheap tricks instead of genuine growth, right?"
He offered the vial back to Bao Ba.
"Keep it," Bao Ba waved it away dismissively, his attention returning to the battle below. "Might be useful later."
Xiu shrugged noncommittally and slipped the vial back into his pocket. He refocused on the arena.
After a few more moments watching Vulpix repeatedly evade Eevee's attacks, Bao Ba asked curiously, "How did you manage this? Such improvement in evasion in just a few days?"
Xiu explained his strategy calmly, his eyes still tracking the movements below. "Eevee was raised well, yes. Fast, aggressive. But fundamentally, it's still young, likely not fully matured physically. The power gap between it and Vulpix isn't insurmountable, despite appearances. Shirley's previous losses weren't necessarily due to Vulpix being weak, but due to her terrible strategy – or lack thereof."
He continued, "I observed Eevee's battles carefully. Identified its patterns, its preferred attack angles, its signs. Its strength lies in that initial burst speed, closing distance, overwhelming with physical attacks like Quick Attack or Tackle, maybe Bite. Its weakness? Predictability, perhaps lower endurance compared to its speed, and vulnerability if its initial burst fails."
"So," Bao Ba prompted.
"So," Xiu elaborated, "I focused Vulpix's training entirely on countering that specific style. High-intensity evasion drills, forcing it to react instantly, anticipate movements, maintain distance. Vulpix isn't faster than Eevee in a straight line. It can't be, but the key isn't about matching speed; it's prediction. Reading Eevee's body language, anticipating the lunge, and moving before the attack fully launches. Creating space, buying time to react to the next attack."
He sighed slightly. "Vulpix worked incredibly hard and learned remarkably fast. But honestly, the timeframe was too short to build true mastery…" A faint, almost apologetic smile touched his lips. "So," he admitted frankly, "I had to implement… a contingency."
"The Growlithe 'accidentally' injuring Eevee during your joint training session yesterday?" Bao Ba asked knowingly, turning to look at Xiu, one eyebrow raised.
Xiu met his gaze without flinching. "Since strengthening Vulpix sufficiently was constrained by time," he stated pragmatically, feeling no guilt, "weakening the opponent seemed the most logical alternative." He offered no apology. "Growlithe's 'warning' tackle targeted Eevee's right foreleg. Nothing permanently damaging, of course – wouldn't want to actually cripple the Pokémon. But enough to cause deep bruising, maybe a slight strain. Enough," he added, gesturing towards the battle below, "to subtly impair its explosive speed, its ability to pivot sharply off that leg."
He looked back at the arena. "The longer this battle drags on, the more Vulpix forces Eevee to make sharp turns and quick bursts… the more that hidden injury will flare up. Affecting its speed, its balance, its stamina." He allowed himself another small, cold smile. "Isn't that exactly what we're seeing down there?"
Bao Ba watched the battle again, now noticing the subtle hesitation in Eevee's movements, the slight favoring of its right leg, things he hadn't registered before. He chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Unless Chanel is as oblivious as Shirley," he commented dryly, "simply dodging won't win the match. The power difference is still too significant if Eevee lands a clean hit."
"Of course," Xiu agreed readily. "Dodging isn't the goal. It's just the means."
Down in the arena, the battle continued. Eevee launched attack after attack; Vulpix dodged, retreated, created space. But Chanel, frustrated by her inability to land a hit, finally changed tactics, just as Xiu had anticipated.
"Eevee, stop chasing! Corner it!" she commanded sharply. Recognizing that relying solely on speed wasn't working against Vulpix's uncanny evasiveness, she instructed Eevee to advance slowly, methodically, using its presence to herd Vulpix, cutting off escape routes, gradually shrinking its available space.
Vulpix, faced with this new, pressing tactic, seemed momentarily flustered. Its evasion became less fluid, more panicked. It kept backing up, glancing nervously towards the arena boundaries, clearly feeling trapped.
Eevee pressed forward relentlessly, forcing Vulpix further and further towards the edge of the field. Then, seeing Vulpix stumble slightly on a turn, exposing its flank for a fraction of a second, Eevee seized the opportunity. The trained predator instinct took over. It lunged, accelerating suddenly, aiming for the vulnerable opening.
"Vulpix, no!" Shirley cried out involuntarily from the sidelines, instinctively reaching out as if she could somehow intervene.
Seeing her opponent's clear mistake, seeing victory finally within reach, a triumphant, almost vicious smile spread across Chanel's face. This time, you're finished! If Vulpix was injured now, during her attack, no one could blame her…
"It's over," Xiu murmured softly from the stands, watching the Eevee lunge towards the seemingly trapped Vulpix, a faint, satisfied smile touching his own lips.
The trap was sprung.