Natsui had gained a good advantage at the start.
Even so, Anabel's Metagross was still slightly stronger than Natsui's in terms of raw power.
That could not be helped.
Anabel's Metagross was one of her main Pokémon. It had been with her for a very long time.
On top of that, it battled different challengers here every day, so its strength kept improving.
Natsui's Metagross, on the other hand, had already been through several battles, but it was still in the middle of growing.
It still had a lot of room to improve.
Compared to the Pokémon of ordinary Trainers, it was already outstanding. But compared to the ace of a true Metagross specialist, it was still a little behind.
It needed more time and experience.
That was not something that could be rushed.
Natsui understood that clearly.
That was why he was taking this battle very seriously.
After her earlier mistake, Anabel became far more careful and cautious.
That only made the battle harder.
She was the Frontier Brain of the Battle Tower, the Salon Maiden herself.
Once she started planning every step and every exchange carefully, she became extremely difficult to handle.
The two Metagross clashed again.
This time, the battle turned into a fierce exchange from start to finish.
At one point, Anabel's Metagross managed to force Natsui's into a corner.
But Natsui quickly turned the situation around and regained the initiative.
In the end, the two sides were evenly matched.
Then, during a final clash of Hyper Beams, both Pokémon collapsed at the same time.
The green-haired referee raised his right hand and declared, "Both Metagross are unable to battle. This round is a draw!"
Natsui and Anabel had completely different reactions to that result.
For Anabel, it was frustrating.
She could tell that her Metagross was slightly stronger than Natsui's.
On top of that, she had the added advantage of issuing commands silently through her connection with it.
By all logic, the advantage should have been hers.
And yet, this man had forced a draw using only ordinary commands.
To Anabel, that was a real regret.
But to Natsui, it was an excellent outcome.
Trading one of his weaker Pokémon for one of Anabel's main Pokémon was already worth it.
On top of that, his Metagross had gained valuable experience and would improve its confidence from this battle.
Of course, the mental strain on him was real too.
But if it let him win, then spending a little more focus was no big deal.
He could always eat more afterward and get some extra rest.
At that point, Natsui had a two-Pokémon-to-one advantage.
That put enormous pressure on Anabel.
She had faced situations like this before.
But in those cases, she had either been holding back or had not been using her full main team.
This time, she was fighting seriously and still found herself losing.
That feeling brought back memories of the beginning of her journey, when she had been too weak and too helpless in front of stronger opponents.
She had thought that once she grew stronger, she would never feel that way again.
Yet now, after all these years, this man had forced that feeling back out of her.
For the first time in a very long while, Anabel felt her whole body tremble.
She was excited, nervous, and covered in goosebumps.
As a Trainer, she wanted to defeat an opponent this strong.
But she also knew there was a clear gap between her and the man standing in front of her.
Anabel recalled her unconscious Metagross and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
She knew perfectly well that if she let anxiety take over, she would perform even worse.
She tried more than once to steady her emotions, but the excitement inside her would not settle.
She understood that this feeling came from instinct itself.
It was her nature as a Trainer.
She wanted to defeat the strong opponent in front of her.
On the opposite side, Natsui also recalled his Metagross.
He did not feel the same excitement Anabel did, but he could tell how difficult she was to fight.
He could also clearly feel the pressure and determination coming from her.
It seemed he had driven her into a corner.
Natsui smiled faintly and took out his third Poké Ball.
Natsui and Anabel released their final Pokémon almost at the same time.
A flash of blue light passed across the field, and an Espeon and a Scizor appeared.
In the stands, May immediately sat up straight.
Scizor was Natsui's Pokémon.
She already knew it well, so there was not much to examine there.
Instead, she focused all her attention on Espeon.
Espeon looked like a small cat.
It was under a meter tall and very light.
Its fur and eyes were purple, and there was a red gem set into its forehead.
Its coat looked sleek and soft.
It was a beautiful Pokémon, and many Trainers liked it.
May was staring at Espeon partly because it was so popular, but also because she was thinking about Eevee's future.
Her Eevee had only hatched recently, yet she had already started thinking about how it might evolve one day.
What had Natsui called it before?
Right. Thinking ahead.
Planning early was not a bad thing.
Espeon was one of the options she had been considering.
But the other evolutions all looked appealing too.
This was a perfect chance for her to observe one up close.
Natsui, meanwhile, had not known what Anabel would send out.
Now that she had chosen a Psychic-type to face his Bug- and Steel-type Scizor, he could not help but feel a little sorry for her.
The battle had already been hard enough.
Now she was entering it with a bad matchup as well.
That only made things worse for Anabel.
Natsui looked up and noticed that Anabel's expression was no longer upset.
After that initial helplessness, what remained now was determination.
Natsui nodded inwardly.
She really was the true Salon Maiden.
Even though she was still young, she had not given up.
He had briefly considered switching Scizor out for Dragonite.
But in the end, he decided not to.
Even with the disadvantage, Anabel still wanted to fight with everything she had.
At that point, switching would have felt disrespectful.
Anabel was in a dangerous position now.
If she lost one more round, the whole battle would be over.
Normally, losing would not have mattered that much.
Her role was to test challengers and award Symbols.
That was part of how the Battle Frontier worked.
But this time, she was using her real main team against a truly strong opponent.
If she lost badly, it could damage her confidence.
At the same time, if she managed to learn something from the battle, it could become a huge step forward for her.
Whether this match became a loss or a gain depended entirely on how she chose to see it.
Scizor and Espeon moved into position.
This was the third round, and the wooden floor had already been damaged by the previous exchanges.
The damage was not too deep, since Natsui had not used especially heavy Pokémon yet, but the cracked boards and broken patches of floor would still affect movement.
"The third round of the battle now officially begins!"
Both sides were ready.
The referee swung his hand down, and the match started.
Anabel's team was made up of Psychic-types, but they were not limited to long-range combat.
Natsui had already seen that all of them were dangerous at close range too.
That was one of the reasons he had chosen Scizor.
Scizor had a natural advantage over Psychic-types, and it was also a specialist in close combat.
It was the perfect choice to pressure Espeon.
The instant the referee finished speaking, both Pokémon moved.
Espeon opened with Psychic.
Natsui had expected that.
Scizor responded with Double Team, slipping past the attack while sending multiple images rushing toward Espeon.
Which one was real?
That was a serious test for Anabel.
She had a great deal of experience, so she did not panic.
After a brief look, she made her choice.
Through her silent link, she had Espeon fire Psychic at the image on the far right.
Anabel had read it correctly.
Natsui immediately ordered Scizor to use Quick Attack.
It accelerated sharply and slipped away from Espeon's Psychic.
But now Scizor had already closed the distance.
With its massive pincers, it posed an obvious threat in close quarters.
Anabel saw that clearly, so she chose not to fight head-on.
Instead, she had Espeon use Agility to create distance at once.
Scizor's strike caught nothing but air.
Natsui immediately understood Anabel's plan.
She wanted to use Espeon's speed to wear Scizor down little by little.
He rubbed his chin slightly.
He had seen through the idea, but for the moment, he did not have a clean way to shut it down.
The gap in speed between the two Pokémon was simply too large.
Espeon was extremely fast.
Among the Eeveelutions known at that time, it was one of the quickest.
That made it naturally faster than a heavily armored Pokémon like Scizor.
Trying to catch Espeon through pure speed alone was impossible.
After reaching a safe distance, Espeon launched another Psychic.
Natsui had Scizor dodge while continuing to think.
Steel-types only took half damage from Psychic attacks, but that alone was not enough.
If the battle dragged on too long, Scizor's stamina would eventually become a problem.
He needed a decisive plan.
Natsui made up his mind.
He had Scizor use Double Team again while dodging, and six images rushed toward Espeon from different angles.
Anabel was surprised.
She had assumed Natsui had run out of ideas.
Even so, she stayed cautious and immediately began searching for the real Scizor.
Normally, once a Trainer identified the real body correctly once, doing it again became easier.
That depended on skill and experience, and Anabel had both.
She was already familiar with the pattern now and felt confident in her judgment.
She watched carefully for a moment.
Then her eyes sharpened.
She decided that the image on the far right was the real Scizor.
Without speaking, she sent the command to Espeon.
But the very next moment, she noticed something wrong.
The image on the far left moved.
Anabel was startled.
Was that the real one?
Had this man deliberately shown her a fake opening to mislead her?
She had no time to think it through.
She immediately shifted her order, and Espeon turned and fired Psychic at the image on the far left.
The attack arrived almost instantly.
But Anabel's shock deepened once again.
The moment Psychic struck that target, it shattered like an illusion.
She had guessed wrong.
And if that one was not the real Scizor...
Then where was the real Scizor now?