"That Aerodactyl did well enough. It traded that many moves with Raikou, when the others went down in a few."
"You can't quite say that. The Trainer had a part in it too. Didn't you see the Teleport?"
"Sss-heh... Have you people noticed something? This bout may well turn round. Look — being able to use a move like Teleport inside Raikou's field of power, what does that stand for?"
Somebody did not follow, and asked, "What does it stand for?"
"It stands for what his level as a Psychic is. Elite-Four-class, that's what! Nothing less would do it!"
"Ah, surely not!"
Down below the crowd were watching the match and arguing it over.
Among them a few spectators of no common experience had guessed at Vance's strength from one or two things he had shown.
They had never seen an Elite-Four-class person and could only reason it out from theory, and these few had guessed right.
"Even so, Wren still has the better of it. Two Legendary Pokémon at his side — who is to beat that? Not even an Elite-Four-class ability user. There have been plenty of Elite-Four-class Pokémon beaten in Darkrai's hands, Pokémon belonging to prodigies like Aurelian and Elspeth at that."
"Just so, just so. That's my thinking as well."
"True enough, this gentleman is right. Er — let me by, would you, I'm off to the lavatory."
Someone made an excuse to leave his seat, and the moment he was out he went up and placed a bet, shifting part of what he had originally staked on Wren over onto Vance.
He was not the only one. Others too, once they learned Vance was an Elite-Four-class Psychic, changed their bets.
Ambrose and the rest could not contain their delight. They had known their boss would win; there was no need to say it.
Look at that, was it not showing itself already?
The trio, who were off selling snacks, were exceedingly happy as well, and hoped Vance would win; they had staked every penny they owned.
If Vance won they would make a killing and never need to take a job again.
It was not a complete victory yet, but as things stood there was hope in it now.
"Begin!"
Wren did not take Raikou back, but left it to keep fighting.
So this was Slaking against Raikou.
"Slaking is easy enough to handle. Its Ability, Truant, has already shown the flaw in it. Even well trained, with a longer stretch of acting and a shorter rest, it is still an opening."
Wren settled the keynote of his tactics on the spot and set about putting it into practice.
Slaking, to his mind, was very easy to handle.
"Brick Break!"
The instant the fight opened Slaking flashed across and was in front of Raikou, and Vance's order came at the same moment.
"You've come just right. Thunderbolt!"
"Roar—"
Brilliant golden lightning met Slaking's Brick Break, only this time the thing the lightning struck was not blown away; it came down slowly instead, straight against the current of it.
Close to, Raikou felt at last the fearful strength in Slaking. Even the fierce shock of a Thunderbolt was held off by it.
"Slaking, ready your left hand — Hammer Arm!"
Doing two things at once was naturally no trouble to Slaking.
Slaking nodded, lifted its left hand with white light steaming off it, gave Raikou a savage grin, and brought it down hard.
Both hands came down together, broke the shock of the lightning, and landed under its slightly astonished eyes.
Luckily, at the crucial moment, Raikou went backwards, using the power of the lightning to put distance between itself and Slaking at enormous speed.
"Boom—"
With no slackening in the force behind them, Slaking's two fists thundered into the ground.
The field roared, sank a good ten centimetres and more, and half of it was wrecked.
"Slaking is as strong as this!"
Wren said it in astonishment, and what Slaking did next left him more at a loss to understand than ever.
Slaking actually needed no rest at all. Without the least weariness or idleness it kept up the attack.
"Thunder!"
"Rumble, rumble, rumble—"
Bolt after bolt of lightning slashed down from the sky, and Slaking dodged every one of them as though it knew in advance where they would land, its posture perfectly easy.
"Gather the lightning — fire!"
Ten thousand bolts, drawn together by Raikou, turned into a leaping, bounding "tiger of lightning" and sprang straight at Slaking.
The surging lightning blotted out earth and sky; even among Elite-Four-class attacks this one counted as a fine piece of work.
Standing before the "lightning tiger", what Slaking felt in its heart was not fear but a scalding heat; its whole body was burning.
Its force of presence grew more fearful still.
The Huge Power Ability came into play, and a familiar power welled up out of the depths of its body and ran through the whole of it, and Slaking felt itself to have reached the very peak of its condition!
It raised a fist, gathered the force and drove it out.
The fist moved and the wind rose with it; all the power about its body withdrew, and in Slaking's eyes there was nothing left but its own fist.
It swung out hard and met that "lightning tiger".
And at that moment all the power of its full strength burst out and was poured into the one place.
"Roar—"
Slaking roared out in pure satisfaction. It had thrown the most perfect punch of its life!
In among the wild, darting arcs of electricity, Slaking looked savage.
"Break, curse you!"
Slaking straightened and charged, fist held out before it, and that "lightning tiger" was broken in an instant, the violent lightning scattering apart and falling away all around.
Slaking at that moment felt a satisfaction beyond anything it had known.
By throwing that one perfect punch it had broken through its own bottleneck as well.
Level 59, level 60......
"Boom—"
A wave of force flew out from its body.
Level 61! Slaking had formally entered Elite-Four-class!