"Thump..."
"Poochyena is unable to battle! The winner is Contestant Number 136, David!"
Poochyena was directly knocked flying to the side of the field by a Shadow Ball from the suddenly appearing Zorua, clearly having lost its ability to battle. The match naturally concluded as the Rotom Referee's words fell.
"Phew..."
Upon hearing the referee's announcement, Jackson immediately rushed onto the field to check on Poochyena's injuries. Seeing that, apart from some slight charring of fur where it was hit by Shadow Ball, it was merely exhausted, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Ow..."
Lying in its Trainer's arms, Poochyena let out two soft whimpers toward Jackson, seemingly comforting its Trainer and indicating that it was fine.
"Are you alright?"
Hearing the voice from behind him, Jackson turned around and saw that it was David who had walked over.
"Your Poochyena performed quite brilliantly! Let me introduce myself—David from Imperial Capital No. 1 High School."
David stepped forward and extended his hand, introducing himself. His opponent had actually performed quite well. From his choice of Poochyena as a starter Pokémon and Poochyena's level, it was clear that Jackson was likely a Trainer from an ordinary family.
To have such a performance was already quite commendable. If he hadn't encountered David and Zorua, he might have advanced several more rounds, and winning against a stronger opponent wouldn't have been impossible.
"You must be David, the top student of your grade! I've heard your name before. My name is Jackson, and I'm also a student at Imperial Capital No. 1 High School, but I'm in Class 6 of the second year."
Jackson was stunned for a moment, then reacted and quickly extended his hand to shake David's.
David hadn't expected to meet a fellow schoolmate. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Jackson picked up Poochyena and left. Seeing his hurried departure and the direction he was heading, he was likely going to have Poochyena's injuries thoroughly checked again.
"He's a good person, isn't he, Zorua?"
"Zorua?" The little fox tilted its head in confusion.
The match that had just ended wasn't even a warm-up for Zorua. Throughout the entire battle, aside from an Astonish at the beginning, Poochyena hadn't even touched Zorua once.
David also realized that at this point, Zorua facing those Ordinary-level Pokémon was simply one-sided. As long as Zorua didn't want to be hit, with its speed far exceeding others at the same level, opponents couldn't even touch it, with no hope of winning whatsoever.
It seemed that finding a worthy opponent for Zorua before the quarterfinals was impossible. He just hoped that there would be Veteran-level Pokémon among the opponents after the quarterfinals; otherwise, it would be too boring.
"How about it? For the next match, do you still want to battle on your own?"
"Zorua!" The little fox nodded enthusiastically.
The efficiency of the elimination rounds was incomparable to the preliminaries. After sitting for only a short while, David's next opponent was quickly announced.
Contestant D-136 versus Contestant D-122. The battle location is Field 1.
This time, the opponent was a young man wearing martial arts training attire, and the Pokémon he used was Tyrogue, which looked quite fitting for his identity.
[Name: Tyrogue]
[Type: Fighting]
[Energy Level: 16 (Normal)]
[Gender: ♂]
[Ability: Guts]
[Potential: Dark Blue]
[Held Item: None]
[Moves: Tackle, Focus Energy, Fake Out, Low Kick, Swift, Bullet Punch, Mach Punch, Counter, Brick Break]
Another quite impressive-looking Pokémon. With both Mach Punch and Bullet Punch, this must be trained toward the Hitmonchan evolution path, right? Was he a disciple of some martial arts dojo?
David waved his hand, still letting Zorua battle freely. The type advantage in this battle was too great—the opponent had no chance of winning at all. The martial arts trainee on the opposite side, seeing this gesture, seemed to feel slighted and immediately commanded Tyrogue to attack.
After all, Zorua was still in its disguised form at this time. In the eyes of those unaware of its true typing, David's approach of letting what appeared to be a Dark-type Zorua fight freely against a Fighting-type Pokémon that had the type advantage was indeed a bit too overconfident, almost looking down on his opponent!
It was no wonder his opponent was so irritated.
David could only sigh inwardly. There was nothing he could do—he couldn't tell him that his Zorua was immune to Fighting-type and Normal-type moves! Even if he did, the opponent wouldn't believe him!
"Fake Out!"
Upon receiving its Trainer's command, Tyrogue clapped its hands in place, and circles of vibrating ripples rapidly expanded outward.
Fake Out had two applications: one was a quick strike after the user approached the opponent, and the other was an attack using vibration ripples formed by clapping hands from a distance. Because of its extremely high priority, it was a very useful opening move.
And the Pokémon who brought this move to its extreme was the famous Incineroar, the number one support in competitive battles. Intimidate plus Fake Out plus Parting Shot plus U-turn—it was simply incredibly devious.
A very good opening move. It made David smile slightly.
If it were a normal Zorua, it would indeed be very difficult to deal with, but unfortunately, the opponent's luck was poor, as he had encountered David's Zorua.
"Zorua..." The little fox pretended to wince and look uncomfortable.
The Normal-type Fake Out had no effect on Zorua at all. And because David had told it not to reveal its Normal-type immunity, it had to pretend to be affected.
The little fox thought to itself, "This opponent is so annoying. I might as well end the battle quickly."
"Excellent, Tyrogue! Quickly use Focus Energy, then rush up and use Brick Break on Zorua!"
The martial arts trainee on the sideline didn't know that Zorua was already planning to end the battle immediately. Seeing Fake Out "work" and supposedly putting the opponent into a "flinching" state, he quickly continued to command.
Tyrogue struck a Focus Energy pose in place, and a transparent aura flashed over its body. Then it took large strides toward Zorua, simultaneously raising one arm, which began to glow white.
"That's it! Let that guy see what we can do!" The martial arts trainee watched this scene while clenching his fists. Fighting-type moves were super effective against Dark-type Pokémon. With the power of Brick Break, if it hit a critical spot, this battle could be ended immediately.
A trace of impatience flashed in Zorua's eyes. Facing an opponent whose every move it was immune to, and unable to reveal its true type, it no longer had the patience to continue acting.
"Zorua!" The little fox's voice rang out clearly. "I don't want to waste time with you anymore! Let's end this!"
"Tyrogue?"
Hearing Zorua's declaration, Tyrogue was still a bit puzzled. Then, it saw Zorua in front of it suddenly glow with pink light, followed by its vision going dark, and then... there was no "then."
"Thump!"
"Tyrogue!"
When Tyrogue woke up again, the match was already over. The impatient Zorua had directly knocked Tyrogue out of the field with Psychic, a move that was super effective against Fighting-type Pokémon.
David could only shake his head with a wry smile upon seeing this scene. Fortunately, Zorua still knew to hold back a bit; otherwise, with this little one's exaggerated Psychic power, Tyrogue would probably be lying in bed for three to five days.
Throughout the rest of the day, David remained silent, letting Zorua battle independently.
Zorua also lived up to David's trust, advancing to the top 32 with a dominant seven consecutive wins. At this point, today's matches finally concluded. David checked the time—it was almost seven in the evening. Seeing that it was getting late, after saying goodbye to his friends, David also headed home.