Flames blazed from the top of its head down along its spine to its tail like a burning mane. A horn-like protrusion extended from its forehead, and its eyes glowed crimson red as Rapidash made its grand appearance.
From Red's initial observation, although Aster had indeed trained Rapidash fairly well and allowed it to develop properly, it still wasn't enough to defeat Red's Tauros.
"Rapidash, use Flamethrower!"
Aster hurriedly ordered, afraid that his Rapidash would be instantly defeated by Tauros in a single move.
Scorching flames burst from Rapidash's mouth and quickly formed into a thick pillar of fire that charged toward Tauros.
Seeing this, Red originally intended to give Tauros an order, but after noticing Tauros shaking its head in refusal, he silently chose to give up.
Because Red could see the confidence in Tauros' eyes. In Tauros' view, since Red had deliberately allowed it to battle independently, it absolutely could not disappoint Red.
Besides, Tauros never considered this Rapidash a threat to begin with.
Just as the thick fire pillar was about to strike, Tauros immediately raised its head and smashed apart a nearby stone pillar with its horns, hurling the broken rock into the air. After colliding with it again, the giant rock landed directly in front of Tauros, perfectly blocking the Flamethrower.
"Outstanding! Tauros didn't panic in the face of the incoming flames. Instead, it calmly used Rock Slide, placing a giant boulder in front of itself and cleverly blocking the fire attack!"
the announcer shouted excitedly, astonished by Tauros' intelligence.
"What an amazing Tauros. I didn't expect it to defend itself so cleverly even without Red giving commands."
Giselle exclaimed from the audience seats, praising Red's outstanding Pokémon training ability.
"Rapidash, get close and use Flame Wheel!"
Terrified by Tauros' overwhelming strength, Aster nervously issued another command. By now, Aster had completely lost the arrogant attitude he had earlier. He only wanted the battle to end quickly so he could leave, because the disdainful gazes coming from all around continuously stabbed at his pride.
Aster was born into a wealthy family and was practically a rich young master. Otherwise, he would never have graduated so smoothly from Pokémon Tech.
Originally, Aster's strength wasn't bad at all. In this Indigo Plateau Conference, he might even have broken through his limits and reached the fourth round. Unfortunately, he just happened to run into Red in the very first round. His luck was simply terrible.
After hearing Aster's command, Rapidash's entire body became wrapped in blazing flames as it charged fiercely toward Tauros.
Seeing this, Tauros first used dirt and dust to extinguish the lingering sparks on the giant rock ahead. Then, with a powerful strike of its thick horns, it shattered the massive boulder into several pieces and continuously hurled the rocks into Rapidash's charging path.
Tauros' rock blockade successfully halted Rapidash's advance and inflicted considerable damage.
Rapidash panted heavily as it stared at Tauros steadily approaching. No matter how desperately Aster shouted from the trainer's platform behind it, it was useless. Rapidash had already exhausted all of its stamina and no longer had the strength to dodge Tauros' charge.
Finally, Tauros viciously thrust forward its horns and used Horn Attack, violently slamming Rapidash's entire body into the stone pillar behind it before finally stopping.
"Rapidash is unable to battle, therefore the winner of this match is contestant Red!"
The referee waved both flags and announced the result of the round.
After announcing the result, the referee even took out his pocket watch to check the time, only to realize that the battle had lasted merely three minutes.
But the referee understood one thing clearly: the result of this match would definitely leave a deep impression on every spectator present.
"Red from Pallet Town defeated contestant Aster with just a single Tauros in only three minutes! This is undoubtedly one of the best performances in Indigo Plateau Conference history. As expected of a trainer traveling from the former [Land of Champions], Pallet Town!" the announcer excitedly declared, even bringing up Pallet Town's former glory.
The title of Land of Champions caused most people in the audience to recall Pallet Town's once-glorious past.
Indeed, how could a trainer traveling from the Land of Champions possibly be mediocre?
From this moment onward, the audience became even more excited for the performances of the other two rookie trainers from Pallet Town, eager to see whether they could replicate the spectacular one-versus-three sweep performed by Red and Gary.
"He won, he won! My Red is just too amazing!"
Delia cheered happily while watching the live broadcast.
"Red's mother～ actually, Red's strength is far beyond what you imagine～"
Professor Oak helplessly shook his head after seeing Delia so excited.
After securing a beautiful victory in the first round, Red had just been about to leave when he was suddenly surrounded by television station staff members, all afraid that he might disappear and cause them to miss this precious interview opportunity.
"Red-sama, as the hero of Hutber Port, what are your thoughts on your opponent in this match?"
"Red-sama, as the top rookie trainer from Pallet Town, do you think your twin brother Ash and your companion Leaf will also achieve one-versus-three victories in the upcoming battles?"
Questions flooded toward Red one after another. After all, these were all hot-topic keywords. As long as Red answered even a few sentences, countless highly anticipated news topics could be created, and the television stations' ratings would skyrocket.
Out of politeness, Red briefly answered with only a few words before turning around and using Teleport to leave the battlefield.
Seeing Red suddenly vanish, the television staff members were completely dumbfounded, while the reporters who still wanted interviews awkwardly held their microphones frozen in midair, unsure what to do.
Although the viewing time had been extremely short, after witnessing such an exciting battle, the audience still left feeling completely satisfied. While they could have remained another ten minutes to wait for the third battle in the Rock Field, most spectators instead chose to leave and shift their attention to the third match in the Water Field, anticipating what kind of exciting performance Ash, Red's twin brother, would deliver.
As for why they needed to wait another ten minutes, that had to be "blamed" on Red's Tauros. Although the officials had already arranged the next match as quickly as possible, because the time gap was simply too short, ten minutes was already the absolute limit for replacing the battlefield.
...
Indigo Plateau Conference — Water Field — First Round
After the previous contestant's Goldeen defeated the opponent's Tentacruel, Ash finally welcomed the first League Conference battle of his life.
Due to being a complete rookie, the usually carefree Ash unexpectedly appeared rather stiff and nervous, his body trembling uncontrollably from time to time.
"Why are you shaking so much from fear?"
Misty helplessly complained after seeing this.
"I… I'm trembling from excitement!"
Ash immediately stubbornly retorted, hurriedly explaining that he was shaking because he was excited.
"I… I'm not… not trembling from fear either!"
Unexpectedly, Brock, who was accompanying Ash as his coach alongside Misty, was also trembling nervously all over just like Ash, leaving Misty completely speechless.
"Finally, the third battle in the Water Field is about to begin now!"
Amid the enthusiastic cheers of the audience, the announcer began introducing Ash and his opponent Mitsutake's backgrounds.