"Get ready for battle, Froslass!"
Paul was curious. His own Garchomp had a hard time landing hits on Froslass in the past. Could Cynthia's Garchomp fare better?
After all, Froslass had once been utterly defeated by Cynthia's Garchomp without even getting the chance to use Destiny Bond. This time, facing the same opponent—could she rewrite that humiliating defeat?
"Eeno~"
As the Poké Ball opened, Froslass floated gracefully into the air, locking eyes with Garchomp from across the field.
"Froslass? An excellent choice." Cynthia praised.
The Ghost typing's unpredictability, coupled with Ice-type advantage, could offset the matchup disparity against Garchomp.
"Snow Cloak."
Froslass raised both hands as if summoning the skies. The once-clear sky darkened as snow began to fall. Her figure quickly faded into the blizzard.
Snow Cloak activated!
"Sandstorm!"
Garchomp's gaze sharpened. A violent surge of sand burst from his body, rapidly engulfing the entire battlefield in a blinding sandstorm, overriding the snowy terrain.
Cynthia knew: when facing a Ghost-type, you finish the fight quickly.
As Snow Cloak's effects vanished and Froslass reappeared, she instantly launched her counter.
"Dragon Rush!"
"AAAHHH!"
Locking onto its target with killing intent, Garchomp flared his wings and lunged forward, smashing into Froslass in a blink.
But—
"Gaar…?"
Garchomp crashed through Froslass, and she shattered like mist. Floating midair with confusion written across his face, he scanned the area—completely empty. It was as if Froslass had never been there at all.
"She vanished? Illusion?" Cynthia's expression turned focused and grim.
This illusion, so perfectly blended with the environment—was it even something Lucian's Pokémon could pull off?
"Double Team!" Paul commanded sharply.
"Eeno... Eeno..."
Mournful cries echoed through the battlefield. Multiple shadowy forms—ghostly afterimages of Froslass—emerged, drifting through the sandstorm, surrounding Garchomp from every direction.
Grimacing, Garchomp tried Dragon Pulse to clear them out, but for every illusion dispersed, a new one replaced it. They clung to him, frustrating and disorienting.
"She can keep this up?" Cynthia was impressed, but gave her best order for breaking the spell:
"Max Sandstorm—Draco Meteor!"
"AAAAAHHHH!!"
With a roar, Garchomp unleashed a supercharged Sandstorm, the winds now a raging tempest. From his mouth burst a spray of glowing meteors—Draco Meteor, raining across the entire battlefield.
As the two-pronged attack ended, Garchomp took a battle stance again, focusing all his energy for Froslass' next move.
Though Froslass' form remained hidden, the intense Sandstorm began to destabilize her illusion. Cynthia narrowed her eyes.
"80 degrees—straight ahead! Full-power Dragon Rush!"
"GAAAR!"
Garchomp surged toward the designated angle, killing intent pouring from every scale, trying to cut off Froslass before she could escape.
"Protect!"
Her position revealed, Froslass dropped the illusion. Green light surged between her and Garchomp as she raised both hands, summoning a Protect barrier.
BOOM!
In an instant, Garchomp crashed into the barrier. Due to the earlier weakening from Double Team and other distractions, his full strength hadn't returned—he couldn't break through.
"Mean Look!"
A wicked smirk crept onto Froslass' face. As the Protect shield faded, a piercing black gaze struck Garchomp.
He suddenly froze—unable to move. Then, several shadowy halos surrounding Froslass leapt toward him, spinning around his body.
By the time he could move again, Garchomp felt something wrong. His power felt… restricted.
"Will-O-Wisp, detonate!"
Paul and Froslass didn't give Garchomp a moment to react. Dozens of ghostly blue flames ignited around the shadow rings.
The once-stable halos turned volatile, like bombs primed to explode.
Garchomp barely raised his arms to shield himself before—
BOOM!!
A massive explosion sent Garchomp flying. But before he could recover, a brutal Blizzard storm slammed into him, freezing wind wrapping around his body.
It's super effective!
While Garchomp was the stronger Pokémon overall, the Ice-type advantage tipped the scales. The dual barrage left him critically injured.
Paul played it safe and gave his next command:
"Double Team. Blizzard."
More ghostly illusions floated around the scorched Garchomp, each one further sapping his strength. Meanwhile, Froslass summoned another fierce Blizzard, hammering Garchomp again.
"Outrage!"
With a roar, crimson fury lit up Garchomp's eyes. Ignoring the pain, he took flight and lunged straight for Froslass in a final—desperate charge.
But just as he was about to strike—
Protect. Again.
"Eeno~"
Smirking, Froslass bounced Garchomp away. Then, an Ice Beam fired straight from her palm.
It's super effective!
Garchomp crashed into the ground—and didn't get up.
"Eeno~"
Froslass smiled happily and floated to Paul's side.
"Not bad." Paul praised.
Froslass had one of the simplest movesets in his entire team, barely any additions over time.
But her battle role? It was razor-sharp in purpose.
Unlike powerhouses like Ninetales or Metagross, Froslass had a singular strategy: disruption.
Her job was to harass, frustrate, and outlast opponents. And she did it perfectly.
Unless someone had explicitly trained to counter illusions, it was nearly impossible to defeat her.
Even if they pinpointed her real body, they'd still have to break through the Protect plus dodge combination of her illusions. If not, the scales would always tip in her favor.
"…Did I just witness that correctly?"
"Garchomp… lost?!"
"The massive Garchomp… actually lost?!"
"No! No way! I don't believe it! The ace Pokémon of the strongest Trainer in Sinnoh was defeated so easily?!"
"..."
Outside the arena, the crowd of onlookers—ordinary Trainers were visibly shocked, struggling to accept Garchomp's defeat.
After all, even when Cynthia wasn't at her best and the rest of her team fell, Garchomp would always come in and turn the tide, single-handedly defeating her opponents with overwhelming power.
But today? Garchomp was the first to fall.
"It was just luck! It's only because Froslass had a type advantage and Garchomp wasn't in top condition. Cynthia will definitely win!"
"Yeah! She still has two more Pokémon, there's still a chan—"
"It's over already."
"..."
Some Trainers still held faith in Cynthia, but before they could even finish speaking, others cut them off coldly.
In an instant, chaos broke out—not in the arena, but among the spectators.
"Miss Cynthia… Garchomp…"
Brock wore an expression of grief and disbelief. Seeing Cynthia stunned by the defeat of her ace, he wanted nothing more than to hold her and offer comfort.
"Miss Cynthia… was defeated so easily?" Dawn murmured.
"That was incredible, Paul!" Ash exclaimed in awe. His eyes instinctively turned toward "Paul," who stood a short distance away, absorbed in the battle.
"Such power…"
Paul's fists clenched unconsciously, his usual calm demeanor replaced by a rare intensity. His eyes shimmered with focused light.
Defeating Brandon had been impressive, but defeating Cynthia was an entirely different level of shock. Brandon was merely a Frontier Brain; Cynthia was the Champion of the entire Sinnoh region.
The sheer impact left even Paul momentarily dazed.
"Come back, Garchomp. You deserve a good rest."
After a brief silence, Cynthia withdrew Garchomp with a serious expression. She tossed her next Poké Ball and declared:
"Dance through the skies—Togekiss!"
Cynthia's plan was straightforward. Though Togekiss still faced a type disadvantage, she intended to rely on its Aura abilities and Aura Sphere to disrupt illusions and strike accurately. With caution, she could overpower Froslass with sheer strength.
Unfortunately for her, Paul didn't play along.
He calmly withdrew Froslass and threw another Poké Ball.
"Ninetales, get ready to battle."
After two days of recovery, Ninetales had returned to peak form and had grown even stronger.
"Wooo!"
The moment it emerged, an overwhelming aura of superiority radiated from Ninetales. It tilted its head, glaring at the airborne Togekiss, and eyes flashing with disdain.
'Flying in front of this queen? Disrespecting me?!'
Without even waiting for Paul's command, a blue gleam lit up in Ninetales's eyes. A wave of Gravity was precisely directed at Togekiss, dragging it down from the sky with immense force.
"Kiss~!"
Togekiss crash-landed clumsily, humiliated. As it raised its head, Ninetales was already right in front of it, moving like a phantom. Nine metallic gleaming tails lashed toward its face.
Iron Tail!
"Boom!"
Just as the Iron Tail was about to land, Togekiss turned into a beam of red light—Cynthia had withdrawn it in time.
A tactical switch!
"Let's regroup for now." She said quietly, sending out her third Pokémon.
"Go, Spiritomb!"
A brown, circular keystone emerged, and from its center rose a ghostly face formed of swirling gas.
"Hypnosis!"
"Wooo~"
Spiritomb immediately extended its head toward Ninetales, waves of sleep-inducing energy radiating from its eyes.
But Ninetales only responded with a contemptuous glare—and a Flamethrower blazing with heat.
"Fwoosh!"
Confused by the failure of Hypnosis, Spiritomb quickly ducked back into its keystone, launching a Dark Pulse to block the incoming flames.
But Ninetales didn't linger. As fire spewed forward, it darted across the field with swift agility, closing the distance before launching a massive Fire Blast.
"Sucker Punch!"
Spiritomb's speed was mediocre, but Sucker Punch let it strike first. Its elongated head smashed straight through the Fire Blast, ramming into Ninetales head-on.
Ninetales was very familiar with Sucker Punch. Though the hit hurt, it didn't panic.
"Will-O-Wisp!"
From its tails, it conjured up a barrage of flaming orbs and shot them toward Spiritomb. The sky seemed to rain fire, each ember a projectile bombarding Spiritomb's keystone with brutal area-saturating precision.
"Protect!"
In the nick of time, a green barrier enveloped Spiritomb, blocking the falling Will-O-Wisps.
"Iron Tail."
Ninetales launched itself upward, positioning directly above Spiritomb whose vision was obscured by smoke. Its nine tails hardened into metallic whips and struck from multiple angles, bolstered by Gravity—doubling their force.
This single Iron Tail barrage hit harder than the earlier Fire Blast by several magnitudes.
The air around them cracked with pressure. The protective barrier over Spiritomb shattered instantly, and all nine tails landed squarely.
"BOOM!"
With an explosive crash, Spiritomb was smashed to the ground, its eerie face contorted in pain.
Yet surprisingly, Ninetales didn't follow up with another move to finish the job.
"Don't go for the knockout. Use Will-O-Wisp!" Paul commanded sharply.
"Wooo~"
In an instant, Ninetales understood—Paul didn't want it to be dragged down by Destiny Bond.
It released another round of Will-O-Wisps into the smoke, igniting Spiritomb and leaving it with a burn status.
Mission complete, Ninetales swiftly retreated, repositioning itself far away to begin powering up.
Thanks to the competitive nature of its teammates, Ninetales had also been training to enhance its stat-boosting techniques. Drawing inspiration from Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, and even Mewtwo's Cellular Reinforcement Method, it had developed a unique move: Mental Surge.
When activated, this move stimulated both mind and body:
Sp. Atk +2
Atk & Sp. Def +1
Upon maxing these stats, it could further boost Def and Speed.
The longer the battle dragged on, the stronger it became—classic Paul style.
'Your level might be higher, can't crush you outright? Fine—I'll get stronger as we fight, and take you down eventually.'
Paul's decision to burn Spiritomb instead of finishing it off caught Cynthia completely off guard. Rather than risking an aggressive push, he chose to slowly take down all three lanes, control the wild zones, and secure a double-dragon endgame.
Cynthia had ruled Sinnoh for so long—not with tricky tactics, but by overwhelming force.
But now? Against Paul, she truly felt like her entire team was being perfectly countered. She was strong, yes—but had nowhere to leverage it.
(End of Chapter)
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