Shadow Ball met Shadow Ball in the middle of the grass field, and the collision blew both attacks apart in a burst of energy.
Reiji could barely see through the smoke, but the exchange told him enough. Trading Shadow Ball like this would get them nowhere. Under Gravity, long-range attacks were the easiest way to keep pressure on Metagross without forcing Slowking to move, but if both sides kept answering with the same move, they would only burn energy for no result.
Metagross was already paying a heavier price anyway. Maintaining Gravity across the battlefield took constant effort, and Shingo could not keep that up forever.
"Slowking, Earthquake!"
Slowking had trained under Gravity before, so even with its body dragged toward the ground, it could still force one foot up and stamp down. Another shockwave rolled toward Metagross.
Shingo had reached the same conclusion about Shadow Ball. If neither Pokémon could maneuver freely, there was no reason to keep trading attacks that canceled each other out.
"Metagross, Hyper Beam!"
"Don't worry about it. Keep using Earthquake! Tie yourself down with Grass Knot, then use Protect and your psychic power to defend!"
Grass twisted around Slowking's body and anchored it to the field just as Hyper Beam came tearing through the smoke. Slowking braced behind Protect, reinforcing the defense with psychic power while another Earthquake rolled beneath Metagross.
From there, the battle became a straight test of endurance.
Metagross could barely move while maintaining Gravity, and Slowking was not interested in trying. Earthquake rolled across the field again and again while Hyper Beam answered from the opposite side, each Pokémon accepting the damage because neither had enough freedom to force a cleaner exchange.
By the time Metagross had endured three more Earthquakes, it had managed to fire only two Hyper Beams.
The second one finally broke through.
Slowking had already fought Carracosta and Jolteon before this, and the accumulated damage caught up with it. When the smoke cleared, it was down, while Metagross remained standing only because its enormous reserves had carried it through.
"Slowking is unable to battle! It falls just short of taking down three Pokémon, but after defeating Carracosta and Jolteon and pushing Metagross this far, it has already done more than enough! What will Reiji send out next?"
"Come back, Slowking."
Only after Slowking disappeared into its Poké Ball did Metagross release Gravity. Its huge body sagged toward the grass as it took the chance to rest.
Reiji counted the damage. Metagross had taken the first Earthquake before the direct exchange, then three more afterward, all while maintaining Gravity. A pseudo-Legendary could endure a ridiculous amount of punishment, but this one was close to empty.
That made the next choice easy.
"Whiscash, you're up!"
Whiscash had barely done anything during its first appearance and was still fresh. Even if it could not finish Metagross outright, it could make sure Shingo's pseudo-Legendary had nothing left for whoever came afterward.
"Whiscash, Earthquake!"
"Metagross, get airborne!"
Whiscash slapped its tail against the ground, but Metagross activated Magnet Rise before the shockwave reached it. The exhausted Steel type lifted itself just high enough to avoid the attack, though its unsteady flight made it obvious how little strength it had left.
Reiji immediately changed targets.
"Still flying? Fine. Whiscash, Mud Shot!"
Whiscash spat a volley of mud into the air. Reiji had drilled its accuracy plenty, and Metagross was hardly a difficult target to hit at that size.
"Metagross, Grass Knot!"
Metagross raised a psychic barrier to blunt the incoming Mud Shots while its eyes lit green. Grass surged around Whiscash, twisting around its body and trying to drag it down.
Grass Knot was dangerous against Whiscash even at low power because of the x4 weakness, but Whiscash was also surprisingly light for its size. At only around twenty-three kilos, the move was nowhere near its maximum strength.
"Whiscash, Aqua Tail! Then freeze the grass with Ice Beam!"
Water wrapped around Whiscash's tail. It slammed the ground hard enough to throw itself upward, then fired Ice Beam beneath its body. Frost raced through the tangled grass and froze the entire mass solid before it could tighten any farther.
Now Whiscash was above Metagross.
"Hydro Pump! Keep firing!"
Blasts of water hammered down from above. Metagross tried to hold them off with its psychic barrier, but after several direct hits, the defense finally shattered and Hydro Pump drove it back to the ground.
Shingo knew there was no point saving anything now.
"Metagross, one more Hyper Beam!"
Metagross planted all four limbs and forced the last of its strength into a brilliant beam aimed at Whiscash as it came back down.
"Earthquake first, then Protect!"
Whiscash did exactly as Reiji ordered. Even with Hyper Beam gathering in front of it, Whiscash fought down its fear long enough to slam its tail into the ground and send one last Earthquake toward Metagross before raising Protect.
The white beam struck a moment later.
Protect took the worst of it, but not enough. Whiscash was blasted across the field and slammed into the protective barrier, where it dropped without moving.
Metagross had no strength left to celebrate. Hyper Beam had drained the last of its reserves, leaving it sprawled across the grass while Whiscash's Earthquake came rolling in.
The shockwave lifted its massive body once, then again, before Metagross finally collapsed.
"Metagross and Whiscash are both unable to battle!" the commentator shouted. "Reiji trades Whiscash for Shingo's pseudo-Legendary and keeps his advantage going into the final stretch!"
The referee confirmed the double knockout and ordered both Trainers to send out their next Pokémon together.
Reiji recalled Whiscash with a satisfied smile. It was not even level fifty yet, and helping finish an exhausted Metagross was already more than he had expected from it.
Shingo had only two Pokémon left: the battered Blaziken and the Scizor he had been saving from the beginning.
Reiji still had three.
Both Poké Balls flew.
"Go, Blaziken!"
"Rhydon, you're up!"
Shingo had expected that choice. Reiji had been holding Rhydon in reserve, and with Scizor still waiting as his final Pokémon, using Blaziken here was the only reasonable move.
There was no point conserving it anymore.
"Blaziken, everything we have left! Close Combat!"
Blaziken burst into flames as Blaze activated again, the fire surging around its exhausted body while it charged Rhydon with everything it had left.
Reiji looked at Rhydon rather than giving an immediate counter.
"Your call. Defend or hit it back."
Rhydon answered by covering itself in Rock Armor and charging straight ahead.
Backing down had never been one of its strengths.
Blaziken met it head-on.
Close Combat crashed into Rhydon's armored body, and the impact threw up a wall of smoke that hid both Pokémon from view. The protective barrier flashed from the shockwave before the haze finally began to thin.
Only Rhydon was still standing.
"Blaziken is unable to battle! Rhydon takes it!"
The crowd already knew what came next.
"The Crimson Streak! Crimson Streak! Crimson Streak!"
The chant spread through the stadium before Shingo even reached for his last Poké Ball. Everyone had noticed that Scizor had remained hidden through the entire match, and now there was nobody else left to send.
Shingo did not disappoint them.
"Go, Scizor!"
Red armor flashed beneath the stadium lights as Scizor appeared on the grass field.
The response from the stands was deafening.
"The Crimson Streak is finally here!" the commentator shouted. "Shingo has saved his ace for last, and that pressure is unmistakable—Scizor has reached Elite Four tier!"
That was the answer Reiji had been waiting for all day.
So it really had broken through.
He had originally considered using Electivire if Shingo's Scizor reached Elite Four tier, but there was still no reason to reveal that card. Rhydon could soften Scizor first, and if that was not enough, another Pokémon could continue the job before Poliwrath came in to finish it.
Electivire could stay hidden.
"Rhydon, be careful. That Scizor is Elite Four tier."
Rhydon raised one thick thumb toward Reiji without looking back. After everything it had already done in this tournament, it was not about to start trembling now.
"Scizor, let's start with something light. Metal Claw!"
Scizor vanished into motion.
Reiji had already seen its Ability information before. Technician strengthened weaker attacks such as Metal Claw, while Light Metal reduced the burden of Scizor's steel body. Combined with the speed Shingo had spent years developing, even a basic opening attack was dangerous.
Rhydon had no hope of matching that speed.
So Reiji had no intention of trying.
"Rhydon, Stealth Rock!"
Rhydon stomped hard enough to throw chunks of stone into the air. The rocks rose across the battlefield and disappeared from sight, spreading invisible hazards through Scizor's movement space.
Shingo's ace was already past them.
Metal Claw ripped across Rhydon's Rock Armor and sent the larger Pokémon skidding backward, carving deep grooves through the black shell. Before Scizor could circle around for another pass, stone pillars erupted from the grass along its path.
Scizor slipped between them so quickly that the pillars pierced nothing but afterimages.
Rhydon crossed its arms and stomped again. More rocks rose from the field and rained toward its own position, forcing Scizor to choose between continuing the attack and avoiding the barrage.
It chose speed.
Scizor cleared the falling rocks before they could trap it, leaving Rhydon to take most of its own Rock Tomb barrage.
Reiji changed the scale of the attack.
"Cover the whole field! Rock Tomb and Rock Blast!"
Rhydon began tearing up everything around it. Stone pillars rose from the grass while chunks of rock flew through the air from every direction, some launched by the move itself and others hurled by Rhydon's hands.
Shingo understood the idea immediately.
"You think filling the field with rocks will take away Scizor's speed? You're going to need more than that. Scizor, break through them!"
Scizor smashed one incoming rock apart with a claw and slipped past the next.
The problem appeared a moment later.
One of Rhydon's projectiles missed Scizor and struck a hidden Stealth Rock behind it. The collision knocked the invisible stone loose and sent it flying back across Scizor's path.
Scizor avoided that one too, but it crashed into two more Stealth Rocks, scattering both in different directions. Another projectile clipped one of those, and suddenly the rocks were no longer traveling along predictable lines.
Reiji saw the chain reaction immediately.
"That's it! Keep it going—Stealth Rock, Rock Blast, Rock Tomb! Fill every gap!"
Rhydon stomped again.
More Stealth Rocks scattered across the battlefield until dozens became scores, turning the air around Scizor into a web of invisible obstacles. Rock Tomb kept adding stone from below while Rhydon hurled Rock Blasts through the gaps, each miss threatening to ricochet another hidden rock into a new direction.
Scizor was still fast enough to avoid them.
For now.
But speed meant nothing if there was eventually nowhere left to move.
Shingo could see the field closing around his ace.
"Scizor, Swords Dance! Pull the rocks into the spin!"
Scizor crossed its arms and began rotating at high speed. The motion pulled the loose stones inward, creating a powerful vortex that dragged broken rocks from the grass and even swept the Stealth Rocks out of the air.
Reiji had been waiting for Scizor to stop running.
"Rhydon, give it some fire!"
Flames poured into the vortex.
The spinning air grabbed them immediately, feeding the fire and wrapping Scizor in a growing column of heat. Rhydon kept the stream going, and the vortex only made the flames burn hotter as the rocks trapped inside began glowing red.
"Scizor, stop!"
Shingo had seen enough. Scizor might resist ordinary heat better than most Pokémon, but being trapped inside a furnace hot enough to soften stone was another matter entirely.
Scizor ended Swords Dance.
The vortex collapsed.
Red-hot stones and half-molten chunks of rock dropped around it, forming a blazing ring across the grass. Scizor's own crimson armor had been heated until it glowed even brighter than usual.
Then the first raindrop struck its shell.
Steam hissed from the contact.
More drops followed, then dozens, until rain began falling steadily across the field. The heated rocks surrounding Scizor filled the air with white vapor, and within moments the rain had strengthened into a downpour.
The commentator sounded completely lost. "Rain Dance? Rhydon just used Rain Dance! But Rhydon hates fighting in the rain—why would Reiji change the weather now?"
The answer disappeared behind steam.
Rain struck Scizor's overheated armor and the molten rock around it, filling that entire side of the battlefield with a thick white cloud.
Shingo could no longer see his ace.
"Scizor! Are you okay?"
No answer came through the steam.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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