"Arcanine—Flamethrower!"
Using his keen sense of smell to detect Excadrill's scent through the Sandstorm, Arcanine unleashed a Flamethrower without hesitation.
But Excadrill countered with a high-speed spinning Drill Run, his claws pressed together as he drilled straight through the Flamethrower and struck Arcanine head-on.
Arcanine was sent flying by Excadrill's Drill Run.
Within the Sandstorm, Arcanine struggled to his feet, panting heavily as he stared at Excadrill's shadowy figure flickering in and out of visibility through the swirling sand.
The Ground-type Drill Run dealt double damage to Arcanine, nearly taking him out in one hit.
Even though he'd survived, after taking two more rounds of Sandstorm chip damage, Arcanine would collapse without Excadrill even needing to lift a claw.
"Tsk, tsk. One move behind."
Auron smiled and shook his head. Sure enough, despite all this time spent around Auron and his subtle influence—
When it came to understanding the mechanics of weather teams, Jace was still struggling.
After all, Jace had only been following along at Auron's side, while Fugui had received hands-on training from his brother, who also ran a Sandstorm team.
"Arcanine—Agility!"
"One more time—Drill Run!"
"Careless!"
Watching the Pokémon's movements on the field, Auron suddenly stood up, eyes fixed intently on the big screen.
Excadrill launched another Drill Run at Arcanine, but thanks to the speed boost from Agility, Arcanine barely managed to dodge the attack.
Seeing this, Jace couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Made it.
At that moment, Jace on the field and Auron in the stands spoke simultaneously, their voices soft:
"Arcanine—Reversal."
Upon hearing Jace's command, Arcanine threw everything he had into attacking Excadrill.
As he sprinted at full speed, Arcanine's eyes locked onto nothing but the Excadrill before him. He charged forward with all his might.
CRASH!
Excadrill was sent flying, collapsing to the ground with swirls in his eyes.
But Arcanine couldn't withstand the final tick of Sandstorm damage before it dissipated. Together with Excadrill, he too fell to the ground with swirling eyes.
"Both Pokémon are unable to battle. This match is a draw."
The electronic voice announced the result. Fugui, looking somewhat dejected, recalled Excadrill. He waited for Jace, and then the two of them walked off the field together.
"Impressive. As expected of Master's senior disciple."
After taking a deep breath, Fugui spoke up first.
But this comment caught Jace—who was still riding the high of his successful counterattack—completely off guard. He addressed Fugui with exasperation.
"Dude, I'm not his disciple. You can call me Uncle-Master, you know."
"Got it, Senior Brother. Senior Brother, you're amazing—finding an opening like that."
Jace pressed his palm to his forehead in defeat. "I think I finally understand how you feel when people call you Fugui."
Half a step behind Jace, Fugui's face finally broke into a triumphant grin.
With Jace and Fugui's battle concluded, Auron didn't linger in the spectator stands. He made his way to the medical room entrance and waited for the two of them.
Before long, both arrived. Their Pokémon had been sent directly to the medical room through the exit tunnel, so now they just needed to wait outside for them to recover.
Auron sat in a chair by the medical room door, looking at the two of them with a smile.
"Do you understand where you went wrong?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
Both nodded. They had already mentally reviewed the battle on their way over and truly understood where their mistakes lay.
"Good. Since you already know, I won't belabor the point. Just correct it."
Auron waved at them, gesturing for them to sit down.
After Fugui sat down, he asked Auron: "Master, what did you think of my battle just now?"
Auron turned to look at Fugui with a puzzled expression.
"Didn't you already figure out where you went wrong?"
Fugui scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Uh, I know, I know. But this was my first battle in front of you since becoming your disciple. Of course I want to hear your thoughts."
"Oh."
Auron nodded, then turned to look at Jace.
"Want me to summarize both of your performances?"
"Sure."
Seeing that Jace agreed, Auron smiled lightly and said:
"One sentence: you were both too impatient."
After hearing this, both fell silent for a moment, then nodded in unison.
Indeed, they had been too hasty. Jace had been eager to interrupt Excadrill's weather move, but interrupting wasn't the only way to handle weather setup.
When both sides were evenly matched, you could simply set up your own weather afterward to overwrite your opponent's.
While the opponent wouldn't just let you do it freely, rushing in to interrupt right at the start was undoubtedly the most reckless approach.
"Auron, if you encountered this situation, what would you do?"
After thinking it over, Jace turned to ask.
Sure, you could use Sunny Day to overwrite Sandstorm after Excadrill set it up.
But knowing that Excadrill's Ability was Sand Rush, trying to overwrite the weather while dealing with a double-speed Excadrill wouldn't be easy.
Auron spread his hands. "The simplest method: boost your speed at the start. After he sets up Sandstorm, use a move to lower his speed, then find an opening to set up Sunny Day."
"But if I were in your position fighting him, when he charged at me after setting up Sandstorm, I would've gone head-to-head."
"While he's setting up Sandstorm, I buff my stats. Then when he charges in, hit him directly with Close Combat. Howl plus Close Combat would guarantee the KO, and you'd still survive one round of Sandstorm damage."
"Of course, that's the ideal scenario. The worst case would be the same as what just happened—both sides losing their battle capability at once. But this way, the initiative would be in your hands, not his."
"But what if I hadn't charged in and used Earthquake or Rock Slide instead?"
Fugui interjected with a question.
Auron glanced at Fugui and explained.
"With Arcanine's speed, Earthquake is easy to dodge. Or you could just use Protect to negate the damage. As for Rock Slide, the wind-up is too obvious—also easy to dodge. Besides, with your speed doubled in Sandstorm, you'd definitely want to use a close-range move to end the fight quickly."
"Actually, using Drill Run to break through Flamethrower was pretty clever."
Auron nodded at Fugui and gave him a thumbs up.
Indeed, moves in the real world worked completely differently from moves in the games. Take this match's Drill Run breaking through Flamethrower, for example.
Just a few days ago, Auron had seen a video of Elite Four member Dax Jonas's battle where his Kingambit used Swords Dance to block an incoming Leaf Storm.
That kind of application not only powered up your own Pokémon but also countered the opponent's move—incredibly practical.
The catch was that timing was crucial. Just like when Kingambit blocked Leaf Storm—use it too early, and once Swords Dance ends, you get hit anyway.
Use it too late, and you might get hit before you can even execute Swords Dance. Worse, the opponent might seize the opportunity to chain a combo attack. That would be more harm than good.
Ding
The medical room door swung open, and both Pokémon walked out, lively and energetic once more.
After the two trainers recalled their Pokémon into their Poké Balls, Fugui turned to Auron and asked:
"Master, would you battle me tomorrow?"