'The third time!'
Ryoko pressed her lips together, looking at the battered and disheveled Blaziken. Her heart was filled with both frustration and anxiety, but she couldn't think of a solution at the moment.
The opponent had Night Daze for close-range and Extrasensory for long-range. And the one move that countered Zoroark -Focus Blast, a ranged Fighting-type attack- had been sealed off by Zoroark.
Was she supposed to go for another Sky Uppercut versus Aerial Ace clash? She didn't dare.
Maybe at the start of the battle it would have worked, but now that Blaziken was clearly on the back foot, trying to force an even match would just speed up her loss.
Calm down! Ryoko, stay calm! The battle isn't over yet. There's still a chance.
'Think of a move, find a strategy, look for a weakness… Got it!'
A light flashed in Ryoko's eyes; she had just thought of a possibility. She instantly regained her fighting spirit and shouted, "Blaziken, let's go all in. Use Brave Bird!"
"BLAAAZ!"
Blaziken, long holding in its frustration, let out a loud roar the moment it heard its Trainer's command. It leapt high into the air, adjusted its posture, spread its wings wide, and glided downward.
At the same time, blazing flames erupted around its body, and as its speed increased again, the flames shifted entirely to blue. It plunged downward toward Zoroark with fierce momentum.
Brave Bird: one of the ultimate Flying-type moves. It deals devastating damage to the opponent but also inflicts significant recoil on the user.
This Blaziken was truly putting everything on the line…
But in the face of Blaziken's aggressive assault, Zoroark's shortcomings were finally laid bare.
It lacked high-power finishers! Of all the moves Zoroark could learn, only three truly counted as heavy-hitting: Focus Blast, Hyper Beam, and Giga Impact.
As for Dark-type signature finishers, aside from its unique Night Daze, there wasn't much else to speak of.
Sato couldn't tell if Ryoko had actually figured out Zoroark's disadvantage and used a high-power attack to capitalize on it…
Or if she'd just stumbled into it by coincidence.
Still, facing a power move didn't mean Sato had no options. If he couldn't beat it, he'd block it.
"AAARK!"
Suddenly, Zoroark crouched low with its back facing Sato and let out a deep growl. It was the posture for using Night Daze.
Sato blinked in surprise, then smiled wryly. His partner was thinking for itself again.
'So it wanted a head-on clash?'
Faced with a worthy opponent, Zoroark didn't want to win using Protect or Substitute.
To Zoroark, a victory like that wasn't worth much… one more or one less didn't matter.
"Zoroark, full-power Night Daze!" Sato no longer hesitated. At a time like this, he'd rather let his Pokémon make the call.
As soon as Sato spoke, Zoroark grinned slightly. Between its claws, it was already forming a Night Daze sphere the size of a basketball.
Zoroark was condensing the full force of Night Daze into a sphere. Clearly, it no longer needed ground contact to execute it.
it could launch it freely into the air.
Sato laughed quietly to himself. Zoroark must have known he'd agree to the risk, and had already begun preparing in secret.
Blaziken was now gliding at low altitude. Zoroark locked onto its flight path and hurled the Night Daze sphere without hesitation.
Buzz!
The moment it left Zoroark's hand, the Night Daze sphere began to expand. Even Zoroark had to retreat quickly to avoid getting caught in the blast of its own attack.
In the blink of an eye, the Night Daze sphere had expanded into a massive black orb over 5 meters in diameter. It looked as though something was about to burst out from within at any moment, yet it maintained a strange balance, floating and pulsing in midair.
On the other side, Blaziken saw the enormous black sphere suddenly appear along its gliding path… one that was utterly unavoidable.
With no choice, the arrow was already nocked and had to be loosed. Blaziken forcefully spread its Brave Bird "wings" to slow down and crossed its arms in front of itself; then crashed straight into the sphere.
Whoosh...
BOOM!
The earth-shaking explosion made everyone in the Pokémon Center think an earthquake had hit. Many people dropped to the ground, covering their heads instinctively.
After a while, when no second explosion followed, those crouched on the ground got up, faces flushed, and awkwardly ran away from the scene.
Meanwhile, in the backyard battle arena of the Pokémon Center, Sato stared at the unconscious Blaziken lying on the ground, and at the badly shaken Zoroark -half-kneeling from its own move- with nothing but shock in his eyes.
Blaziken was now completely unrecognizable, its entire body charred black, even twitching slightly from residual tremors.
In front of both Sato and Ryoko, a Pokémon had appeared to shield them; each one casting a Protect barrier to block the aftershock of the explosion.
On Sato's side, it was Gengar, while beside Ryoko, a rare Shedinja had appeared.
Joseph and Ryoko immediately rushed toward the fallen Blaziken, with Chansey at the same time.
"Chansey, Heal Pulse!"
"Chansey~"
Chansey wore a serious expression. With a soft motion of its hands, it released a wave of pink energy that slowly flowed into Blaziken's body.
At the same time, Joseph pressed along Blaziken's body, checking its condition.
Moments later, Joseph's furrowed brow finally relaxed. Based on a preliminary assessment, Blaziken's injuries were more terrifying in appearance than in substance… nothing too serious.
"…How's Blaziken doing?" Ryoko asked, clutching her small fists tightly. Her voice was soft, but filled with deep concern.
"It should be alright. Let Nurse Joy give it a proper check-up later, but don't worry," Joseph reassured her.
"Don't worry! Our Joseph is a super amazing Pokémon Breeder. If he says it's fine, then it's fine!" Mark chimed in hurriedly to comfort her.
Ryoko gave Mark a small, forced smile, then softly thanked Joseph as well, though a trace of unease still lingered between her brows.
After all, she'd only just met Sato and the others, so it was reasonable for her to not yet have full trust in Joseph's abilities.
Still, Ryoko didn't blame Sato. In fact, she even responded to Mark and thanked Joseph; those little details were more than enough to leave a good impression on the trio.
"This was my fault. I apologize on behalf of Zoroark to both you and your Blaziken," Sato took the opportunity to say.
No matter what, in an official League match, causing deliberate serious injury to an opponent was strictly forbidden.
Sato had allowed Zoroark to use an unknown-power move in public, so the responsibility for what happened still fell on him.
Ryoko shook her head and replied, "Your Zoroark got caught in it too. You should go check how badly it's hurt."
Then she added, "If a new move isn't fully developed, it's best to use it with caution."
"Yeah," Sato nodded seriously, though he couldn't help but smile a little to himself.
Ryoko had an excellent temperament. That final, seemingly normal piece of advice felt more like a small, involuntary complaint from a girl who couldn't hold it in.