Chapter 48: A Harmless Little Bet
Victor Wei raised an eyebrow, a fake smile playing on his lips. "Oh? Then I wonder what Manager Miles's thoughts are?"
"I, for one, think that Basalt will take out the seed player and advance from the group himself." Coach Miles opened his mouth, looking at Victor Wei with an eyebrow raised, his provocative intent completely unconcealed.
"Then our opinions are indeed quite different," Victor Wei said with a grin. "How about this, let's make a bet? Let's bet on whose student will advance from the group!"
Victor was very confident in his star pupil, Wade. After all, Wade's Tyrogue still had a trump card move that it had not shown from the very beginning.
"Sure! A harmless little bet is fine. Let's set the stakes as a secret technique, shall we? If I lose, I'll give you the secret technique for 'Aqua Jet.' If you lose, I want to see the secret technique for 'Focus Energy.'"
Coach Miles leaned back slightly in his chair, a tactical lean back.
"Betting a secret technique?"
Victor was stunned. And you call this a harmless little bet? You're clearly betting big!
A Pokémon's moves could be learned on their own or through teaching, but moves learned this way were just ordinary. A "secret technique," however, was a special training method developed by powerful trainers through their own knowledge and experience, using special methods to cause a transformative change in a Pokémon's move.
A secret technique was the lifeblood of some trainers, the foundation of some families and factions. Few would be willing to hand it over to others.
Among the seed players, Luna's Smoochum's Icy Wind was likely trained using a secret technique, which was why its power was exceptionally strong.
Focus Energy and Aqua Jet, one being a move that greatly increases the critical hit rate, and the other a priority move, were of comparable value. Using them as stakes for a bet, neither side would be at a disadvantage.
However, looking at Coach Miles's confident demeanor, Victor felt a little hesitant. He couldn't help it; he knew too little about Basalt. But seeing how Miles was acting, it was clear that this Basalt kid was not simple.
But… if he didn't agree, he would never be able to hold his head high in front of Coach Miles again. After all, he was the one who proposed the bet. If he backed out after the other party agreed, wouldn't he become a laughingstock?
Besides, Focus Energy was not the Vigor Club's top secret technique. Losing it wouldn't be a devastating loss. The key was, he was also very confident in Wade, whom he had personally trained. Basalt was strong, but he shouldn't be a match for Wade yet.
"A bet's a bet! You think I'm afraid of you? We'll have Chief Tanaka here be our witness!"
Under Coach Miles's provocative gaze, Victor finally couldn't swallow his pride and agreed.
"It's a deal!"
Coach Miles smiled and then fell silent. He didn't want to give Victor a chance to back out, and he was also afraid that Officer Tanaka would jump in to mediate.
A Drilbur that has mastered "Dig" against a Tyrogue… how could it possibly lose?
Coach Miles: ┐(￣ー￣)┌
As long as it successfully used "Dig," Tyrogue would have no way to fight back besides taking hits. Of course, there was some risk for Drilbur. It had to withstand Tyrogue's Fake Out and Vacuum Wave to get a chance to use Dig. The key to victory lay in whether Drilbur could hold out until it could use "Dig."
But according to Coach Miles's estimation, the risk was very small. At most, it was an 80-20 split. Basalt eighty, Wade twenty!
If he didn't take this opportunity to thoroughly fleece his old rival, Coach Miles wouldn't be Coach Miles.
After winning his match, Basalt recalled Drilbur and returned to the contestant waiting room. Just then, his Pokédex made a crisp "ding-dong" sound. Basalt opened it and saw that the reward from Jack had arrived.
With his first victory, Basalt had successfully advanced to the Top 16. As long as he showed up for the next match, regardless of whether he won or lost, he would receive the agreed-upon reward—20,000 Pokédollars.
"Top 16 reward. Good performance, keep it up!" This was Jack's accompanying message.
"If I win the next match, the reward will be 30,000 Pokédollars! Drilbur, are you ready to crush everyone here?"
Basalt pulled Drilbur into a corner and showed it the deposit, full of confidence.
"Chari~" ヽ(￣▽￣)
With Drilbur's intelligence, it certainly couldn't read the numbers on the balance, but it could understand what Basalt meant. The little mole clenched its fists. I'm going to take on ten of them!
In a corner of the waiting room, a doll-like Pokémon with thick lips seemed to sense something. It tilted its head and looked towards where Drilbur was.
"Smoochum, what's wrong?"
The sweet-looking girl Luna, dressed like a runaway princess, noticed her Pokémon's strange behavior.
"Smoochum~"
Smoochum shook its head, indicating it was nothing, and was then picked up by Luna, and they continued to watch the live broadcast of the matches on the screen.
…
The competition continued.
Soon, the seed player for Group C, Wade, took the stage. His opponent was also a young man, and his starter was also a Fighting-type: a Machop, said to be able to throw 100 adult men. In terms of base stats, Machop's was much higher than Tyrogue's, but in a real battle, the Machop was completely suppressed, like a beaten dog, with no power to fight back.
"Fake Out!"
At Wade's command, Tyrogue slapped its hand forward, hitting the unprepared Machop with lightning speed and causing it to stagger.
"Ma…chop…"
Machop grunted, ducking its head and retreating, already in a flinched state.
And that wasn't all. After the Fake Out, while Machop was still flinching, Tyrogue seized the opportunity and threw another punch. The force of the punch created ripples in the air, which finally formed an airwave that slammed into Machop.
BAM!
Vacuum Wave hit its mark, and Machop was sent flying.
Wade's Tyrogue had not only mastered Fake Out and Vacuum Wave to a high degree of proficiency, but its execution was also perfectly connected, without any gaps, already looking like a continuous combo. If you couldn't block the first move, you were doomed not to block the second. The problem was, the move Fake Out was so fast it was basically impossible to block. Fortunately, Fake Out also had many restrictions, such as having to be used at the start of the battle. Otherwise, with its guaranteed flinch effect, it would be a god-tier move.
"Force Palm!"
Watching the flying Machop, Wade, dressed in his martial arts uniform, sharpened his gaze and launched another attack.
"Ty-rogue~"
Hearing his trainer's command, Tyrogue looked up at the still-airborne Machop. With a slight push from its feet, it instantly shot out like an arrow. Just as Machop was about to land, Tyrogue arrived at the perfect moment, its small hand quickly extending and pressing against Machop's chest in mid-air.
BAM!
A white light flashed from Tyrogue's palm, like the muzzle flash of a machine gun. A huge force erupted in an instant, and Machop was sent flying again, its body actually plowing a shallow trench in the ground. Looking at its eyes, they were already in the shape of swirls.
"So strong!"
In the contestant waiting room, almost all the contestants gasped. Although Wade was famous, most of them had never seen him fight with all his strength. Now that they had seen it, their own confidence was inevitably shaken. Wade's Tyrogue was just too strong; you had to respect it.
"Fake Out and Vacuum Wave have already formed a combo. The third move, Force Palm, although not fully integrated, isn't far off," Basalt mentally assessed Tyrogue's strength. If not for Tyrogue's relatively weak attack power, which prevented the combo's full potential from being unleashed, the first two moves alone would have been enough to defeat everyone here.
Seriously, if that Tyrogue were to evolve into a Hitmonchan and use the same tactic, at the same level, anyone who faced it would be trembling.
"Good thing my little mole's constitution has been greatly improved after eating the Smooth Rock Crystal. It's tough and has amazing stamina. Otherwise, against a monster like this, I'm really not sure it could hold out."
Although he greatly admired Tyrogue's strength, in his heart, Basalt had already put an "X" on it. Of course, that was on the premise that Tyrogun had no other hidden tricks.
…
After Wade's match, the competition continued.
After mastering the move "Dig," Basalt had become a little arrogant. Seriously, ordinary contestants could no longer catch his esteemed eye. Among the top thirty-two contestants, besides the seed players, Basalt couldn't even be bothered to watch the subsequent matches.
Soon, all 16 matches of the first round of the main tournament were over. The time was now 11 AM. The morning's matches were thus concluded. The 8 matches of the second round and the 4 matches of the third round were all scheduled for the afternoon.
Although many in the audience were still eager for more, they couldn't help it. Their stomachs were growling; it was time for lunch. Besides, the contestants also needed some time to rest, right?