(XXXVIII) Preliminaries (3/3)

"Water Pulse!" Isaac shouted as the dust cloud concealed the status of the Pokémon. Hanzō leaped off the Starly shooting higher into the air as he gathered water between his hands, creating a giant sphere with ripples cascading around its surface. He spun around, throwing it at the falling bird Pokémon he sent flying toward the field.

"Double Team and follow up with a Wing Attack!!" The trainer shouted as Starly's eyes opened and it spread its wings before it quickly vanished. Two copies appeared before quickly disappearing as four took their place.

The spiraling orb of water struck the Starly but it simply passed through and crashed against the ground as the real Starly appeared behind Hanzō and struck him in the back with his wing knocking him to the ground as a dust cloud was kicked up.

"Don't fall for their tricks!" Isaac shouted, his fierce gaze focused on the dust cloud, Hanzō understood his meaning and closed his eyes, and reached out while using Mind Reader under the cover of the brief smokescreen from the kicked-up debris.

As the white Froakie came into view and his eyes were closed, the referee turned his head to Isaac giving him a look while adjusting the flag in his hand.

"He's not out of the fight yet!" The young man shouted as the referee returned his gaze to the field and Isaac roared loudly, "Hanzō!!"

The Froakie's eyes popped open as he looked into the air as the three Starlys were dashing toward him at three angles. His skin quickly changed to a deep and dark brown as he quickly avoided the first afterimage by performing a one-handed cartwheel and immediately doing another one-handed backflip as the second crashed into the ground.

He spun in a circle harrowingly avoiding the real Starly's attack and dug his back foot into the ground gaining a strong stance as he reeled back his left arm, clenching his muscles as he balled his hand into a fist.

The trainer's eyes went wide and shouted, "Dodge it!" Starly tried to kick off the ground, frantically flapping his wings to readjust but Hanzō unleashed a powerful punch that send Starly flying out of the field and crashing into the ground.

The Froakie stood tall while a red aura rushed into his arms and legs as he stared proudly, and looked down as the bird was drug against the ground kicking a trail of dust into the air as it tumbled around and came to a halt.

"UNBELIEVABLE!!" Pepper shouted loudly as a replay of Hanzō's movements and counterattack played on screens throughout the Colosseum.

"What an explosive match between Froakie and Starly! Using Mind Reader to calculate not only the attack trajectories but also figure out which Starly was real!" Cotton replied after watching the replay.

"Indeed! Not to mention that Power-Up Punch is going to be a determining factor going forward! Isaac and Froakie are proving to be quite the contenders!" Pepper added as the referee raised the red flag as Starly was returned to a pokéball.

Isaac pumped his fist and whooped in excitement, muttering to himself "That's what I'm talking about, baby!"

His opponent shouted with an expression of anger on his face as he threw his pokéball, "Don't think you've won just yet! I'm just getting started!"

From the arcing red laser, a bipedal, lizard-like Pokémon appeared. There was a small red scale on its yellow head. Below the yellow portion of its head, its body was cream-colored with thin arms and a red, scaly belly. It carried its loose, yellow skin around its legs, resembling trousers, and some of the loose skin seemed to trail off to form or cover a tail.

"I think he's done playing games, Pepper!" Cotton shouted as Scraggy beat on his chest with both fists before he quickly grabbed his sagging pants.

"That's right, Cotton! He immediately went for his ace is looking to end this quick!" Pepper replied as Isaac inspected the Scraggy standing on the other side of the field.

『Species: Scraggy ♂』

『Type: Dark/Fighting』

『Ability: Moxie』

『Nature: Adamant』

『Item: None』

『Potential: Gold』

『Gene: 』

『Level: 14』

『HP: Red』

『ATK: Purple』

『DEF: Blue』

『SpA: Green』

『SpD: Purple』

『SPD: Red』

『Normal Moves: Low Kick [U], Leer [U], Payback [U], Headbutt [U], Sand Attack [U],

Innate Moves: Power-Up Punch [U], Counter [U]

Hidden Moves: Fake Out [U]

Mentor Moves: Dragon Dance [U], Taunt [U], Double Team [U]』

Isaac gritted his teeth as he stared at the information about the newly revealed Pokémon, immediately he wanted to disarm this beast, "Use Growl and follow up with a Quick Attack!"

"Stop him!" The trainer shouted, "Use Fake Out!"

Hanzō grunted as he tried to use Growl, Scraggy vanished and immediately reappeared and smacked him with an open palm, flinching him.

"Sand Attack and dodge it!" The trainer shouted as Hanzō's skin turned white he turned and dashed at Scraggy who jumped backward quickly creating distance, kicking up a large amount of sand in the air as the Froakie was too close to avoid and dashed straight through the cloud and swung his fist at Scraggy who pivoted to the right, avoiding the attack.

"Get away and use Dragon Dance!" He shouted.

Isaac smirked as he shouted, "Don't let him! Snatch it away!" Hanzō shook his head as swirling purple clouds surrounded Scraggy and orange electricity crackled around the clouds as Scraggy was covered in a bright orange aura.

Hanzō smirked as his skin turned pitch black and his eyes flashed with a brief but intense white light and he was surrounded by a dark aura. He opened both of his arms and the bright orange aura was sucked in by the dark aura as he became enveloped as it flowed into Hanzō.

"Oooh nooo, Cotton! What a major misplay!" Pepper shouted, shaking his head.

"You're telling me, Pepper! Now Froakie is even stronger and is now faster!" Cotton added, "He's gonna have a really hard time going forward"

"At least the Froakie will be less accurate going forward!" Pepper said nodding but Cotton shook his head.

"Let's not forget that Froakie has already revealed Mind Reader, it's still in his back pocket!" The announcer added nodding.

"Tch!" The trainer clicked his tongue in frustration and shouted, "Use Taunt followed by another Dragon Dance!" Scraggy beat on his chest once more as his eyes grew a bright red and pierced into Hanzō's sight.

"Use Quick Attack to get in close and hit him with another Power-Up Punch!" Isaac shouted as Hanzō fell for the taunt and blitzed Scraggy who had once again been surrounded in the swirling purple clouds once again.

Unfamiliar with the increased speed, Hanzō's speed was blinding as he vanished and reappeared in front of Scraggy but was unable to stop and missed the attack, crashing into Scraggy who was now covered in an orange aura.

"Counter with your own Power-Up Punch!" He shouted as both Pokémon braced themselves and threw their punches at each other.

Hanzō and Scraggy's fists collided with one another as both were pushed back by each other's powerful blows and both were immediately bathed in a stronger red aura.

Scraggy was sent further back as Hanzō smirked, still affected by the taunt and sand attack, the trainer shouted, "Use Double Team, and then use another Dragon Dance!"

"Don't let him Hanzō! He can't take much more! Hit him with all you've got! Quick Attack!" Isaac yelled as Hanzō turned white once more and vanished from sight.

Scraggy was able to keep up with Hanzō's increased movement and began dodging the repeated attacks and vanished, reappearing and vanishing as duplicates of himself appeared.

Hanzō didn't let up as it began to go faster, his athleticism was on full display as each afterimage that appeared, was soon shredded into pieces as all the clones were surrounded by the swirling purple clouds once more.

"Isaac's in trouble!" Cotton shouted as he leaned forward on the desk.

"If Froakie is unable to locate the real Scraggy quick, this may be over! Due to his ability, he's a Normal-type now! If he gets hit by Scraggy it'll be all over!" Pepper shouted as Isaac gritted his teeth knowing he was playing with fire.

"Tch!" He clicked his tongue. He had thought about switching to the special side and not creating a disadvantageous situation by using Water Pulse, but with the buffs Hanzō had received and Scraggy having better special defenses, this was his only option.

Hanzō stopped and roared in frustration as he destroyed another afterimage, standing still as he looked around through impaired vision at the numerous Scraggys surrounding him.

"Don't give up!" Isaac shouted and threw his arm out as Hanzō pushed him, moving as quickly as he could, taking down the clones quicker than they could reappear.

———

Daily Chapter 1 of 2!

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