Shinobu vs. Louis (Part 1)

"Heh, congrats on winning by luck once again. I hope this lucky streak of yours continues until the finals. I'll show you how a real Pokemon Trainer battles then."

After Dante's battle, there was a lunch break for both the Trainers and the audience. As both he and Shinobu were heading to the cafeteria to get their free lunch, Louis stood in front of them.

"Hahaha, thanks for the compliment. I'm sorry to disappoint you though. I don't think we'll be able to meet at the finals."

On the side, Shinobu gave a displeased look to Louis. You know, if the both of them continued winning, they would meet the round after next. Louis saying this in front of the both of them is stating that he would surely be able to defeat her.

However, she doesn't bother talking back to him. She prefers proving herself in a real battle instead of engaging in some trash talk. 

"Let's go, Dan. I'm getting hungry already."

She dragged Dante's hand and pulled him to the cafeteria, completely disregarding the presence of the other person.

"Are you okay, Shinobu?"

"Yes. I just don't want to waste more of our free time talking nonsense with that guy."

"Hahaha yeah. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he is beaten by you."

Hearing Dante's firm belief in her, she felt a little warm in her heart.

When they arrived at the door of the cafeteria, Shinobu suddenly realized that she was still holding hands with Dante. Feeling the firm and warm grip on her hand, her face became hot.

"A-anyway, your battle against Onix was great! But I'm puzzled, why did you give him a chance to dig underground?"

While casually making conversation, Shinobu tried to slip her hands away from Dante's without attracting attention. However, it wouldn't budge. Taking a glance at Dante's face, she could see his lips being slightly curved.

"My aim is to become the strongest Pokemon Trainer. I won't let that dream be stained by other people saying I achieved it through cowardly means. I gave that Onix a chance to fight back, and then beat it again fair and square."

Looking at Dante's face, Shinobu couldn't help but fall into a trance after hearing his words. While he told her his dreams long ago about being the strongest Trainer, at that time, she didn't take it too seriously.

She thought he was saying it as an unattainable goal, to help motivate him to move forward in his path as a Trainer.

But seeing his expression and hearing the conviction in his voice now, she was beginning to understand just how serious Dante was in pursuing that dream.

—

After lunch break, the battle between the top 16 began. In this round, Dante, Shinobu, and Louis easily advanced to the next round.

Subsequently, everyone's Pokemon was checked by the medical team and given another hour of break time before the final round for the day starts.

"Are all of you ready? It's time for the battle between the top 8 to begin! After two grueling battles, the Trainers and their Pokemon have already shown everyone what they are capable of!"

"Ms. Chasca, with your vision, which do you think is the most likely to win this Competition?"

"Hmm. There's not much difference between the remaining Trainers. Any of them can win the championships."

"Thank you for your insight Ms. Chasca! You hear that, Trainers? Each of you has a chance to win, so give it everything you've got!"

"With the chance to know more and form a tactic against their opponents, the following battles would surely be worth watching! For the first match, let's give it up for Trainers Louis and Shinobu!"

The crowd burst into a loud applause. 

From the previous battle, Louis once again showed his steady way of fighting against Bunnelby. With his faster speed, Scyther didn't let Bunnelby get close, often attacking from a distance and then finishing it off with an X-Scissor after Bunnelby got weakened enough. 

Meanwhile, Shinobu's opponent was a Trainer with a Nuzleaf. Among all the Trainers in the tournament, he was the only one besides Dante whose Pokemon was in the second stage of evolution. 

Unfortunately for him, Nuzleaf's typing after evolution became Grass and Dark, which has a 4x weakness to Bug moves. Even after doubling its Speed under the sun due to the Chlorophyll Ability, it still wasn't able to dodge the Struggle Bug move from Shelmet.

Standing in front of each other in the arena, Louis' too talkative mouth once again opened.

"'Birds of the same feather flock together'. It's really appropriate that the girlfriend he found can only rely on luck to win their battles."

"Hey, I'm curious. Why are you so obsessed with him? From the way you're acting, you're like a bitter ex who still can't move on."

"B-bitter- urgh, shut up bitch! I will-"

Louis' subsequent words were cut off by the referee's whistle. He was given a warning for using inappropriate language.

"What a surprise! It turns out this match may involve some personal grudge between the two sides! It seems we can expect a more heated battle!"

After that debacle, the two of them didn't speak to each other anymore. With the referee's signal, they released their Pokemon on the field.

"Shelly, use Acid Armor!"

"Scyther, Swords Dance!"

Right from the beginning, the two started by using stat-boosting moves. Acid Armor is a Poison-type status move that can increase the user's defense sharply.

In this case, after using Acid Armor, Shelmet's defense increased to more than 100! And Scyther, even after being boosted by Swords Dance, only has an attack close to 50.

"You really are so similarly naive to him. Just because Scyther is a physical attacker, doesn't mean it can only use physical moves! Scyther, use Air Cutter!"

After a month of training, Scyther's Special Attack was already above 30. With Air Slash being a Flying-type attack, it was able to cause double damage to the Bug-type Shelmet. Not to mention, Scyther's Ability is Technician.

Technician boosts the power of the moves used by the Pokemon if the base power is 60 or below. Air Cutter has a base power of 60. After being boosted by the Technician Ability and gaining a same type attack bonus (STAB), the damage dealt to Shelmet after being hit was huge!

Shelmet has a Special Defense of 65. But even so, after two, or maybe just even one more Air Slash, Shelmet won't be able to hold on!