At that moment, Monferno was certain that with that last hit, Eevee had definitely lost the ability to fight, but it had yet to hear 3D Rotom announce the results or its companions' cheers.
"Bang!"
Just then, a light flashed in the sky, and a brown creature fell from the air, landing powerlessly next to the equally exhausted Monferno, gazing at it with wide eyes.
"Wha?" At this moment, Monferno, which had just released the Seven Gates and was feeling sore all over with no strength to raise its arms, was stunned as Eevee landed beside it.
No way! Didn't it just knock Sun Eevee into the sea? How did it turn into a brown Eevee that fell from the sky?
"Bwoo... (It was a Substitute, you fooled yet?)" Eevee bared its teeth. While in Sun Eevee form, it used Swap Field to confuse Monferno's judgement and then quickly created a Substitute in a Different Space. The Substitute appeared first, attracting all of Monferno's firepower—as expected, Monferno went all out on the Substitute and then, out of strength, reverted from its Seven Doors State. Now, Monferno probably didn't have much energy left to fight.
Although creating an extremely realistic Substitute meant that it too was nearly out of fighting strength, Eevee could recover from its injuries much faster than Seven Doors Monferno. It was a matter of who could outlast the other!!
Eevee gave a heh-heh smile.
At this time, all the Pokemon silently watched Eevee and Monferno lying on the ground, staring at each other.
"Bimi... (A tie?)" Victini looked up and asked Fang Yuan.
"Let's wait and see..." Fang Yuan pondered for a moment.
Meanwhile, Little Hoopa and Kira Pray nodded repeatedly.
By then, Monferno was furiously annoyed. From the beginning, Eevee had been acting tough, and it thought Eevee really wanted to fight it out, but in the end, Eevee had played dirty. This wasn't the way to fight!!
If Monferno had known Eevee's initial show of toughness was to mislead it, it would have kept some energy in reserve to strike Eevee's true form when it appeared!
Indeed, it shouldn't have believed that one would fight fair!
At that point, Eevee and Monferno had lost all their strength, teetering on the verge of unconsciousness. Neither could control even a trace of energy.
This couldn't go on!
The angrier Monferno thought about it, the more it struggled to control its numb arm and hand. It reached for a rock and then, to Eevee's shocked expression, flicked its arm, flinging the pebbles right at Eevee's head.
The force wasn't strong, but the insult was.
Alas, it didn't knock Eevee out.
Eevee couldn't stand it anymore. With trembling claws, it scraped the ground and used a real Sand Splash, dusting Monferno's face with soil, turning it into a "dirt-faced" monkey.
The Pokemon: "..."
Fang Yuan: "...Alright, let's call it a tie."
"Bwoo! (No!)" "Wha! (No!)"
The protests were ignored, and with that, the eighth Fang Yuan Conference drew to a close.
Tied for first place: Eevee, Monferno. Third: Armed Magnetic Monster. Fourth: Darkrai. Fifth: Gengar. Sixth: Milotic. Seventh: Dragonite. Eighth: Ditto. Ninth: Mane Rock Werewolf. Tenth: Venusaur.
Fang Yuan rested his cheek on his hand. The specific rankings were no surprise, but he was rather curious about what wishes they would make.