"Masquerain, block it with Air Slash!" Sasuke ordered.
Masquerain flapped its four pairs of white wings, sending a series of wind blades toward Salamence.
The stone blades collided with the wind blades, but the wind blades weren't strong enough and were overpowered. The stone blades struck Masquerain's body, slamming it to the ground, and it lost consciousness instantly.
"Masquerain is unable to battle. Salamence wins!" the referee announced.
"What?!"
Sasuke couldn't believe that his Masquerain had been knocked out in a single hit. Even with Rock-type moves dealing four times the damage, it shouldn't have been defeated that easily.
Indeed, Masquerain's level wasn't low, so it made sense that it shouldn't be knocked out instantly by Salamence. However, Salamence had the EX Intimidate Ability, which lowered Masquerain's defenses even further. Naturally, it couldn't withstand the Stone Edge.
"Come back."
Sasuke had originally planned to have Masquerain wear Salamence down for a while, but it had been defeated in one move—essentially handing Gary a free win.
"Crobat, use your speed to toy with Salamence." Sasuke threw out his Poké Ball.
With a flash of light, a purple, long-winged Crobat appeared.
[Lv. 52 Crobat / Quasi-Elite]
"Come back."
Gary immediately recalled Salamence and threw out his own Poké Ball.
With a flash of light, the beautiful Gardevoir appeared.
"Crobat, use Sludge Bomb!" Sasuke attacked immediately.
Crobat spat several venomous bullets at Gardevoir, but these attacks were far too slow for Gardevoir's eyes. The longer an attack took, the harder it became to actually hit Gary's Gardevoir.
Gardevoir used Teleport to vanish from its original position, then used Gravity. A heavy pressure instantly forced the flying Crobat down to the ground.
"Come back."
Sasuke immediately recalled Crobat.
"Scizor, I'm counting on you." Sasuke then sent out Scizor.
With a flash of light, Scizor appeared.
[Lv. 51 Scizor / Quasi-Elite]
Not bad—Sasuke's Pokémon were all at a fairly solid level. No wonder he had made it to the finals.
However, Sasuke made a mistake in his decision. He thought Scizor's high resistance could handle Gardevoir, but he had no idea that Gardevoir knew Fire-type moves.
Even without Fire-type coverage, Gardevoir's powerful special attack meant that a single Mystical Fire would be more than enough to knock Scizor out instantly.
"Scizor, use X-Scissor!" Sasuke took the initiative and attacked first.
"Scizor!"
Scizor's pincers glowed with dense Bug-type energy as it crossed them and charged quickly toward Gardevoir.
Gary smiled contemptuously, snapped his fingers, and ordered, "Mystical Fire!"
Gardevoir stretched out its hand and traced a circle in the air. Wherever its slender fingers passed, flames appeared, forming a ring of fire. Then a ball of flame shot out from the ring, engulfing everything in front of it.
"What?!"
"Scizor!!"
Scizor hadn't expected Gardevoir to know Fire-type moves and plunged straight into the flames like a lamb walking into a tiger's den.
When the flames dissipated, Scizor's whole body was radiating intense heat, and it collapsed to the ground.
"Scizor is unable to battle. Gardevoir wins!" the referee announced.
Gary had defeated two of Sasuke's Pokémon with such ease. Clearly, he intended to completely dominate Sasuke in the first half.
"He actually has Fire-type moves!" Sasuke hadn't expected Gardevoir to know Fire-type skills. In previous matches, Gary's Gardevoir had never once displayed Fire-type moves.
"Marowak, I choose you!" Sasuke sent out his third Pokémon.
With a flash of light, a Marowak wielding a Bone Club appeared.
[Lv. 49 Marowak ♂ / Gym]
It was clear that this Marowak was quite experienced and had likely been with Sasuke for a long time.
"Gardevoir, use Dazzling Gleam!" Gary attacked.
Gardevoir began releasing Dazzling Gleam, but just as the attack was about to fire, Marowak burrowed straight into the ground to dodge it.
"What?!"
Gary didn't need to give a command—Gardevoir's eyes glowed blue as it used Future Sight, sending a wave of psychic energy forward in time.
Bang!
The ground beneath Gardevoir broke open as Marowak burst out, its hard skull knocking Gardevoir back.
"Moonblast!"
Having only taken a Dig attack, Gardevoir hadn't suffered much damage. It quickly gathered energy for Moonblast and fired it.
Boom!!
Moonblast struck Marowak and sent it flying.
"Gala..." Marowak, having fallen to the ground, stood back up in pain. Although it hadn't fainted, its injuries were clearly serious.
"Marowak, use Earthquake!" Sasuke ordered.
"Gala!!"
Marowak swung its Bone Club and slammed it hard into the ground, triggering an Earthquake. Then, right after the Earthquake successfully landed, a lightning-like wave of energy fell from above and struck Marowak.
That was Gardevoir's Future Sight finally arriving.
"Moonblast!"
After enduring the damage from Earthquake, Gardevoir quickly gathered another Moonblast and fired it.
Boom!
The Moonblast connected, and Marowak collapsed in defeat.
"Marowak is unable to battle. Gardevoir wins."
"All three of Sasuke's Pokémon are unable to battle. We will now proceed to the halftime break."
Gardevoir had crushed Sasuke's dream of victory using only three moves. The first half ended with Sasuke completely shut out.
The break ended, and the second half of the match began...!
The battlefield this time was the Water Field.
The match began.
Sasuke's first Pokémon was Tentacruel.
Naturally, Gary sent out Salamence again, wanting to make full use of the EX Intimidate Ability.
[Lv. 47 Tentacruel / Gym]
Although Tentacruel had home-field advantage, it was still no match for Salamence. It was defeated by Salamence's Zen Headbutt, though Salamence also sustained some minor damage—it had been poisoned.
This was Sasuke's usual strategy. He had relied on poison tactics in his previous matches, but since he'd been countered so thoroughly in the first half, he hadn't used it there.
Gary didn't let Salamence continue fighting. Instead, he immediately sent out Latios, used Safeguard to shut down Sasuke's poison strategy entirely, and defeated both Crobat and Weezing in a one-against-two matchup.
By the end of the match, Gary had shut Sasuke out completely and advanced smoothly to the semifinals.
After the match, Gary rushed to the Pokémon Center to quickly cure Salamence of its poison.
Gary despised poison-strategy Trainers more than anything. He found them absolutely repulsive. In his eyes, every poison-strategy Trainer was some kind of sicko who enjoyed watching their opponents get slowly tortured by poison.
At noon, the semifinal matchups were released.
Gary vs. Sean!
Tyson vs. Shuichi!
Sean didn't have a single Pokémon worth mentioning.
In the match the following morning, Gary defeated Sean with a score of 6–0, winning the match and advancing smoothly to the finals.
Tyson did the same, also making it through to the finals, which would be held that afternoon. Having just gone through a grueling battle that morning, the Pokémon now had to fight again in the afternoon finals. The schedule was incredibly tight.