Five minutes earlier — the third elimination match on the Rock Field officially began.
Silas's opponent this round was Kyle Woods, whose overall strength ranking before the match was around 122nd place.
At this stage, with only 256 powerful trainers remaining, Kyle Woods's strength was well above average.
Although he didn't possess any Pokémon of Pesudo-Elite level, he still ranked among the best of the remaining trainers.
Unfortunately for him, he encountered Silas which meant his journey in this tournament was about to end. Especially since Silas's Blaziken was going all out in this battle.
In terms of pure power, Blaziken was now the leader of Silas's team.
None of his other Pokémon could defeat it in fact, Blaziken still had enough stamina left to take down a second opponent afterward,
as long as that opponent wasn't a combination like Pidgeot and Gigalith.
Mainly because Gigalith countered it heavily — otherwise, Blaziken could probably win that matchup too.
Kyle's first Pokémon was an Zebstrika from the Unova region a fellow native of the same region as Silas's Serperior and Gigalith.
To put it simply, Zebstrika was similar to the Kanto region's Rapidash, except that instead of Fire-type, it was Electric-type.
Its appearance featured black skin with white lightning-like stripes the opposite pattern of a real-world zebra.
The "lightning" part of its name referred to the bright white mane running down its back, extending into a tail shaped like a sparking electric sphere, and the two lightning-shaped white horns standing atop its head.
While Zebstrika was fierce and explosive in battle, it remained loyal and obedient toward its trainer.
When it charged forward, its speed could even surpass that of Rapidash.
But Blaziken didn't care about any of that.
"Speed? Give it a little time — I could run circles around you backward," it seemed to say.
Silas's opening move a Swords Dance performed almost instantly left Kyle completely stunned.
It wasn't that Kyle had never seen Swords Dance before; it was a fairly common and useful move.
But what was with that absurdly fast execution speed?
If not for Blaziken's clearly recognizable movement pattern, Kyle might not have believed his eyes.
His own Pokémon usually needed at least five full seconds to complete the move.
Blaziken had compressed that to just over one second ridiculous!
Silas thought back.
The last time Blaziken opened a match with Swords Dance was during the Cinnabar Island battle against Kajiyama, right?
That had been back in early November — and now it was already the end of March.
Five months of progress, and Blaziken had only managed to shorten its execution time from a bit over two seconds to around 1.5 seconds.
That was actually quite reasonable — maybe even a little slow.
A few months before that, Blaziken had easily cut the move time from five seconds to two seconds,but the closer it got to perfection, the harder the improvement became.
It was still far from achieving true "instant-cast" Swords Dance.
Silas smacked his lips half complaining, half showing off.
Blaziken's current Swords Dance speed was equivalent to the time it needed to fire off a Flamethrower and that was crazy fast.
Normally, status moves and high-powered attacks take longer to execute than small-damage moves.
If Blaziken hadn't had both type synergy and master-level proficiency, even Flamethrower wouldn't be this quick — let alone Swords Dance, which doesn't match its type.
Only Silas and Blaziken knew how much effort it had taken to reach this point.
Both of them had pushed themselves to the brink — one exhausted to the core, the other nearly vomiting from overtraining.
Because of that "stolen" early Swords Dance advantage, Kyle was now in a terrible mood.
He was already at a power disadvantage and now his opponent had a full attack boost on top of it.
That wasn't something you could just "predict" or prepare for in a normal match.
You can't possibly expect your opponent to always start a battle with an extra buff, right?
Kyle felt his mentality starting to crack.
Still, he stayed strong and commanded Zebstrika to launch its assault.
To be fair, it was quite an impressive performance definitely not the work of a weak trainer.
Zebstrika's naturally high Speed, enhanced further by Agility, allowed it to cross the entire rocky battlefield in just a few seconds.
Then, shifting from extreme motion to sudden stillness, it unleashed a combo of Stomp and Discharge, making the entire Rock Field shimmer like an Electric Terrain.
Blaziken barely managed to sprint out of range using Agility of its own.
Taking advantage of the opening, it immediately used Hone Claws, completing it at an astonishing speed.
Kyle was completely speechless this move might be a little slower than Swords Dance, but it was still at least twice as fast as normal.
He had now fully realized that this Blaziken's talent was downright absurd.
Not every Pokémon could reach that kind of execution speed just through training.
Without extraordinary natural ability, no amount of practice could close that gap.
Every trainer works hard but some limits just can't be overcome through effort alone.
The rest of the match became simple.
After about thirty seconds of what looked like a high-speed game of dodgeball,
Blaziken, aided by its Speed Boost ability, finished the fight with a single Blaze Kick, sending Zebstrika flying.
"Let's see you run now," Blaziken snorted, puffing a small ember from its beak.
Kyle calmly recalled Zebstrika — he had expected that outcome.
There was no need to even calculate the result: a STAB Blaze Kick, boosted by Swords Dance and Hone Claws,with a guaranteed critical hit next turn
against a frail Electric-type like Zebstrika, that was pure overkill.
Given Zebstrika's low Defense and average HP, it surviving even one hit under those conditions would be a miracle.
Sighing, Kyle sent out his second Pokémon a grayish-purple Gliscor, a hybrid creature with the tail of a scorpion and the head and wings of a bat. Native to both Sinnoh and Unova, it was a Ground- and Flying-type Pokémon.
From a typing standpoint, Gliscor had a massive advantage over Blaziken.
Flying- and Ground-type moves both hit Blaziken super effectively, while Blaziken's Fighting-type attacks were resisted by Gliscor.
But no matter how Keith looked at it, there was simply no way to handle a Blaziken boosted by Speed Boost, Swords Dance, and Hone Claws.
"Alright," Kyle said to his Gliscor, "let's stick to your specialty."
If he couldn't win head-on then at least he could try to wear it down.
Gliscor clicked its massive claws twice in response, then took flight without making a sound.
Using the wind's aid, its wings didn't make a single flap-noise as it glided silently into the air, vanishing behind the huge boulders scattered around the Rock Field.
True to its nature, Gliscor was an extremely patient and stealthy predator.
Its venom wasn't particularly strong, but it specialized in concealing itself and striking vital points in an instant
like an assassin with the stealth mode turned on.
"Hone Claws, then locate it — Blaze Kick," Silas ordered. It was nearly the same command as in the previous battle, just with an added instruction to find the opponent's position.
While Gliscor silently circled somewhere above, hidden among the rocks, Blaziken stood openly in the center of the field, using Hone Claws once again and then, to everyone's surprise, closed its eyes.
Kyle Woods suddenly felt a bad premonition.
A moment later, as Blaziken's body emitted a faint blue glow, Kyle's mouth twitched.
"Seriously? … Just destroy me already."
He wasn't ignorant he knew exactly what that aura meant.
Aura.
This ability was practically broken when it came to locating opponents even psychic power couldn't match it.
Psychic Pokémon might fail to sense certain targets, but as long as something exists physically, it possesses aura, and therefore can't escape the perception of a Pokémon attuned to it.
In this situation, Gliscor's so-called "stealth" was a joke. Its aura was far more active than the surrounding rocks to Blaziken's eyes, it shone like a small sun against the dull background.
Still, Kyle couldn't help thinking bitterly:
"Come on… Blaziken using aura? Are you secretly a Lucario in disguise?"
Finding a target via aura wasn't easy at all.
It required extremely fine control and deep understanding something normally seen only in Lucario and Riolu species.
No wonder Kyle was so shocked.
He couldn't understand why Silas would even use such a strong Pokémon here.
He was just an ordinary participant this was only the third round of the knockout stage.
There was no need to go that far.
Watching as his Gliscor was kicked straight back to the ground in front of him,
Kyle sighed and silently returned it to its Poké Ball.
There was nothing else he could do.
In the end, the difference in strength was simply too great.
The audience erupted into cheers, their excitement reaching its peak.
The announcer's voice boomed across the arena.
"Blaziken wins! Will the blue-side trainer switch Pokémon?" asked the referee as per standard procedure.
"I will," replied Silas.
Even the experienced referee was slightly taken aback, but quickly nodded and gestured for Kyle to release his next Pokémon first.
"This last battle's up to you! Go, Feraligatr!"
Kyle threw out his final Poké Ball.
He didn't know why Silas wanted to switch,
but regardless, this was the choice he'd prepared all along.
The water-type starter from the Johto region — Feraligatr — appeared on the field.
Its blue scales and rectangular armor-like plates covered its entire body,
its beige underjaw and belly looked powerfully built, and the red jagged spikes on its head, back, and tail gave it a fierce appearance.
"Hydro Pump, get ready," Kyle commanded.
He intended to make full use of the time Silas spent swapping Pokémon.
"Let's finish this calmly go, Gigalith,"
Silas said with an easy smile, sending out a Pokémon that made everyone's jaw drop.
The commentator on the platform wiped sweat from his forehead.
Using a Rock-type Gigalith to fight a pure Water-type Feraligatr and voluntarily taking the second move?
How was anyone supposed to commentate on that!?
He'd broadcast plenty of matches before, but had never seen anything this bizarre.
Sometimes, trainers trying to "show off" too much could really give commentators a headache.
He recalled an old senior's advice from before his first day on the job:
"When you see something ridiculous, don't laugh — it'll only get worse."
At the time, he'd thought it was a joke. Now, he realized it was a universal truth.
Of course, Silas didn't think he was doing anything weird. He was simply following his own plan — as always.
Blaziken and Gigalith were the only two of his main team who hadn't battled yet.
He couldn't let them sit on the bench forever everyone deserved equal attention.
And besides, among the four battlefields, only this Rock Field suited Gigalith.
The other three environments were all disadvantageous to it.
Kyle Woods and Feraligatr were both shocked and then furious.
Anyone would be insulted by such a decision.
"Boom!"
The Hydro Pump Feraligatr unleashed perfectly captured that anger.
Gigalith, which had just stabilized its stance upon entering the field, was immediately blasted by the powerful water-type attack
the exact kind of move it hated most.
Even before the real fight began, its condition visibly worsened.
"Oh no Silas's Gigalith is in real trouble here," the commentator said stiffly.
"The type matchup between Rock and Water just isn't in its favor."
But then, as sand began to swirl across the entire field, the commentator's eyes lit up. Finally, something to talk about!
"As we can see, the entire Rock Field is now engulfed in what looks like a sandstorm!
This is caused by Gigalith's Sand Stream ability.
The most famous Pokémon with this trait is, of course, the desert tyrant and pseudo-legendary Tyranitar!"
"SolarBeam!" Silas commanded next.
The commentator froze. Again.
"What kind of strange tactics are we witnessing today!?" he muttered under his breath. If not for Silas's reputation and his own professionalism — he might've yelled aloud.
Everyone knows that SolarBeam's power is halved in a sandstorm!
That's something even a rookie trainer should understand. And besides, in sandstorm weather, SolarBeam's charging time becomes even longer.
It was literally a high-cost, low-reward move in these conditions.
He could only groan silently to himself as the battle continued.
...
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