This move was one Rock-type and Ground-type Pokémon used very often. It was Rock Tomb.
Large rocks fell from the sky one after another, with Blaziken right in the center of the attack zone.
But Lina did not know that Blaziken was actually much faster than she thought.
Blaziken easily avoided the first few giant rocks. As more and more rocks came crashing down, it had to work harder to dodge them.
Then, in the next second, its body accelerated again. With just a few jumps, it escaped the area covered by Rock Tomb. After that, it sprinted forward at high speed, leaped into the air, and slammed hard into Claydol!
It was Quick Attack!
Because of Quick Attack and the burst of speed from its charge, Blaziken had reached its highest speed at that moment.
Blaziken was simply too fast. Claydol had no time to react before Blaziken crashed into its body!
"This is bad..."
That thought had just appeared in Lina's mind when Blaziken's attack landed.
It was just too fast!
So fast that she could not do anything. She could not even give an order!
She had tried to prepare for every possibility, but she still had not expected the opponent to find an opening!
And that was not all. Claydol was knocked down again and crashed onto the ground. But this time, the distance between them was too short. Blaziken did not give it any chance to recover!
Flames wrapped around its fist as it used Fire Punch and struck Claydol hard!
Claydol cried out in pain, and its entire body began to shake. The moment Natsui saw that, he quickly ran through the moves Claydol might know. His eyes narrowed at once.
He realized Claydol wanted to take Blaziken down with it as it fell. He immediately shouted, "Don't give it a chance!"
Just as Natsui spoke, flames ignited around Blaziken's right leg again. It used Blaze Kick.
No matter what Claydol had been planning, Blaziken defeated it before it could begin!
The referee raised the flags at the perfect time.
"Claydol is unable to battle! The winner is Blaziken!"
After three straight wins, it was time for the intermission. The crowd erupted in cheers as Natsui walked toward the waiting room.
In the stands, Ash and the others clapped while watching him. They were all impressed.
"I didn't expect Natsui to actually complete a three-Pokémon sweep. That's really amazing."
Ash was the first to speak. He really liked the way Natsui battled. At the same time, it made him want to fight Natsui even more.
Morrison also nodded.
"Yeah, he really is scary. Even though he's also a Top 16 competitor, he defeated three of the opponent's Pokémon with just one of his own. That's seriously impressive. And if this keeps up, he might really win the championship!"
"No, actually, both of you counted wrong."
Brock spoke at that point, making Ash and Morrison turn to look at him.
Ash looked confused.
"Counted wrong? What do you mean?"
"Natsui's Blaziken didn't just defeat three Pokémon. Strictly speaking, it should be four," Brock said as he shook his head. "If the trainer named Lina hadn't recalled Houndoom at the last moment, it would have been defeated by Blaziken very quickly."
Only then did Ash and the others understand. They became even more shocked.
What kind of person could use a Pokémon that was not even their ace to defeat four Pokémon in a major tournament?
Only trainers far stronger than them could do something like that!
It naturally made people admire him even more.
Back in the waiting room, Natsui sat in his chair and closed his eyes to rest.
He had not actually intended to defeat three or four Pokémon in a row. There was no need for him to show off his strength or draw attention like that anymore.
He had kept Blaziken on the field because most of his other Pokémon had already battled. His older Pokémon had also enjoyed the tournament after being away from that stage for a long time.
Besides, the opponents after Tyson were not nearly as difficult to deal with, so this was the right chance to train his newer Pokémon.
But the most important reason was Blaziken's own fighting spirit and desire to stay on the field. That was why Natsui had kept using it.
Still, after four rounds of battle, it was already very tired. Now that the break had arrived, that momentum had settled down as well.
So, for the remaining three battles in the second half, Natsui did not plan to send Blaziken out again.
The short intermission ended quickly. Before the match resumed, the big screen randomly selected the battlefield for the second half.
When the pointer stopped, it landed on an ice icon.
That meant the next field for Natsui and Lina would be the Ice Battlefield!
"The Ice Battlefield, huh..."
Natsui rubbed his chin and thought for a moment.
Other than Articuno, he did not have any Ice-type Pokémon. It seemed he would not be able to take advantage of the field directly in this match.
Blaziken could have gone out again. Fire could melt the ice and catch the opponent off guard. But it had already fought four rounds and could not be used anymore.
"So who should I send out?"
While thinking, Natsui returned to the trainer's area after being called back.
The two trainers stood in position. The referee waved the flags to signal the restart. But just like Natsui, Lina did not immediately take out a Poké Ball either. She was also standing there with a serious expression, thinking hard.
It seemed she was having just as much trouble choosing her Pokémon for the second half as Natsui was.
But the two of them were worried about different things.
Natsui was thinking about which Pokémon would be the best fit. If he ignored the field itself, he could send out any of his newer Pokémon.
Lina, meanwhile, was thinking about which of her remaining Pokémon could stop this man's attacks or at least win back one point.
Finally, Natsui was the first to take out a Poké Ball.
The referee urged them to hurry, so Lina also pulled out her Poké Ball with a serious expression.
Two blue flashes appeared at the same time as both Pokémon came onto the field.
Lina did not send out Houndoom. Instead, she chose Piloswine!
Clearly, she had decided to keep Houndoom in reserve a little longer so it could recover inside its Poké Ball.
Natsui was not especially surprised to see Piloswine.
Piloswine looked heavy, but in battle it was very similar to Primeape from earlier. Its attacks were both powerful and fast!
Piloswine looked like a mix between a yak and a wild boar. It was an Ice- and Ground-type Pokémon.
Its entire body was covered in long brown hair, even its face. Only its nose and its two long tusks were visible.
Piloswine's thick coat helped it endure the cold. Its four legs were short, but its hooves were wide and rough, which kept it from slipping on snow.
Because its hair covered its face, it could not see what was directly ahead of it and often just charged around. Even so, it could still sense everything nearby with its nose. Its hearing and sense of smell were both excellent, and it could even locate food buried under ice.
That was why Natsui said it was similar to Primeape.
Both Pokémon had very direct fighting styles. The moment they spotted an opening, they would keep pressing the attack without hesitation!
Natsui knew this Pokémon well. Most of Lina's reputation in this tournament came from this Piloswine.
It was not her ace, but it was very close.
Natsui's choice, meanwhile, was Milotic.
Using Fire in the first half and Water in the second half made the whole thing feel strangely balanced.
As a Water-type Pokémon, Milotic had the type advantage against Piloswine. That meant Natsui was already more likely to win even before the battle began.
But Lina's expression became even worse than Natsui's.
She had not expected the Pokémon she chose to be at a type disadvantage against Natsui's pick. That was incredibly frustrating.
It only made her bad situation worse!
"I just hope this Milotic isn't as hard to deal with as that Blaziken was..."
She could only pray that to herself.
As the crowd cheered, the battle officially began.
Even though she had already lost three times, Lina did not change her style at all. The moment the battle started, she ordered Piloswine to strike first.
Piloswine stomped forward with its large feet and charged at Milotic with Take Down. It came crashing in with tremendous force, to the point that the ground seemed to tremble and even the Ice Battlefield shook several times.
Piloswine could use ranged attacks too. But if it did that, Milotic could simply answer with attacks of its own, and Piloswine would lose badly because of the type matchup.
So the smarter option was to close the distance and fight up close.
If it could get close enough, Piloswine had a real chance to win. Milotic was not as strong in close combat.
Natsui understood Lina's plan perfectly.
In fact, this really was one of the best ways to beat his Milotic.
But was getting close to Milotic really that easy?
It was not that simple.
At Natsui's command, Milotic launched its attack.
A powerful Hydro Pump burst from Milotic's mouth and shot straight toward Piloswine. Lina's expression changed at once, and she had no choice but to order Piloswine to dodge to the side.
She really had no other option.
If it had been Water Gun, she would have let Piloswine push through it. But this was Hydro Pump. With its type disadvantage, Piloswine could not afford to take repeated hits, no matter how sturdy it was.
Because it had to dodge sideways, the distance between it and Milotic widened even more.
Natsui smiled.
Milotic's Hydro Pump had not struck directly. It had only brushed past Piloswine's shaggy coat.
But his real goal had already been accomplished.
He made another gesture, and Milotic turned its head and fired a second Hydro Pump!
Lina had no choice but to make Piloswine dodge again. This route was longer, but Piloswine was still fast. At last, it managed to close in on Milotic again.
But in the very next second, Milotic's body moved like a serpent. It slipped behind a large ice boulder and vanished!
"Where do you think you're going!?"
Lina saw the chance right in front of her and had no intention of letting Milotic escape. She immediately ordered Piloswine to smash the ice boulder apart!
The massive block of ice shattered into countless pieces under Piloswine's charge. Ice fragments flew everywhere.
But Milotic was not there!
"What!?"
"Gone!?"
Lina's first thought was that Milotic had used Dig to slip beneath the ice.
But then she remembered that Milotic was not Steelix. It could not use Dig.
She looked across the battlefield again, and suddenly she saw Milotic gliding across the ice at incredible speed!
"How is that possible!?"
Lina was stunned.
Only two or three seconds had passed between Milotic hiding and the ice boulder being shattered. Yet in that tiny window of time, Milotic had already crossed more than twenty meters!
How had it done that?
Was it really that fast, like Blaziken?
But when Lina looked more carefully, she finally understood.
She saw a thin layer of water beneath Milotic. It was not much, but because the ice surface was already so smooth, that water let Milotic glide across it as though it were swimming in a lake!
"But when did it release that water...?"
Then Lina suddenly remembered the two Hydro Pumps Milotic had fired earlier.
"I see! I get it!!"
"It was from then..."
"Had this man planned everything from the very start!?"
"Truly terrifying!"
Natsui saw that Lina had figured it out and gave a small smile.
The Ice Battlefield was different from the Rock Field or the Grass Field.
Once water was spread across it, it would not freeze instantly because the temperature was not low enough. It also would not seep into the ground. Instead, it remained across the slick ice surface like a thin, slippery layer, making footing far more unstable.
For most Pokémon, that would only make movement harder.
But for a Water-type Pokémon, it made things much easier. It let them move across the field with incredible ease!
Since he did not have any Ice-type Pokémon to take advantage of the field directly, Natsui had simply turned the Ice Battlefield into a Water Battlefield instead.
Of course, that only worked because Hydro Pump released such a large volume of water.
If Milotic had used Water Gun, there would not have been enough water to spread across the field. Piloswine would have run right through it and ruined the plan.
Everything had been connected from the start.
That was why Natsui had ordered Hydro Pump.
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