As soon as Tetsu spoke, Magmar's mouth gathered flames that erupted outward. The moment it entered the field, the temperature of the entire battle arena spiked by several degrees.
A fierce pillar of fire shot forth. To be honest, Magmar's gaze was incredibly sharp, and its power was not to be underestimated.
The pillar moved with immense speed. Eichi observed the attack and estimated that its mastery of Flamethrower was at the Skilled level, though it had not yet reached the Peak. While Eichi had never seen a Peak-level Flamethrower, he was certain it would look far more devastating than this.
The Flamethrower was fast, but Scizor was faster, evading the strike with ease.
With a vibration of its wings, it flew to the side to dodge. However, Magmar could control the direction of the fire. With a slight tilt of its head, the pillar of fire chased Scizor wherever it went.
Scizor continued to evade, moving in an S-pattern to close the distance toward Magmar. Its speed was so great that the Flamethrower simply couldn't touch it.
It quickly approached Magmar, but Matsumoto didn't panic. Just as Scizor raised its pincers, gathering energy for a strike that was about to hit, Matsumoto gave his command.
"Magmar, Fire Punch!"
In an instant, Magmar closed its mouth as flames erupted from its fists. It raised its left arm to its head, successfully blocking Scizor's pincer.
That wasn't all. Magmar clenched its right fist and swung a series of frantic blows at Scizor. Anticipating the movement, Scizor raised its left pincer to parry Magmar's right fist.
This entire sequence of movements was completed in the blink of an eye.
Scizor used the momentum to push back a small distance before immediately following up with Bullet Punch. It swung a pincer at Magmar, who tilted its head to dodge, only for the other pincer to follow up instantly.
Magmar dropped into a crouch to evade the second strike and immediately launched a counterattack from its low position.
Its flaming fists struck at Scizor, but Scizor was not to be outdone. It tilted its body to the side and struck back.
The two sides traded blows rapidly. Both Pokémon possessed incredible reaction times and punching speeds.
One punch followed by one pincer strike. Eichi's eyes narrowed slightly. Matsumoto actually has some skill. This Magmar is quite good—it's not far off from Sato's Charizard.
In just this short span of time, even with Scizor's fast reactions, it took a hit. However, Magmar had traded its own safety for that strike. Magmar itself had been hit several times by Scizor.
Scizor wasn't some pushover. During the final trial, it had faced a siege of over a dozen Scizor. Without superior reaction abilities, it never would have passed. None of those Scizor had reactions weaker than this Magmar's.
Matsumoto noticed this as well. Close combat was not Magmar's forte; long-range combat was. If this continued, Magmar would surely lose.
Seeing that enough time had passed, Matsumoto ordered, "Magmar, use Smokescreen!"
Hearing its master's command, Magmar parried Scizor's pincers and used the force to jump back. It then exhaled a thick cloud of black smoke from its mouth. Scizor raised its pincers to shield itself, but the smoke expanded rapidly, shrouding the entire arena.
Scizor vibrated its wings to retreat, but it was a moment too late. The entire battlefield was swallowed by the black fog.
"Magmar, use Flamethrower!"
Even though Magmar was also inside the fog, it knew exactly where Scizor was located. Energy gathered in its mouth, and a pillar of fire shot toward Scizor's position.
Although Scizor couldn't see, it didn't panic. It closed its eyes. In its perception, a mass of red energy was rushing toward it at high speed. A slight smirk appeared on Scizor's face. It tilted its body just enough to let the Flamethrower pass by.
It then quickly pinpointed Magmar's location as the black fog began to dissipate.
On the opposite side, Matsumoto smiled. He believed Scizor couldn't possibly dodge Magmar's Flamethrower and must have been hit. Since Scizor had a four-times weakness to Fire-type moves, this single hit might have taken half its life.
Off-field, Ishida felt the same way. The spectators shared Matsumoto's thoughts and began to worry for Scizor. Only Tetsu remained as confident as ever in Eichi—he noticed Eichi still looked completely relaxed.
Matsumoto's smile soon vanished. A heavy thud of a blow hitting flesh rang out, followed by a sharp cry of pain.
Matsumoto froze. That was Magmar's voice! What happened?
Another cry of pain followed. Matsumoto began to panic as the outer edges of the fog finally cleared.
After a third cry, a figure flew out of the fog and crashed into the ground.
Matsumoto stared. It was his Magmar. He was completely bewildered. How is this possible? Can this Scizor see through black smoke?
As the smoke cleared entirely, Scizor's figure was revealed. Magmar's resilience was decent; it hadn't lost its ability to battle yet and was slowly crawling back up.
Scizor's eyes locked onto its target. It vanished instantly, charging toward Magmar.
Matsumoto snapped out of his shock and gave a desperate command, "Magmar, Protect!"
Without a second thought, Magmar channeled its energy to form a green screen in front of its body. It was a close call; the screen formed just as Scizor's attack arrived. The impact hit the screen, and the attack was completely neutralized.
"Magmar, use Fire Whirl!"
In the moment Scizor was blocked, Magmar gathered energy and exhaled a long string of embers. The flames quickly spiraled onto Scizor's body and grew in size. Seeing this, Scizor began to retreat continuously.
As it backed away, the flames surrounding it intensified, slowly swallowing Scizor whole.
Scizor took damage from the fire—this damage was significant. Seeing Scizor in this state, Matsumoto regained his confidence.
Thinking this wasn't enough, he ordered again, "Magmar, use Flamethrower!"
Energy gathered in Magmar's mouth and shot out toward the trapped Scizor.
"Scizor, use Swords Dance!"
Eichi couldn't just stand by and watch Scizor take a direct Flamethrower. He recalled how, in the anime, Bugsy of the Azalea Gym used Swords Dance to deflect a Flamethrower.
Scizor endured the pain and began to spin its body. When the Flamethrower struck Scizor, the flames were deflected and scattered.