With Incineroar's constant harassment, both opponents' offensive pressure had been heavily reduced—so Raihan didn't dare relax for even a second. He ordered Duraludon and Tyranitar to focus-fire Sylveon.
But the "ignored" little white squirrel moved first.
Raihan blinked. "Wait… it's that fast?"
Then he waved it off. "Whatever. Fast means nothing if it hits like a wet noodle. What can it even do?"
Pachirisu answered immediately.
Nuzzle.
A flash of electricity—then Pachirisu's cheek-rub landed cleanly on Duraludon.
The damage was so tiny it was basically an insult… but Raihan's eyebrows snapped together.
Paralysis.
Speed halved. Chance to be unable to move.
Duraludon's massive metal body stiffened, turning even clunkier than before.
And on the other side, Sylveon played it like a rat—Protect.
A transparent barrier popped up. Rock Slide and Flash Cannon slammed into it and vanished into nothing.
Well—not entirely nothing.
Rock Slide was a spread move, so Pachirisu still got clipped.
But Tyranitar's Attack had already been dragged down so far it barely tickled.
Raihan ground his teeth.
Just now you were trading blows with me like a man, and now you're turtling up?!
"Again!" he snarled. "I don't believe it can Protect twice!"
Pachirisu moved first again.
And its second move caught Raihan completely off guard.
The tiny squirrel clapped its paws—pat pat—and a warm golden glow wrapped around Sylveon.
…Helping Hand?
That move was rare enough most people forgot it existed.
What did it do again?
Boost an ally's attack?
Raihan's stomach sank.
Too late.
Paralyzed Duraludon was now slower than Sylveon.
Before Flash Cannon could even fire—
Hyper Voice crashed down again.
And this time, under Helping Hand, the damage skyrocketed into something outright disgusting.
Both pseudo-legendaries' HP bars plunged like they'd been shoved off a cliff.
Not quite a full "HP bar deletion," but honestly… it wasn't far.
Especially Duraludon.
That thing was built with strong physical defense and weaker special defense—taking two full Pixilate Hyper Voices back-to-back meant it was basically a candle in the wind.
Tyranitar, ironically, was holding up better.
Its special bulk was higher, its HP pool was larger, and sandstorm granted it a 1.5× Sp. Def boost, so it still had a decent chunk of health left.
Raihan finally got one piece of good news:
The annoying Sylveon did go down—late, but down—under the combined Rock Slide and Flash Cannon.
If Duraludon had gotten fully paralyzed and missed Flash Cannon there…
Raihan would've called the police.
"Duraludon doesn't need protecting anymore," he judged instantly. "Tyranitar does."
"Duraludon—Heat Wave! Tyranitar, come back. Salamence—get in!"
On the other side, Aarav did exactly what Raihan expected—he replaced Sylveon with Incineroar.
The tiger returned.
Intimidate roared across the field again.
Salamence had barely landed before it took a free stat slap to the face.
Raihan's already-dark expression sank a shade deeper.
He truly hadn't played a match this irritating in a long time.
Pokémon battles were supposed to be—
fists and fangs, adrenaline, beam clashes, hype—
So what was this?
Intimidate. Fake Out. Parting Shot. Nuzzle. Helping Hand.
Could you possibly be any more disgusting?
Aarav didn't care.
He pointed Pachirisu at Salamence.
Super Fang.
Meanwhile, Duraludon's Heat Wave came through—
Oh, so it was Heat Wave.
From that damage, you'd think it was just someone blowing air through a straw.
In this game, Super Fang didn't cut exactly half your max HP like the old mechanics.
It cut about a quarter.
Still plenty to make Salamence choke.
And Incineroar?
It didn't care about "plenty" or "not plenty."
Salamence, you eat yet?
No?
Then eat Fake Out.
Smack!
One slap.
Salamence went blank again.
Raihan stared at the screen.
They were treating Duraludon like background furniture.
Leaving it on the field to occupy space—like it didn't even matter anymore.
Fine.
Then he'd cut the arm off to save the body.
"Salamence—Earthquake! Duraludon—Heat Wave!"
Everyone knew the saying—
Helping Hand Earthquake doesn't recognize family.
This wasn't even Helping Hand…
But Raihan was still clearly ready to sacrifice his own partner.
He wanted Earthquake to rip everything apart.
Too bad Aarav wasn't going to let it happen cleanly.
A flash—Pachirisu vanished.
And with a deep, furious roar—
Garchomp hit the field.
It took Earthquake head-on, burning nearly a quarter of its HP.
But Incineroar and Duraludon got wrecked.
Incineroar's health dropped to around a third.
And Duraludon?
It collapsed with a metallic crash.
Raihan instantly sent Tyranitar back in.
His last Pokémon in reserve was Flygon.
But Flygon was basically "Garchomp-lite"—in damage, in bulk, in everything.
Compared to that…
The Sandstream tyrant was far more reliable.
Raihan stared at that arrogant land-shark on the screen.
Now that Sylveon was gone, Aarav's damage output was riding almost entirely on Garchomp.
If he double-targeted it with Draco Meteor and Crunch—
No.
Impossible.
That guy was too slippery.
Garchomp was definitely holding Protect, waiting for him to commit.
And Draco Meteor was the one move that could decide the entire match.
He couldn't throw it away.
Better to delete the piece that kept bouncing in and out, poisoning the whole game.
So Raihan made the call.
"Tyranitar—Earthquake! Salamence—Dragon Claw! Target Incineroar!"
Because Salamence was Flying-type, Tyranitar could Earthquake freely without worrying about friendly fire.
That was Raihan's resolve in two buttons.
He wanted Incineroar dead—now.
And his decisiveness paid off.
Two pseudo-legendaries collapsing on one target—
Even a "god-tier nuisance" like Incineroar couldn't hold.
Already injured, it finally dropped under Salamence's Dragon Claw.
Before falling, it burned its last flame in one final act of spite—
Flare Blitz into Salamence.
A brutal, heroic end.
And right beside Incineroar's fallen body—
Garchomp stood there, glowing with golden light.
Raihan's vision went dark.
"…You've got to be kidding."
Garchomp had used—
Swords Dance.
Raihan's jaw tightened.
"Damn it… Garchomp, you really dared to set up right in my face?!"
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