"Pidgeotto is unable to battle! The winner is Hisoka from Viridian City!" As the green flag dropped, another one of Hisoka's matches came to an easy conclusion.
On the field, a large avian creature over a meter tall lay on its side, the faint traces of frostbite visible across its back.
Hisoka's opponent had assumed their Pidgeotto held the advantage by controlling the air and had let their guard down against Weavile. They hadn't expected Weavile to use Agility to close the distance before executing a reverse leap behind Pidgeotto,
immediately following up with a brutal Ice Punch. Between Weavile's naturally high Attack and the double damage from type advantage, an instant kill was nothing to be surprised about.
"How long did that match even last?" The middle-aged man in the floral shirt poked the man with glasses standing beside him. Both had watched Hisoka's first match earlier.
The man with glasses smiled and pointed at his watch. "I used a stopwatch specifically this time. From the moment they both sent out their Pokémon, it took that Weavile exactly 1.8 seconds to finish the job."
"So, not even two seconds?" The man in the floral shirt nodded thoughtfully, then cried out exaggeratedly, "Is this kid some kind of freak? Who fights a match like that? I didn't even get to see what was happening before it was over..."
His words echoed the sentiments of most of the spectators. The most entertaining Pokémon battles were those between evenly matched opponents. In a complete landslide like this, there was nothing for the audience to take away other than a few moments of shock. After all, if a match ends in seconds, what's the point of watching?
In truth, it wasn't just that Hisoka was too strong; the rules set by the S.S. Anne played a major role in the current situation. The second rule of the tournament prohibited the use of heavyweight Pokémon.
This meant that many Pokémon with high Defensespecifically Ground, Rock, and Steel typescouldn't be used. Additionally, with many skill restrictions in place, some trainers were unable to field their strongest partners.
Currently, most trainers on the S.S. Anne were using small to mid-sized Pokémon that were fast but fragile. This created a perfect storm for Weavile. Sneasel was already naturally fast, and its evolution into Weavile provided a massive stat boost.
Combined with long-term weight training, Hisoka was confident that none of the 300-plus trainers on board had a Pokémon that could outpace his Weavile now that its gravity rings were off.
As the old saying from his previous life went: in the world of martial arts, only speed is unbreakable. As long as you are fast enough to hit your opponent before they can even react, victory will always be yours.
...
"Squirtle, Skull Bash!"
"Squirtle! Squirtle!"
A strange Squirtle wearing sunglasses tucked its head into its shell before suddenly lunging forward like a rocket. The opposing Venonat didn't have time to dodge and was struck squarely in the head.
"Vee..."
Venonat's large red compound eyes turned bloodshot from the impact. Its body swayed for a moment before it collapsed face-first onto the floor.
"Venonat is unable to battle! The winner is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!"
"Yeah!" Ash jumped for joy as the referee announced the result. "That's my second victory! I really am strong, aren't I?"
"Squirtle! Squirtle!"
Squirtle waved a hand dismissively at Ash, pointed at itself, and gave a thumbs up, as if saying, You're okay, but I'm the one doing the heavy lifting.
"You were great too, Squirtle!"
Ash understood Squirtle's meaning and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Hurry, go look at Field 9! That trainer named Hisoka is a freak; he wins every match with an instant kill." A passing tourist's comment caught Ash's attention.
"Hisoka? That name sounds familiar!" Ash bit his thumb, thinking hard. "Right! It's that cool guy from yesterday. He's in the tournament too? In that case, I have to go check him out and see just how strong he is."
By the time Ash managed to squeeze through the crowd to the edge of the field, the match was already over. The referee held the green flag high in victory.
On the field stood a Weavile in a chopping stance. At its feet lay a fainted Tauros, its neck muscles swollen as if it had been struck by a heavy blunt instrument.
A Tauros's linear charge is both fast and fierce, but a simple side-step from Weavile left it helpless. As soon as Weavile found an opening, it countered with Brick Break. While Fighting-type moves are super effective against Normal types, Weavile lacked the Fighting attribute itself, meaning it didn't receive an attribute bonus for the move.
In this world, move damage is boosted when the move's type matches the Pokémon's typea rule as fundamental as type advantages. While Psychic and Dragon types are naturally intelligent and can learn moves of many different types, a Psychic type's Flamethrower will never be as powerful as a Charizard's Flamethrower. That was the power of the attribute bonus.
So why did Hisoka have Weavile specialize in Night Slash, Ice Punch, and Brick Break? This tournament provided the answer.
With these three attacking moves, Weavile could cover and counter eleven different types, ensuring it almost always dealt double damage. Even if an opponent tried to counter it, Weavile's staggering speed allowed it to strike first. And once Weavile managed to use Swords Dance twice, any opponentunless they were Elite Four levelwould face a total team sweep.
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