When the nearly three-meter-tall, uniquely earth-toned deer Pokémon appeared before Aiden, the entire stadium fell into instant silence.
It took a while before someone finally asked curiously, "Wait, why did Teacher Azure suddenly pull out a Pokémon we've never seen before?"
"Its aura looks super strong. Could this be a trump card Teacher Azure prepared, a dirty trick saved specifically for this tournament?"
"That doesn't make sense either. Who pops their ultimate right off the bat? Shouldn't he save it for a tough opponent?"
"You have a point, but who knows how many aces Teacher Azure is hiding up his sleeves."
"True!"
Seeing a brand-new Pokémon that has never appeared in the Pokédex in a tournament is certainly absurd, but considering the person doing it is Aiden, the audience actually wasn't that surprised.
After all, it's Teacher Azure. Even if one day he suddenly pulled out the Creator God Arceus in the middle of a battle, the audience probably wouldn't be particularly shocked—
Of course, as the saying goes, laymen watch the spectacle, while experts watch the technique.
For the other competitors, especially the two veterans, the Pokémon Aiden sent out was truly eye-catching.
"I didn't expect this kid Aiden to have hidden an unseen Pokémon. Truly—"
Sitting in the competitor's lounge, Professor Oak's face lit up with joy, his eyes instantly shining, though his actions betrayed a helpless shake of his head.
"Although its aura is indeed powerful and it's highly likely a 'Legendary Pokémon,' its positioning is probably closer to Entei or Suicune. It doesn't possess overwhelmingly supreme authority."
"I didn't expect Aiden to actually remember something I just casually mentioned. Is he planning to use this opportunity to showcase more unknown Legendaries?"
"Though, it would've been even better if we could see that legendary Dragon of Truth—"
Beside him, Agatha couldn't help but roll her eyes and tapped her cane on the floor.
"Old man Oak, are you trying to mentally break those two kids on the other side?"
The two children trembling across from Aiden looked to be only thirteen or fourteen years old.
It already took a lot of courage just to face the Sinnoh Champion head-on. If they were hit with a Legendary Pokémon completely beyond their ability to handle—
It would absolutely be a disaster.
However, that kid does know his limits.
Agatha's gaze shifted downward. That giant deer with the bronze ding atop its head emitted an ominous aura and definitely didn't look like someone to be trifled with.
But—
Honestly, its strength was probably just so-so.
It might not even be a match for that girl Cynthia's Garchomp beside Aiden.
If he had used a Pokémon he had better synergy with, the results would probably be much better than this deer.
Simply put, it looked intimidating, but he was actually holding back a bit.
That kid isn't as blockheaded as Oak; he really knows his limits.
Agatha smiled and nodded in satisfaction.
If they couldn't even pass this hurdle, they were just here to grind experience anyway. Getting eliminated at any time was normal.
Seeing that she had stopped talking, Professor Oak could only awkwardly scratch his head and refocus his gaze on the majestic giant deer.
This was first-hand Pokémon data; he had to observe it carefully!
So heavy!
On the field, Liza and Tate exchanged a glance. Through the telepathy unique to twins, they could clearly feel that both of them were struggling to catch their breath.
Was it because of that Spiritomb?
No, unless it was an absurdly powerful Legendary, the Pressure ability couldn't achieve what it was doing right now—it was practically suffocating them.
Especially that invisible aura specifically targeting Psychics—
Precisely because they were both Psychics, the sensation was particularly acute.
Their gazes simultaneously shifted to Ting-Lu, and their minds instantly synchronized in judgment——it had to be that unknown Pokémon!
Therefore, it had to be taken out first!
"Solrock/Lunatone, use Sunny Day/Solar Beam!"
Because the twins could synchronize their thoughts, their voices perfectly resonated as they issued commands simultaneously.
Although they didn't know the opponent's typing yet, it was obvious that it hard-countered Psychics, so they couldn't use standard moves against it.
Liza and Tate were indeed young, but they were Gym Leaders. Their battle instincts were still very sharp.
Moreover, their telepathy allowed them to seamlessly execute many little tricks.
However—
"Spiritomb, Ally Switch."
"Ting-Lu, Ruination!"
Aiden and Cynthia seemed to intentionally wait for their opponents to make the first move before immediately countering.
Just as the Sunny Day energy was channeled into the sky, and the Lunatone—which had locked onto its target and was ready to fire Solar Beam at any moment—suddenly saw an afterimage. The mountain-like Ting-Lu vanished in an instant.
In the center of its vision was only the Spiritomb, spreading its eerie ghostly face, seemingly mocking them.
To be honest, the Pokémon sent out by both sides in this match had abysmal speed stats, but the use of Ally Switch apparently wasn't hindered by this.
Lunatone had no time to worry about anything else and could only focus all its attention on pouring the absorbed solar energy directly at the Spiritomb in front of it.
The effect naturally wasn't great. Spiritomb's sinister, terrifying ghost face didn't show any signs of taking damage.
Immediately after, Ting-Lu on the other side erupted with a terrifying aura. The surging black energy seemed to materialize, forming a tidal wave that blasted toward Lunatone!
After being drowned by the pure malicious energy, Tate immediately felt Lunatone's stamina rapidly plummeting.
Although it wasn't instantly knocked out, it was still terrifying.
Can we survive a second hit of the same move?
Because they had never seen the move Ting-Lu just used, Liza and Tate had absolutely no idea how to deal with it.
But what if they switched out?
It would just be bringing their backline Pokémon in to tank the hit, or relying on defensive moves to forcibly stall for a turn?
It was just a slow death.
So, they still had to go all-in and try to take out that Ting-Lu first!
The idea was clear, but another new problem arose.
Liza and Tate exchanged a glance, their faces conflicted.
Champion Cynthia had already used Ally Switch. Would she use it again this turn?
Even if Solar Beam would be super effective against Ting-Lu, the premise was that it actually had to hit. Once it missed, it was game over—
At this moment, the essence of the game suddenly transformed into the rock-paper-scissors game they used to love playing.
Guess whether I'm going to use Ally Switch or not!
Champion Cynthia's smile remained gentle, yet it made them subconsciously shrink their necks.
So scary, adults' minds are truly too dark!
"Whatever, let's just YOLO it!"
"If our two Pokémon target different sides, we won't need to play the guessing game!"
After a moment of struggle, Liza and Tate quickly gave their next round of commands: "Solrock/Lunatone, use Solar Beam!"
The two Pokémon had quietly gathered power under the effects of Sunny Day, so there was no obvious movement before unleashing Solar Beam.
The two nearly instant green energy beams blasted forward, targeting two different Pokémon respectively.
"Tch, still too young."
Aiden shook his head and didn't react.
At first glance, doing this meant Ting-Lu would take a hit no matter what, and Spiritomb on the other side would also take some chip damage.
But for Ting-Lu, who possessed the "Vessel of Ruin" ability, Solrock's incredibly pitiful Special Attack stat was literally just tickling it.
Even if it stood there and took a Solar Beam head-on, it wouldn't be affected at all.
And this information gap would lead to a crushing defeat that could only be described as a slaughter.
"Ting-Lu, Payback."
"Spiritomb, Trick Room."
Following their pre-prepared setup, Aiden's side chose to tank the hit and counter using the move's effect.
Spiritomb, meanwhile, continued its role as a support, attempting to make the already crumbling balance of the battlefield completely collapse.
Solrock's Solar Beam did hit Ting-Lu, but its face showed no reaction. It merely took a few steps back from the impact.
When it looked up again, its eyes beneath the giant ding were already filled with rage.
After pawing the ground a few times with its front hooves, Ting-Lu violently charged forward, directly smashing the Solrock—which had just finished its move and had no time to react—out of the arena.
Upon hitting the ground, Solrock's eyes rolled back as it fainted on the spot, as expected.
After that, Spiritomb finally gathered enough energy and enveloped the entire battlefield with a bizarre psychic field.
In the stands, Blue pondered deeply.
"The effect of Payback is—if it takes damage before using a move, its power is greatly increased due to rage?"
"That really is a very Teacher Azure style of playing."
"He looks like he's barely trying, yet he's effortlessly pushed his opponents to the verge of a mental breakdown."
Beside him, Red nodded silently.
More than the situation, he was actually more interested in how Teacher Azure would use Ting-Lu.
A previously undiscovered Pokémon—its behavior in battle was completely unpredictable, let alone trying to guess its typing and moveset.
Just as Blue said, it was Teacher Azure's signature style of using information asymmetry to steadily secure a victory.
If it were him, how would he break through this right now?
Red observed the field below for any new turning points while silently thinking of counter-strategies.
Should he send out Venusaur to simply put that annoying thing to sleep?
Or should he just use Snorlax to win head-on?
He could actually think of quite a few strategies, but it seemed like the two Gym Leaders on the other side couldn't use a single one of them.
This was the disadvantage of trainers who specialized in a single type. Once they encountered an attribute they struggled against, they might completely collapse.
No wonder Teacher Azure often said that to become a Champion, you have to be well-rounded, and at the very least, not be hard-countered by others.
Just like those four Kanto Elite Four seniors, right?
Red nodded, feeling like he had learned a lot again.
He did indeed gain a new realization, and the audience also genuinely found it hilarious watching Aiden smurf in a low-elo pond—after all, Teacher Azure was obviously going easy on them. Otherwise, with his and Cynthia's strength, if they just sent out Lucario and Garchomp, they probably would have steamrolled them in a few turns.
Even though the current situation was still completely one-sided, anyone with eyes could tell this was a "teaching match."
Could it be that Teacher Azure's occupational disease flared up, and he couldn't help but act like a wise master in an Ultra Ball tournament to guide the younger generation?
However, calculating by the time Teacher Azure has been a Gym Leader—
It was actually hard to say who was the senior between them.
It seemed like the only ones getting hurt were the sibling duo, Liza and Tate.
Especially Tate, the younger brother. Seeing Solrock get knocked out and Trick Room light up over the field, he felt his vision go black.
Because their entire team consisted of Psychic-types, they were completely hard-countered by that Ting-Lu. Add the fact that they had just lost priority, the moves it used next wouldn't just be Payback—
Liza was also on the verge of tears.
They only entered this tournament because they were highly skilled in Double Battles—even their Gym challenges were conducted in doubles.
They originally thought that even if they couldn't win the championship, their tacit coordination should at least earn them a decent ranking.
But who could have predicted that not only was the participant list full of masters, but even two legendary seniors they had only ever heard of had come to compete.
And then, to top it off, they ran into a menace like Teacher Azure in the very first round—
Honestly, if it weren't for their dignity as Gym Leaders, they would have wanted to forfeit the very second they saw him.
But then again, it was Teacher Azure. Maybe they'd learn something from battling him?
Wasn't that what the students in Paldea always said in his streams?!
With that thought in mind, Tate once again put on a do-or-die expression and took out another Poké Ball from his pocket.
"Go, Gallade!"
A few minutes later, the match concluded smoothly.
A crushing 4-0 scoreline was enough to prove the massive gap in strength between the two sides.
The audience naturally wasn't surprised by the result; rather, they had deeply experienced the resilience of the two young Gym Leaders.
If it were anyone else, they probably would have bolted the moment they saw Teacher Azure!
"Tbh, even though Teacher Azure is going so easy on them, why does it still feel so dirty—"
"It's Teacher Azure, after all. Torturing his opponents while using the battle as a teaching tool seems to be his favorite pastime. He's even bringing this routine to official tournaments!"
"Teacher Azure, a terrifyingly ruthless Low Elo Smurf!"
Thunderous applause erupted from the stands. After recalling their Pokémon, the two pairs of competitors walked to the center of the field to shake hands.
"Telepathy is indeed a very convenient ability, and the Sunny Day + Solar Beam combo is interesting. However—"
While shaking hands with Tate, Aiden subconsciously entered his post-match review mode and started lecturing him.
"In a situation where your opponent's information is still unclear, using this combo is actually a bit of a gamble."
"Since you guessed Ting-Lu had the Dark-type, it might have been better to bring out Gallade right from the start for a pivot defense."
Tate and Liza looked at each other.
It wasn't that they hadn't thought of it. The problem was that Ting-Lu's teammate was Spiritomb, which has the Ghost-type! And it had openly shown its hand by using Ally Switch!
If Gallade's Sacred Sword got read by Ally Switch, it would absolutely become the highlight blooper of today's tournament!
Even if we lose, we can't become someone else's laughingstock—
Tate and Liza silently locked eyes, both reading obvious bewilderment in the other's gaze.
Teacher Azure, we really don't have your absurdly broken prediction skills!
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