Pokémon: Zoroark
Gender: Female
Type: Dark
Ability: Illusion (Upon entering battle, disguises itself as the last battle-capable same-gender Pokémon. Returns to original form after taking damage from an attack move.)
Aptitude: Red
Basic Moves: Dark Snipe, Dark Pulse, U-turn, Scratch, Leer, Torment, Hone Claws, Fury Swipes, Scary Face, Taunt, Knock Off, Fake Tears, Extreme Speed, Flamethrower, Sludge Bomb, Nasty Plot
Inherited Moves: Copycat, Foresight, Extrasensory, Sucker Punch
"Flamethrower!"
The instant Zoroark appeared, she fired a Flamethrower at Charizard.
Charizard smiled slightly, also took a deep breath, and responded with his own Flamethrower.
"BOOM!"
Two orange-red flames collided in mid-air and locked in a stalemate.
Seeing his flames weren't overpowering his opponent's, Charizard's competitive spirit immediately flared up.
Charizard applied slight pressure with his feet, his abdomen swelling as he gradually increased the power of his flames.
Little by little, Charizard began gaining the upper hand. The flames pushed toward Zoroark.
"Quick, dodge!"
Seeing Zoroark couldn't hold out, Zhang Xiaoqing hurriedly signaled for her to dodge—otherwise, she'd definitely be the one who got hurt.
Zoroark suddenly released her flames and rolled to the side.
The next moment, the massive fire pillar scorched the ground right beside Zoroark.
"Zoroark, Dark Pulse!"
After rolling, Zoroark gathered both hands and rapidly sent a black shockwave toward Charizard.
Charizard wasn't flustered at all. With one beat of his wings, he flew into the sky, then fired another Flamethrower.
Zoroark had no choice but to use the speed boost from Extreme Speed to dodge the fire pillar's attacks. Every so often, Charizard would predict her route, forcing her to roll awkwardly on the ground to avoid it.
Watching Zoroark constantly dodging on the field, Zhang Xiaoqing was extremely anxious. But in the end, he forced himself to calm down.
"Teacher said—the most taboo thing in battle is being frantic and anxious. You must stay calm. No matter how unfavorable the situation, only by staying calm might you find a way to break through."
Zhang Xiaoqing narrowed his eyes slightly, watching Mega Charizard's movements in the air carefully.
Finally, the instant Charizard's Flamethrower ended, Zhang Xiaoqing shouted to Zoroark:
"Scary Face!"
(Scary Face: Lowers the target's Speed by two stages.)
Zoroark immediately steadied herself and made a scary face at Mega Charizard in the sky.
"Bleh~"
"Charizard, Scary Face!"
"Graow!"
Charizard also roared at Zoroark and used Scary Face as well.
I lower your speed, you lower mine—that means neither of us lowered our speed. Yeah, that's it.
"Heat Wave!"
Taking advantage of the last turn of Sunny Day, Auron immediately commanded Mega Charizard Y to use Heat Wave.
Mega Charizard Y's Special Attack stat plus the 1.5x boost to Fire moves under Sunny Day, combined with STAB—this Heat Wave would be enough to take down Zoroark directly.
"Detect!"
At the last moment before Heat Wave arrived, Zoroark successfully used Detect, entering a protected state and weathering this Heat Wave.
Auron smacked his lips and shook his head. "Too bad—he still reacted in time. Return, Charizard."
As he spoke, Auron recalled Charizard into his Poké Ball. After Sunny Day ended, though Charizard could still fight, in this situation, Clawitzer's Fighting-type moves were actually better for this matchup than Charizard.
Auron's Charizard hadn't learned the Sunny Day move. So even if Clawitzer fell later and he switched back to Mega Charizard Y, the weather would still change to Sunny Day.
"Go, Clawitzer!"
The instant Clawitzer appeared, his entire body wrapped in water as he charged straight at Zoroark.
"You can see—when the Sunny Day weather disappeared, contestant Auron recalled Mega Charizard into his Poké Ball. Is he switching Pokémon to reset the weather? That doesn't seem like a wise choi—"
"You can see—the instant Clawitzer appeared, he used Water Jet to charge at Zoroark, who's using Nasty Plot to boost! Very fast—can Zoroark react in time?"
When Auron switched Pokémon, of course Zhang Xiaoqing wasn't idle either. Though he didn't know Auron's plan, he obviously couldn't stop it now. Better to take this opportunity to boost himself.
However, in the Pokémon world, reducing Speed stages didn't just reduce movement speed—it also lowered the speed of attacks and move execution.
If Speed was lowered to six stages, it would be significantly slower than before the reduction. It might even make the Pokémon's movements look choppy, like dropped frames.
"BANG!"
In the end, Zoroark still successfully boosted herself before Clawitzer's claw landed.
But the instant she finished boosting, Clawitzer struck her with his claw.
There was no helping it—Clawitzer's combo was too fluid. Charge connected to Brick Break. The instant he reached her, his claw was already landing with the move's power.
"Dark Pulse!"
After landing one hit, the claw instinctively preparing to strike Zoroark again was pushed back by Zoroark's sudden dark shockwave.
But because Zoroark's Speed had been lowered by two stages, her attacks were slightly sluggish.
And in that brief moment of sluggishness, Clawitzer's second claw had already landed on Zoroark.
Though Zoroark had pushed him away with Dark Pulse and the full force hadn't landed, just this bit of power—combined with the earlier Water Jet and Knock Off—had already left Zoroark panting heavily, her stamina depleted.
"How did this Clawitzer get even stronger? This is way too broken. How does he train?"
Zhang Xiaoqing looked gravely at Clawitzer on the field, but inwardly he was constantly complaining.
At the very beginning, Zhang Xiaoqing's battle stage had been right next to Auron's. After winning his match, he'd happened to see Auron's battle.
Though Clawitzer had swept both opponents back then, after simulating it mentally, Zhang Xiaoqing had determined Clawitzer couldn't pose much threat to his Zoroark and stopped worrying about it.
But who could have predicted that in just a few days, Clawitzer had nearly finished off his Zoroark in one combo?
Though part of it was his own carelessness, wasn't this attack power and speed a bit too broken?
"Zoroark! Dark Pulse!"
Zhang Xiaoqing steeled himself. After boosting, Zoroark's second Dark Pulse would definitely take down Clawitzer—if he didn't dodge.
"Clawitzer, Water Gun!"