As the finalists, Owen and Jean first met in the center of the field for a formal handshake.
Owen spoke first, his voice low but clear: "To be honest, losing to you guys in the team battle... I'm really not okay with it."
Jean hesitated slightly, looking at the handsome young man before her. "It wasn't your fault," she said.
If their roles were reversed—if Owen were the captain of Aurelia University High and she led Fairview—she knew for a fact she would have been the one to lose. She didn't look down on him in the slightest.
"That's why," Owen said with a slight smile, "I've decided to win back everything we lost in the team battle during this match."
"Is that so? I won't lose." Jean took a deep breath, her voice firm. "I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. Whether it's the team battle or the individual finals, I intend to win them all."
Owen wanted to say more, but the referee signaled for them to separate. The match was about to begin.
Haunter—a round body with two detached hands, each with three fingers, floating like a wandering soul. As a Ghost-type, its appearance was striking, often the culprit behind "haunted house" rumors.
Eevee stood opposite it, looking at the creature with annoyance. Doesn't look like much to me...
"Battle Start!"
As the referee waved the flags, Haunter immediately vanished from sight. Eevee remained stationary. Based on Haunter's previous performances, direct attacks were nearly impossible to land, so Owen and Eevee didn't bother wasting energy.
The audience and guests sat on the edge of their seats, eyes glued to the field, terrified of missing a single frame of action.
Whoosh!!
Suddenly, five clusters of eerie blue flames ignited around Eevee—front, back, left, right, and above—closing in simultaneously.
Will-O-Wisp!
Eevee's response? Sand Attack!
It turned out that Haunter's ambush was useless. Almost the instant the flames descended, Eevee kicked up a massive, swirling curtain of sand. The Counter Shield appeared, instantly elevating the visual spectacle of the match.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
The fireballs were snuffed out by the rotating sand, and then all the sand-ropes lashed out in one direction. At such close range, Eevee had sensed the origin of the move. Haunter was hidden right there.
"Sucker Punch!" Jean commanded.
"Reflect," Owen countered.
Sucker Punch is a high-speed lunging attack. When used by Haunter, it looked as if it were phasing through dimensions. It flickered past the sand-ropes and instantly appeared in Eevee's blind spot to strike.
Haunter's claws slashed out!
Fortunately, Eevee had already manifested the Reflect barrier around its body. The sneak attack failed to draw blood.
"Confuse Ray!"
"Swagger!"
Both trainers issued orders simultaneously again. Haunter's eyes flashed with a mysterious light; Eevee resisted with a surge of angry energy.
One was a mastery of Ghost-type and mental energy; the other was a fusion of mental and emotional energy. The waves collided, canceling each other out.
"They seem perfectly matched," remarked a business executive who didn't know much about battling.
"They're in the probing phase," explained an Association representative. "That exchange proved that, for now, neither side can use mental-status moves to interfere with the other."
On the guest platform, Champion Jiang Li remained silent. Is Jean still not using 'that' move? If she does, the victory should be hers.
On the field, the stalemate continued. Because of Eevee's immense mental fortitude, Haunter's illusions couldn't take hold. To win, Haunter had to wear Eevee down until its concentration slipped. The same applied to Eevee's Swagger.
By all logic, the two should have been at an impasse—a 50/50 split until one landed a decisive hit. Eevee just needed to find an opening for a Shadow Ball. Haunter just needed an opening for its sneak attack.
However, Jean had a much more powerful card to play. She didn't need to out-reflex Owen. She took a deep breath and gave the order: "Curse."
"Gui-ss-tah~" Haunter quickly backed away and activated the move.
Curse: The user sacrifices half its HP to place a curse on the target. Unlike the games, this version saw the target's body slowly eroded by curse energy until they collapsed. It was very similar to Destiny Bond.
"Here it comes," Owen and Eevee braced themselves.
Jean's Haunter's Curse was nearly impossible to resist. Ordinarily, a Substitute could block it, but this Haunter's Curse appeared without warning on any Pokémon within its line of sight. Eevee had to tank it.
Owen had seen this in the team battle. He knew he couldn't dodge it, but he also knew that by using emotional energy to tap into Eevee's potential, they could hold out longer. This was the opening he needed.
"This must be a high-level Curse secret manual from the Spirit Realm," the Professional Trainers noted, looking toward Jiang Li. "As long as they are within range, the curse can be applied through a different dimension."
The curse began its work. Eevee's stamina slowly drained while Haunter, having paid the heavy price of half its health, vanished again to wait for the result.
This was the eerie, mysterious nature of Ghost battles. It was entirely possible for Eevee to lose without ever seeing Haunter again.
"A race against time..." someone whispered.
"Double Team!" Owen shouted, a smirk tugging at his lips.
Eevee instantly created nine clones. All ten bodies began hurling Shadow Balls toward the area where Haunter had last been seen. Nine were weak illusions, but the sheer density of the barrage forced Haunter to move to avoid them.
This movement exposed its position. Eevee gave chase. A game of cat and mouse began—one wanting a brawl, the other wanting to bleed the clock.
Thirty seconds later, the curse energy flared. One minute later, it flared again. Eevee's face contorted in pain; its stamina was plummeting. In the middle of its pursuit, it was caught by a counterattack from Haunter and sent flying backward.
The students from Aurelia University High erupted in cheers.
Eevee looked weak. Jiang Jean and Haunter finally felt a surge of relief. "Its stamina is finally giving out. Haunter, finish it! Hypnosis!"
Seeing Eevee's apparent frailty, everyone—the referee, the guests, and Jean—concluded that Eevee was at its limit. If it weren't, how could it have been hit so easily?
Through the link of the Curse, the Hypnosis bypassed traditional defenses and acted directly on Eevee's brain. It was the terrifying end-game of the Spirit Realm's tactics.
Boom! Eevee's mind reeled.
"Vee..." Eevee wobbled, unable to stand straight, fighting to keep its eyes open.
"Eevee, hang in there!!" Owen yelled, his face full of anxiety. The Fairview students leaned forward, hearts in their throats.
But Eevee couldn't hold on. It collapsed onto the ground, successfully put to sleep.
"Eevee, wake up!!" Owen's voice went even higher.
"It's over," Jean commanded. "Haunter, Dream Eater. The final blow!"
The Aurelia students cheered. Their school was indeed superior. The Fairview section was dead silent. Was it over?
"I didn't think they'd practiced Curse to this level," Jiang Li thought with a smile.
On the field, Haunter swooped in to devour the last of Eevee's stamina. Eevee was supposedly spent, while Haunter still had half its HP and full combat capability. The winner was obvious.
But as Haunter drew closer... Eevee's eyes snapped open. Because it was face-down, no one saw it.
"Wait, is Eevee... fat?" some audience members wondered, looking at the giant screens. The Eevee lying on the ground looked bloated, as if it were lying on a pillow.
"Of course it looks fat," Zoe muttered in the Fairview lounge, a look of realization dawning on her. "Because there's actually something under it."
The moment Haunter arrived to use Dream Eater, it realized something was wrong. It felt a familiar power. Eevee flipped over mid-air, and the crowd gasped as they saw what had been underneath.
It was another Eevee—a miniature, "pocket" version, about a third of the original size.
In front of this Substitute, there was a tiny Shadow Ball. It was small, but it gave Haunter a feeling of pure dread.
Eevee had used a fake fall and "sleep" to hide the creation of a Substitute. Under the cover of its own body, Eevee and the Substitute had been crafting a Spiral Shadow Ball. It was a gamble based on Jean's habit of finishing every match with Hypnosis and Dream Eater.
Haunter had walked right into the trap.
Whoosh!!
The Substitute hurled the Spiral Shadow Ball. It didn't hit Haunter directly as it tried to dodge; instead, it whistled past. The Aurelia fans broke into a cold sweat, then sighed in relief when it missed.
But it wasn't over.
BOOM!!
The Shadow Ball, usually a stable projectile, suddenly imploded in mid-air. The high-speed rotating Ghost energy inside expanded violently. In an instant, a powerful tearing and devouring force erupted, sucking the nearby Haunter into a miniature "black hole"!
"Is that... a Shadow Ball??" the Professional Trainers stammered.
Jean panicked, screaming for Haunter.
"Oh... interesting." Champion Jiang Li leaned forward, a look of genuine intrigue on his face as he looked at Owen.
The explosion of the Spiral Shadow Ball wiped out Haunter's remaining health. Haunter hit the ground, heavily injured and unconscious.
Meanwhile, the Eevee that was supposed to be drained of life not only had enough energy to maintain a Substitute but stood up looking remarkably energetic after the explosion.
The Professional Trainers were stunned. You were acting the whole time?!
"Dammit, I knew it!" cursed a player from Riverside No. 1. "No Pokémon should be this shameless!"
The referee stood frozen for a second before looking at the fainted Haunter. He raised his flag: "Haunter is unable to battle! The winner is Owen!"
The Fairview stands remained silent for a heartbeat... and then a literal wall of sound hit the arena.
"OWEN!! OWEN!!" "EEVEE!!! EEVEE!!!"
Owen looked around the crowd, unable to find his parents, but he knew they were seeing this. Look, Mom, Dad—we won.
He looked over at Jean, who was still in shock. "See? I told you we'd win it back."
Maybe the method was a bit "dirty." But after the team battle, he figured it was only fair.
"Vee!!!" Eevee sat down with a huff of relief. Acting is exhausting work!
Individual Tournament Champion: Owen (Fairview No. 1 High School)
The first provincial league ended on this note of unexpected brilliance. Owen had not only secured the trophy but had done so by outplaying the lineage of the Champion himself.
As Owen stood on the podium to receive the trophy, the single relevant follow-up question remains: What kind of reception will he receive from the "Spirit Realm" masters—and the Champion himself—after such a calculated "dirty" victory?
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