The Elite Trainer who received the report calmly took a sip of his tea before answering.
"A total wipeout? I thought that's what you said the first time."
Then he noticed his companion staring at him with a stunned face, and he realized something was off.
"Wait. There are at least twenty contestants at that one entrance, and only a few minutes have passed. A total wipeout, already?" He frowned. "Are you observers playing some kind of joke on me over the voice channel?"
In truth, the observer could not be blamed for the strange report. He was riding on the back of his Pidgeot, flying high above the arena, watching the chaos below through a pair of binoculars. Even he would not have believed it if he had not seen it with his own eyes. A boy who looked no older than fifteen or sixteen had just knocked out every single contestant at the entrance in under a minute.
The one responsible, a young Trainer named Nova, was now seated calmly on the back of his Corviknight, drifting toward the finish line at an easy pace.
His Vibrava, nicknamed Azir, looked nothing like it had on the day it was born. Nova had been feeding it corundum every day for the past month and a half, and as a result, Azir had grown far larger than other Vibrava of the same age. If it kept growing at this rate, it seemed certain to eventually develop the rare Large Frame trait.
Species: Vibrava
Level: 32
Ability: Levitate Traits:
Desert Prince – Greatly strengthens the ability to control sandstorms. The power of Ground-type moves is increased by 35 percent. If the move involves sand, its effect may change depending on the situation.
Dragonborn – Sound-based moves can be converted into Dragon-type moves, gaining the same-type attack bonus. The paralysis chance of Dragon Breath is doubled.
High-Speed Flight – While airborne, this Pokémon's Speed is increased by 50 percent.
Sonic Demon – Vibrava's supersonic ability is greatly enhanced. Sound-based move damage is increased by 25 percent, and Supersonic can be used in many ways, including scouting, disruption, intimidation, and even dealing direct damage.
Dual STAB – Bug-type moves gain the same-type attack bonus as usual, while Dragon-type moves receive an extra 25 percent boost to that bonus.
Berserk – While active, this Pokémon's HP is fixed at 3 stamina points. Every hit it takes removes exactly one point, no matter how strong the attack was. When stamina reaches zero, the Pokémon can no longer battle. While in this state, all of its moves gain plus-two priority, so it always moves first. It can only use damaging moves, cannot use status moves, and cannot be switched out.
Since this was the very first battle of Azir's life as a Dragon-type Pokémon, it was bursting with excitement and ready to fight.
When the race began, the twenty-some Trainers gathered at the third entrance kept a careful distance from one another. Since none of them stood too far apart, a careless attack could easily spark a free-for-all involving the whole group.
A fight breaking out here would not be a problem on its own, but even the eventual winner would lose precious time, while the other groups that had set off normally would already be far ahead. Catching up after a battle like that would be next to impossible.
In short, picking a fight at the entrance made no sense at all, since beating other Trainers here would not grant any kind of advantage toward qualifying for the challenge. Why take a risk that brought no benefit?
The more experienced Trainers, who had taken part in past Cross-Country Races, understood this unwritten rule well. They simply watched one another carefully, none of them willing to make the first move. Everyone silently agreed to spread out and settle their scores later, deeper inside the maze.
The problem was that Nova had never participated in this kind of race before, and nobody had told him about the unwritten rule.
All Nova could think about was that his Corviknight was a slow flyer, which meant he had almost no advantage when it came to speed across the maze. His only real strength was battle power, so his plan was simple: eliminate as many contestants as possible right here, to make sure he secured a spot in the next round.
When he saw the other Trainers slowly spreading apart at the entrance, Nova grew impatient. If all twenty-some of them were allowed to enter the maze freely, how long would it take him to hunt them down one by one?
"Azir, use Sand Tomb!"
At the command, Vibrava let out a sharp, buzzing cry as its wings shook rapidly. The ground within roughly half a kilometer turned instantly into shifting, swallowing sand. Every contestant who had barely taken a few steps, whether human or Pokémon, was caught in the sinking trap, unable to move for the moment. Only a handful of Flying-types managed to stay clear of it.
Realizing that someone had struck first with such a reckless, wide-reaching attack, the other contestants quickly decided to team up and take down this reckless newcomer. Each Trainer ordered their Pokémon to unleash their strongest move toward Nova's position.
But many of them soon discovered, to their shock, that their own Pokémon, trapped in the quicksand, could not use any moves at all.
This was because of Azir's Desert Prince trait. Whenever Vibrava used Sand Tomb, it applied a special Binding effect on every Pokémon caught inside. This Binding effect did more than trap them physically. It also stopped Trainers from recalling their Pokémon into their Poké Balls, and while a Pokémon remained Bound, it could not use any move to fight back, leaving it completely helpless.
Of course, the Binding effect was not all-powerful. Nova had already tested it himself: if an opponent's level was higher than Azir's, the binding would fail completely, without exception. But if the opponent's level was lower, the gap in level determined how likely it was for that Pokémon to be fully restrained.
In other words, it worked as an area attack made specifically to clear out weaker opposition. Anyone whose Pokémon did not meet the level requirement was almost guaranteed to be caught helpless the moment Sand Tomb landed.
As for the Pokémon that had managed to avoid the binding, their attacks still had no real chance of reaching Nova. Corviknight spread its broad wings and calmly faced the incoming barrage. With both its Steel Heart and Body of Steel traits active, Corviknight's defense climbed higher with every hit it absorbed, turning it into something like an unbreakable steel fortress floating in the sky, standing firm as attacks rained down from every direction like a storm cloud over a city.
By then, Azir had already begun preparing its second move. It drew in a deep breath, and a pale violet glow built up before it released a focused burst of draconic energy.
"Dragon Breath!"
Azir's cry rang out sharply as the attack shot forward, striking a Swellow dead on. That Swellow's Trainer had noticed how dangerous the situation on the ground had become and was trying to flee, but Azir spotted the attempt and answered with a precise shot, letting out another short cry as the move connected.
The hit triggered Dragon Breath's paralysis effect immediately. The Swellow froze mid-flight as though it had been struck by some kind of binding spell, its wings locking up so completely that it could not even flap them. Both the Swellow and its Trainer dropped straight down through the air.
Luckily, the ground below had already turned into soft, sinking sand, so the fall left neither of them seriously hurt.