Caleb stood in front of Green, the two shaking hands before the match in a show of sportsmanship.
Green leaned in and lowered her voice. "Hey, I've got tons of high-tech products. If you're interested, I'll give you a special 10% discount, how about it?"
Caleb: "..."
The match is about to start and you're still trying to sell your stuff?
But from a business standpoint, Green was undeniably competent.
Caleb teased, "If you lose to me, maybe I'll consider it."
"Oh, that won't do." Green instantly dropped her playful tone and spoke seriously.
"I see," Caleb replied with a calm smile.
Then Green blinked and added, "Unless… you're willing to pay extra."
Caleb knew she was only joking. From the look in her eyes earlier, it was clear that Green wasn't the kind of trainer who'd throw away her pride for money.
Well, in that case, I better take this battle seriously.
As Caleb turned to leave, Green hurriedly called out, "Hey, wait! You sure you don't wanna reconsider...?"
Unfortunately, the roar from the crowd drowned her out completely. Caleb kept walking forward, not hearing a word she said.
Green slumped in disappointment—there went another potential sale.
Guess she'd have to pin her hopes on the prize instead. A shopping card worth 100,000—she'd flip it for 180,000 afterward.
Green didn't think she would lose.
In fact, ever since she started her journey, aside from those two in Pallet Town, she'd been undefeated in battle.
Though she wasn't using her main team this time, her Pokémon were the offspring of Elite Four Bruno's main lineup—their strength spoke for itself.
"Go, Hitmonlee!"
"Go, Chansey!"
Both Pokémon entered the field at the same time.
With the referee's whistle, Green launched an immediate attack.
"Hitmonlee, High Jump Kick!"
"Oh! Player Green opens with an aggressive strike!" the commentator, Satō, quickly explained to the audience.
"High Jump Kick is a high-power Fighting move, and Chansey is a Normal-type Pokémon—if it gets hit, it's basically done for."
"However," the other commentator, Kodo, added, "if the move misses or gets blocked, it'll cause major recoil damage to the user. So while it's powerful, the risk is just as high."
In the stands, a self-proclaimed expert grumbled, "Jeez, does Green even know what she's doing? Opening with such a low-accuracy move? If it misses, she's screwed!"
"You teach her that?" Red turned to Blue beside him.
"Of course," Blue replied coolly. "Against a cancer like Chansey, you've gotta go in hard. Keep the pressure up, disrupt its rhythm—that's the only way to find a winning chance."
On the field, after receiving the command, Hitmonlee's entire presence shifted. A barely visible aura surged around it, impossible to hide.
It leaped high, like a cannonball, shooting toward Chansey with explosive force.
"Chansey, Minimize!" Caleb shouted.
Judging from the ferocity of that High Jump Kick, this Hitmonlee probably had the Reckless ability.
[Reckless: Boosts moves with recoil damage by 20%]
A same-type move from a Fighting Pokémon, combined with Hitmonlee's 120 base Attack and the extra boost from Reckless—that was basically a nuclear strike.
It's easy to imagine Green's past matches probably ended in seconds.
Chansey rapidly shrank in size, becoming no larger than a fist in the blink of an eye.
Chansey's move sparked another uproar in the crowd, people shouting all sorts of things.
Luckily, the noise was so chaotic that Caleb couldn't make out any of it.
As expected, Hitmonlee's High Jump Kick missed.
Boom!
A deafening crash followed as the ground exploded into a massive crater.
"Now's your chance, Chansey! Use Toxic!" Caleb quickly commanded.
As long as Toxic lands, I don't care if you're dragon, beast, or god—you're mine.
"@&%#^\￡..."
Man, the crowd's extra loud today. I gotta yell just to be heard over them.
Looks like it's not just the contestants—the audience could use some etiquette training too.
Chansey expertly formed a blob of dark purple poison in her hands and hurled it toward Hitmonlee.
The Toxic arced through the air like a perfect baseball pitch—
And passed right between Hitmonlee's legs.
!!!
Between the legs!
Caleb rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
The Pokédex said Hitmonlee's legs were jointed like springs, allowing for flexible extension and contraction.
But in reality, few Hitmonlee could bend and flex so freely—most had some limitations. Yet Green's Hitmonlee displayed extraordinary mobility, not only fully extending its legs but striking bizarre poses that let the Toxic pass cleanly under it.
"Oh my god, it dodged the Toxic!" Satō exclaimed. "Who would've thought Hitmonlee's legs could be that agile!"
"With Toxic out of the picture, how will Chansey respond?" Kodo added.
"Ohohoh—!!"
The audience roared in waves, each louder than the last.
One contestant who got eliminated by a SubToxic strategy during the preliminaries shouted, "Finally! Justice has been served!"
Another player, eliminated even earlier, cheered, "That damn cancer finally got stomped!"
Meanwhile—
Green seized the moment: "Hitmonlee, use Mind Reader, then keep spamming High Jump Kick!"
Mind Reader—a Normal-type status move—locks on to the target, guaranteeing the next move hits.
Which meant... Minimize had become useless.
"She even thought of that?" Caleb frowned slightly, feeling a twinge of unease.
Chansey's two main strategies had been completely shut down by Green. This wasn't going to be easy...
Hitmonlee's legs seemed to have a mind of their own, adjusting perfectly with every missed attack to re-target Chansey.
The live chat exploded with scrolling comments:
"Did Hitmonlee skip breakfast? Kick harder!"
"Ugh, my SubToxic strat just got destroyed. RIP my childhood."
"Punch through it! Break it down!"
Poof—Chansey was sent flying to the edge of the arena.
Seeing this, Yellow instinctively covered her eyes—too violent.
"But wait, that was the fourth kick, wasn't it? How is Chansey still standing?"
Normally, a Normal-type hit by even one High Jump Kick would be out cold.
Chansey had tanked four.
That was insane.
"Probably thanks to the Eviolite, which boosts both defenses by 1.5x," Blue explained.
Though Eviolite was rare, it wasn't surprising someone like Blue would know about it.
Still, using such a rare item in a beginner match felt a bit overkill.
"Not just the Eviolite," said Red, the strongest trainer alive. "Judging by the wounds on Chansey, she's taking most of that damage herself—the Eviolite's just helping."
Breeding expert Blue agreed.
Amateurs watch for excitement; pros watch for technique.
Yellow felt totally out of her league among them, but something struck her as odd.
Chansey's expression... it just looked... off.
Back on the field—
"Chansey's been forced to the edge, her stamina barely hanging by a thread. Is there still hope for a comeback?" Satō said dramatically.
But truthfully, the outcome was already decided.
Chansey only had a handful of status moves in its arsenal.
Now that those were neutralized, it posed no real threat.
In the end, offensive moves still ruled competitive battling.
"That should do it."
Sensing the timing was right, Caleb gave a faint smirk, dropping all pretense.
"Chansey, use Egg Bomb!"
Egg Bomb—a rare and unique move, exclusive to the Chansey and Exeggutor evolutionary lines.
"Lucky~~~"
Upon hearing the command, Chansey snapped out of her daze, pulled a massive white egg from her pouch, and hurled it at Hitmonlee with all her strength.
"Hmph, a last-ditch effort. Hitmonlee, kick it back!"
Green gave the order.
"Cha-ya~!"
On cue, Hitmonlee extended its legs, ready to kick the incoming egg back at Chansey.
But the moment its foot touched the egg—it exploded.
BOOM!!
A thick cloud of purple smoke burst out like a dazzling flower in full bloom.