The purpose of the fight was to know the strength and weaknesses of the group. The fight was not to determine the winner. So, the Kanto team decided to battle by drawing lots.
The battle match was: Lance Vs Ryker
The battle match was: Lyra vs Lorelai
The third battle would be the winner of both of the battles.
And the last battle would be between the winner of the third battle and Axel.
The battle started. As a leader of the group, Axel was making notes on the strength and weaknesses of each Pokemon. Axel concluded that Lorelai's Jynx was the weakest and would need more training. Other Pokemons were decent. They had some flaws as nobody was perfect.
Lance won the first battle. Lyra won the second and Lance came out victorious in the third battle. He was selected to fight Axel's Piloswine. It was not due to Arcanine being the most powerful Pokemon of the group. Seeing the battle, Axel felt that Ryker's Magmar had superior stats compared to others. However, the battle strategy of Lance was excellent.
'This may be the quality of a future Champion' thought Axel. If Lance had such good battle qualities, then Steven would be a monster. As per the anime and games, Steven was more powerful trainer than Lance.
[Pokemon's name :- Piloswine (Age- 2 Years)
Pokemon Nickname :- None
Ability :- Snow Cloak
Hidden ability :- Thick Fat
Attack :- S Agility :- A++
Defense :- S Sp. Atk :- A++
Moves: Ice Shard (Lvl 20), Icy wind (Lvl 122), Icicle Crash (Lvl 20), Hail (Lvl 20), Mist (Lvl 21), Take down (Lvl 14), Earthquake (Lvl 2), Ancient Power(Lvl 1)
These were Piloswine current stats. Going with the stats, Piloswine was hands down the most powerful Pokemon in Axel's team right now. But seeing Lance battle, Axel knew that stats were not the determining factor to win the battle.
Arcanine VS Piloswine
"Are you guys ready?", screamed Lyra. She had volunteered to be the referee for this battle.
[Ding! The host is challenged by the future Champion of the Kanto region. Special quest has been generated.
Axel had observed that there were 3 type of quest. Main quest, Sub-quest, and Special quest. The special quest will appear according to the situation. Axel was not focusing on winning this battle and just wanted to enhance his knowledge and observe Piloswine's growth. However, the system notification changed his thought completely. He was not giving up the rewards.
"Let the battle begin!!"
"Arcanine, start with 'Flame Charge.'"
"Piloswine, 'Mist', 'Icy wind' and 'Hail.'"
Piloswine was naturally slower than Arcanine. Arcanine was known for its speed while Piloswine had a huge body. The moment Piloswine was completed its 'Mist' and 'Icy wind', Arcanine had already tackled Piloswine with 'Flame Charge'. Axel told it to take the hit and realized that Piloswine would need some defensive moves if it was to fight a speedy Pokemon like Arcanine.
'Mist' was an unusual move. The name would suggest that it would tamper with the vision of the opponent in the battle. But it had a completely different use. The move would enable the user to enclose itself from the mist and would prevent stat reduction. Axel had told Piloswine to use it at first cause he didn't want Piloswine to get burned or electrified in the process. Arcanine also had one electric move which Axel noticed in the previous battle.
Piloswine was an ice-type Pokemon so fire-type attacks were super effective against it. However, it also had the hidden ability 'Thick Fat'. 'Thick fat' reduces the damage taken from fire-type and ice-type attacks by 50%. Since the ability was not mastered fully, Axel expected it to be at least 20% effective.
The attack created some distance between them and Piloswine was finally able to finish using 'Hail'. 'Hail' would do continuous damage to Arcanine, 'Icy wind' would lower the speed to Arcanine and 'Mist' would protect Piloswine from the status effect. These Status moves were so overpowered if used carefully.
Lance could feel the pressure. He knew that he needed to finish this battle fast. He wanted to use 'Electric charge' cause it would increase Arcanine's speed and paralyze Piloswine but could not. Axel had already used 'Mist' to protect it from stat reduction and Piloswine was immune to electric type move. So, he proceeded Arcanine to use another 'Flame charge' for good damage and speed increase. However, his plans had failed spectacularly.
Just as Arcanine was in close proximity to Piloswine again, Piloswine attacked with a menacing 'Earthquake'. Since Arcanine was close, the 'Earthquake' did a good chuck of damage to it. Arcanine was more injured than Piloswine after the impact. Axel didn't want to waste any time and instructed Piloswine to use 'Take down'.
One of Arcanine's forelegs was stuck under ground from 'Earthquake'. Piloswine's cold tusk hit Arcanine in the face and Arcanine was blown away from the impact. The damage was lowered by a bit due to Arcanine's ability 'Intimidate'.
"Piloswine, use 'Ice Shard' and 'Icicle crash'."
"Arcanine, dodge it."
Arcanine was able to dodge 'Ice shard' but was hit with 'Icicle crash'. 'Icicle crash' had a chance to flinch the target and Piloswine was successful to do it. The big chunk of ice had crushed Arcanine's entire body and it was now unable to move. In addition with 'Hail', it was difficult for Arcanine to even move.
Axel didn't want to waste any time and was ready to finish up the battle but....
"I lost.", said Lance.
"Challenger Lance has forfeited the battle. Axel wins!!!", shouted Lyra.
This was not a competition and Lance could see that he was not going to win this battle. So he forfeited.
None of them were satisfied with the battle including Axel. Axel knew that this level of power was not enough to defeat both Steven and Wallace.
[Ding! Piloswine's Earthquake has leveled up to 3
Ding! Condition: Win has been met. Reward calculating.....
Reward: Upgrade in system information: ability and hidden ability]