Blinding electric sparks filled the entire battlefield, forcing everyone to squint.
Seeing that Magnezone showed no signs of stopping its Discharge, Sato's heart began to sink.
Soak: douses the target with a heavy splash of water, changing its type to pure Water.
And with its many tentacles, Octillery had successfully used Soak on both Krookodile and Tyranitar.
Now combined with Magnezone's Discharge…
Sato finally understood why Volkner had invested so much effort in training a Water-type Pokémon he wasn't even proficient with.
Just the move Soak alone would take a lot of time and energy to master, let alone with Octillery's natural advantage of having eight tentacles.
Finally, the electric spark faded, and the four Pokémon revealed their forms again. Fortunately, Tyranitar's Bulldoze had already landed.
Octillery had been struck by both Bulldoze and Discharge and immediately fainted, while Magnezone was still struggling under Tyranitar's foot.
On the other side, Krookodile had lost the ability to battle. This might have been the first time it had ever been knocked out by an Electric-type move…
Soon after, Sato and Volkner recalled Krookodile and Octillery respectively. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
Tyranitar, which had also been affected by Soak, hadn't lost the ability to battle outright, but was now panting heavily, its eyes filled with stunned disbelief.
A powerful pseudo-legendary, unable to protect its partner and even had its type forcibly changed and suppressed by the opponent…
Tyranitar let out an angry roar, as if to say, "Krookodile, I'll avenge you!"
In the next moment, its right foot lit up with a brownish-yellow glow once again and stomped down with full force.
"Magnezone, Explosion!"
Hearing Volkner's calm and unwavering command, Sato's heart, which had just settled, instantly jumped back into his throat.
But he didn't even have time to command Tyranitar to retreat; an explosion had already roared into the sky.
A massive mushroom cloud rose once again at the center of the battlefield, easily surpassing the height of the entire arena.
The ventilation system kicked into gear, and the powerful suction quickly cleared away the dust and smoke.
Unsurprisingly, Tyranitar and Magnezone were both lying motionless on opposite sides of the field…
Fortunately, one was made of steel, and the other had extremely hard armor. Aside from being scorched black, they didn't seem too badly hurt.
"Krookodile, Octillery, Magnezone, and Tyranitar have all lost the ability to battle. Both Trainers, please send out your next Pokémon!"
The referee ignored the dust all over his uniform, waving his flag formally as he made the official declaration.
The entire arena erupted!
Based on past performances, Sato was considered stronger than Volkner, but Volkner's ruthless decisiveness had now burned into everyone's mind.
Anyone with eyes could see that, the moment Volkner had Octillery use Soak at close range, he had already been prepared to sacrifice it.
And the moment he realized that Tyranitar hadn't been taken down by Discharge and was about to defeat Magnezone, he gave the Explosion command without a hint of hesitation.
In the end, all four Pokémon were taken out together!
Leaving aside the evenly matched Krookodile and Magnezone…
Volkner's cost was just Octillery, a Water-type he wasn't even good at using.
But Sato had lost what was arguably his strongest ace…
His pseudo-legendary Tyranitar!
The battle shifted into a 2v2 single match. Sato and Volkner looked at each other across the field, neither able to guess what the other was thinking.
As soon as the referee announced that it was time to switch Pokémon, Sato immediately sent out the third Pokémon he had prepared in advance.
"Houndoom… avenge your partners!"
The moment Houndoom appeared, it howled toward the sky, then locked eyes on its opponent with blood-red pupils.
"Houndoom, Flamethrower."
"Luxray, Thunderbolt!"
Flames and electricity exploded across the field, and both sides used the smoke cover to charge toward their opponent.
"Luxray, lock on to Houndoom's position, Wild Charge!"
"Houndoom, Dark Pulse."
Luxray's eyes were excellent, and Houndoom could also see through the smoke, so both pinpointed each other's position with ease.
With a wolf-like howl, Houndoom opened its mouth and launched a powerful Dark Pulse directly onto Luxray's path of advance.
At that moment, with no Trainer around to make the decision, Luxray charged forward into the Dark Pulse without hesitation, enduring the attack as it barreled toward Houndoom.
Luxray also cried out, using the force of Wild Charge to break through the Dark Pulse head-on, charging straight at Houndoom without stopping.
There was no heavy collision sound. Instead, "Houndoom" burst apart like a balloon.
Volkner's expression tightened as he instantly realized it had to be Sato's Zoroark, but even after all his preparation, he hadn't detected a single flaw.
Especially that initial wolf howl…
It had sounded way too real!
Those in the audience who had followed Sato's past battles realized it immediately, as Zoroark's reputation was already well-known among them.
And so far, aside from Supersonic, no second method to break the illusion had ever been found.
The battlefield surged again. After Houndoom burst like a balloon, dozens of Dark Pulses suddenly launched at Luxray from different directions. Judging by their energy signatures, it was impossible to tell which were real.
Luxray has powerful eyesight that is capable of seeing through most objects, like X-ray vision, but it still couldn't see through Zoroark's illusion.
Sato was absolutely confident, anything you could perceive with your eyes was within the reach of Zoroark's Illusion.
Even if you used moves like Foresight or Mind Reader, Zoroark could simulate the post-Foresight scene and trap you within it!
"Luxray, Discharge across the entire field!"
Volkner tried again, attempting to use a wide-area attack to force Zoroark out.
But even as the sparks covered the whole field, there was still no sign of Zoroark.
"Zoroark… [Night Daze Sphere]."
Sato's voice echoed across the battlefield, his cold tone unrestrained. The spectators all realized:
Sato… was taking revenge!
The Discharge hadn't even faded, when dozens of Houndooms suddenly appeared on the field, stepping across the electricity as if from thin air.
Each one had a pitch-black energy sphere forming above its head, and the waves of energy leaking from them made Luxray in the center visibly tremble.
"LUXRAY, WILD CHARGE! DESTROY THEM ALL!" Volkner shouted, clenching his fist!
…But in the end, it was all useless.
Every time Luxray destroyed one "Houndoom", another appeared elsewhere. Even the Night Daze spheres they were forming had no visible flaws.
"If you can't break the illusion… then everything you do is in vain," Sato whispered softly.