"Pinsir is unable to battle, Camerupt wins."
Camerupt panted heavily, glancing at Pinsir, who lay defeated on the ground. Pain coursed through its body, making its front legs tremble precariously, threatening to collapse at any moment. Despite winning this round, Camerupt's stamina was nearly depleted, and the opponent still had one more Pokémon left to send out.
"Camerupt eat a Sitrus Berry" Will called out.
At Will's command, a Sitrus Berry emerged from one of Camerupt's chimney-like structures on its back. How it managed to hide the berry there without burning itself was a mystery. But after consuming the berry, Camerupt felt a surge of renewed energy.
In Pokémon battles, Trainers can equip their Pokémon with items that offer various advantages. These range from items that give specific boosts—like Charcoal or the Scope Lens—to one-time-use items like berries. Berries, such as Sitrus Berry, can restore a bit of stamina, while others like Pecha Berry or Aspear Berry can cure certain Status Conditions.
However, only one item can be carried into battle, and these items must be registered with the conference officials beforehand. Using an unregistered item could lead to an automatic victory for the opponent.
"Why would Will let Camerupt carry a Sitrus Berry? Does he foresee a tough fight?" Han mused, puzzled.
Berries are single-use, and in terms of practicality, it would have made more sense for Will to have brought Charcoal for a consistent boost rather than a one-time item.
But in critical situations, those berries can prove invaluable. For instance, if a Pokémon is poisoned and carries a Pecha Berry, it can quickly alleviate the problem.
Will's Camerupt has always been carrying Charcoal, why suddenly change it to Sitrus Berry today.
"This guy sold Charcoal due to lack of money" Julian explained with a weird look on his face.
Due to the packed schedule of the conference, Will had no time to go to the Trainer APP to pick up the quests, and to afford his three Pokémon who had been eating and resting this time, his savings were almost exhausted.
He didn't want to borrow money from Julian and so he had to sell Camerupt's Charcoal, exchange it for a sum of money, but he bought a Sitrus Berry in order to compensate Camerupt.
To his surprise, this thing actually came in handy.
"This guy can't really be this lucky, right?" Julian thought, his faith in Will's luck wavering.
After all, the successful use of Earth Power, which had lowered the opponent's special defense, seemed far from coincidental.
The opposing Trainer sent out their third Pokémon, a familiar face from both team matches and the previous individual battle.
This Beedrill had been purposely kept in reserve until now.
"This time, I will burn this bug" Will muttered, determination etched on his face, he really didn't believe this Beedrill had the strength like the two previous Pokémon.
The face of Trainer on the opposite side was also quite ugly, as neither of his two Trump Cards has solved Will, which was beyond his expectations.
And Beedrill's strength was indeed worse than the previous two.
"Beedrill, use Pin Missile!"
Beedrill lifted its Twin needle, launching a rapid-fire barrage of needle-like projectiles at Camerupt.
After consuming the Sitrus Berry, Camerupt had regained some strength, and the bleeding from its wounds had subsided.
"Flamethrower!" Will commanded.
The intense flames engulfed the Pin Missile attack, obliterating it in a blazing sweep.
"Attack with Twin needle!" the Trainer countered.
Beedrill dashed forward, its sharp Twin needle aimed directly at Camerupt. The latter's bulk and low mobility left it vulnerable, and soon enough, Beedrill's stabs found their mark.
"Use Poison Jab!" the Trainer shouted, a glimmer of confidence in his voice.
"Camerupt, use Protect!" Will replied swiftly.
A green barrier shimmered into existence, deflecting the incoming Poison Jab.
"Flamethrower!" Will pressed on.
"Venom Drench!" The Trainer countered.
The two attacks collided, the purple venomous spray clashing with the red flames, resulting in a hiss of vapor as the venom dissipated into a cloud of toxic smoke.
Beedrill's Trainer initially appeared pleased with the unfolding scene. But his expression quickly soured when he realized the Flamethrower had outmatched the Venom Drench, striking Beedrill directly.
"Camerupt, go for the win! Keep using Flamethrower!"
Will seized the moment, eager to capitalize on the momentum.
But in the next second, Camerupt suddenly fell to the ground with purple bubbles popping out of his body. Although the toxins were not as effective as the venom Drench, but the residual effects of the toxic cloud were too much for its already weakened state to handle.
"Finish it, Pin Missile!"
The opponent did not attack at close range, fearing that Camerupt will do a last desperate counterattack, so he chose to distance himself and used Pin Missile.
Under Camerupt's desperate gaze, countless Pin Missiles overwhelmed it.
"Camerupt is unable to battle; Beedrill wins," the referee declared, the sound echoing in Will's ears.
At the end of the match, Will still did not make a comeback.
With a disappointed face, he pulled the fallen Camerupt back to the Poké Ball and muttered, "It's okay, you've worked hard."
Then he gave the opposite Trainer a unfriendly look, not because he was unconvinced, but he felt that the other party deliberately hid two Pokémon, making his previous intelligence work wasted.
"Sure enough, it's not suitable for me to engage in intelligence gathering and so on."
The first time I try this and lose, and I met a Rival who deliberately hid Pokémon.
"How could they make a fool of me ?" he seethed internally.
Losing was one thing, If you lose, you lose, but now Will's headache was how to deal with Han, Zosh and Shen.
When he walked out of the player tunnel, he saw three people waiting for him at the exit of the tunnel. He didn't see Julian, but Will didn't want to care about it.
Because he saw that these three people had come over with wicked smiles..
"After a hard fight, I still lost," he remarked dryly.
"If I had known I'd lose, I might as well have let the Rival take me out easily, like the three of you did," he added, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
(T/N: how to gaslight someone course 101)
The faces of the three people who were walking towards Will suddenly froze, he was obviously mocking them for losing too fast, even when he had also lost, he dared to take the lead in firing the shots first.
Guess he was too impatient to die.
"Yeah, well, even though I lost, I got early acceptance to Imperial University,"
"Jin University contacted me this morning,"
"The admission officer from the Third Military Academy said they're very optimistic about my rainy day tactics"
Both Jin University and the Third Military Academy are first-class universities. Zosh and Han were valued by the admission teachers of these two universities respectively.
Not to mention Shen and Julian who were accepted early by Imperial College.
In this way, among the five-member team of Lake Middle School, only Will has not been approched by any colleges and universities. Judging from his expression, it is estimated that he has no offers.
Will: The clown turned out to be me.