Ace

Chapter 31

I stepped into the radiant sunlight, basking in the cheers of the spectators. It was my very first match in the Lumiose Conference during the preliminary rounds. A 3-on-3 battle, and if I lost it I'd be knocked out of the competition.

I was determined to not let that happen.

"Go, Beartic!" my opponent sent out a powerful Ice-type Pokemon.

"Let's go, Mightyena!" I sent out my Pokemon.

"Begin!"

"Mightyena, use Sand Attack!" Scraping up dirt from the ground with its back legs, Mightyena kicked sand into the Beartic's eyes and made it difficult for it to see.

"Use Icicle Crash, Beartic!" My opponent's Beartic used its freezing-cold breath to create sharp icicles, which it hurled at Mightyena. But thanks to the Sand Attack, the icicle missed my Pokemon and merely whistled past its ear.

"Use Superpower!" this time the Beartic lunged forwards, intending to beat up Mightyena with its own fists.

"Quick, dodge and use Swagger!" Mightyena jumped out of the way and used Swagger, which drastically made the Beartic's attack power much higher but left it confused.

"Use Icicle Crash again!" This time Beartic, disoriented and hurt, didn't listen to its trainer and punched itself in the face.

"Scary Face, let's go!" Mightyena put on its most intimidating face in front of Bertic, lowering its speed.

"Now Crunch!" Thanks to the lowered speed, Mightyena had no trouble landing the attack. Beartic tried to retaliate but ended up hitting itself in the face again. Landing another Crunch made it unable to battle.

The next Pokemon my opponent sent out was a Galvantula. It was a Bug-type, so I sent Mightyena back to its Pokeball to have a rest and instead sent out Honchkrow. I knew it was a pretty bad idea since Galvantula's Bug-type countered Honchkrow's Dark-type and its Electric-type countered Honchkrow's Flying-type. But again, Honchkrow was the best Pokemon for the job.

My opponent landed the first move. "Galvantula, use String Shot!"

Galvantula tried to shoot some of its sticky threads at Honchkrow, who used a Fly attack and dodged it. When it came down to land the hit, the match was over. Galvantula was completely unable to battle.

My opponent's last Pokemon, a Beheeyem, was no match for Mightyena. In fact, its Psychic-type attacks couldn't even hit my Pokemon. A few Crunch attacks were all it took for the Beheeyem to go down.

I was to advance to the second round: where the 32 remaining trainers would continue to battle until there was only 8 left.