The main reason Sky lost the first match was that he underestimated his opponent, Saori, from the very beginning. As the battle began, his Raichu quickly gained the upper hand over the Cursed Doll, which only reinforced Sky's overconfidence.
Additionally, Saori had hidden a finishing move, using it to injure Raichu in one strike and secure victory.
Raichu's defeat was at least fifty percent Sky's responsibility.
Sky's expression darkened slightly—after all, he had lost a match, and to make matters worse, the one who defeated him was a contestant from Babath.
It felt like someone had slapped his left cheek and then immediately slapped his right.
He glanced toward the coach's area and saw that Julian's gaze remained calm, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. But he couldn't understand why Celebi was glaring at him so furiously.
Recalling Raichu, Sky handed its Poké Ball to a staff member nearby, instructing them to give it to Julian.
Although Raichu's external injuries didn't appear severe, that Shadow Ball contained a massive amount of soul energy that was now continuously eroding Raichu from inside.
Treating injuries to the mind or soul was far more difficult than treating external or internal wounds. Even if treatment was possible, it required a long recovery period.
In the coach's area, Julian released the unconscious Raichu and examined it. After a moment, his gaze toward Saori grew colder.
It was clear that this woman had intended to kill Raichu.
The soul energy inside Raichu was relentlessly tearing at its spirit. Without special treatment or the help of a powerful Pokémon to expel this energy, Raichu would likely be left mentally impaired even if it woke up.
"Gengar."
"Gen~"
Gengar appeared and swallowed Raichu whole. After about a minute, it spat Raichu back out.
The rampant soul energy inside Raichu had already been devoured by Gengar.
Julian then took out some potion and fed it to Raichu before returning it to its Poké Ball.
While Julian was treating Raichu, Sky had already sent out his second Pokémon, Electivire—a Pokémon second only to his ace, Zapdos, in strength.
On the other hand, Saori had also switched her Pokémon. Her Banette was in poor condition and would have been easily defeated if she kept it on the field. Her second Pokémon was a Dusknoir, at the late-stage Elite-level.
Electivire, however, was a early-stage Pseudo-Champion, giving it a significant advantage in strength. Having learned his lesson, Sky no longer underestimated his opponent.
As a result, it only took a few exchanges for Electivire to severely injure Dusknoir.
But that wasn't the end of it. Just as Saori was about to recall the heavily injured Dusknoir, Sky shouted—
"Electivire, Block her!"
Saori's expression changed as the red light from her Poké Ball was intercepted by Electivire.
"Thunder Punch!"
A fist crackling with electric energy slammed hard into Dusknoir' head. Its body shuddered, and then its life force began to rapidly dissipate.
In moments, Dusknoir vanished right before everyone's eyes.
Pure Ghost-type Pokémon, or those whose primary typing was Ghost, did not leave behind a physical body upon death.
Dusknoir fading away confirmed its demise.
Sky smirked coldly. This was only the beginning. Just as he prepared to relish his opponent's angry and grief-stricken expression, he noticed that her expression remained unnaturally calm.
"Sky-san, you're truly impressive," Saori said with admiration.
Sky froze. He had just killed a Pokémon that had been by her side day and night—why wasn't she angry or sad at all?
'Is she just hiding it well? Then I'll just have to kill a few more of her Pokémon,' Sky thought to himself.
Sky's actions naturally drew condemnation from many Babath spectators, but the Drakorian audience was not one to be trifled with.
Sky paid no mind to the reactions from either side. He went on to have Electivire kill two more of Saori's Ghost-type Pokémon.
Yet, the woman's expression remained completely unchanged, as if the fallen Pokémon had never been hers.
This sent a chill down Sky's spine. 'This woman might not be right in the head—she's not normal.'
Even the Babath audience found Saori's cold-bloodedness disturbing. Three of her Pokémon had died, yet she showed no emotion, not even a single tear.
"Referee, I forfeit."
Just as Sky was preparing to continue his onslaught to see whether she was pretending or genuinely cold-hearted, Saori raised her hand and conceded.
With her forfeit, Sky naturally won the match.
Amid the cheers of the Drakorian audience, the match came to an end.
"Coach, how's Raichu?"
After the match, Sky rushed over to Julian.
Julian tossed the Poké Ball back to him. "It's fine now. It just needs to rest."
Finally reassured, Sky grinned. "Coach, you really are amaz— Ow, ow, ow! Celebi, what are you doing?!"
Before he could even finish praising Julian, Celebi flew over, tugging at his hair and occasionally landing a few small punches on his cheeks.
Celebi: "You lost! How could you lose! Give me back my money!"
It was this bast**d who had made Celebi lose its allowance for the day. If it didn't beat him up a little, that anger just wouldn't go away.
Celebi was a Pseudo-Champion, so there was not much Sky, a mere human, could do to resist. The more he struggled, the harder Celebi hit.
"Hmph!"
After finishing its beating, Celebi let out a heavy snort and flew back to Julian, settling on his head again—though its expression remained gloomy.
"What—how did I even offend you?"
Sky was genuinely puzzled. Celebi was clearly taking its anger out on him, but he hadn't provoked it at all.
"Celebi bet on Raichu to win and ended up losing its entire allowance for the day. Don't you think it has every reason to hit you?" Julian said with a smile.
Sky's face fell as he realized what had happened. It was indeed his overconfidence that had led to this.
"Coach, is there something wrong with that woman? She didn't even flinch when her Pokémon died."
He had killed three of her Pokémon—real partners, not chickens—yet she didn't even shed a single tear. It was bizarre, almost creepy.
"There might really be something wrong with her," Julian nodded.
With the Seven-Aperture Stone inside him, Julian could listen to the voices of all things and sense the thoughts of living beings within a certain range.
But he couldn't sense Saori's thoughts at all.
If not for the fact that everything else indicated she was alive, based solely on the Seven-Aperture Stone, Saori would be no different from a rock or a grain of sand—a lifeless object.
As he watched her walk toward the player's tunnel, Julian felt that this woman surely had her secrets. Not that he cared to investigate—plenty of people had secrets, after all.
But just as he was about to look away, Saori suddenly turned and glanced back at him. She gave Julian a faint smile—a somewhat peculiar one, as if she were trying to convey something.
"Coach, is that woman just flirting with you? As expected of you, Coach—your charm is really something!" Sky said with admiration.
Julian just smiled, saying nothing.
*****
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