"At first, I just thought he was some mysterious traveler. But now I'm realizing… that's not really what's going on."
"Making me fight someone like that… when I think about it, the old me who challenged him in the first place was seriously brave."
Dendra-san watched Hikaru finish talking with Tulip-san and walk away, and she couldn't help wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Her heart was pounding like crazy—nervous, but excited.
"Heh. The less you know, the less you fear. That's how it works." Tulip-san blinked, looked at her childhood friend and sweetheart, and lightly covered her mouth as she smiled. "Maybe not knowing the other side's strength and status is exactly why you can perform better. Now, though… isn't it kind of dangerous?"
Dendra-san patted her cheeks. "Danger or not, I'm going in! Osu! If I want to prepare for the Iron Fist Tournament, I have to get stronger! This might be an entertainment match, but for me it's not!"
"Tulip-san, hurry and help me think of what to do!"
Tulip-san: "Oh my~ now you're relying on me? Dendra-san, honestly, what am I going to do with you~"
Hikaru had already walked far away, but he could still hear their voices.
Eh.
Even though he didn't know how many times he'd said it already—
Poor Dendra-san. Tulip-san had her dancing in the palm of her hand.
The next round started quickly. Just like before, there was basically no suspense. And what made Hikaru feel relieved was that this time, the opponent was finally a bull!
And not just bull-shaped—this one was seriously strong, too!
Miraidon shifted into Drive Mode and circled around this Tauros again and again, probing for an opening!
"It's a regular Tauros! Not a Paldean form! You Normal-type Tauros—what was that stomp just now supposed to be?"
He'd literally just been complaining about Gen 1 Tauros having Fissure.
And now he'd run into it this fast!
With one flying kick like that, wouldn't the arena just explode?!
"Miraidon, activate Hadron Engine! Use Charge!"
Miraidon switched from Drive Mode into Battle Form! Blue arcs of energy appeared across its chest, bulging like a lizard's air sac!
With a crackle of lightning, right in front of the stunned Trainer, the arena flooded with intense golden electrical light!
Thunder bursting, sparks flashing!
On entry, it sets Electric Terrain. While Electric Terrain is active, its futuristic mechanism boosts its Special Attack by one-third!
And the move Charge makes it enter a charged state, powering up the next Electric-type move it uses, while also raising its Special Defense!
A Pokémon in a charged state has its Electric-type move power doubled—simple and brutal!
The Trainer with the Tauros was named Jaxson. He was dressed like a red Ace Trainer—at a distance, he looked kind of like a Pokémon Ranger. A Tauros one-trick, a bullfighting fanatic, originally from the Kanto region, and this guy was…
Hikaru recognized him.
A Master Trainer!
A special Trainer type from Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! / Let's Go, Eevee! Not "master-level" in the general sense, but a "master" dedicated to one specific Pokémon species.
They specialize in a particular Pokémon, and you can only meet them after you become Champion.
There are 153 Master Trainers total… and every one of them wears red!
When you battle a Master Trainer, you're only allowed to use the same Pokémon species. If you win, you're granted that Pokémon's Master title!
Also, they don't give you money when they lose—an extremely rare group of Trainers who absolutely refuse to pay out.
And the guy in front of him was the Tauros Master from Fuchsia City.
He loved the Safari Zone, and his Tauros was level…
75!
But a level 75 Tauros only had Rage and Double-Edge. What kind of "Master" is that?!
It was basically just a title-dispensing tool. Inflated level, no real moveset control…
Some "Double-Edge specialist," huh!
Does your Tauros really love using Double-Edge that much?!
And your Tauros doesn't even have Fissure—this isn't even as fun as Ash's Tauros!
Hikaru: "Electro Drift!"
With a violent surge of lightning, boosted by Electric Terrain and the charged state, Miraidon became a lapis-colored wheel of thunder and slammed the mighty Tauros down in a single hit!
Tauros (Kanto form), fainted!
Jaxson: "Damn it! My Tauros got beaten by my Tauros—how could something like this happen?!"
"Y-you… your strength is unquestionable! What's going on—your Pokémon is too strong… if that's the case, then…"
"Then I hereby grant you the title: Tauros Master!"
Hikaru: "Thanks, but I don't even have a Tauros! You can keep that title!"
Jaxson: "B-but this is a bullfighting tournament! Back in Kanto, this is how I granted people Master titles! I'm a super Trainer who's trained Tauros for years! I've always been searching for the ultimate Tauros! And in Paldea, I've seen Tauros's potential!"
"That Pokémon right there is the strongest Tauros! I will grant it the title: Ultimate Tauros!"
Jaxson pointed at Miraidon, who looked utterly innocent, and Hikaru sighed.
"That's clearly an electronic dragon."
"Have you specialized in Tauros so hard that within a hundred meters you can't tell dragons from bulls anymore?"
Honestly, this tournament really does have every kind of Pokémon… fine. An electronic dragon got the title "Ultimate Tauros."
"Agaas!" Miraidon understood the title—and it was pretty happy about it.
Even if it wasn't a bull-type Pokémon.
But getting a limited title was great, wasn't it?!
Fine!
From now on, I'm the electronic dragon known as Ultimate Tauros!
"If you like it, then just accept it. What—are dragons a type of bull, or are bulls a type of dragon?"
"A Master like me must be… uh, anyway, really amazing!"
Hikaru patted Miraidon's big head as it wagged its tail.
And he was thinking—
That Tauros might not actually have been as high as level 75.
Because in a game's postgame, the main point is "challenge."
Other than specific plot locations, lots of Trainers' Pokémon levels are just… inflated numbers.
"The tournament continues!"
Charcadet clanked as it swung its fire hammer, and Falinks shouted WAAAAAAGH as they smashed their way through round after round!
When the morning light of the second day spilled over the arena, the bullfighting tournament's festive atmosphere finally reached its peak.
The entertainment entrants had already been eliminated one after another. Even Gym Leaders, the Tauros Master, and even weird hidden experts like "that driver" had unfortunately fallen in day one's elimination rounds.
Which also meant—
Everyone still standing was an absolute specialist in bullfighting!
Just like Tulip-san said: it's an entertainment match. As long as the fighters have fun and the audience has fun, that's all that matters!
"Ka-donk!"
Charcadet whirled its hammer and traded blows back and forth with a Rhyhorn. That horn on its head felt like it could whip up powerful airflow around it—spinning with sonic booms that were genuinely shocking!
Horn Drill!
As long as type interactions weren't zero, and as long as the target wasn't Ghost-type, Horn Drill would one-shot if it hit!
Hikaru: "If even Rhyhorn showed up, that's not a problem either, right?"
"Horn Drill specialists, huh. If you're playing the Rhyhorn line and you don't run Horn Drill, what are you even doing?"
"Anyone who plays Horn Drill is a gambler!"
This person clearly wasn't from Paldea, because Paldea doesn't even have Rhyhorn (Rhydon)!
Charcadet swung its heavy hammer, blocking Rhyhorn's charge head-on, then flipped it up with a blast of fierce flame!
The hammer slammed into the ground with a heavy thud.
In Charcadet's hands, a spear of sunlight condensed!
The tournament rules banned ranged moves.
But my Sunlight Spear is point-blank.
So it's not against the rules!
With a single mighty "Sunflare Beam"—a 200 base power finishing move packed with overwhelming force—the entire arena lit up!
The blazing sunlight swallowed Rhyhorn whole. The monster, four times weak to Grass, collapsed with a thunderous boom and fainted!
"Ka!"
Charcadet let out a victorious war cry, and the Auspicious Armor displayed among the prizes shone even brighter.
But Charcadet only glanced in that direction, then disdainfully hefted its hammer and walked off the battlefield!
"Aiya, I got taken out cleanly! I really thought I could win the bullfighting championship in this entertainment tournament."
"After all, compared to stuff like motorcycle elephants, a rhino is extremely 'bull-ish,' right?!"
"But my true specialty isn't bullfighting—it's riding. So losing can't be helped."
Rhyhorn's Trainer was a woman, but Hikaru felt like he'd seen her before. That hairstyle and that outfit…
"What was that move just now? That wasn't Solar Beam… was it? A sunlight move with that much power?"
The woman put her hands on her hips, looking intensely curious!
Hikaru: "Sunflare Beam—or you can call it Solar Beam. It's the powered-up version of Solar Beam. Only a small number of Pokémon can learn it, and its base power is much higher than Solar Beam."
"That's incredible. I've never seen such a powerful move." The woman looked astonished, then waved her hand.
"My name's Grace, though you've probably already seen it on the match list. If we run into each other again someday, let's have a fun battle—your Pokémon is really strong. Such a small body, and it has that much power!"
She said it brightly and left. The moment Hikaru heard that name, his nerves tightened!
Grace?!
No, no—Saque.
One was Saque (plunder).
One was Saki (bloom) or Grace (blessing).
Hikaru: "That scared me. I thought the biggest boss from the manga just spawned."
"Wasn't that woman Serena's mom… or Calem's mom?"
In the games, Grace is Calem's—or Serena's—mother, famous for once being a renowned Rhyhorn racer.
She moves to the Kalos region at the start of the game.
But in the manga and the anime, Grace is a local Kalos resident, not someone who moved there.
Before she moved, what region she lived in was never mentioned—but it definitely wasn't Paldea.
It was just a small aside, but someone from near Kalos showing up in Paldea wasn't surprising.
And so, after defeating Grace, the match against Dendra-san finally arrived.
"Dendra-san's pretty strong, huh. She actually fought her way up to this stage—this is the semifinals. As expected of a professional martial artist. And she's the only one in Paldea who trains two Tauros—that's some serious value."
"Ka-donk!" Charcadet looked toward Dendra-san warming up in the distance, then looked back at Hikaru.
This battle, by order, should've been Falinks going out!
But Charcadet felt that since it fought her at the very beginning, it should see it through to the end.
"Back-to-back battles, huh? Stamina's dropped hard, but we've got Full Restores."
Falinks didn't object. If anything, seeing how hard Charcadet could throw down had already gotten them WAAAAAAGH-ing!
Who's fighting isn't important. What matters is that a fight is happening!
We'll cheer for you! You red-skinned runt—one day you'll become like Big Lad Hikaru too. Big, mean, and WAAAAAAGH, right?!
"It's finally time! All this training wasn't for nothing!"
"Go, Tauros—Blaze Breed!"
The one entering the battlefield wasn't the Aqua Breed that had fought Charcadet to a standstill earlier, but a brand-new Blaze Breed!
No matter how you looked at it, Water has the advantage over Fire.
But Charcadet had that "Sunlight Spear," that terrifying high-power sunlight move—extremely dangerous.
So sending out Blaze Breed made sense. It could resist Grass, after all.
Tulip-san: "If it's Blaze Breed, it can avoid Fire damage and it can also withstand Sunflare Beam… that's what that move was called, right? Anyway, it's a strengthened Solar Beam, and it's dangerous."
"Also, Charcadet might know Psychic- or Ghost-type moves. Dendra-san, if you plan on winning, you have to concentrate!"
Dendra-san waved her hand. Her focus was already razor-sharp now!
"Here we go!" Dendra-san stretched, then rose onto her toes like she was about to charge into battle herself!
And the Blaze Breed Tauros let out an enraged roar!
Intimidate at the start!
Attack -1!
Hikaru: "Dendra-san's two Tauros—Blaze and Aqua—have the same Ability. Both are Intimidate, not Anger Point."
"Blaze Breed Paldean Tauros breathes scorching nostrils, and its three tails are always twisted together like a fuse."
"Its fire-heated horns reach up to 1000°C. Enemies it stabs suffer both wounds and burns."
"Its moveset is the Fire-type Raging Bull, Close Combat, Earthquake, and Zen Headbutt."
"Zen Headbutt was probably taught by Tulip-san. And Earthquake and Close Combat are a serious threat to Charcadet."
"But Fire-type moves favor us, because Charcadet's Ability is Flash Fire."
"Still, an unexpected move might happen. If she uses Swagger, it'll be great, but tournament rules ban moves that cause confusion—so her first move has to be…"
Hikaru looked toward Tulip-san, smiling up in the stands.
And in the next instant, Dendra-san's command rang out:
"Rain Dance!"
"A tactic to shut down Sunflare Beam and Flare Blitz… even Burn Up's power gets suppressed." Hikaru rubbed his forehead.
In rain, Water-type damage ×1.5. Fire-type damage ×0.5.
Solar Beam and Solar Blade power ×0.5.
This wasn't the "Stomping Tantrum, wag your tail, then do some nonsense" he'd predicted.
Blaze Breed Tauros using Rain Dance was actually pretty clever.
After all, if she used Sunny Day, it would probably turn into one of those "who is the sun actually helping?" situations.
Now, if he wanted to change the weather—
Dendra-san swung her arm down hard:
"Earthquake!"
Hikaru shook his head.
Looks like there wasn't time to change the weather for now. This Blaze Breed Tauros's Rain Dance had an unexpectedly wide range!
Even the VIP seats were basically turning into drenched rats!
Charcadet slammed its hammer into the ground and guarded its chest with both arms!
The shockwave of Earthquake swept in, and the armor on Charcadet's body flared with intense silver light!
Iron Defense!
Boom! The sideways shockwave crashed into the Iron Defense barrier and scattered explosively. Using the Iron Defense technique it had trained, Charcadet massively reinforced its defense!
A knight wearing battered armor was about to win its brand-new merits!
(End of Chapter)
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