The battle between Blaziken and Slowbro officially began.
Right from the start, Robert went all out. He wanted to seize control of the battle immediately.
It was a smart choice. He knew he had to stop Blaziken first. If he did not let Blaziken build momentum, then he could avoid suffering the same fate as the previous trainers.
Robert even had a plan in mind. If he could just get through the first round without losing, he would already count that as a win in his heart.
Even if he lost later, at least Natsui would not finish the tournament with a perfect record. Compared to the others, Robert would still feel he had lived up to his place in the finals. He did not want all his hard work to reach this stage to mean nothing.
However, even if Robert was thinking along those lines, Natsui had no intention of giving him that chance.
Natsui was not specifically chasing a perfect championship run. But the opportunity was right in front of him. He had not run into any truly difficult opponents yet, so of course he did not want to leave any regrets behind.
If he could do better, why wouldn't he?
In the past several Ever Grande Conferences, no one had ever won the championship with a perfect record. Natsui had decided that he would be the one to begin that new trend.
The two trainers were thinking very different things, and under their commands, Blaziken and Slowbro started fighting.
It was obvious that Robert was not thinking about conserving strength for later rounds. He ordered Slowbro to use Confusion and Water Gun one after another, repeatedly launching attacks at Blaziken. He was attacking as hard as he could, as if he would not stop until Blaziken was beaten.
Because of that, Blaziken had to retreat for the moment. Even though it was stronger overall, it still had to avoid those attacks. After all, both of them were highly effective against its typing.
This was an easy plan to understand. Even Natsui could not force his way through it head-on for the time being.
Invisible psychic force and long streams of water shot across the Grass Field.
Using its speed, Blaziken weaved quickly through the tall grass, narrowly dodging Slowbro's attacks.
Robert saw that Blaziken was being pushed back and forced to keep dodging. That made him feel more and more excited.
After all, in the entire Ever Grande Conference, very few people had been able to pressure Natsui at all. Even if it was only for a short time, it gave Robert more confidence that he could at least take the first round.
But as the fight continued, he began to notice something was wrong.
Blaziken was moving far too fast!
It was not just fast. It was frighteningly agile.
Its legs moved so quickly that it looked like it was skimming over the grass!
Slowbro's attacks failed to hit even once. Instead, it was slowly wasting its own stamina by throwing out attacks that landed on nothing.
The grass was long and dense, which made the situation even worse. That orange-red figure would flash past and disappear again in an instant. Slowbro's small eyes even lost track of Blaziken several times.
If Robert had not kept shouting warnings at it, Blaziken might have already circled behind Slowbro.
That was when Robert understood.
This battle was not as easy as he had thought.
Natsui noticed that moment of hesitation immediately.
What kind of trainer was Natsui?
He was bold, but careful. He could see the bigger picture, yet never missed the little details. He was calm, sharp, and extremely patient. He had many outstanding qualities.
Because of that, even the smallest weakness from an opponent would never escape him. The moment he saw one, he would seize it.
Under Natsui's command, Blaziken lowered its body to avoid a Water Gun. Without slowing down, it leaped high out of the grass and charged straight toward Slowbro!
It looked like it was about to crash down right in front of Slowbro's face.
"This is bad!"
Robert saw the sudden shift in Natsui's rhythm, and his expression changed instantly. Slowbro only looked strong at long range because of the type advantage. In close combat, it would be in serious trouble. If Blaziken got close, the outcome would be terrible.
Thinking of that, Robert shouted, "Don't let it get close! Use Psychic!"
The order itself was correct.
He wanted Slowbro to use Psychic to hit Blaziken and force it back, keeping a safe distance between them. It was the proper response in that situation.
But what Robert did not realize was that Blaziken was only baiting him.
Blaziken was only halfway through the jump when it suddenly dropped. It looked almost as if gravity had yanked it back down into the grass. At that exact moment, the psychic force shot through the space where Blaziken had just been and hit nothing.
The instant Blaziken landed, it burst forward again. It used Quick Attack from the ground and slammed into Slowbro!
At that moment, its speed reached the limit.
That jump had only been a feint. It was meant to force Slowbro to react. Blaziken's acting had been so convincing that Robert truly believed it would attack from above.
He had made the wrong decision.
That was the real shift in the pace of the battle.
And for Robert, that single mistake led to a terrible outcome.
Only one or two seconds had passed. It was not long at all, but battles could change in an instant. By then, it was too late for Slowbro to stop Blaziken.
With the momentum of Quick Attack, Blaziken's legs almost seemed to leave afterimages behind. Its speed had reached its peak.
Blaziken was not a Pokémon famous for raw speed alone. But thanks to its natural talent and Natsui's training, it had become extraordinarily fast. It was not the fastest Pokémon in the world, but compared to ordinary Pokémon, the strength in its legs was overwhelming.
It crossed more than ten meters in an instant.
Before Slowbro could react, Blaziken was already right beside it. Looking at Slowbro's pink, bewildered face, Blaziken lowered its head, drove its shoulder forward, and smashed it into Slowbro's face with the force of Quick Attack!
Thud!
Because it was not a Fighting-type move and because of the sheer speed behind it, the impact was tremendous. Slowbro tumbled backward for more than ten meters before finally stopping near the edge of the field.
"Slowbro!!"
Everything had happened so fast that only now did Robert fully react. All he could do was watch as his Pokémon was sent flying right in front of him.
Luckily, it had not rolled out of bounds. That was at least one tiny bit of luck in a terrible situation.
But Slowbro was still lying there in confusion. Blaziken had already turned around and started charging toward it again. Robert snapped out of it and shouted, "Get up, quickly!"
But now Slowbro's slow reactions were becoming a serious problem.
It just lay there without moving. Its face was blank and dazed, as if it still did not understand how it had ended up on the ground at all.
That only made Robert more anxious.
"Don't just lie there! The enemy is almost behind you!"
You could say Slowbro's slow reactions were both a strength and a weakness.
Sometimes, that delay could create miracles. It could let Slowbro endure a blow, keep going, and turn the battle around later.
But at other times, it worked against it.
Like right now.
Any other Pokémon would have gotten back up immediately after taking a hit like that. But because of its delayed reactions, Slowbro just stayed there. No matter how urgently Robert shouted, there was nothing he could do.
And of course, Blaziken was not going to give it time to recover.
Even though Fighting-type and Fire-type moves were not very effective against Slowbro, that did not mean Blaziken had no other ways to attack.
Its claws were part of its body, but they were also weapons.
When it reached Slowbro, Blaziken first clawed across Slowbro's back. Then it used Slash, striking right at a weak point!
At that moment, Slowbro's expression suddenly changed.
It was clearly in great pain!
However, the pain was not from the scratch Blaziken had just inflicted.
In truth, the pain from the shoulder tackle earlier had only now finally reached its brain.
Slowbro rolled on the ground in pain. It could not stand up, let alone fight back.
Natsui did not miss that chance. He ordered Blaziken to stand directly in front of Slowbro's body, preventing Robert from recalling it with a Poké Ball. Then Blaziken used Slash again, striking Slowbro on the head and knocking it out completely.
"Slowbro is unable to battle! Blaziken wins!"
When the referee raised the flag, Robert's hopes were shattered.
The crowd immediately erupted in loud cheers. As he clapped, Ash could not help saying, "Natsui is amazing at spotting openings. Robert only showed the smallest weakness, and Natsui beat him right away."
"It's more than just that!" Max said, pushing up his glasses. "Natsui's Blaziken is amazing too. It won that battle without even relying on Fighting-type or Fire-type moves. And it's so fast. That's incredible!"
Hearing the two of them praise Natsui so much, Brock smiled.
"Actually, raw power isn't the most important part. I don't know if you noticed, but compared to others of its kind, Natsui's Blaziken is naturally very fast. With all that training, it's becoming a Blaziken that specializes in speed. That's the main reason it has shown such unusual speed in these battles!"
A Blaziken focused on speed?
Nearby, May quietly remembered those words, even though they did not have much to do with Pokémon Contests. At the same time, she thought about her own Combusken.
Recently, she had started to feel that Combusken was close to evolving into Blaziken, and that made her look forward to it even more.
She could not help wondering what her own Blaziken would be like.
Would it also be naturally gifted in speed like Natsui's?
Ever since becoming a Coordinator, she had realized that she still had many weak points. The performance side was fine. That only required creativity and better teamwork with her Pokémon.
The real problem was battling.
Even though she had traveled with Ash for a long time, she still could not really learn his battle style. There simply was not much there that suited her.
But Combusken was her first Pokémon, and now that she had Natsui's Blaziken as an example, she felt more excited than ever.
Lately, she had come to understand just how strong Natsui really was. He was the strongest trainer she knew.
If she was going to keep traveling with someone like him, then wouldn't her own battle skills improve a lot too?
When she thought about it that way, she realized she was not just helping Misty keep an eye on Natsui. She would also be learning a great deal herself.
On the field, Robert felt helpless. Seeing that Slowbro could no longer battle, he could only recall it into its Poké Ball.
Slowbro had been his secret weapon against Blaziken. It had plenty of tricks, yet it lost before it could use any of them. It was a real shame.
That defeat left Robert feeling down. Then he looked up and saw that Natsui still had no intention of switching Pokémon, and he let out another sigh.
Why did the thing he feared most always come true?
Maybe he had already lost his fighting spirit, or maybe he had realized the gap was simply too wide. Either way, when the second round began, Robert still gave attack orders, but Natsui could clearly feel that the fire Robert had shown in the first round was already gone.
Blaziken's opponent in the second round was Tauros.
This time, the type matchup was different. There was no disadvantage for Blaziken anymore. At last, it showed the opponent what real fire looked like.
Flames burst from its mouth. After only a short exchange, the fire spread through the Grass Field. It spread with shocking speed.
The blaze did not stop. In an instant, it surrounded Tauros completely. There was nowhere left for it to run. By the time the flames finally faded, Robert's Tauros was already lying on the ground, its body blackened by the fire.
The people sitting nearby could even smell the scent of scorched beef.
Fortunately, its chest was still rising and falling. Its life was not in danger. That was at least one small blessing.
Wait.
Why had he just thought "also"?
Robert froze for a moment. It felt like he had already thought something similar in the previous round.
Even though Tauros had been defeated easily, there was still one small piece of good news for Robert.
Natsui actually recalled Blaziken and switched to another Pokémon. He had no intention of using it to sweep all three rounds.
Because of that unexpected change, Robert felt relieved for an instant. Then he was startled by his own reaction.
He was actually happy just because his opponent had switched Pokémon.
How pathetic was that?
He had come here to compete for the championship. How could he feel relieved over something like that?
It really was embarrassing...
However, aside from Robert himself, nobody thought he was being ridiculous.
In the eyes of the audience, the result of this final had already been decided before it even began. Robert's performance was only proving what everyone had already believed.
"Champion!"
"Champion!!"
"Champion!"
"Champion!!!"
The second round had only just ended. The third Pokémon had not even come out yet. But a massive wave of cheers rolled across the entire arena.
At first, the voices were chaotic. But after ten seconds, they had all united into the same chant.
The word echoed thunderously through the whole stadium.