"No way... is this Machamp really that ridiculous?"
Watching Machamp charge forward while tanking Dazzling Gleam head-on, Erika had to admit her worldview was collapsing.
Was Guts really this absurd?
Her Vileplume was using Dazzling Gleam!
And yet Machamp's Bullet Punch had canceled out most of it, and even the remaining damage barely did anything...
For the first time in her life, Erika felt truly powerless.
Even in same-level battles against Giovanni, she had never felt this hopeless.
It really was all raw stats, with barely a trace of finesse...
"Mach!"
From within the fading aftershock of Dazzling Gleam, a furious roar suddenly rang out.
Machamp burst straight through the light, four silver flashes striking in from different angles!
Boom! Bang!!!
Vileplume barely managed to resist, but under the relentless barrage of punches, each one as dense and rapid as bullets, it was forced back several yards.
Then, a pink moonlit aura rose above its head.
A Fairy-type Moonblast!
Among the moves Vileplume had learned, Fairy-type attacks were the only ones that could effectively check Machamp.
If Dazzling Gleam wasn't enough,
then it would have to use a stronger Fairy-type move—Moonblast!
With that thought, Vileplume's eyes sharpened.
Moonblast roared forward, trying to crush Machamp in a single blow!
Unfortunately, there really was a gap in strength between the two sides.
The moment Machamp saw Moonblast coming, all four of its arms crossed in front of its body.
This was not a guard.
It was...
"Cross Poison!"
Machamp moved the instant it heard the command, and two Cross Poisons burst out from between its crossed arms.
The first Cross Poison canceled out Moonblast.
And the second one...
Rip!
It struck Vileplume on the spot, throwing its body completely off balance.
"Fire Punch! Ice Punch!"
Machamp followed immediately, like an arrow released from the bow. Two pairs of arms blazed at nearly the same time with completely different energies.
On one side was scorching flame.
On the other was biting frost.
As those two powers closed in on Vileplume, it experienced the true meaning of fire and ice.
"Vileplume, use Grass Knot!"
Erika's command was unexpected.
She knew she couldn't beat Machamp in a direct exchange.
So she had to find another angle.
Like right now!
Machamp was still charging forward.
If she could just make Machamp fall, Vileplume would have a chance to counterattack!
"Vile! Vile!"
The flower atop Vileplume's head suddenly writhed, as if every blade of grass had turned into a weapon.
At the same time, a faint rustling came from the ground beneath Machamp's feet.
Whip!
Thin vines burst from the earth and instantly wrapped around Machamp's ankles.
The moment they touched its skin, Machamp's powerful legs lost their stability.
Bang!
Machamp crashed heavily to the ground. Its four arms instinctively slammed down to brace itself, keeping it from collapsing flat.
That move had done solid damage.
But...
"Mach!"
"You actually made me fall... unforgivable!"
Machamp exploded with rage.
With almost a spring-loaded motion, it snapped its body right back upright.
And then...
Boom!!!
It stomped hard and shot forward again!
It moved so fast that afterimages streaked across the ground, and before Vileplume could properly react, it felt an attack coming from the side!
The sonic boom hit a moment later, and before Vileplume could even respond, it was already experiencing the physical meaning of being torn between blazing heat and freezing cold.
"Mach! Mach! Mach!"
"Take this! Take this! Take this!"
Machamp roared as all four arms swung in alternating succession.
Its left arms scorched Vileplume's petals with Fire Punch, while its right arms coated those fresh burn marks with frost through Ice Punch.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The alternating punishment of fire and ice was agonizing for Vileplume.
This wild, unstructured brawling—where every hit still happened to counter it perfectly—was even harder to defend against than a clean, systematic combo.
The moment Vileplume tried to release Petal Dance, the petals were burned away by the heat of Fire Punch before they could even spread.
When it tried to use Ingrain to recover, the roots were frozen stiff in the soil by the lingering chill of Ice Punch.
This was a complete one-sided beating!
Sure enough.
Grey's Machamp was basically a cheat!
Erika could finally see it now.
There was absolutely no way she was getting past Grey.
Did she have a chance?
Not really.
In the end, under Machamp's relentless alternating barrage, Vileplume, like Erika's other Pokémon before it, lost the ability to battle.
"Vileplume is unable to battle. Since all of Gym Leader Erika's Pokémon are unable to battle, the winner of this match is Gym Leader Grey."
Grey had won the second battle as well.
The crowd outside the field erupted in cheers.
They were calling Grey's name.
"I told you Gym Leader Grey was amazing! He might really have a shot at finishing in the top three!"
Even though this stage of the tournament would end once the top eight were decided,
there was still a points ranking.
If Grey went undefeated, he really did have a chance to make the top three.
The only problem was Koga, Blaine, and Giovanni.
Those three were all confirmed to have Elite Four-level strength.
If Grey ran into one of them, whether he could win was still unknown.
"So I was the one who lost. Gym Leader Grey's strength really is incredible. Even I couldn't find a way to answer it."
The battle had looked like Erika was being completely overwhelmed, but during it, she had still learned quite a bit.
At the very least, the next time she faced Grey, she wouldn't be so passive.
"That's not quite right, Gym Leader Erika. I won off an information gap. Your main team shows up in videos all the time, so I'm familiar with your style."
Grey shook his head and waved a hand.
"My Pokémon don't appear that often, and you don't know the tactics I'm best at, so that's why you were at a disadvantage."
"If you'd known Heracross's and Machamp's tactics, you probably would have started countering them from the very beginning."
"And if it came to that, it would've been much harder for me to win. Who won or lost might not have been certain at all."
Grey was telling the truth.
Erika hadn't known that both his Heracross and Machamp were holding Flame Orbs, so she hadn't had any chance to immediately use Knock Off.
If she fought Grey again next time, her first instinct would probably be to use Knock Off right away and see whether he was carrying a Flame Orb or some other nasty trick.
"We can discuss it in detail next time, Gym Leader Grey. For now, I'll take my leave first."
Erika said her goodbyes to Grey.
And Grey had to take his partners off for treatment.
...
...
After treatment was over,
it was getting close to evening.
Before leaving Silph Co., the next battle list appeared.
[Gym Showdown Preliminary Round - Third Match Pairings]
[Lt. Surge vs. Muno]
[Misty vs. ...]
[...]
[Koga vs. Grey]
[The third round will begin tomorrow at 9:00 AM. All Gym Leaders, please be ready.]
Grey: ?
No, wait!
This bracket is rigged!
How the hell did it jump straight to Koga?
For a moment, Grey almost felt like someone had fixed the whole thing against him.
There were a lot of Gyms in Kanto.
But still!
How had he run into one of the Eight Gym trainers three times in a row?
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