The smoke from the explosion enveloped Medicham, but in the next instant, it sent the Pokémon flying out of the haze. Medicham's eyes were shut tight as it slammed heavily into the ground and rolled twice. It lay there motionless, covered in dirt and wounds, looking in exceptionally poor condition.
Eichi nodded silently. The power of Cross Slash certainly didn't disappoint. With a single hit, it had instantly knocked out a Medicham that was near full health. Even having Scizor's Defense was useless; Scizor itself couldn't withstand its own attacks. It was no joke; a Combination Move was nothing to be trifled with.
Across the field, Keita stared at his fallen Medicham in complete disbelief. He had just rallied his fighting spirit, intending to do great things, only for reality to play a cruel joke on him. Medicham had just finished recovering its stamina only to be defeated by a single move from Scizor.
What move was that? Why have I never heard of it? How can the power be this immense? This has to be fake, right?
A series of questions flashed across his face as Keita felt the full weight of the world's malice. In the seconds following Medicham's defeat, his expression was a vivid display of shifting emotions. Finally, the referee ran over. After confirming that Medicham was completely unable to battle, the referee announced:
"Medicham is unable to battle! Scizor wins!"
"Since all three of Keita's Pokémon are unable to battle, the winner is Eichi!"
"Yeah! I knew Eichi would win!"
"That was amazing!"
"That second-year was too overconfident. Imagine challenging Eichi with that level of skill."
"Exactly. He should have looked in a mirror first."
As the referee finished the announcement, Eichi didn't show any arrogance; it was the result he had fully expected. Scizor, however, was quite happy, having thoroughly enjoyed the match.
Sato looked at Scizor on the field and had to admit that the power of the Combination Move was simply too great. Even though it wasn't the first time he had seen Scizor's Cross Slash, it still looked incredibly cool. It wasn't that he didn't want his own Pokémon to learn Combination Moves; his family possessed countless such techniques, but he couldn't learn them yet.
It wasn't that he was incapable, but rather that it wasn't necessary. A basic Combination Move required at least two moves to reach the Mastery level. While several of Sato's Pokémon met this requirement, he had initially let them learn too many moves. They had learned almost every move they possibly could, and because they had learned so much, they hadn't fully digested the knowledge yet.
Attempting to learn a Combination Move now would require too much time and energy. Even if they learned one, the power might not exceed that of their other moves. As the saying goes, "He who bites off more than he can chew, swallows nothing." He planned to wait until he reached at least the Gym Leader rank before pursuing Combination Moves.
Keita heard the harsh words coming from the crowd. For a moment, he couldn't take it. His face darkened as he recalled Medicham; his greatest reliance had lost, and he didn't know what to do. He looked dazed as he left the field, walking away alone. His lackeys saw him leave and quickly followed after him.
Eichi calmly recalled Scizor, saying to the Poké Ball in his hand, "Good work, Scizor."
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Eichi walked off the field. As he approached, the surrounding first-year students parted to make a path. At that moment, in Tetsu's eyes, Eichi was dazzling. He thought back to what Eichi had said earlier: "I'll try to beat him in the shortest time possible."
An invisible aura seemed to emanate from Eichi; it was the prestige of the rank one student. In Kelly's eyes, Eichi looked exceptionally handsome today.
Eichi walked up to Sato, who spoke first. "Congratulations on your win."
Eichi shook his head. "There's nothing to congratulate. There was no reward for winning."
The others also spoke up happily. "Eichi, you're too strong!"
Tetsu added, "Scizor was too cool just now. That backflip into Cross Slash was just beyond awesome."
Kosei said excitedly, "Eichi, you used to be famous only among the first-years. After today, the other grades will know who you are too."
Ami added, "You're wrong about that. Eichi was already somewhat famous in other grades. It's just that after tonight, he'll be even more famous. Also, Eichi, did you notice? The second-year seniors have all left."
Hearing this, Eichi looked around. It was true; the second-year students had quietly slipped away. Keita, a second-year, had lost to a first-year junior. It would have been one thing if it had been a close fight, but to lose without taking down a single one of the opponent's Pokémon was a massive gap. It was too embarrassing; the second-years couldn't bear to stay.
A minute earlier, several of the top ten second-year students had fallen silent looking at the defeated Medicham.
"Is it over just like that?"
After a long pause, one student sighed. "This is truly humiliating."
Another student with glasses said, "This Eichi is too strong. He didn't even use his strongest Pokémon, Beedrill."
Yuli looked at Eichi, who was the center of attention, gave a small smile, and turned away. "Let's go. It's over."
She walked away without looking back, and the others glanced at each other before leaving together.
By the next day, the entire academy knew what had happened. Keita and Eichi were famous once again. However, Keita was famous for his humiliating loss. Now, aside from the grades away on internships, almost everyone in the academy knew Eichi. Even students from other majors had heard of his exploits.
For the Breeding students, it was nothing short of a massive earthquake. In one classroom, the entire room was discussing the event. One student, Diao Kato, shouted excitedly, "Kato, did you hear? Eichi is actually in the Combat department, and he's a freshman!"
"That guy is a monster. Someone from the Combat department is actually better at breeding than we are. How are we supposed to feel about that?"
Taka Kato ignored him. His own feelings were incredibly complex. No wonder he couldn't find this person in the first or second year of the Breeding department—the guy wasn't a Breeding major at all, he was a Combat freshman. For a moment, he felt like a total failure.