The entire venue instantly fell silent.
At that moment, everyone turned their attention toward the arena.
A few moments later, the dust finally cleared.
Of the two figures that had been on the battlefield, only one remained standing.
"ROAR!"
With a thunderous roar, Salamence beat its blood-red wings and soared into the sky.
On the other side, Rhydon had already collapsed unconscious.
It had completely lost its ability to battle.
That was right.
The outcome of this battle was no different from the previous two.
It had ended in yet another one-hit knockout.
The only difference was that Salamence had used its full strength this time.
The result proved that even Puru's ace Pokémon was no match for Salamence.
The spectators stared blankly at the image on the screen for several seconds.
Once they finally recovered from their shock, deafening applause and cheers erupted throughout the venue.
The opportunity to witness a pseudo-legendary fighting at such a high level made the price of admission more than worthwhile!
On the battlefield, Puru gave a bitter smile.
He sighed, and the resolute, unyielding aura he had displayed earlier quickly faded.
He took the Poké Ball from his waist and pressed the button in its center.
A beam of red light shot out and landed on the unconscious Rhydon, returning it to its Poké Ball.
The world truly was vast.
Puru looked at the black-robed figure slowly walking off the battlefield and sighed inwardly.
He might be considered a powerful and talented Trainer in his homeland, but compared to the strongest Trainers across the entire world, he still had a long way to go.
Shiko's battle had ended faster than any of the others.
Perhaps influenced by the intensity of his match, the battles taking place in the remaining arenas also shifted toward a more aggressive, explosive style.
The spectators thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Before long, all twelve battles scheduled for that evening had concluded.
The day's tournament schedule had also come to an end.
All Shiko needed to do now was wait for the arrangements for the next round.
One week later, the first round of the tournament concluded.
The number of participating Trainers had been cut in half.
Shiko's match in the next round was scheduled for the evening of the first competition day.
This time, the battle would take place in Arena One.
His opponent was a tall, muscular man.
The man wore a judo gi with the front left open, clearly revealing his massive pectoral muscles.
His name was Joaquín.
The instant he saw his opponent, his already dark face seemed to turn as black as coal, twisting into a miserable grimace.
Everyone knew that after Shiko's overwhelming performance in the first elimination round, he had firmly entered the public eye.
Although he had only revealed a single Pokémon so far, that pseudo-legendary possessed genuine Elite Four-level combat power.
As a result, Shiko had risen into the top fifteen of the tournament's live power rankings.
That was right.
Even though he had yet to reveal any of his other Pokémon, Salamence alone was enough for him to be recognized as one of the tournament's strongest competitors.
As for Joaquín, he understood his own limits.
At best, he was only slightly stronger than Puru, Shiko's opponent in the previous round.
More importantly, Joaquín specialized in Fighting-type Pokémon.
All of his Pokémon were Fighting types, and they lacked effective methods of attacking opponents in the air.
Against a pseudo-legendary like Salamence, he was at an inherent disadvantage.
The more Joaquín analyzed the situation, the less confidence he had.
Although he knew his chances of winning were slim, he could not simply step onto the battlefield and surrender.
He had fought hard to make it this far.
Even if he was destined to lose, he intended to go down fighting.
With that thought, Joaquín finally cast all the negative emotions from his mind.
He assumed an attacking stance and shouted at Shiko.
"Come on! Let me see just how powerful your Salamence really is!"
The moment he finished speaking, he threw a Poké Ball and sent out his first Pokémon of the day.
It was a Machamp with a muscular physique every bit as imposing as its Trainer's!
Machamp's aura was impressive, and it clearly looked forward to the battle ahead.
The next second, Shiko moved as well.
No one managed to catch his movement.
They only saw a flash of red light.
Immediately afterward, the figure of a yellow Pokémon appeared on the battlefield.
This time, the first Pokémon Shiko had sent out was clearly not the Salamence from his previous match!
(End of Chapter)
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