"Bzzzz..."
The black Beedrill vanished from where it stood, silent and sudden.
After Spiritual Pressure Infusion, its speed had risen dramatically. Combined with Flash Step, its movement was already frighteningly close to teleportation.
"Hydreigon, find it! Dragon Pulse!"
The moment Beedrill disappeared, Orion's heart tightened, and he shouted the order without hesitation.
Hydreigon's three pairs of eyes swept across the arena, still carrying that faint arrogance from before.
Then Orion's expression changed.
"Behind you!"
SLASH!
Beedrill appeared soundlessly behind Hydreigon, its black stingers driving straight into the dragon's rear.
The damage did not look severe.
The humiliation, however, was enormous.
Hydreigon roared in fury and whipped around, all three pairs of blood-red eyes burning with rage. The center head opened its mouth, red energy gathering rapidly inside as it prepared to blast the sneaky little bastard out of the sky.
"Kill it! Dragon Pulse!"
A savage smile appeared on Orion's face.
"ROOOAR!"
Hydreigon was just about to fire when terror suddenly flashed through its eyes.
The Dragon Pulse scattered inside its mouth.
A violent weakness swept through its body, draining the strength from its wings. A second later, the massive dragon fell straight out of the air and crashed onto the arena.
BOOOOM!
Dust billowed across the stage.
Hydreigon's eyes spun, and its body lay motionless. It had lost the ability to battle.
Orion's smile froze.
"How..."
His voice cracked with disbelief.
"How is that possible?"
Below the stage, the guests shot to their feet, staring at the fallen Hydreigon in shock.
Beedrill had done it again.
It had taken down another of Orion's Pokémon in one strike.
A Champion-class Hydreigon.
For a moment, the crowd felt as if the entire world had turned upside down. Their confidence, their assumptions, their sense of superiority—everything was being battered again and again by that small black figure hovering over the arena.
At Blaze's table, the three friends exchanged stunned glances.
They knew Aaron was strong.
They did not expect his Beedrill to be this terrifying.
It had just defeated a Champion-class pseudo-legendary.
How strong had it become?
...
"You only have one Pokémon left, Orion."
Aaron's calm voice was the first thing to break the silence.
"I told you."
His eyes stayed fixed on Orion.
"Today, I'm going to break that ridiculous pride of yours."
Orion's face darkened.
Aaron continued, voice even.
"You keep talking about people being born weak or born strong, but all that really means is that you were lucky enough to be born into the right family."
His gaze sharpened.
"And even with all that, you're still nothing special."
Those words struck Orion harder than any attack.
His expression twisted, ugly with rage.
"Bullshit!"
He had completely lost his composure now.
"People like you love pretending hard work can change everything," Orion snapped. "But it doesn't matter how far you claw your way up. You can dress the part, sit at our table, even step into our circles, but you'll never be one of us!"
Aaron looked at him calmly.
"Talking won't change anything."
His voice dropped.
"Send out your last Pokémon. Let me end this farce."
...
"Hydreigon is unable to battle!" the referee announced, wiping cold sweat from his forehead. "Trainer Orion, please send out your next Pokémon!"
"Huff... huff..."
Orion took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
His gaze locked onto the black Beedrill in the air.
This thing was too strange.
Two of his Pokémon had fallen to those stingers without even getting the chance to fight back. For the first time, real pressure weighed on him.
Cold sweat slid down his forehead as he took out his final Poké Ball.
"Come out."
His voice was low.
"My strongest Pokémon."
"Tyranitar!"
Light flashed.
A massive Pokémon appeared on the field.
Its body resembled a living fortress, pale green and covered in hard armor, with a shape that reminded people of a monster from an old disaster movie.
Tyranitar.
The Armor Pokémon.
A pseudo-legendary.
"TYRAAAN!"
The moment Tyranitar appeared, it let out a thunderous roar. A thick sandstorm swept across the arena almost instantly, winds howling as grains of sand filled the air.
Sand Stream.
An Ability that changed the battlefield the moment Tyranitar entered.
Aaron checked its panel and saw that it had also reached early Champion-class.
What surprised him slightly, however, was that it possessed a Apotheosis-tier move.
Crunch.
Thinking about it, that made sense.
Tyranitar's strongest move being Crunch fit perfectly.
[Move Name: Crunch]
[Type: Dark]
[Power: 160, doubled at Apotheosis-tier]
[Level: Apotheosis]
[Activation Speed: Priority +1]
[Effect: After hitting the target, has a 100% chance to lower the target's Defense by 3 stages.]
Aaron only glanced at it once before losing interest.
Against Suzumebachi's guaranteed two-hit kill, there were only a few ways to survive.
Be faster than Beedrill.
Be so overwhelmingly strong that Beedrill never got close.
Or end the fight before the second sting landed.
Otherwise, there was only one result.
Defeat.
"Tyranitar, Crunch!"
This time, Orion took the initiative and gave the order immediately.
He could not lose again.
He would not allow all three of his Pokémon to be swept by a Beedrill.
Absolutely not.
His eyes were bloodshot now, his expression fierce and unstable.
"TYRAAAN!"
Tyranitar opened its jaws and roared. Massive black energy gathered inside its mouth, forming a terrifying dark maw before it charged toward Beedrill.
Apotheosis-tier Crunch carried horrifying pressure.
The surrounding air seemed to grow heavy as the attack bore down on the arena.
Aaron's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Beedrill, dodge with Agility."
His voice remained calm.
"Then Flash Step."
A cold gleam flashed through his eyes.
"Twinneedle."