When Rong Fei heard the word "Triple Axel," his brain even briefly crashed.
Ground + Flying type Gliscor indeed wasn't doubly countered by Electric types, but it was four times countered by Ice type. [TN: Gliscor, as a Ground/Flying-type Pokémon, is extremely vulnerable to Ice-type moves. Due to its dual typing, Ice-type attacks deal quadruple (4x) damage to Gliscor]
He had thought he was the one quadruple-countering the opponent, but he didn't expect that it was the opponent quadruple-countering him!
"Gliscor, stop attacking and create some distance first!"
Although Rong Fei's command was given, Gliscor couldn't carry it out.
Gliscor's specialty was gliding; as long as it caught an updraft, it could complete long journeys without flapping its wings even once.
This made Gliscor very energy-efficient in the sky, and Rong Fei's Gliscor, having specialized in this ability, had developed a unique evasive maneuver.
However, this also led to a drawback: without strong winds, Gliscor was unable to make sharp turns.
Faced with this situation, Gliscor chose to bet everything, adjusted its posture, and sped up its charge.
Defeating the opponent before their attack was completed was now Gliscor's only way out.
While low-altitude charging, Gliscor's tail swept over the loose soil below, kicking up a large cloud of dust in an attempt to disrupt Nekomi's vision, and then both pincers lit up with the energy of Fury Cutter.
"Meow… (So dirty and annoying...)"
The raised dust somewhat obstructed Nekomi's sight, but with a twitch of her ears, she still roughly locked onto Gliscor's position.
A bit of frost condensed around Nekomi's feet, and she lifted her leg to sweep toward that direction.
"Cha!"
Gliscor used its pincers to intercept in time, but the Ice-type energy instantly poured into Gliscor's body.
Even though it struck Nekomi with the other pincer during the clash, it had little effect.
The Fury Cutter, landing its first hit, barely did any damage to the now Ice-type Nekomi.
Instead, the wing membrane on the side of Gliscor's body that was struck stiffened from the low temperature, preventing it from adjusting its posture flexibly, allowing Nekomi to use Gliscor's pincer as leverage to land the second strike of Triple Axel squarely on its head.
Then, rotating one and a half times in midair, she stomped down toward the falling Gliscor.
Boom!
Nekomi's final strike didn't land, only kicking a massive hole into the arena.
It wasn't because she missed — before her attack could hit, Gliscor had been recalled into its Poké Ball by a flash of red light.
"You win the second round. I underestimated you."
Rong Fei put away Gliscor's Poké Ball. He had already witnessed the power of Thunder Punch earlier; Triple Axel, like Fury Cutter, was a move whose damage increased with successive hits.
Having already taken the first two strikes, Gliscor had no chance of turning the battle around. Forcing it to take a third hit would only cause even greater injury.
After all, it was his Starter Pokémon. Except for a few who only cared about strength and abandoned their Starter Pokemon, most Trainers had a special bond with their first Pokémon.
It was a bond hard to match by those caught later. Therefore, Rong Fei directly gave up on fighting this round.
However, he did not admit defeat verbally. Instead, after some thought, he threw out his last Poké Ball.
"Charizard, I'm counting on you for the last round!"
Being swept one-on-three by a challenger was nothing glorious, especially when the other side's type was "countered" by him.
Yes, even now, Rong Fei still hadn't realized that Nekomi's Ability wasn't the usual Overgrow.
Even if his eyes were cybernetically enhanced into a Pokédex scanner, he could only view the Abilities of Pokémon he had caught.
Thus, Rong Fei didn't know this. He only knew that if he lost, he would definitely be mocked by his father afterward.
"From here on out, I'll be giving it my all to face your challenge. I hope you can live up to the recognition I'm giving you."
Having a special attitude toward one's Starter Pokémon was normal, but the starter wasn't necessarily the strongest. In terms of growth curves, Gliscor didn't exactly have an advantage.
"The rules here allow for Special Battle System 1 — so why aren't you using it? Don't you know how?"
The "Special Battle System" referred to battle modes like Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, and the like.
Seeing Rong Fei speaking at 0:2 as if he was 2:0, Rowan casually asked this question.
If the opponent really had that capability, it would be better to bring it out early so Rowan could make arrangements accordingly.
And with that one sentence, Rong Fei fell silent.
Was it because he didn't want to use it?
Of course not — it was because he couldn't!
Dynamax Bands and Tera Orbs were one thing — those items were versatile and could be used across different types and species of Pokémon.
But Mega Evolution and Z-Moves required specific matching items. Without cheating, even though his family had operated a Gym for four generations, they couldn't just collect the entire set like stamps.
He did have a Mega Stone — but only for Pidgeot.
Originally, his plan was to use Pidgeot to sweep the battle one-on-three. He hadn't expected things to be flipped around, with himself becoming the background character.
Rolling down his sleeves and hiding the wristband with the Key Stone, Rong Fei chose to play selectively deaf.
"Charizard! Flamethrower!"
"Chilling Water — block the flames!"
When Rong Fei saw Meowscarada releasing a large amount of cold water from its flower bud to counter Flamethrower, his heart had already gone numb.
Grass type, Electric type, Water type, Ice type — this absurdly wide range of attack types left Rong Fei speechless. He felt that there was probably nothing left that could shock him anymore.
But on second thought, this seemed exactly like the kind of Trainer he respected in his heart — letting a single Pokémon master more moves to adapt to all kinds of changes and break through all obstacles.
"The League's regulations really need to be revised. Can this still even be called a rookie...
Charizard! Take to the air and gain altitude, then blow away the mist! Don't give the opponent a chance to get close — that's a physical attacker!"
The clash between fire and cold water filled the arena with mist, making it impossible to see what was happening on the field.
It wasn't until Charizard ascended and beat its wings that the mist was blown away, and then Rong Fei saw Rowan making somewhat odd movements, synchronized with Meowscarada's actions.
"I spent the whole night yesterday practicing this awkward dance. Honestly, this kind of thing is tough for people without any dance talent."
"Use Protect!"
A bad premonition rose in Rong Fei's heart — this was clearly the preparatory movement for a Z-Move, and the opponent had used the mist to conceal the starting actions.
Rong Fei didn't know which Z-Move the opponent was about to unleash, but whether it was an Ice Z-Move, Electric Z-Move, or Water Z-Move, none of them would be able to deal quadruple super-effective damage.
Even if Protect couldn't fully block a Z-Move, as long as it could reduce the damage somewhat, he could counterattack during the brief downtime after the Z-Move was released.
It was a beautiful dream, but reality was harsh.
As Charizard unfolded the Protect barrier, Rong Fei saw the surrounding soil being drawn by some unknown force, gradually solidifying and creating a floating mountain in the sky.
"Continental Crush!"
"!!!!!!!"