"So when I saw Milotic finish boosting before Misdreavus, I steeled myself and kept boosting—either way I was faster than you. Even if you finished boosting and fired off [Thunderbolt], I could live with that."
"If I dodged it, I'd stack another [Dragon Dance]. That time I would have to eat a [Thunderbolt] head-on, but Milotic would still have some HP left."
"If I didn't dodge… then it'd be the scummy route: [Recover], [Aqua Ring], [Life Dew]. Since I'd already secured the Speed lead, I'd look for another window to boost and take you out. If there wasn't one, I'd stop boosting."
"I could also gamble on the twenty-percent crit chance with [Kuangwu Strike]—see if I could land a one-hit KO. At that point it was just a multiple-choice question for me."
"Luckily, I dodged it, so the match went exactly the way I planned."
Yin Hanling was stunned on the spot after listening to Serena Elm's breakdown.
Was that really a human brain at work? To think through that much, that clearly, in a tense battle—and to calculate it that precisely?
Serena noticed Yin Hanling's shocked stare and couldn't help tapping a finger against her own temple, speaking with smug pride.
"No need to look at me like that. I'm only the youngest mental-arithmetic prodigy in Vantora—and the whole of Shaanxi Province. Forget one match like that; give me an entire Olympiad problem set and I can speed-solve the whole book."
Yin Hanling's eyes sparkled like a fangirl's.
"Wow! That's amazing!"
Serena waved as if it were nothing.
"Small stuff, small stuff~"
In truth, her nose was practically pointing up to the sky.
After the two stepped off the stage, Auron Vale and the others were still waiting in the exit tunnel.
The moment he saw the pair come down, Auron clapped and praised them both.
"Great battle."
"Tch."
Serena strutted past Auron with tsundere flair, flitting along like a proud little butterfly.
Auron didn't mind; he chuckled and followed after her at an easy pace.
Yin Hanling, meanwhile, buried her head against Simon Greaves's chest, whimpering "boo-hoo-hoo" as if begging for comfort.
Seeing the whole scene, Jace Rowan clapped a hand over his eyes in exaggerated melodrama, then grabbed Tim Wynn and started pulling him outside.
"Go, go, go—what does it even look like for the two of us to keep standing around here?"
Tim laughed and glanced at Simon; he didn't resist and let Jace tow him along.
Simon, embarrassed by their antics, still stroked Yin Hanling's hair and murmured reassurances.
In no time, Yin Hanling was skipping along again, linking arms with Simon as they came out of the exit passage together.
It wasn't until she saw the four at the mouth of the tunnel grinning and teasing them that she turned red, ducked her head, and slipped a step behind—hiding in Simon's shadow.
"All right, let's move. We'll head back to the training room and dig into where each of you can improve."
In the end it was Auron who stepped in to defuse the situation. After he spoke, he led the way toward the training room.
Serena followed with an easy smile; Jace and Tim traded a look, spread their hands in helpless surrender, and trailed after.
Bringing up the rear were an utterly red-eared Simon and Yin Hanling, who tucked herself behind him.
Before returning to the lounge, no one forgot to take their Pokémon to the treatment room for a quick round of healing.
Soon, all of their Pokémon were refreshed and lively again, happily trotting after Auron and the group back into the training room.
Once inside, the group just plopped down wherever, forming a loose circle on the floor.
Auron looked around at everyone and opened the discussion.
"Okay—let's talk. Point out your own flaws, or someone else's. Don't be shy. Today's battles were all about patching the leaks."
Jace shot a hand up first.
"Auron, your flaw is that you're way too sneaky. You went behind our backs and secretly taught Golbat [Rain Dance]. That's basically targeted sabotage against me—that's just too much!"
Auron looked at Jace for a beat. When Jace started to feel the hairs prickle on the back of his neck, Auron finally grinned like a Gengar.
"Sneaky, huh? You'll get to see worse stunts than that."
The moment those words landed, Jace folded—on instinct. He bowed his head, pressed his hands together, and said with perfect obedience,
"My bad. I won't do it again."
Auron shot him a sideways glance and let it drop, then looked at the others.
When they all kept quiet, he had no choice but to take the lead.
"If you aren't talking, then I will. You tell me if I'm off."
"Okay."
"No problem."
Once they'd all agreed, Auron turned back to Jace.
"Let's start with you."
"Sure."
Jace answered readily. In his heart he still believed the reason he lost was that Auron was too crafty—it didn't really have much to do with him.
Auron ticked off points on his fingers.
"First issue—you're too greedy about weather. When both sides are roughly even in power, the speed their moves go off at is about the same too. In that situation, opening with weather just because you can move first is not optimal."
"Remember: when both sides are even, the weather goes to whoever sets it last. If you open [Sunny Day] first, you're just wasting it."
"How was I supposed to know your Golbat had [Rain Dance]?"
Jace muttered under his breath.
But Auron's ears worked just fine. He heard it clearly and shot back,
"What, no one else is allowed to learn weather moves? Only you get to click [Sunny Day]?"
"Okay, okay, my bad—keep going."
Jace capitulated without a fight.
Auron rolled his eyes at him and continued.
"Second mistake: you knew I had [Taunt], and you still kept trying to squeeze more weather. You could've used your Speed to stall things out until the weather ended, instead of forcing a head-on fight under unfavorable conditions."
"Third—your Arcanine knows [Hyper Voice], right?"
Jace flinched. "How do you know that?"
Auron sighed. "You told me yourself. So when Golbat used [Double Team], why didn't you lead with [Hyper Voice] to shatter the clones?"
"Also, even though Arcanine's Atk is higher than its Sp. Atk, its Sp. Atk isn't bad. With [Hyper Voice]'s wide coverage, a Golbat has a hard time dodging it."
"And then, at the very end, when you knew Arcanine didn't have much HP left—why choose [Flare Blitz], which deals recoil, instead of [Endure]?"
Jace fell silent.
Was it because he hadn't thought of it? …Yeah. He really hadn't thought of it. Auron's Golbat pulling out [Rain Dance] blew up his whole game plan.
He could have played it steady and had a very real chance to win, but he'd barreled forward, headlong, wave after wave. Arcanine went down fast, and all of its advantages never even got to shine.
Jace glanced over at Arcanine, who was goofing around nearby. Arcanine noticed Jace looking and bounded over to nuzzle his side.
Jace smiled and ruffled the big dog's head, thinking,
"Don't worry. I'll play to your strengths from now on. No more reckless charges."
When Arcanine trotted off again, Jace faced Auron with sudden earnestness.
"I get it. From now on, I've got to actually use my brain mid-battle. I can't borrow yours on the field."
The instant Jace said that, Auron deflated. He dragged a hand down his face and let his head hang. Amid everyone's laughter, he waved dismissively.
"Sigh… See for yourself. Try hard… sigh…"
Jace blinked, bewildered. Had he said something wrong? Why was Auron acting like that?
After a moment, Auron pulled himself together and turned to Tim Wynn.
"Okay, we're done with him. You're up next."
Tim immediately tensed.
(End of this chapter)
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