At this point, the battle seemed to have lost all suspense.
Under Charizard's Solar Beam move, few Water-type Pokémon could withstand even a single attack.
Even without a type advantage, the Solar Beam move pushed to its limit thanks to the Solar Power ability was not something Pokémon that had not even reached the Quasi-Elite level could endure.
In the end, Ethan used only a single Pokémon, Charizard, to completely sweep the opponent and decisively defeat Barry, the fifth-ranked player of the Federal League, leaving the spectators who had expected a balanced battle completely stunned.
"Phew... it's finally over."
After finishing the battle, Ethan stretched his body.
Although it was a 6 vs 6 battle, because it had been practically one-sided, he did not feel tired at all.
On the other hand, Barry, after completing the full battle, was drenched in sweat and completely exhausted.
During the fight, facing an opponent far stronger than himself, Barry had to rack his brain to the limit, and that practically burned out his neurons.
"Ethan, you did great!"
When Ethan stepped down from the stage, his companions came over to congratulate him.
In this battle, Ethan's Charizard defeated all six of Barry's Pokémon by itself, greatly boosting the morale of the Daleron League.
"Hmph, he only defeated Barry, who's among the lowest in our ranking. Just wait and see. In the next battles our Federal League will recover its honor!"
The spectators of the Federal League snorted in dissatisfaction. Barry's defeat had been far too miserable.
...
"Charizard, you fought very well today."
After returning to the resting area, Ethan praised Charizard.
Although today's battle had exposed some of his hidden cards to a certain extent, Ethan was not worried.
The current Charizard had already mastered a completely new technique, so the Solar Beam technique was no longer that important.
Moreover, his ability to launch instant Solar Beam continuously also interfered with the tactical plans of other trainers. In that sense, its strategic value had already surpassed the value of the technique itself.
When Charizard's true hidden card was finally revealed, it would undoubtedly shock everyone, and that could become the key point that would decide the battle.
"Zzzt!"
At that moment, Meltan floated toward him.
For some reason, Meltan had shrunk back to the size it had before.
However, from its more solid body and the faint electrical sparks surrounding it, it could be seen that it was in excellent condition.
"Don't worry, it'll be your turn to enter the field soon."
Seeing that Meltan was eager to show its strength, Ethan patted its head.
After absorbing nine Meltan nuts and the terrifying magnetic force of Vast Poni Canyon, its power had increased tremendously, and the development of its magnetic levitation ability was getting closer and closer to perfection.
"Zzzt!"
After receiving Ethan's confirmation, Meltan flew away happily.
Then Ethan checked the condition of all his Pokémon and returned to the desk to rethink his tactics.
...
Another day passed.
Today the quarterfinal matches would begin.
After the first day of confrontations, all the Leagues had both victories and defeats.
But what made the competitors of the other Leagues become serious was that four of the eight finalists belonged to the Federal League. Except for Barry, who had been defeated by Ethan, all the others managed to advance.
It could be said that they occupied half of the top 8!
Moreover, according to the tournament rules, members of the same League would not face each other until the final.
That meant that the four remaining competitors from the other Leagues would each have to face a member of the Federal League.
"Our Federal League against all the other Leagues?"
"This is way too exciting!"
The spectators of the Federal League shouted excitedly.
"Can you imagine if in the end the four semifinalists are all from our Federal League? Just imagine the faces of the others!"
Some were already imagining that scene, filled with excitement.
"It's starting, it's starting! Who will be the first match?"
"Stefan's opponent is..."
"That player who got matched against Stefan is really unlucky..."
Soon, the battle began again.
Stefan and his opponent stepped onto the field.
As always, Stefan directly sent out his Gothitelle, while his opponent sent out Hydreigon.
Clearly, he had come prepared, using the Dark type to counter Gothitelle's Psychic type.
Although Gothitelle was also good at mastering moves of other types, none of them reached the power of its Psychic-type moves.
With Hydreigon's Dark-type and Dragon-type moves, that trainer was confident he could fight against Gothitelle.
However, when the battle truly began, Gothitelle still used Psychic-type moves to attack the Dark-type Hydreigon.
And under the disbelieving gaze of the entire stadium, Gothitelle's Psychic move directly struck Hydreigon, sending it flying!
"How is that possible?!"
"Why did Gothitelle's Psychic-type moves hit the Dark-type Hydreigon?!"
"And with full power! Hydreigon's Dark type offered no resistance to the Psychic move!"
Not only the spectators; even the competitors and the guests were completely baffled.
The Dark type was supposed to be immune to Psychic-type moves. But now that rule did not seem to work!
"Could it be... Miracle Eye?"
Seeing this, Ethan suddenly remembered a move.
The effect of the Miracle Eye move is to allow moves that normally do not affect Dark-type Pokémon or opponents with high evasion to hit them.
Therefore, if Gothitelle had previously used the Miracle Eye move on Hydreigon, then the Psychic move could naturally strike it.
However, Miracle Eye is an extremely rare move, so rare that it does not even appear in the Daleron League's database.
Who would have thought that Gothitelle had mastered it!
"This is troublesome... Originally I planned to use Cacturne to face Gothitelle. With the Dark type it could wear down its stamina, and even if Cacturne lost, it could use Destiny Bond to take Gothitelle down with it. But if Gothitelle has mastered Miracle Eye, that strategy will no longer be as effective."
Ethan frowned. That Stefan was becoming more and more difficult to deal with.
If before he had a 40% chance of winning, now, with Gothitelle using the Miracle Eye move, it might not even reach 10%. He would have to completely rethink his strategy.
While Ethan reflected, the battle continued.
After unleashing its psychic power without restraint, Gothitelle defeated the opponent's six Pokémon by itself, advancing to the semifinals with a completely crushing stance.
(End of chapter)