"Blastoise, watch out behind you!!"
Seeing everything clearly from outside the battlefield, Mr. Morkel anxiously shouted in alarm. However, neither he nor Blastoise could react faster than Greninja.
"Fwoooosh..."
Greninja raised both hands high above its head as a swirling cloud of snow gathered within its palms. In the next instant, it slammed it down onto the battlefield as if smashing a basin filled with whipped cream.
BOOM!!
"Rumble...!"
The snow-cloud vortex exploded violently, and in an instant, a raging Blizzard engulfed the entire battlefield. Naturally, the first to bear the brunt of the attack was Blastoise standing directly ahead.
"Blastoise!!"
"Blasto—!"
Mr. Morkel looked at the Blizzard sweeping across the battlefield with panic written all over his face. Before Blastoise could do anything, it had already been struck by the attack. After letting out a miserable cry, it was completely swallowed by the icy storm.
By the time the Blizzard passed and the battlefield became visible once more, Blastoise had already been frozen into a magnificent ice sculpture.
Worse still, even in this frozen state, the poison within its body continued to spread relentlessly. Its HP and condition steadily deteriorated with every passing moment, leaving Mr. Morkel increasingly anxious.
However, although he had no means of curing Blastoise's poisoned condition, he did have a method for dealing with its frozen status.
"Blastoise, use Shell Smash again!" Mr. Morkel immediately ordered.
At almost the same moment, Ash gave his own command.
"Greninja, use Ice Beam!"
Mr. Morkel's plan wasn't a bad one. He intended to utilize Shell Smash's shield-breaking effect to shatter the ice imprisoning Blastoise.
Unfortunately, Blastoise had already detonated its shell once earlier in the battle. The shield-breaking effect of a second Shell Smash would naturally be far weaker than before.
Furthermore, the previous layer of ice had only been created by Icy Wind, whereas this time Blastoise had been frozen solid by Blizzard—a high-powered Ice-type move.
Trying to break through an even thicker and sturdier layer of ice with a weakened shield-breaking effect was, admittedly, rather wishful thinking.
And sure enough—
"Crack! Crack!!"
Blastoise activated Shell Smash, causing the ice encasing its body to tremble violently. However, only a few tiny cracks appeared across its surface.
At that very moment, Greninja's Ice Beam arrived.
Not only were those tiny cracks instantly repaired, but the layer of ice surrounding Blastoise rapidly became even thicker than before. Breaking free had suddenly become far more difficult.
"Blastoise...!!"
Witnessing this scene, Mr. Morkel couldn't help but call out anxiously.
Meanwhile, Ash wore an expression of complete ease as he looked toward Greninja and calmly gave another order.
"That's enough. Stop attacking. We'll just wait for Blastoise to defeat itself."
"Greninja."
Greninja nodded obediently.
...
...
Blastoise attempted to shatter the ice repeatedly, but failed every single time.
Whenever the ice sculpture developed even the slightest crack, Ash would immediately have Greninja use another Ice-type move to repair and reinforce it.
The ice shell became thicker and thicker.
Meanwhile, Blastoise's chances of breaking free became increasingly slim.
Moreover, the more times Shell Smash was used, the weaker its shield-breaking effect became. As time dragged on, Blastoise's stamina steadily diminished. Its physical condition worsened, and the force behind its struggles grew weaker and weaker.
It had fallen into a hopeless deadlock.
After several more minutes of futile resistance, Mr. Morkel finally realized there was no conceivable way for Blastoise to escape its icy prison.
With a bitter sigh, he could only make his decision.
"Referee... I concede."
Looking somewhat dejected and defeated as he glanced toward Ash, Mr. Morkel raised his hand to signal his surrender.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host! Defeated LV.53 Blastoise. Experience Points +2317.]
[Ding! Greninja has met the level-up requirements. Greninja has leveled up... Current Level: LV.59.]
"The Red-side Trainer has conceded! The winner of this round is Greninja of the Blue-side Trainer!"
The referee immediately announced the result of the battle.
Compared to the referee's declaration, however, what captured Ash's attention far more was the notification ringing out within his mind.
"Greninja has reached LV.59 as well? Very nice."
Sensing Greninja's aura growing noticeably stronger, Ash nodded in satisfaction.
After a brief one-minute intermission to allow both Trainers to consider and select their next Pokémon, the third and final round of the match officially began.
"Fearow, the third round is yours!"
"Tauros, I'm counting on you for the final battle!"
Bang! Bang!
The moment the referee signaled both sides to prepare, the two Trainers simultaneously took out Poké Balls from their belts and threw them onto the battlefield.
For the final round, Mr. Morkel sent out a powerfully-built Tauros.
As for Ash, without giving it much thought, he continued following the predetermined order of appearance for tonight's battles and chose Fearow—the only one among his Pokémon that had yet to take the field.
...
...
After releasing his Pokémon, Ash finally turned his attention toward Mr. Morkel's Tauros.
Its physique was robust and imposing. Like the previous two Pokémon, it possessed Gym-level strength, though its aura was slightly inferior compared to Rhyperior and Blastoise.
"System, scan Tauros' data." Ash silently commanded inwardly.
[Ding! Scanning target, please wait...]
[Pokémon: Tauros]
Level: LV.52
Type: Normal
Nature: Hot-Blooded
Ability: Anger Point
Potential: Green
Moves (Can Be Copied):
[Proficient] (1/1000):
Work Up
Payback
Pursuit
Swagger
Thrash
Giga Impact
[Skilled] (1/500):
Tail Whip
Scary Face
…
The system's scan was completed almost instantly. In less than a second, Tauros' information appeared before Ash.
After briefly glancing over its data panel, Ash immediately gained a rough understanding of its strengths and weaknesses.
Tauros was undoubtedly powerful and had been raised extremely well by Mr. Morkel. As a physically offensive Pokémon, it normally shouldn't have been capable of learning ranged attacks.
Yet this particular Tauros had mastered them.
And not just one, but several—Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, and Icy Wind—giving it surprisingly broad ranged coverage.
The only issue was that nearly its entire moveset consisted of offensive techniques.
There were simply too few status and support moves.
Such a straightforward, head-on fighting style could become particularly troublesome when facing Trainers skilled at tactical battles.
And unfortunately for Tauros—
Ash happened to be exactly that kind of Trainer.
The final battle had only just begun.