Greninja's sudden disappearance left the entire arena staring at an empty patch of battlefield.
Where the hell had it gone?
Teleportation?
Invisibility?
People rubbed their eyes and looked again.
Nothing.
"Where did that Shiny Greninja go?!"
"It was right there a second ago!"
"Don't tell me it can turn invisible!"
"This is way too weird. Where did that black frog go?"
"I can't see it anywhere!"
"Ah! You pervert! Why are you pulling my pants down?!"
"Shh! I was checking whether the black frog was hiding in there!"
...
Half the crowd had risen from their seats, craning their necks as they searched the battlefield.
There was no sign of Greninja.
Not even a trace.
It was as though it had simply vanished from the world.
"Tinka...?"
Tinkaton stood in the middle of the field clutching its enormous hammer, looking around in complete confusion.
It even checked the cracks in the ground.
Forget a black frog—if a Poochyena had been hiding down there, Tinkaton would have spotted it.
Still nothing.
"Gren..."
The quiet cry suddenly came from right beside it.
Tinkaton stiffened.
Greninja was back.
Before leaving, Greninja had placed a Flying Raijin mark where it had been standing. Aaron also carried several objects marked by Greninja, giving it plenty of points to teleport back to whenever it wanted.
At this point, Greninja had more teleportation points than it knew what to do with.
"TINKA?!"
Tinkaton nearly jumped out of its skin.
It stared at Greninja in horror.
Was this thing a Pokémon or a ghost?
How did it keep appearing out of nowhere?
"Tinkaton, don't panic!"
"Fairy Wind!"
Galen was just as confused, but he recovered quickly.
"Tinka!"
Tinkaton drew in a breath, its belly puffing up as Fairy-type energy gathered.
Aaron had no intention of letting it finish.
"Frog Boss, interrupt it."
"Quick Attack."
Greninja's Quick Attack had already reached Apotheosis.
[Move Name: Quick Attack]
[Type: Normal]
[Power: 80]
[Originally 40 power. Reaching Apotheosis doubles its power.]
[Priority: +2]
[Special Effect: After using this move, Speed rises by 2 stages. This effect cannot stack.]
Priority +2.
The same priority bracket as Extreme Speed.
"Gren..."
A sharp light flashed through Greninja's usually deadpan eyes.
White energy wrapped around its body.
Then Greninja vanished.
BOOM!
Tinkaton was hit before it could even react.
Its tiny body flew more than ten meters across the field and smashed into the ground, scattering chunks of stone. The enormous hammer slipped from its hands and clattered away.
Quick Attack normally had 40 power.
At Apotheosis, that became 80.
Protean then changed Greninja into a Normal type, granting STAB and pushing the move's effective power to 120.
The supposedly basic attack hit like a truck.
"What?!"
Galen's eyes widened.
"How the hell is Quick Attack that strong?!"
He did not get time to think about it.
"Greninja, finish it."
"Water Shuriken."
"Gren..."
A faint glow still clung to Greninja's body.
Quick Attack's special effect had already raised its Speed by two stages.
Greninja flicked both hands forward.
Four Water Shuriken formed and shot across the battlefield.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
"Tinkaton, dodge!"
Too late.
Water Shuriken was already a priority move, and Tinkaton was not exactly known for its Speed.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
All four shuriken struck cleanly.
"Tinka...!"
Tinkaton cried out, staggered, and collapsed into the crater.
Spirals filled its eyes.
It was unable to battle.
Two moves.
That was all Greninja had needed.
The Imperial Elite students in the stands fell silent for half a second.
Then the embarrassment set in.
Only minutes earlier, they had been loudly insisting that Galen would crush Aaron.
Now his first Pokémon had gone down almost immediately.
"H-How is that possible?!"
"What is Galen doing?! He lost one in two moves!"
"What the hell? Are you holding back or something?!"
"Damn it... Aaron got to show off."
"Seriously. Just looking at that smug face makes me want to hit him."
"He's got some skill, fine! Galen just let his guard down. That's all!"
...
The Imperial Elite students were furious.
Some cursed Aaron.
Others turned on Galen.
To them, Aaron was supposed to know his place simply because he had not been born into a famous family.
Every time he outperformed one of their own, it challenged a hierarchy they had spent their whole lives treating as natural.
Putting him back in his place was the only way they knew to reassure themselves that their status still meant something.