"Awesome, Scyther!" Saburo stared at the green figure standing proudly in the arena, his face overflowing with excitement.
"…I didn't expect that Houndoom to know Thunder Fang. This match is hard to predict now…"
"Yeah, but there's still a chance~"
Unlike the excited Saburo, the older Bug Catcher in the stands and the young man in the back row were not nearly as optimistic. As experienced Trainers, they had already noticed the scorch marks spreading across Scyther's wings.
Of course, neither of them wanted to ruin Saburo's excitement, so they only exchanged a few quiet words.
"Come back, Houndoom. You did well~"
Icarus recalled Houndoom and softly comforted him before taking out another Poké Ball.
"As expected of a born warrior. No wonder Scyther is so expensive… To push speed to this extreme… But can you handle my next Pokémon?"
Looking at Scyther's sharp, unwavering eyes, Icarus couldn't help but praise him.
"Contestant on the right, please send out your second Pokémon!"
Right then, the referee's voice rang out.
"Go, Pidgeotto!"
Icarus immediately threw the Poké Ball into the air. A flash of red light appeared, and Pidgeotto emerged high above the battlefield.
"Beep-beep~"
The moment he appeared, Pidgeotto cried out challengingly, his fighting spirit surging.
"Shh-t!"
Scyther raised one blade and pointed it directly at Pidgeotto, signaling him to come at him.
"The battle will now continue!"
Seeing both Pokémon ready, the referee immediately resumed the match.
Unlike the earlier rounds, there was no first-move advantage now. Victory would depend entirely on whose attack was faster.
"Scyther, Swords Dance!"
"Pidgeotto, Gust!"
The instant the match restarted, both Trainers issued commands at the same time.
"Swish swish swish~"
Scyther retreated into the thicker patches of lingering fog and began boosting himself again.
The high-speed state from earlier had completely drained the temporary burst of energy in his body, and exhaustion was already setting in.
But if he wanted to win, he had no choice except to continue forcing out his potential.
Fortunately, battles didn't last long. As long as he rested properly afterward, a little overexertion was acceptable.
"Beep Whoosh whoosh"
On the other side, Pidgeotto flapped his wings powerfully, stirring fierce gusts of wind that rapidly swept away the remaining Smog across the battlefield.
Icarus specifically ordered this because the fog hindered Pidgeotto's vision.
Meanwhile, Scyther still held the advantage while hidden within it, freely stacking enhancements.
"Scyther, Vacuum Wave!"
Once the fog finally dispersed, Scyther had already completed another round of boosts. Fujii Ichiro immediately ordered an attack.
"Shhh~ Whoosh whoosh!"
Scyther rapidly slashed his twin blades, launching wave after wave of invisible air blades toward Pidgeotto.
"Dodge, then use Air Slash!"
Although Icarus himself couldn't sense the Vacuum Wave attacks, he trusted Pidgeotto's instincts.
The distance between them was large, and Pidgeotto also held the aerial advantage. Detecting the distortions in the air shouldn't be difficult.
"Beep~ Swish!"
Just as expected, Pidgeotto abruptly dropped altitude, narrowly dodging the attack before flapping both wings and firing two sharp Air Slashes toward Scyther.
"Dodge and close the distance, Scyther!"
Fujii Ichiro was equally confident in Scyther's speed. After all the boosts from Swords Dance, dodging Air Slash should not have been difficult.
"Whoosh~ Shh-t!"
Scyther flashed to the side, successfully avoiding the incoming attack—or so he thought.
The moment he landed, several miniature Twisters suddenly erupted around him.
"Haha! Nicely done, Pidgeotto! Follow up with another Air Slash!"
Seeing the trap activate, Icarus burst into laughter and immediately pressed the attack.
Earlier, he had secretly used the Mind Contract to instruct Pidgeotto to scatter miniature Twisters across the battlefield.
The previous Air Slashes had merely been bait to force Scyther into moving.
After reaching a certain level, Trainers could communicate directly with Pokémon through Mind Contract. Verbal commands alone became impractical once battle speeds reached extreme levels.
Although Icarus' own strength was still relatively low, his bond with Pidgeotto was exceptionally high. By consuming mental energy, he could still send one or two simple messages during combat.
Because he noticed the scorch damage on Scyther's left wing, Icarus predicted that Scyther would instinctively dodge to the right.
So he had Pidgeotto secretly concentrate extra Twisters there.
And the prediction proved correct.
The Twisters themselves weren't especially powerful, but even briefly restricting Scyther's movement was enough.
"Beep! Whoosh whoosh!"
Without needing further explanation, Pidgeotto immediately condensed Flying-type energy and launched two more Air Slashes.
After so much wilderness combat training with Icarus, Pidgeotto already understood exactly how to seize opportunities in battle.
"Damn it! Scyther, Slash with everything you've got!"
Realizing he could no longer evade, Fujii Ichiro had no choice but to meet the attack head-on.
"Clang!"
Scyther's twin blades sliced violently forward, cutting apart the Twister and blocking the first Air Slash.
But the second Air Slash arrived immediately afterward.
"Pfft! Shh!"
A deep wound tore across Scyther's body.
"Huff… Huff…"
Scyther dropped to one knee, supporting himself with one blade while gasping heavily.
The Flying-type energy lingering inside the wound continuously aggravated the damage.
"…Still not enough, huh? That Trainer definitely predicted Scyther's movement."
The young man in the back row muttered quietly to himself.
As much as he hated admitting it, Fujii Ichiro truly seemed close to defeat.
"Yeah. Otherwise, why would there have been so many extra Twisters on the right side?"
The older man in front nodded in agreement.
Experienced Trainers like them didn't believe in coincidences.
"Brother Ichiro! You can do it! Scyther! You can definitely win! Show your warrior spirit!"
Most people in the audience could already see how grim the situation was.
But Saburo still believed wholeheartedly in his older brother.
In his mind, Fujii Ichiro was invincible.
Even if Scyther looked cornered now, as long as he didn't give up, victory was still possible!
"Scyther, stand up! We haven't lost yet!"
Fujii Ichiro also heard Saburo's desperate cheering.
Something inside him reignited as he shouted toward Scyther.
"Shh-t~ Lei!"
Scyther struggled violently, trying again and again to rise.
But each time he forced himself upward, the pain dragged him back down.
"Beep beep?"
Pidgeotto hovered in the air and looked back at Icarus in confusion, as if asking:
"Why aren't we finishing him off?"
"No rush~"
Seeing this rare, passionate scene unfold before him, Icarus shook his head lightly.
He hadn't witnessed something like this in a very long time.
Ever since becoming a Trainer, all he ever thought about was profit, survival, and efficiency.
Every battle was calculated.
Every relationship carried hidden motives.
Even the people around him—aside from Xiao Ling and Stone, whom he personally raised—were driven by benefits, schemes, and self-interest.
But this moment…
It reminded him of those passionate anime scenes from his previous life.
The classic "never give up" comeback moment.
It reminded him that Pokémon had once been a story about dreams.
Even though this world was far crueler than any children's anime, it didn't stop him from feeling nostalgic for that lost youth.
"Shh-t!"
Finally, after several exhausting attempts, Scyther forced himself back onto his feet.
Though barely standing, he still raised one blade toward Pidgeotto in challenge.
"Good! Scyther, let's bet everything on one final attack! Use Gather—"
Fujii Ichiro's eyes lit up with excitement as he prepared one last desperate gamble.
"Pidgeotto, Great Twister. Finish it."
Unfortunately, before he could finish speaking, Icarus calmly interrupted.
"Beep! WHOOSH—!"
Pidgeotto immediately unleashed a massive Twister that engulfed Scyther entirely.
"Shh-t! Shh~ Lei! (×_×)"
With almost no strength remaining, Scyther couldn't evade at all.
When the storm finally dispersed, the once-proud warrior collapsed onto the battlefield, battered and unconscious.
"Scyther!"
Fujii Ichiro shouted anxiously, but since the referee hadn't officially declared the result yet, he couldn't rush into the field.
"Scyther! How could he lose!? Waaahhh!"
Saburo also burst into tears in the stands.
"Sigh… kid, this is the real Trainer world. Passion and determination alone aren't always enough."
"Yeah. But remember this too—losing isn't what's scary. What's scary is letting defeat destroy your spirit."
"If you lose, you can win again later. But if you give up after one loss, then you'll never win again."
The surrounding Bug Catchers all began offering comfort one after another.
These were lessons carved from their own experiences.
They weren't wealthy elites.
Even rich Trainers couldn't always win, much less commoners like them.
Passion was good.
But excessive passion could kill a civilian Trainer.
Every year, countless reckless Trainers died in the wild because they charged forward blindly.
Fujii Ichiro had specifically brought Saburo here today because he hoped reality would temper his younger brother's overly passionate nature.
Commoners couldn't afford reckless idealism.
The cost was simply too high.
"I declare this match the victory of Contestant #378, Aoki Icarus!"
The referee glanced once more at the unconscious Scyther before formally announcing the result.
As a referee, he had witnessed scenes like this countless times.
He had even seen Pokémon die in battle before.
In his opinion, Scyther should have surrendered earlier instead of forcing himself this far.
"Scyther… you did well. Rest now."
The moment the result was announced, Fujii Ichiro rushed into the arena and gently touched Scyther's forehead before the medical staff carried him away.
"Even though it was passionate… even though it moved me…"
"I've already grown up."
"This isn't a children's anime anymore."
"In the adult world, I still want to survive. I still want to win."
Watching Scyther being carried away on a stretcher while Saburo cried uncontrollably in the stands, Icarus silently sighed.
As for temporary victory or defeat?
He honestly didn't care that much anymore.
As long as he stayed alive, there would always be another chance.
Some of the people who once defeated him were already buried underground.
Yet he still stood here, continuing to grow stronger.
If Pidgeotto had been that injured in the wild, Icarus would absolutely choose retreat over pride.
Passion didn't matter if you ended up dead.
At first, he hadn't understood why Fujii Ichiro stubbornly endured to the very end.
But after seeing Saburo…
He finally understood.
Still, understanding didn't mean he intended to play along with some dramatic comeback scene.
He had no interest in becoming a stepping stone for another person's miraculous victory.
"Did you really think time stopped just because you started shouting?"
"I was just reminiscing about my lost youth—not volunteering to become a background villain."
As he walked back toward the lounge, Saburo's cries gradually faded into the distance.
It felt as though he had completely severed ties with his younger self.
The boy who once dreamed of becoming the protagonist had eventually become the Demon King in someone else's story.
"…Have I become the kind of person my younger self hated the most?"
Icarus laughed bitterly at himself.
Growing up meant realizing that the world never revolved around you.
Shaking away those melancholic thoughts, he quietly returned to the lounge to wait for Airi and Stone.
"Tap… tap…"
More than ten minutes later, familiar footsteps echoed from the hallway.
"They're back."
But the next moment—
"Waaahhh…"
"Airi, stop crying. Losing one match isn't the end!"
Icarus froze slightly.
Airi seemed to be sobbing.
"What happened, Airi? Stone?"
Turning around, he immediately saw Airi wrapped tightly in her oversized robe, crying softly, while Stone awkwardly tried to comfort her.
"Waaahhh Brother Icarus, I lost Waaahhh!"
The moment she saw him, Airi immediately threw herself into his arms like a child who had finally found someone to rely on, crying uncontrollably.