Acceleration

Arbok's Sludge Bomb created a vast wave, forcing Bellossom to continuously retreat to avoid the Sludge Bomb attacks.

Grass-type Pokémon are weak to Poison-type moves, and even with decent Special Defense, Bellossom wouldn't fare well against these purple sludges.

"Bellossom, use Leaf Storm."

With no other options, Yuga had Bellossom unleash the powerful but side-effect-laden Leaf Storm. Using Leaf Storm meant sacrificing two stages of Bellossom's Special Attack, a choice Yuga seldom made.

This was primarily because using Leaf Storm once would drop a Pokémon's Special Attack by two levels, whereas a single Quiver Dance could raise it by one level. Bellossom's limit was four consecutive Quiver Dances; beyond that, its body couldn't handle it, just like Yuga's Vivillon.

Under Bellossom's control, a giant leafy tornado stirred up the earth on the battlefield, instantly shattering the Sludge Bomb that clung to the ground.

Seeing that the Leafy Tornado remained powerful after dispersing the Sludge Bomb, Arbok, under Roxie's command, surprisingly plunged into the center of the Leaf Storm.

The eye of a typical storm is usually the calmest place, and Leaf Storms were no different. Arbok took advantage of this and started to approach Bellossom from the heart of the Leaf Storm.

However, Yuga had already noticed this and warned Bellossom, so as soon as Arbok emerged from the storm, it was met with a Razor Leaf attack from Bellossom.

Due to the Razor Leaf assault, Arbok lost its balance in the midst of the storm, tumbling back into the Leaf Storm. It was continuously cut by the layered leaves.

When the Leaf Storm finally subsided, Arbok fell like a ragged cloth, battered and incapacitated.

Roxie's surprise at Arbok's failed ambush was minimal. She calmly recalled her unconscious Arbok.

Her choice to recall it was purely strategic. She anticipated that if the battle continued, Arbok would be the first to fall.

Roxie had observed in previous battles that Yuga was skilled in attrition battles. Whenever the battle dragged on, Yuga's advantage would grow infinitely, especially with a Grass-type Pokémon like Bellossom. Most Grass-types excelled at recovery.

After withdrawing Arbok, Roxie sent out Scolipede, a Bug and Poison-type, which was a natural counter to Grass-types.

Yuga had seen this Scolipede when he and Roxie explored ruins together. At that time, it served as Roxie's land mount.

As soon as Scolipede appeared, it used its Bug-type move, Megahorn, against Bellossom. Its two giant horns gleamed with a cold light as they struck toward Bellossom.

Bellossom easily dodged at first, but as time passed, avoiding the attacks became increasingly challenging.

Yuga understood why. Scolipede's ability was Speed Boost, which meant its speed would continually increase over time, eventually reaching a six-stage boost.

Scolipede was inherently fast, and with the Speed Boost ability, its speed became truly formidable. While Bellossom was speedy thanks to Quiver Dance and the Sunny Day (already the second round of Sunny Day, as the time limit of the first round had passed), its base speed was lower than Scolipede's. It struggled to keep up with Scolipede's attack rhythm.

In the end, Bellossom fell to Scolipede's powerful Megahorn. The move's sheer force, combined with the type advantage against Grass-types, meant that Bellossom went down almost instantly. While Bellossom had decent Special Defense, its physical defense was average.

After recalling Bellossom, Yuga contemplated but decided not to continue with Grass-type Pokémon.

Among his four Grass-types, Bellossom and Roserade had similar strength, and Venusaur was slightly behind. Breloom had been sent back to the Day Care, so Yuga had no desire to push himself.

Yuga's final choice of Pokémon was Chimecho. When dealing with a fast physical attacker like Scolipede, the best strategy is to use a Special Attack-focused Pokémon with the ability to fly. Regardless of how strong your attacks are or how fast you are, it's futile if you can't hit me.

As expected, no matter how provocatively Chimecho taunted, Scolipede couldn't touch it.

Scolipede was a pure physical attacker with moves like Swords Dance, Megahorn, Smart Strike, Take Down, and Throat Chop – all physical moves.

With no other choice, Roxie recalled Scolipede and sent out Crobat.

Yuga had seen this Crobat before, but he recognized that it wasn't particularly strong, not as strong as the Garbodor Roxie had used previously.

However, Yuga understood why Roxie chose Crobat. She likely feared falling into the same situation as with Scolipede.

But Yuga thought she was being overly cautious. Scolipede's loss was purely due to its one-dimensional training style, lacking long-range attacking options, while Garbodor didn't have this limitation.

Perhaps she was stuck in a fixed mindset for some reason.

Of course, there could be other considerations at play.

As soon as Crobat entered the battle, it used Supersonic to try and confuse Chimecho. Supersonic was a move that Crobat excelled in; it was easy to learn and use.

However, a Pokémon with Chimecho's support role was not easily confused. It effortlessly blocked the Supersonic attack with its move, Safeguard.

"Crobat, Cross Poison!"

Seeing that Supersonic had no effect due to Chimecho's Safeguard, Roxie shifted to using offensive moves.

Crobat's two wings slashed, sending two purple Poison Blades crossing toward Chimecho, but Chimecho used Reflect to block them.

Seeing Chimecho's Reflect, Roxie recalled Yuga's use of a full-field Reflect when battling Viola's Scizor. She didn't think her Crobat was stronger than Viola's Scizor.

Fortunately, Chimecho had used a localized Reflect, only defending against Crobat's attacks in a smaller area.

However, Psychic-type Pokémon inherently countered Poison-types, and Chimecho's strength surpassed Crobat's. Despite Crobat's inability to land any attacks on Chimecho, Chimecho eventually forced its retreat through a few Psybeams, which Crobat, with its low Defense, couldn't withstand.

Roxie realized that she was on the verge of defeat. Scolipede, a one-dimensional physical attacker, couldn't touch Chimecho, especially one with the ability to fly. Unless it could grow a pair of legs like Blaziken or Lopunny, it had no chance.

When Scolipede returned to the field, it was toyed with by Chimecho for a while, following in Crobat's footsteps. Despite its greater strength compared to Crobat, it couldn't perform better.

Defeating the final Scolipede meant Yuga had defeated Roxie and secured his spot in the finals.

In the afternoon, the championship match between Yuga and Christine, as well as the third-place match between Roxie and Sora, would take place.

After the matches, the closing ceremony for this tournament would mark its conclusion.