Top Eight

After two rounds of battles, it was time for the Top Eight.

The remaining contestants included Yuga, Brawly, Sora, Marlon, Roxie, Viola, Grant, and a trainer from the Sinnoh region named Christine.

Among the Top Eight, Yuga knew everyone except for the girl named Christine.

This girl, Christine, hailed from the Crown City in the Sinnoh region, just like Yuga, she specialized in Grass-type Pokémon training. However, in the previous matches, she hadn't shown any exceptional performance.

Crown City, despite being a relatively large city in the Sinnoh region, wasn't considered crucial in terms of economics or geography. Consequently, the Pokémon League hadn't appointed Gym trainers for the city.

However, this city experienced a peculiar event seventeen years ago when all its plants mysteriously withered away. The incident had made headlines at the time and caused quite a stir online. Still, the cause remained undiscovered, and the matter eventually faded away.

Now, thanks to the collective efforts of its citizens and Pokémon, the city had recovered, allowing them to participate in this competition.

Once the groups were decided, Yuga found himself in the first group, facing Viola. The other matchups included Sora against Grant, and Brawly against Christine. Meanwhile, Marlon and Roxie, two close friends, were pitted against each other.

With the enthusiastic commentary of the announcer, Yuga and Viola stepped onto the battlefield.

Viola's first Pokémon was Vivillon, a Bug and Flying-type, while Yuga chose Bellossom, a Grass-type. In terms of type advantage, there was no clear winner.

Yuga was planning to establish a Grass-type Gym in the future, so he aimed to use Grass-type Pokémon as much as possible to build his reputation as a Grass-type trainer.

Among Yuga's four Grass-type Pokémon, Roserade was the strongest, currently at level 46. Next was Bellossom at level 45, Venusaur at level 40, while Breloom's strength didn't yet meet the standards for competitive battles.

As soon as Vivillon and Bellossom entered the field, they began a graceful dance, both using the move "Quiver Dance."

In a display of mutual understanding, neither Yuga nor Viola ordered their Pokémon to interrupt the opponent's move. It was a test of which trainer's Pokémon had a better grasp of the move.

Clearly, as a Bug-type Pokémon, Vivillon had the upper hand in using Quiver Dance from its own type. Yuga's Bellossom quickly fell behind in the speed of the dance.

However, what left Viola dumbfounded was that while Bellossom danced, it also held a bright yellow orb in both hands and tossed it into the sky. Suddenly, the weather on the battlefield turned extraordinarily clear and sunny.

As the sunlight activated, Bellossom's Chlorophyll ability came into play. In the blink of an eye, Bellossom completed its Quiver Dance, just slightly faster than Vivillon.

After performing Quiver Dance twice, Bellossom didn't immediately attack Vivillon. Instead, it continued to dance at an incredible speed, intending to maximize its Speed, Special Attack, and Special Defense.

Seeing Bellossom's rapid dance, Viola panicked and quickly ordered her Vivillon, which had just completed a round of Quiver Dance, to stop Bellossom's actions.

Vivillon quickly gathered a yellow light sphere in its mouth and shot a beam of light toward Bellossom.

As the signal beam from Vivillon approached, Bellossom had to halt its dance, following Yuga's command, and used Sludge Bomb.

When Bellossom lump of sludge collided with the yellow beam, an explosion occurred. However, one piece of sludge successfully broke through the beam, hitting Vivillon in the air.

Bellossom had completed two rounds of strengthening its stats when it was interrupted by the signal beam. Additionally, Sludge Bomb was more powerful than the Signal Beam, so Vivillon, which had only undergone one round of strengthening, was no match for Bellossom.

Vivillon's elegant wings were instantly stained with small Marlon toxic spots. There was a 30% chance, and Vivillon got poisoned.

Seeing the pained expression on Vivillon's face, Yuga's expression brightened, while Viola's face turned unpleasant.

Bellossom was a pure Grass-type Pokémon and didn't possess the same level of toxicity as its evolved counterpart, Vileplume. Therefore, the probability of inducing poisoning with a move like Sludge Bomb was actually less than 30%.

Skills that come with negative status effects tend to have a higher probability of triggering those effects when used by Pokémon of the same type. Yuga also didn't expect Bellossom to be so fortunate with its move.

Taking advantage of Vivillon being distracted due to poisoning, Bellossom launched one Sludge Bomb after another at Vivillon.

Vivillon desperately tried to evade, but under the bright sunlight and the influence of Chlorophyll, Bellossom's speed was overwhelming. Vivillon couldn't even take off before getting bombarded by Sludge Bombs.

Vivillon wasn't a Pokémon known for high endurance or defense. Under the combined effects of poisoning and Sludge Bomb, it quickly succumbed.

However, Yuga didn't anticipate that Viola's second Pokémon would be another Vivillon, and while he was surprised, he understood that many trainers specializing in a particular type of Pokémon would raise multiple of the same species, similar to how Steven's Aggrons were.

(Steven: Why am I brought up for comparison again(／.＼)?)

This Vivillon was slightly stronger than the previous one, but Bellossom had already taken the initiative, completing two rounds of Quiver Dance. The second Vivillon didn't last long against Bellossom's Sludge Bomb and was quickly taken out of the battle.

Viola held her last Poké Ball with an unpleasant expression. She wasn't someone who couldn't handle losing and was aware of the gap between her and Yuga. Nevertheless, she hadn't expected to lose so decisively.

To prevent Yuga from finishing her with just one Pokémon, Viola decided to reveal her trump card. After all, her participation in the competition would end after this match, so there was no need to hold back anymore.

Yuga also didn't anticipate that Viola's final Pokémon would be a Level 50 Scizor with Blue potential.

Viola had started her journey with this Scizor and had focused on raising it, keeping it as her secret weapon.

Scizor had a clear advantage against Grass-type Pokémon.

While Yuga's Bellossom was highly trained, its main drawback was its narrow range of attack moves. Apart from Grass-type moves, it only knew Sludge Bomb, making it highly susceptible to Bug and Steel-type Pokémon like Scizor.

Even with the boost from Quiver Dance, Bellossom couldn't deal effective damage to Scizor, which was why it was quickly defeated by Scizor's Bullet Punch.

Scizor's ability, Technician, made its basic move, Bullet Punch, quite powerful.

Scizor's strength far exceeded Bellossom's, and combined with its type advantage, Bellossom's defeat was justified.

Ultimately, Scizor was defeated by Yuga's Chimecho, which excelled in defense.

Facing a Pokémon like Scizor, which excelled in strong and fast attacks, Chimecho's defensive skills made it quite easy to handle.

Defensive Pokémon could generally be divided into two types: those that relied on their inherent defenses, like Steelix; and those, like Chimecho, which excelled at using moves to defend themselves.

The field was filled with countless Reflect barriers, making it nearly impossible for Scizor to make any progress.

Chimecho's ability to create this field of Reflect barriers amazed the audience. Except for Chimecho, a Pokémon with a mutated psychic power due to Deoxys's energy core, no other Pokémon could achieve this.

Finally, Scizor fell to Chimecho's Shadow Ball attack, like a cannonball.