Chapter 124

The top 16 of the tournament were decided fairly quickly. Even though all Machop were decently strong at this point, it still seemed that there was a clear gap in between the two competitors. Alex suspected that the organisers were slightly manipulating the matches to make the final rounds more exciting. He had found out that the quarterfinals and further would be broadcast on some TV channel region wide.

Being number 3, he was going to be the first to battle, with number 2, who had defeated number 1 previously. After the match, he would enter the quarterfinals, and face the winner of the match between number 6 and number 7. The winner of that match would face Scrigor, a favourite to win the championship, barring any unexpected dark horses.

"The next round of the Machop tournament shall begin now! This match directly dictate the eligibility for the coveted top 8 of the tournament! For our first match, we have Serena Daniels from Vermillion City! And opposite to her, we have Alex Burns from Pallet Town! The contestants are requested to ascend the arena!" came the announcement over the loudspeakers.

"Let's go Machop" said Alex as he led Machop onstage.

A tall and tanned girl stood opposite to Alex in the participant stage. She tossed out a Pokeball yelling, "Go Machop!"

An unusually big Machop came out of the Pokeball. It was close to twice the size of an average Machop, which was the size of Alex's Machop.

"And there it is again! It's the Machop with the King's Gene! It is a rarity, that's for certain. Audience, join me as we wish the next of luck to the contestants" said the emcee.

The King's Gene was a moderately rare phenomenon found in Pokemon. While it was not as rare as Shiny Pokemon, it was still not that easy to find. They usually had stronger strength than the average of their species, and could take hits better.

But unfortunately, they had their cons. They were much slower than others, and thus easier to hit. Also, they required four times more food than others of their species. While that was nothing to Alex, for most people, it could be expensive, especially for high quality or top quality Pokemon Food.

His opponent, Serena Daniels won all of her previous matches by using Submission to lock onto opposing Machop after taking a few hits. If any of her opponents had gone with guerilla tactics, she would have lost early on.

It was inadvisable to pit Pokemon with the King's Gene with similar levelled members of their own species. Instead, Pokemon with King's Gene were best suited to engage in large battles against hordes of other species.

Serena Daniels was lucky enough to have a Machop with a King's Gene, but she was mostly written off the tournament by everyone.

Alex turned around and nodded at Machop who was standing behind him and said, "It's up to you now Machop"

Alex's Machop went onto the stage and stood opposite to the Machop twice its size.

"Machop! Bulk Up!" yelled Serena.

This was the core strategy she used. Using Bulk Up in succession to build up its attack and defence. Then, taking a few hits, before seizing the opportunity to lock its opponents in Submission. This would be enough to take the opponent out, and the slight reduction in movement capacity due to Bulk Up was a non issue since it hardly moved.

"Focus Energy! In succession!" said Alex.

Alex had wondered why no one had used the strategy he was applying now. His opponent's Machop couldn't move very well due to its abysmal speed. While its defences were high, and Bulk Up bolstered, it couldn't take critical hits that well, considering critical hits ignored stat changes.

Critical hits were direct hits to the key parts of opponents. It was not just the vulnerable parts of the body like the head and the neck, it could also be any part of the body where there is a gathering of energy. It could be the torso of a Pokemon which is defending, or the hand preparing a move. Hits directly at this part would disperse the energy violently and hurt the Pokemon severely.

By using Focus Energy, Machop could improve its sensitivity to energy and have a greater chance of landing a hit on a vulnerable energy gathering.

His opponent thought of this too and immediately scrunched her face. But she didn't have any other option but to ignore Alex's Machop that was repeatedly using Focus Energy, and keep using Bulk Up.

While moves like Leer and Scary Face would have some effect, they were much less likely to have a significant impact, partly because they didn't work that we'll between members of the same species, and for what did work, since both the Mahcop knew it, it would be pointless.

But Alex, who had hoped for a one hit knockout, wanted all the advantage he could have. Hence, he ignored the unhappy face of his opponent and proceeded to have his Machop also Bulk Up, use Leer and Scary Face on his opponents, to get it also fired back at him, and then proceeded to have his Machop advance.

"Machop, get closer to your opponent, and circle it. Use Bullet Punch when you find a key! Retreat if you fail and try again" said Alex.

While this might lead to a drawn out fight, it was the best way to knockout his opponent without exposing his Machop's true strength, and risking an injury if a powerful attack of the Machop with the King's Gene connected hard.

After 2 minutes with 3 Bullet Punches, the larger Machop collapsed onto the ground, with circles in its eyes.

"Serena's Machop is unable to battle! The winner is Alex Burns" announced the officiator.

Congratulations to Alex Burns for advancing to the quarterfinals" yelled the emcee admits the cheers of the audience.