The Biggest Dark Horse

On the battlefield.

Fang Yuan and Lin Sen stared at each other.

Fang Yuan could tell that Lin Sen had probably prepared himself for his Trash Talk.

What a shame. Eevee and I have already decided to do the opposite this battle. Since he's prepared to deal with Trash Talk, we won't say a word. We'll fight seriously instead, Fang Yuan thought.

Walk your own path and let others guess.

Puff, puff...

As the match began, Ivysaur was the first to swell its flower bud. The next moment, a cloud of Sweet Scent erupted and began spreading throughout the arena.

The disorienting Sweet Scent spread primarily toward where Eevee stood.

"Sweet Scent!"

Lin Sen gave the command first, and Ivysaur did not hesitate, swiftly using the Sweet Scent it had mastered to seal off the field.

Seeing Ivysaur use Sweet Scent, the guests and spectators watched closely.

The arena was about to be covered...

This way, Eevee would not be able to run freely across the field, right?

As long as it inhaled even a little Sweet Scent, Eevee would definitely be pinned down by Ivysaur's chain of attacks.

But then—

Whoosh!

Eevee's expression did not change as it used Sand Attack. As dust filled the air, a yellow cloud of sand surged forward and intertwined with the Sweet Scent. This was completely different from the Sand Attack Eevee had displayed before.

In its previous battles, Eevee's Sand Attack had been refined and distinct, with every grain visible to the naked eye. Like a cluster of tiny weapons, it had repeatedly hurled the sand into its opponents' eyes.

But this Sand Attack left no visible trace of individual grains. It was like a miniature sandstorm, reducing visibility across the arena to nearly nothing.

Everything turned murky. Ivysaur and Eevee instantly lost sight of each other.

"This Eevee has an exceptionally high degree of control over Sand Attack."

One of the guests on the stage spoke in surprise.

"Mm. It handles Sand Attack very skillfully. I never expected that, besides its tremendous talent for speed, this Eevee had also put so much work into Sand Attack. They must have trained extensively."

The murky sand mixed into the Sweet Scent, immediately blocking and covering its fragrance, rendering the move ineffective.

"It seems Fang Yuan had planned this strategy long ago. But... while the sandstorm has blocked the Sweet Scent, Eevee has also lost track of its opponent's position. That's not good. If I remember correctly, this Eevee doesn't have any long-range moves, does it?"

"That Ivysaur's Vine Whip isn't so easy to dodge. It swings incredibly fast!"

The guests' guesses were correct. With his vision obscured, Lin Sen hesitated only briefly before issuing the most suitable command.

"This benefits us. Sweep it with Vine Whip!"

The powerful Vine Whip swung out, stirring ripples through the arena where sand and Sweet Scent intertwined. Yet Fang Yuan remained utterly calm.

"Dodge."

Eevee stepped forward and tilted its body slightly. It was not as fast as it had been in the previous match, but its movements were full of agility.

It was as though it had seen through the path of the incoming Vine Whip.

The Vine Whip lashed along a straight line, striking the spot where Eevee had been standing and continuing onward, leaving a deep mark in the ground.

Unfortunately, though it had come extremely close, the Vine Whip still failed to hit Eevee.

"Keep up the momentum and rush to its side," Fang Yuan said.

He completely changed his previous fighting style, and Eevee looked far more valiant as it dashed toward Ivysaur in an instant.

Ivysaur was not fast on its feet, but it could swing its Vine Whips quickly. The whips were as nimble as its hands, and together with Sweet Scent, they had defeated many Pokémon with greater mobility. That was why they had become Seed Players.

Lin Sen could see that Eevee had slowed considerably. It was even slower than the speed it had displayed in the previous battle.

Yet—

Eevee was clearly charging straight at it, but Ivysaur's Vine Whips could never strike the target.

"Eevee, Double Team," Fang Yuan continued.

In the instant it ran, Eevee became three afterimages, further confusing Ivysaur's two Vine Whips.

"Attack the one on the right!" Lin Sen immediately distinguished the real Eevee from the fakes, because only the one on the right was still moving. But Fang Yuan's goal had never been to confuse Ivysaur and Lin Sen. It was to use Double Team to control their positions.

Eevee's reaction speed was simply too fast. Every time a Vine Whip came down, it could dart somewhere else. After being lured again and again, Ivysaur had backed into the corner of the arena in order to gain a wider attacking and aiming range.

Eevee was not moving quickly now, yet it gave people the impression that it was incredibly fast. To outsiders, that sensation seemed especially strange, but to those who knew what they were seeing, it was utterly astonishing.

"This Eevee's reaction speed is absurd. It doesn't look like a Rookie Trainer's Pokémon at all."

"Yeah, it's like it can predict its opponent's attacks in advance."

"Not only that, its body can coordinate with its thoughts immediately. That shows its control over its body is equally outstanding."

Some of the guests were secretly shocked. Reaction speed and movement speed were fundamentally different things. A Pokémon that could run fast might not necessarily dodge fast, because its brain still had to react and determine where the enemy's attack would land.

And even if its brain could react to the opponent's attack, its body often could not respond at once. That gap in timing was difficult to master.

In the eyes of those in the know, Eevee's performance was truly stunning.

Faced with Ivysaur's dense barrage of Vine Whips, Eevee did not attack. Instead, it slowly suppressed its opponent, placing enormous pressure on Lin Sen and Ivysaur and leaving them no choice but to grow anxious.

Wasn't the opponent supposed to be a trainer who won through Trash Talk? Why did he suddenly become so fierce? Lin Sen panicked.

His original plan was thrown into complete disarray.

"Something isn't right."

"With that reaction speed, it shouldn't be possible for a Pokémon at this stage. Even among Psychic-type Pokémon, it would be extremely rare."

Lu Student, who came from the Heavenly Heart Dojo and possessed Psychic Power, stood up and looked at Eevee in confusion.

The other guests around him paid even closer attention to Eevee after hearing that.

They had not noticed it before. Eevee's reaction speed was its strongest asset. Its previous opponents simply had not been able to force it to display such rapid reactions.

Or rather, in the earlier matches, Fang Yuan had never intended for Eevee to defeat its enemies through reaction speed.

The reaction ability and Coordination Ability granted by the Anticipation Ability and the Tree Stump Training Method, coupled with a period of group combat training, had made Eevee's reaction speed its most monstrous trait. Fang Yuan and Eevee themselves understood that well.

Now, it was not just the guests and spectators who were amazed. Even Lin Jing on the contestants' platform, along with Han Jia, whom Fang Yuan had eliminated yesterday, wore utterly dumbfounded expressions.

A Seed Player... was being crushed by Fang Yuan and Eevee again?

They rubbed their eyes hard, making sure they were not seeing things.

"This Eevee's stamina is also quite impressive. It has actually kept up its struggle against Ivysaur for this long," said the representative from the Modu Trainer Association in surprise.

During Fang Yuan and Eevee's suppressive offense, the advantage of Eevee's reaction speed played the leading role. Then came Eevee's control over Sand Attack. It constantly used sandstorm-like Sand Attacks to counter Sweet Scent and Sleep Powder, frustrating Ivysaur and Lin Sen immensely. As a result, the two sides remained locked in a stalemate for a long time. Yet the first one to appear exhausted was Ivysaur.

"Lin Sen will lose within a minute. Ivysaur is covered in openings now."

"I never expected us all to be wrong. Fang Yuan has clearly been holding back a trump card. As the first trainer to eliminate a Seed Player... he can already be called the biggest dark horse of this tournament, right?" Lu Student smiled. "He really is sly. His current fighting style is practically the complete opposite of the image he created before."

"Someone calculate the size of Lin Sen's psychological trauma."