Taunt

Wallace, standing behind Roy, found this strange. He'd paid special attention to this person before; the guy was usually practically silent in the preparation room and wasn't the type to pick fights for no reason. So what was this about?

Something was off! Not just a little off—completely, utterly off!

Roy began observing him carefully and quickly noticed something amiss.

While the Mightyena's Trainer was still spouting trash talk, Roy noticed the Mightyena behind him sniffing at something, its gaze occasionally shifting toward the Litwick on Roy's shoulder.

So that was what he was after?

Roy curled his lips into his signature smile. He'd wondered why some idiot would provoke him out of nowhere. So he'd come prepared.

System Scan
Pokémon: Mightyena

Level: 30

Gender: Male

Ability: Moxie (When it knocks out an opponent, it becomes more confident and its Attack rises.)

Moves: Tackle, Bite, Roar, Sand Attack, Headbutt, Leer, Howl, Swagger, Pursuit, Crunch, Scary Face

Held Item: None

Inherited Moves: Astonish, Covet

Individual Values: 14

Technical Machine/Move Tutor: Thunder Fang

Sure enough, contestants who made it this far usually weren't pushovers.

The battle hadn't even started, yet he'd already made preparations.

Once Roy understood the other party's intentions, his acting skills erupted. Wasn't this a contest to see who could act better? Then bring it on.

He could play along and turn the tables when the time came...

Roy pushed Wallace aside from in front of him, signaling that he'd handle it.

"Whether you can win doesn't depend on how well you can talk. If you've really got the skills, we'll settle it in the arena."

Roy looked completely enraged as he spoke in an icy tone.

"Hmph..."

The Mightyena's Trainer wanted to say more, but after feeling Mightyena rub its front paw against his calf, he only left behind, "Just you wait!" before quickly leading Mightyena away.

After leaving,

the Mightyena's Trainer looked at his Mightyena.

"Mightyena, did you memorize that candle's scent?"

"Woof."

Mightyena nodded, indicating that it had remembered the candle's smell.

"Good job!"

He wasn't stupid enough to provoke Roy just to make him angry. He'd watched Roy's previous battles, and he'd even searched IQ for videos of Litwick's earlier battles at Rustboro Academy.

In those videos, Litwick had been extremely proficient in using Haze. He truly had no way to deal with it, which was why he'd put on that performance just now.

Fortunately, Litwick was still in its initial form and had a relatively fragile body. Once Mightyena got close, it definitely wouldn't be Mightyena's match.

Although his Mightyena had the type advantage, to be absolutely safe, he'd had it memorize Litwick's scent first so it could locate Litwick in the Haze during the battle.

After the Mightyena's Trainer left, Roy turned and left the preparation room as well.

"I'm going to the bathroom."

"Didn't you just go?"

Without answering Wallace's question, Roy walked straight out of the preparation room.

Sss...

Putting Roy's frequent bathroom trips together with the dark circles under his eyes yesterday, Wallace came to a conclusion:

Roy definitely had kidney deficiency!

At such a young age, no one would be able to accept something like that.

Before long, Roy returned to the preparation room. But Wallace's vaguely sympathetic gaze made Roy's hair stand on end. Was this guy trying to send him off?

Soon, the first battle of the finals began.

Roy and the Mightyena's Trainer each stepped onto their respective command platforms.

Just as Roy released Litwick, a huge Litwick standee suddenly rose from the center of the audience stands.

Beside it was a light sign that read, "Litwick! Victory!"

Was this the surprise Erika had mentioned?

May was also curious as she watched the sign rise beside her. She'd been wondering why several seats here had been empty earlier. So they'd all been reserved.

Huh?

Wasn't that the Trainer of the Chikorita that had battled Roy before?

Erika also sensed someone looking at her. She handed the sign to her butler, Xuanbo, to hold and turned to meet May's gaze.