Another Civil War

"The contestants for the second quarterfinal match have been drawn. Let's welcome Lu Ze and Yin Hanling to the field!"

"Ah? Another internal match?"

Tang Yunqin said helplessly.

Yin Hanling stood up and patted Tang Yunqin on the shoulder.

"It's fine. I've been wanting to see what Munchlax can do anyway."

Lu Ze stood up with a smile. "Let's go, time to get on the field."

"Sure."

Yin Hanling followed behind Lu Ze as they walked onto the field together.

"Both sides, send out your Pokémon!"

"Go, Munchlax!"

"Go, Misdreavus!"

Misdreavus and Munchlax appeared in the arena at the same time.

Seeing the Munchlax opposite it, Misdreavus swayed its body and flashed it a V-sign.

Munchlax responded with a beaming smile.

Whoosh!

The flag dropped, and the match began.

"Munchlax—Metronome!"

"Misdreavus—Will-O-Wisp!"

Munchlax waved a finger, and white light spread outward from its body.

Not knowing what move it had used, Misdreavus hesitated before firing off Will-O-Wisp, which struck Munchlax.

The corners of Yin Hanling's mouth rose. This was settled. The Burn inflicted by Will-O-Wisp halved the power of physical moves and drained some stamina every turn.

The stamina loss was manageable, but cutting physical move damage in half was a massive blow to Snorlax.

Lu Ze's heart tightened when he saw Misdreavus's Will-O-Wisp. Then he noticed that Munchlax showed no signs of being Burned and realized what move Metronome had produced just now.

Since Munchlax had moved first and was only hit by Will-O-Wisp afterward, it could not have been a move that removed conditions. It had to be a preventative move.

There were two preventative moves: Safeguard and Misty Terrain. Misty Terrain was pink, so this could only have been Safeguard.

A smile appeared on Lu Ze's face. He had originally planned to keep using Metronome after getting hit by Will-O-Wisp, then use Rest to restore stamina and remove the Burn once Munchlax was running low.

Now, there was no need to waste several turns on Rest.

"Munchlax—Metronome!"

"Misdreavus—Nasty Plot!"

Munchlax wiggled its finger, then suddenly spat out a stream of water with a Ptoo! It struck Misdreavus right as it used Nasty Plot, interrupting the move.

Lu Ze grinned. His luck was far better than yesterday's. Every move Metronome produced had been useful.

"Munchlax—Encore, Metronome!"

Watching Munchlax happily wiggle its finger again with a beaming smile, Yin Hanling gritted her teeth, feeling both helpless and frustrated.

How was this guy so lucky? Every move came at exactly the right moment. So annoying.

"Go on the offensive, Misdreavus—Thunderbolt!"

Yin Hanling had no other choice. Will-O-Wisp could not stick, and most of Misdreavus's moves were Special Attack-based. The remaining Attack stat moves all required getting close. This was tough.

Munchlax spat out rings of dark purple energy that accurately struck the Misdreavus, which was unable to dodge in time.

"Munchlax's Metronome produced Dark Pulse! I have to say, Munchlax has had incredible luck today. First, Safeguard blocked Misdreavus's Will-O-Wisp."

"Then Aqua Jet interrupted Misdreavus's Nasty Plot, and now it rolled a Dark Pulse that deals double damage?"

"If I had luck like that, I'd go buy a Pokémon Lottery ticket. Why would I even compete in the Baby Cup?"

The commentator's teasing words set off waves of laughter throughout the stands.

Meanwhile, the battle continued in the arena.

"Misdreavus—Sucker Punch!"

When Lu Ze saw Misdreavus sink into the shadows, he stopped worrying. The other side was clearly making a terrible move. Close combat was Munchlax's specialty.

But Yin Hanling had no other option. Special Attack moves could not hurt it much, while Attack stat moves were all close-range.

She could only try her luck and see whether she could catch an opening between Munchlax's Metronome uses, landing more damage with physical moves.

Misdreavus emerged from Munchlax's shadow with a sinister grin. Before its claws could reach Munchlax, it was sent flying by a Fire Punch.

Misdreavus got back up and floated in the air, panting lightly as tiny flames flickered over its body from time to time.

After taking a Fire Punch from a Munchlax with absurdly good luck, getting Burned was hardly surprising.

Yin Hanling's face flushed red with anger.

"Misdreavus, come back. We're not fighting anymore."

After calling out to Misdreavus, she raised her hand to signal her surrender to the referee.

Misdreavus drifted reluctantly toward Yin Hanling. It had actually been having quite a bit of fun.

As they left the field, Misdreavus followed behind the sulking Yin Hanling.

Meanwhile, Munchlax followed behind Lu Ze, who was trying hard not to look too pleased.

Munchlax pulled out a box of Energy Cubes from Lu Ze's backpack and beckoned to the somewhat aggrieved Misdreavus.

Misdreavus cautiously glanced at Yin Hanling. Seeing that she was not paying attention, it happily floated over to Munchlax.

The two Pokémon grabbed the Energy Cubes and began wolfing them down. Yin Hanling had already used Burn medicine on Misdreavus after it left the field.

The moment Yin Hanling saw Youyu You, she looked utterly wronged. Her face changed so quickly that everyone who had wanted to comfort her froze.

In that brief moment of distraction, Yin Hanling had already thrown herself into Youyu You's arms and begun acting cute.

Youyu You caught her with practiced ease, stroking her hair and softly comforting her.

Everyone, including the returning Lu Ze, looked speechlessly toward the sky, feeling as though they had been force-fed a mouthful of romance.

No wonder she had looked so sulky on the field. She knew she could not win, so she had deliberately put on that act just to feed us romance after getting off the field.

Lu Ze's expression darkened. "Damn it."

No one looked at the two of them anymore. They could go be lovey-dovey by themselves.

"Mm, the second match ended very quickly. You could only say that Yin Hanling had bad luck. If Will-O-Wisp had landed, the outcome would have been hard to predict."

"Alright, let's see which two contestants will be playing in the third match."

"The contestants for the fourth match have been decided. They are Mo Yan and Zhang Xue!"

After the two stepped onto the field and faced each other, they released their Pokémon at the same time.

Zhang Xue remained expressionless, her face as cold as ever.

Mo Yan, on the other hand, wore a miserable expression. A Dark type against a Fighting type, and a second-stage evolved Fighting type at that. Just thinking about it made him know this would be hard.

Whoosh!

The flag dropped, and the battle began.

Alolan Meowth once again opened with Fake Out.

Gurdurr took the hit, then—

Mach Punch!

Low Kick!

Slam!

Ice Punch!

Punch after punch chased after Meowth, while Meowth could only occasionally use status moves and Dig to evade.

But the outcome was clearly inevitable. Punch after punch, Gurdurr successfully pounded Meowth until it could barely function, before it collapsed dejectedly.

"Alolan Form Meowth has lost the ability to battle. Gurdurr wins!"

Although the commentator was still giving an impassioned play-by-play from the stage, the match had ended extremely quickly.

It ended so quickly that Youyu You, who was holding Yin Hanling, had not even finished blushing.