"Uuuh—"
Lapras flew uncontrollably out of the arena.
Its hard shell scraped furiously across the concrete, leaving several dark gouges and broken patches behind.
At last.
It lay on its back like an overturned sea turtle, exposing its soft, cream-colored belly. Its head lolled to one side, eyes spinning.
The Polygon Referee Machine announced, "Lapras is Unable to Battle!"
"Aggron wins decisively! The Z-Move that froze the pool was the key!"
The commentator's rapid shout drew a wave of applause.
No one had expected Baimu to freeze such a huge pool completely in an instant.
Usually.
What people saw most often was the surface freezing over, creating a layer of ice sturdy enough to stand on.
But freezing the whole thing...
This was only a side venue, yet its Battle Arena rivaled the main arenas of other tournaments in size. It was built to be big!
What incredible ice power!
Many spectators marveled at how strong and striking Shiny Milotic was. Clearly, its reputation was well deserved.
Others had their eyes on Aggron.
Spectators familiar with Baimu knew that Aggron lacked Shiny Milotic's dazzling appearance. It was not as cute as Mawile, nor as enormous as Steelix.
Even Hydreigon could outshout it.
But Aggron was Baimu's trump card.
In the Ever Grande Conference finals, it had ruled the arena with an utterly invincible presence, overwhelming three of Iris's Pokémon!
Aggron was like the hero of a superhero movie: always late to arrive, but once it did, victory was inevitable!
And now it had appeared in a match for a place in the top eight.
That alone showed Ryuto was a formidable opponent who demanded Baimu's best!
The real show was about to begin!
The spectators turned excited eyes toward Ryuto, whose smile was gradually fading.
It was not that Lapras's