Lily of the Valley Stadium, the semifinals.
The gap in strength between Li Wei and Tobias
was greater than many people had imagined.
So far, every one of Li Wei's Pokémon had knocked out Tobias's Pokémon in a single hit.
As Metagross closed in,
"Aura Sphere!"
Li Wei's voice rang out like a final verdict.
Lucario gathered an enormous Aura Sphere between both hands.
At such close range, against such a large target,
Lucario did not even need to lock on with Aura.
The dazzling light of the azure Aura made Metagross squeeze its eyes shut.
The Aura energy struck Metagross head-on!
There was really no need to look.
Thrown backward by the explosion and slammed into the wall, Metagross lay buried in rubble, its eyes already spiraling.
The referee numbly raised his arm.
"Metagross is unable to battle!"
Tobias had gone deathly pale as he sent out his fifth Pokémon-Salamence.
Although Tobias's lineup was nowhere near as extravagant as others had imagined, it was still very impressive.
Metagross, Salamence, Tyranitar-
all Pokémon with promising futures.
"Arcanine, you're up."
One of Li Wei's last two Pokémon took the field.
Tobias called out, "Dragon Dance!"
Arcanine let out a deafening roar. Its Intimidate Ability activated, sharply reducing Salamence's attack power.
"Salamence, Outrage!"
"Flare Blitz!"
Energy resembling Sacred Fire erupted around Arcanine as it charged straight into Salamence, which had fallen into the frenzy of Outrage!
Cold sweat broke out across Salamence's forehead.
You're definitely not an Arcanine!
Salamence felt as though it were facing Moltres,
or even... Ho-Oh!
Flare Blitz, combined with Arcanine's sheer weight, completely overwhelmed the Salamence weakened by Intimidate!
Amid the explosion, Salamence fell from the sky.
"Salamence is unable to battle!"
"Six-zero!"
"Six-zero!"
"Six-zero!"
The spectators began chanting in unison.
After a reminder from the referee,
Tobias