A spectacular battle

Candice was also a student at this Pokémon Trainer School. When she entered and word spread that there was a battle to watch, many of the children at the school ran out excitedly. For children who had yet to receive their starter Pokémon, the chance to watch a battle between Trainers was simply irresistible.

Full of confidence, Candice led Terrance to the battlefield, then found a middle-aged man from the school to act as referee.

"Let's make it a one-on-one battle," Terrance said.

He only had two Pokémon, Beautifly and Swablu, so his choices were a one-on-one or a two-on-two. To save time, he chose the former.

"Sure, no problem!"

Having indicated that she was fine with anything, Candice continued, "The Pokémon I'm sending out is Snover!"

Standing on opposite sides of the field, Candice was the first to throw her Poké Ball.

A white light flashed, and a Pokémon appeared, looking like a tree stump wearing a woven bamboo rain hat. Its hat, however, was entirely snow-white, and its arms were dark green. Standing on the field, it looked very composed.

"Snover, huh?" Terrance sized up his opponent.

Snover was a Grass-type and Ice-type Pokémon that usually lived on snowy mountains and rarely encountered humans. As a result, when it did meet one, it would often approach out of curiosity.

"Then I'm sending out Beautifly."

Beautifly had mastered too few moves. Terrance hadn't given it any special guidance in that regard. For Beautifly, the Pokémon Contest stage was its battlefield, and how well it used its moves was the top priority.

Even in an ordinary battle, that could be demonstrated!

"That Pokémon is..." Candice looked over curiously. "Beautifly. Are you a Trainer from Hoenn?"

"Beautifly is a Bug-type and Flying-type, right? But I'm not going to go easy on you!"

"Of course," Terrance said with a smile. "Come to think of it, this is my first battle against a Trainer."

"But I'd advise you to give it your all. I think we're pretty strong."

Terrance didn't expect anyone to go easy on him because of that, and when it came to battle experience, he wasn't lacking in the slightest.

"What, your first time...?" Candice looked at Terrance in surprise, but on second thought, he really was the right age to be a new Trainer.

"The battle will be one-on-one and will end when one side's Pokémon is unable to battle. Now, I declare the battle open!"

"You can go first!" Candice shouted.

"Then I won't hold back. Beautifly, whip up a gale."

At Terrance's command, Beautifly let out a "Guu~" and beat its beautiful wings. The weather was already cold, and the gale it stirred up made the people around the field feel an even icier chill.

Snover felt it most directly, as it was the main target of the Gust.

Gust sent Candice's short skirt fluttering on the opposite side of the field, but she paid it no mind. "A cold wind like that won't hurt Snover. It used to live on Mt. Coronet all the time!"

"Oh, is that so?" Terrance smiled.

The gale blew past, and Snover remained standing there. It really didn't seem to have affected it much.

"Then it's our turn to attack. Snover, strike back with Icy Wind!"

Compared to Beautifly's Gust, the icy air Snover blew was mixed with ice crystals. It really did look like the winds of a Blizzard, more spectacular and more powerful.

"Guu~"

Caught in Icy Wind, Beautifly grimaced in pain and slowed considerably. It was still very unaccustomed to cold surroundings.

"Overcome it!" Terrance said.

"Can you feel the air currents around you clearly? Follow Icy Wind and glide!"

Tailwind!

In the fierce wind, it sensed the air currents and used the wind's direction and power to increase its own speed.

Beautifly beat its wings with difficulty, creating a whirlwind of its own in the storm. Finally, under Candice's disbelieving gaze, it began to fly effortlessly through Icy Wind!

Up in the sky filled with ice crystals, Beautifly controlled its magnificent form, its movements in flight like the most enchanting melody. The glittering frost scattered around it gave its flight an almost dreamlike beauty.

"Interesting, interesting. But how long can Beautifly keep going in the cold wind?" Candice grew excited. She found this opponent unusual, completely different from the Trainers she had battled before.

"That must be using up a lot of its stamina. We'll press our advantage, then. Snover, use Ice Shard to disrupt Beautifly's movements."

At her command, Snover instantly made a large number of ice chunks and threw them rapidly at Beautifly. The chunks came thick and fast, successfully blocking most of Beautifly's flight paths.

Candice looked pleased with herself. As far as she could see, Beautifly was trapped!

But when she looked at Terrance, she found no trace of panic on his face. That made Candice calm down and observe the situation on the field.

Then she saw an utterly astonishing sight.

Not only was Beautifly undisturbed by the incoming Ice Shards, it flew even more freely through the sky. Agile was the only word Candice could think of to describe it now.

Facing the combined attacks of Icy Wind and Ice Shard, Beautifly made perfect use of the air currents, precisely taking advantage of every crucial point to dodge every attack with ease!

"How is that possible!"

Candice stared. She had clearly seen Beautifly look uncomfortable in Icy Wind, yet with Ice Shard threatening it as well, it could still concentrate and control its flight?

"Beautifly, Electroweb!"

As Candice hesitated, a large net wreathed in golden electricity crackled into being and descended from the sky toward Snover.

"Oh no... Snover, quick, use Razor Leaf to break it!"

Faced with the incoming Electroweb, Snover hurriedly threw out several leaves. The sharp blades flew toward the net, and the two moves collided head-on.

When the leaves struck Electroweb, the current first slowed them down, and then they cut into the String Shot. But Snover's Razor Leaf had produced too few leaves, and with the current interfering with them, they only damaged part of the intact net's structure.

"Use Razor Leaf again!"

Candice was clearly unwilling to give up. At her command, Snover once again assumed the stance to use the move, entirely focused on destroying Electroweb. Just as it completed Razor Leaf, Terrance's voice rang out again.

"Checkmate."

Razor Leaf sliced through the rest of Electroweb, but as Terrance's words fell, strands of String Shot wrapped around Snover's feet and yanked it straight to the ground.

"What... from that angle...?" Candice's eyes widened as she looked into the air. Beautifly, which had been far away from Snover just moments ago, had fired a strand of String Shot as straight as a steel wire, wrapping it directly around Snover's ankles!