Pokemon: Master of tactics
Chapter 254 - Pokemon Master Of Tactics: 254

Alex looked at the tournament tree and suddenly wished that he had created the tournament tree in the first place.

The first match itself was gonna be an absolute nightmare.

A tank v/s a tank.

Since both tanks had [Rest] on the Expert-rank, Alex felt that this fight will probably last longer than all the other fights together.

In addition, Scizor got a free ticket, who was not a good pick for the free ticket.

He would prefer for Ditto or Bastiodon to get this free ticket.

Alex removed all of these thoughts and looked at his Pokémon. He cleared his throat and said out loud, "Ahem! Welcome, everyone, to the Alex Tournament #3. After the massive success of the first and second tournament, the organizer has decided to host another tournament."

"Today, we have seven incredibly strong Pokémon fighting for the third trophy of this important tournament."

"For participant no.1, we have Bastiodon. A particularly massive monster of his species, who is the embodiment of the word "tank." Although he doesn't have much experience, he has the strength to defeat every other Pokémon."

"The participant no.2, Umbreon. A beautiful and almost invincible Pokémon with many attack variations. Although this is her first time in this tournament, she already has experience of fighting alone. She is the solo hunter of our family."

"On the 3rd place, we have the defending champion, Crobat. A skilled assassin and an all-rounder who hosts many different types of attacks. He won the last time with an unscrupulous hit-and-run tactic."

"Next, we have Gardevoir. A beautiful and strong fighter. She has supernatural skills and superior intelligence, which makes her the favourite of the audience."

"Followed up by her, we have Blaziken. Not only is she the best attacker in this tournament, but also a beautiful Pokémon, who can stun many Pokémon just by her looks."

"For the next participant, we have Ditto. A master of transformation and a skilled fighter. An all-rounder Pokémon that has the most cards in every fight."

"And last but certainly not the least, Scizor. A melee monster that fights like a warrior that gets stronger in battle with every second passing. He will defeat you if you give him just enough time."

All 7 Pokémon looked at Alex with different emotions. Many found that Alex's descriptions of some were much more friendly than others.

Especially Crobat was slightly annoyed when he heard Alex say "unscrupulous hit-and-run tactic."

Compared to the lukewarm and quiet anticipation of the participants, Shuppet and Vulpix were much more passionate.

Vulpix looked excited and showed great interest when she heard the introduction from the participants. She cheered for every Pokémon when they were introduced.

Shuppet was also excited, even though he wasn't cheering as loudly as Vulpix.

Crobat said with a slightly scornful face, "He's getting more and more outrageous every tournament."

Umbreon looked confusedly at Crobat and asked, "Why do you say that, Brother Crobat?"

Crobat looked at Umbreon with friendly eyes and said seriously, "He not only introduced me badly but also praised all female participants for their beauty. It clearly shows which participants he prefers."

Umbreon gave a thoughtful expression and asked with a sombre tone, "Does Brother Crobat think I'm not beautiful? I thought the words were meant seriously."

Crobat looked at the sad expression and said in his mind, 'Fuck!!'

He often talks to Umbreon about different things, and he has great respect for her. He can relate to her due to her aggressive fighting style, which is similar to him. But that was only one of the reasons. He didn't want to make her sad.

"No, you are beautiful for your species. I just wanted to say that the male members are also beautiful- I mean handsome. And that's why I brought up this topic."

Crobat quickly came up with an explanation, even though his eyes twitched slightly, when he said, "Male members are also beautiful."

Although he thinks he's very handsome, he doesn't think the other male Pokémon are particularly good looking.

Especially Scizor. Finding good looks in Scizor would be similar to a blind man trying to replace clues in a moonless night that, even in the daylight, only Sherlock Holmes can replace.

The Umbreon was enlightened after hearing Crobat.

"Ohh~ I understand now. What a misunderstanding," Umbreon gave an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry for misunderstanding your words."

"No problem. But didn't I told you; you shouldn't apologize so much."

"Ah, I'm sorr-" Umbreon stopped herself from completing that sentence. It would be a bit shameful to make a mistake just after she said she wouldn't. She didn't want to look bad in front of her family.

Crobat just looked speechlessly at the Pokémon whom he had often seen beat other Pokemon to death even after they were already unconscious.

.....

Alex's Pokémon were in a training place that Alex had booked specially for today.

He had already marked the battlefield boundaries and made them a bit smaller than last time.

The hit-and-run tactic was too strong at the last tournament, so Alex changed the parameters of the arena size and kept it similar to the Kanto rookie tournament.

It is still possible to use the hit-and-run tactic, but it was no longer as ridiculously effective as before.

"Ok, participants 1 and 2, please come forward."

Bastiodon and Umbreon both went ahead and took their places.

"3,2,1, GO!!!"

Umbreon and Bastiodon started preparing their moves simultaneously.

And almost at the same time, both used a utility move.

Umbreon used [Work Up], and Bastiodon used [Rock Polish].

Alex, who saw this, nodded and thought, 'This is going to be a long fight.'

Neither Pokémon started attacking each other for the next couple of moves.

After a few more of [Work up] & [Rock Polish], Bastiodon finally changed the ongoing pattern.

Bastiodon suddenly used [Taunt], which made it so that Umbreon wouldn't be able to use a utility move unless it is on the Expert-rank.

It was a shame that Bastiodon is a level below Umbreon, or he could have made sure that even Expert-rank utility move couldn't be used.

Alex nodded with a smile when he saw Bastiodon's action.

Umbreon showed a calm expression and was ready to make a new move.

In contrast to stranger Pokémon, where Umbreon can hardly control her emotions, she is calm as a lake in front of her family.

Although Umbreon didn't like fighting against her family, she knew that training matches were important to make sure that her family wouldn't be weak and would later suffer in the wilderness.

Bastiodon also started preparing a new move with a calm expression.

He also finished first and used [Metal Sound].

Umbreon finished shortly after and used the first attack move in this battle.

She used [Double Kick] as she was fully reinforced by [Work Up], and Bastiodon, who had a 4-fold weakness against fighting moves, felt a lot of pain.

Fortunately, he has a monstrous Def., or he would have suffered detrimental damage.

But even so, he lost 30% HP from this single hit.

Bastiodon's expression became serious as he was preparing the next move.

When Alex saw this situation, he thought, 'Umbreon's plan seems to be to force Bastiodon to use [Rest] before he can use all his utility moves.'

This time both Pokémon were finished at the same time.

To the surprise of Alex, Bastiodon used [Iron Defense].

Although not that impressive, it was a big leap from the previous fight with Steven's Lairon.

He talked for many hours with Bastiodon about independent tactics and sometimes let him fight alone in the wildness.

Alex felt that his hard work was paying off.

Umbreon used [Double Kick] again and caused a great deal of damage to Bastiodon.

After this exchange, both Pokémon started to prepare for moves again.

Bastiodon finished first and finally used the Expert-rank [Rest].

His injuries immediately healed, but he had fallen asleep.

Umbreon, who finished shortly after, used [Double Kick] and hit Bastiodon lightly.

Umbreon knows the weak points of Bastiodon. She wanted to take advantage of Bastiodon being asleep. But she didn't hit the weak point right away. Actually, even if she wanted to, she couldn't. She used this opportunity to make Bastiodon roll over and fall on his side.

She didn't hit his weak point but made it possible to reach it for next time.

'Smart, she used the power of Double Kick to move Bastiodon, clearing her way to his stomach so that for the next attack, she can hit his weak spot.'

Knowing where the weak point of a Pokémon like Bastiodon is located is not easy, and Umbreon only knows this because Bastiodon is a Pokémon she often sees fighting.

One of the biggest advantages Bastiodon species have is that the weak point is not easy to hit, like the head, for example.

Bastiodon can only prepare one move while sleeping, and that is naturally the [Sleep Talk].

After [Sleep Talk] reaches the Expert-rank, it stops using any random moves. Although the move selection would still be random, it would at least be an Expert-rank move.

Unfortunately, this advantage didn't help Bastiodon as he didn't wake up fast enough and was knocked out by two critical hits.

Alex said quietly, "Wow! That was a lot faster than I expected."

*****

[AN]: Have fun with the long chapter.

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