Chapter 147（100）
Lorze finally stepped onto the battlefield, looking at the five opponents with a smirk that silently asked if they wanted to come at him all at once or deliver themselves one by one.
Logically, they should have swarmed him to stand any chance of winning; after all, as the Captain, Lorze had to be the strongest among his peers.
They were struggling against his underlings, so a 1v1 with the "Final Boss" seemed like a death sentence.
But as the elite school team of SMU High, how could they possibly swallow their pride and agree to a 5v1?
If they did that and still lost, they would be the eternal laughingstocks of the academy.
Ultimately, they decided to deliver themselves to the slaughter one by one, hoping to scout his Pokémon first and then counter-pick him.
Their only prayer was that Lorze wouldn't pull out a Dragon-type pseudo-legendary; the mere presence of a Garchomp or Dragonite would be too oppressive.
However, the result was something they never could have predicted.
Forget a Dragon-type; did this guy not even own a Starter Pokémon?
What the fuck was the meaning of pulling out a Mawile—a Pokémon so bottom-tier that most trainers wouldn't take it for free?
A Mawile?
This species didn't even evolve; it couldn't even compete with a Beedrill, let alone a pseudo-legendary!
"Are you sure you grabbed the right ball?"
"Is this Captain position just for show? Your roster is pathetic."
"Wait... maybe he isn't actually the Captain? He never officially said it; maybe he's just the loudest one in the group?"
"He might just be the team's spokesperson."
After all, using a Mawile as a Captain's Ace was too surreal. Could a Steel-type like that even touch a Typhlosion or Frogadier?
For a moment, the Team 2 members exchanged glances, wondering if they had been victims of a massive misunderstanding.
"I'll test him. This is the perfect chance to take back some of our dignity," a trainer with a Krokorok said suddenly, convinced he had been "scammed" by Lorze's hype.
"Don't be careless. Even if he's not the Captain, he's at least on par with that Quilava. Let me feel him out first."
The Team 2 Captain stopped his teammate; for safety, he decided to send out his Darmanitan first.
"Fine. I'm going second! Don't anyone dare try to take my turn!"
"Whatever you say."
The Team 2 Captain narrowed his eyes, looking at Lorze's playful grin and his teammates' "spectator" expressions. He sensed that something was fundamentally wrong.
Hmph. Stop with the smoke and mirrors. I'll crush you with raw power!
The Captain summoned his Darmanitan. The fire-red ape let out a roar, thumping its chest in a display of primal aggression.
The female teacher watching from the sidelines smiled; this was Darmanitan's trademark gesture.
As a gorilla, thumping its chest was a natural biological reflex, right?
The Captain exploited this assumption, secretly ordering Darmanitan to cast Belly Drum under the cover of the thumping animation.
For many trainers who didn't know the move or weren't paying attention, this was a lethal "First-Sight Kill" combo.
Once Belly Drum was successfully cast, the +6 Attack boost (12th-tier power) would make Darmanitan a nightmare even for their Team 1 Captain.
Yet Lorze and Mawile just stood there, seemingly unaware that they were being baited. They remained motionless, smiling at their opponent.
If they were unaware, the smile was too creepy.
If they were aware, why didn't they interrupt it?
That's a Belly Drum!
The Team 2 Captain felt a sudden, cold surge of dread. Even as his Darmanitan finished the move and its aura exploded with power, the unease didn't fade.
Furthermore, white particles of light had been gathering around Mawile for several seconds, looking like the wind-up for a Solar Beam.
Mawile can't even learn Solar Beam, right?
"It's not Solar Beam~," Lorze chuckled, as if reading his mind.
"Then what is it?" The Captain's heart tightened as the dread reached a fever pitch.
"It's the Jet-Propelled Battle Maid mode!"
"What?"
The Captain blinked, confused by the nonsensical term. Are we even playing the same game?
But he got his answer a second later. Mawile's massive jaw on her head suddenly clamped shut with a mechanical, metallic clank, pivoting to adjust its trajectory.
Recalling the word "Jet-Propelled," the Captain's face went pale. He screamed an order: "DODGE—!"
The word "AWAY" never left his lips. A violent, roaring explosion of energy erupted from the back of Mawile's jaw.
The massive bite-strength of her "engine" compressed the "chamber," blasting out all the stored energy in a single, violent burst.
Battle Maid Mode: Two-Stack Spit Up!
A beam of white light shot from the jaw, the colossal counter-thrust launching Mawile forward with such force that her silhouette became a blur.
She didn't run; she kicked off the ground once and simply vanished from everyone's sight.
Less than a heartbeat later, Darmanitan's body buckled as if hit by a freight train.
Mawile had materialized in front of the ape, her fist—glowing with a "Strength-boosted" Focus Punch—slamming into its solar plexus.
BOOM.
A thunderous explosion shook the arena. Darmanitan was launched like a reverse-meteor, flying through the air with agonizing speed.
It slammed into the energy barrier at the edge of the field, the impact so violent it actually caused a visible crack to ripple through the protective shield.
By all laws of the league, even the lowest-tier barrier was supposed to withstand any strike below the Elite (B-Rank) level...
But Mawile's punch had compromised the structure. Although the crack was repaired in milliseconds, it proved that the kinetic energy of that strike was beyond the "Intermediate" ceiling.
The Team 2 Captain turned his head in disbelief, watching his Darmanitan bounce off the barrier and crumple into the dirt.
The massive aura gained from Belly Drum was shattered in one hit; the Pokémon couldn't even manage to lift its head.
The Captain's jaw dropped. He was speechless.
The entire stadium fell into a deafening silence. The spectators were in a state of collective shock.
A few seconds later, the arena erupted into a frenzy of shouting. Everyone was staring at the Mawile, whose hand was still smoking with True Qi.
What the fuck was that speed?
She had literally flown like a fighter jet. To see that move on a Mawile felt like seeing a Dragonite reach Mach 2.
Mawile is supposed to be the slowest species in the game!
You call THAT slow?!
Say that again while looking at her, you bastards!
And then there was the Focus Punch.
Everyone knew it was a move that required a long wind-up and mental focus. How did she execute it in a microsecond?
How is that any different from a basic move?
A 150-Power move with zero priority drawback and zero recoil?
Does such a thing even exist?!
Well, they were looking at it now.
"Incredible."
The quiet, scholarly girl pushed her glasses up her nose, her eyes burning with a sudden, intense interest in the boy on the field.
"What did he actually do?"
The female teacher was gasping in shock. She thought a +6 Attack Darmanitan would at least drain Lorze's stamina, even if it lost.
Who would have guessed the match would be over in a single exchange?
"I'm not sure. It has to be linked to that 'Solar Beam' wind-up. Let the others test him," the girl whispered.
She couldn't see the logic yet; maybe her older sister could have decoded it at a glance.
Meanwhile, the Krokorok trainer who had bragged about going second was having a mental breakdown.
His hands were shaking so hard he could barely grip his Poké Ball.
That was a Belly Drum Darmanitan... gone in the blink of an eye?
Are you joking? Am I really supposed to fight that monster next?
He looked at his teammates with a pleading, miserable expression, as if asking if it was too late to forfeit.
His teammates only offered him a look of pity.
Nobody is fighting you for your turn now, buddy. Get out there~.