Chapter 109: Complete Suppression
"Mienfoo, are you alright?"
"Yoo!"
Mienfoo looked extremely uncomfortable, but it still managed to endure.
Sora didn't order Sylveon to press the advantage immediately.
Instead, he asked:
"Your Mienfoo is female, right?"
"Yes."
Korrina looked confused.
"My Sylveon's Ability is Cute Charm."
Sora hadn't merely ordered Sylveon to tank Fake Out because he wasn't afraid of the move.
He had also intended to trigger Cute Charm.
"Huh?"
Korrina suddenly realized what he meant.
"I… made another mistake?"
Pokémon with the Cute Charm Ability had a chance to inflict infatuation on opposite-gender Pokémon that struck them with contact moves.
Fortunately, Korrina had gotten lucky.
Her Mienfoo and Sylveon were both female.
Otherwise, Mienfoo might have fallen completely under the infatuation status.
"Sorry…"
Korrina increasingly felt that this second match wasn't an evenly matched battle at all.
It was a lesson.
"Please continue. You don't need to hold back for me!"
"Alright."
Sora smiled.
"Then this time, it's our turn to attack."
"Sylveon, Dazzling Gleam."
"Bui?"
Sylveon understood.
This was meant to finish things.
"This is bad!"
The moment she saw Sylveon begin glowing, Korrina hurriedly shouted:
"Mienfoo, Protect!!"
Dazzling Gleam was an extremely rare move in the current era.
Korrina had fortunately seen it in a few battles before, so she knew its defining characteristic.
Its attack range was enormous.
It nearly covered the entire battlefield.
There was virtually no room to dodge.
Therefore, the only thing Mienfoo could do was use Protect to block the attack.
"Too late."
"What?!"
However, Sora's words stunned Korrina.
It wasn't that Protect couldn't stop the attack.
It was that—
there wasn't enough time to use it.
"YOOO!!"
Within the gathering light, Mienfoo had only just begun forming Protect when the dazzling brilliance swallowed it whole.
By the time the light faded, what remained before Korrina's eyes was:
Sylveon, still energetic and lively—
and Mienfoo collapsed on the ground, completely unable to continue battling.
"How…"
One strike.
Just a single strike had defeated her ace Mienfoo.
"Bui~~"
Sylveon lightly swayed her ribbons.
She had already held back as much as possible.
The moment she realized Mienfoo likely couldn't endure a full-powered Dazzling Gleam, she had immediately reduced her Fairy-type energy output.
This attack hadn't even reached one-third of its actual strength.
"So strong…"
While checking Mienfoo's condition, Korrina analyzed the entire battle process in her head.
It had happened too quickly.
So quickly that she didn't even fully understand how Mienfoo had lost.
"It feels like… pure difference in strength."
Mienfoo's attacks barely affected Sylveon.
One Draining Kiss instantly healed all the damage.
Meanwhile, Sylveon's Dazzling Gleam was something Mienfoo couldn't withstand at all.
This was complete suppression through sheer stats.
"But… I don't understand."
Korrina admitted that Sora's Sylveon was unquestionably powerful.
There was no doubting that.
But what truly confused her was still that Dazzling Gleam.
"Why didn't Mienfoo's Protect stop Dazzling Gleam?"
"Too slow."
Sora calmly explained:
"Mienfoo and Sylveon aren't actually that far apart in level."
"Rule-based defensive moves like Protect will completely negate attacks as long as they successfully activate."
Protect had the drawback of decreasing success rates with repeated use.
But as always—
every move had weaknesses.
Beam attacks with perfect accuracy could still be dodged through trajectory prediction.
Type-disadvantaged attacks could be intercepted midair.
Similarly—
moves like Protect weren't difficult to break if you struck before the defense fully formed.
Not only that—
different Pokémon used Protect differently.
Some formed wall-like barriers in a single direction.
Others created dome-shaped shields.
Some even wrapped the barrier tightly around their own bodies.
One move—
yet countless applications.
Everything depended on the Pokémon's understanding and mastery.
"You noticed it already, didn't you?"
Sora said:
"My Pokémon have a major advantage in move execution speed."
"Yes."
Korrina nodded immediately.
"They're unbelievably fast. Faster than every Trainer I've battled before."
This level of move mastery—
Korrina had only ever witnessed it from her grandfather's former ace Pokémon.
"And I absolutely don't mean to pry into your training methods, Senior!"
Korrina hurriedly clarified herself.
Among Trainers, secretly stealing another person's techniques was considered extremely rude.
Naturally, Sora wouldn't reveal Victini's secrets to others.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, fewer people knowing was always better.
"I know."
Sora smiled and waved it off.
"So then—"
"Do you still want to continue with the third match?"
"Yes!"
Korrina hadn't been crushed by consecutive defeats.
If anything—this was exactly when she wanted to push harder and catch up.
"Good spirit."
Sora nodded inwardly.
Yet verbally, he showed no mercy whatsoever.
"Unfortunately, I need to tell you something harsh."
"The truth is…"
"The previous battles were teaching matches."
"Ugh…"
Even though she'd already realized it herself, hearing Sora openly state it still embarrassed Korrina greatly.
"I'm not looking down on you."
"Three Pokémon. Three battles."
"The first Pokémon I sent out—Amaura—is a recent capture."
"I used her to spar with you regarding tactics and real-time battlefield decision-making."
Amaura and Machoke hadn't differed greatly in raw stats.
If anything, Amaura had been weaker.
Yet Sora accurately exploited Korrina's misjudgment and relentlessly targeted Machoke's weaknesses until victory was secured.
That had been a tactical victory.
"As for the second battle—Sylveon."
"Under my training, this child has already crossed the first major threshold and stepped into a completely new realm."
Her stats had steadily increased.
Under Victini's assistance, her move mastery improved every single day.
She had already become capable of rivaling veteran Trainers' ace Pokémon.
And during this period, she had also frantically learned everything related to Sylveon from the Azoth royal family.
It could be said that modern Sylveon—
aside from lacking enough real battle experience—
had no weaknesses.
From here onward, as long as her level continued increasing steadily, Sylveon would become one of Sora's true core team members—
fully capable of handling any official tournament battle.
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