The head is the weakness of most Pokémon.
And for Exeggutor, that was even more true.
Right now, Exeggutor was being wrapped up by Dragonair and whipped around like a flail, getting its head slammed into the ground every so often—so badly that it almost wanted to throw up its breakfast.
"Exeggutor, hurry and use Hypnosis!"
Mandi was getting anxious. He'd always believed Psychic-types were unstoppable. He'd relied on tricks like Confusion to beat quite a few Gym Leaders before, but the moment he ran into Grey, he got crushed.
So he could only gamble on Hypnosis—if he could put Dragonair to sleep, maybe he'd still have a chance to turn it around.
Unfortunately, Mandi was thinking too much.
If Exeggutor could stand firmly in place, Hypnosis would've been fine.
But the problem was, Exeggutor was being swung around like a whip. Its head was already spinning, and Dragonair had turned into a bunch of afterimages in its vision.
In that state, not passing out on the spot was already impressive.
"Challenger, your performance is… not great."
Grey rubbed his chin. "Dragonair, toss it."
The moment he spoke, Dragonair snapped its tail hard—Exeggutor instantly shot backward like a cannonball, plowing several meters of ground before it finally managed to stop sliding.
When Exeggutor struggled back up, visible injuries covered its body.
Clearly, that chain of hits hadn't felt good at all.
Maybe because it evolved too early, Exeggutor's strength really wasn't impressive.
It was performing even worse than Daisy's Cloyster did back then.
"If you still can't show me something, I'm going to start going all-out."
These days, Grey had been holding back a lot.
Most battles were give-and-take, and the other challengers had been pretty decent—at least they could survive a few moves under Grey's Pokémon.
But today, Mandi and Exeggutor were honestly not it. If 100 was full marks, they were maybe a 20 or 30.
No highlights. Just messy fighting.
"…Damn it."
Mandi frowned. His plan to step on Grey and go viral had been shattered.
And now he was getting beaten senseless under the gaze of the whole internet—Mandi felt like he wanted to vanish into the ground.
"Exeggutor, use Psybeam!"
The battle continued, and Mandi could only treat a dead horse like a living one.
"Exegg—"
All three sets of eyes flashed blue at once. Three ring-shaped shockwaves—like those circular marks on a battery—rippling outward and blasting toward Dragonair!
Whoosh!
The speed was… painfully unimpressive.
Even without using Extreme Speed, Dragonair could easily dodge it.
"…"
Grey shook his head, thoroughly dissatisfied. "Dragonair, finish it."
"Draa~" (Got it~)
Normal-type energy flowed around Dragonair. The next second, it vanished from where it was, leaving only the late-arriving Psybeam to slam into empty space.
Then Dragonair smashed straight into Exeggutor, knocking it out on the spot.
"Exeggutor has lost the ability to battle. Challenger, please send out your next Pokémon."
Silver announced the result of the first match.
Mandi's Exeggutor went down without landing a single hit on Dragonair—there was definitely a Trainer problem in there.
"Damn it…"
Mandi wiped the sweat off his forehead and swallowed hard.
The gap was too big.
It felt like every move he used was being seen through.
In fact, Dragonair's level and Exeggutor's level were actually pretty close.
Ending the fight that fast wasn't just a Pokémon gap—the Trainer's command made up a huge part of it.
"My next Pokémon is this one! Golbat, go!"
Mandi sent out his last Pokémon—a Golbat, the same model you always saw with Team Rocket grunts.
"Heh heh. My Golbat is my favorite Pokémon. It's also one of the stronger ones on my team."
Golbat's appearance brought back some of Mandi's confidence, and he couldn't resist talking again.
[Pokémon: Golbat]
[Type: Poison / Flying]
[Level: 31]
[Ability: Inner Focus]
[Moves: Omitted…]
"Challenger, how long have you had this Golbat? Did you raise it from a Zubat?"
Looking at the system panel, Grey asked him two questions.
"Two months. It evolved into Golbat a month ago."
Since Grey was actually talking about his Golbat, Mandi lifted two fingers, his tone rising again.
"Two months and it still hasn't evolved into Crobat…"
Grey didn't speak loudly, but it was just enough for everyone in the stream to hear.
[Grass—two months and it's still not Crobat. Is this really your 'favorite Pokémon'?]
[Favorite ≠ high friendship. Inequality solved.]
[Saying 'my favorite' while still using a mid-stage Golbat is giving pure stand-up comedy vibes.]
"I… Forget it. Let's settle this on the field!"
Mandi wanted to argue, but he was afraid of getting slapped in the face again, so he shut up.
"Second battle—begin!"
Silver spoke up, reminding everyone the match was still continuing.
Mandi let out a long breath. He slapped his cheeks hard twice to reset his mindset, then snapped his fingers and commanded, "Golbat—Air Cutter!"
Shhk—shhk!
Golbat flapped its wings. Two sharp, translucent wind blades shot out, the tearing sound echoing through the dojo as they slashed toward Dragonair in a cross-shaped "X"!
It was faster than Exeggutor's attacks… but only by that much.
Before Grey even gave an order, Dragonair shifted its position and avoided it. The thin tip of its tail tapped the arena floor, and a few droplets of water splashed outward.
"Hm?"
Seeing that, Grey immediately understood—Dragonair had learned something new.
Water on the tail… that was Aqua Tail.
"Dragonair, close the distance."
For the second battle, Grey still planned to hold back a little.
If Mandi had nothing interesting left, Grey would rather end this quickly and then lecture him a bit.
"Draa~"
Dragonair obeyed, sliding fast along the ground.
But even though it was quick, it deliberately kept its movement within a track the naked eye could follow.
That was Grey leaving the opponent time to react. As for whether the opponent's moves could actually land—that depended on Golbat's own skill.
"Golbat, take the initiative and go in! Use Poison Fang!"
Mandi chose to clash head-on. He refused to believe Dragonair could beat Golbat.
Exeggutor was a fluke.
Late-blooming Pokémon, before they reach their final evolution, are bottom-tier among same-level Pokémon!
With that thought, Mandi started looking forward to Golbat biting down and refusing to let go of Dragonair.
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