Chapter 49: The Tournament Ends! Champion!
"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of high-level battle we expected from our top-seeded competitors! What a spectacular exchange!" the announcer roared.
Although Beedrill had blocked the attack with its lance, the super-effective Flying-type energy from Wing Attack still rattled it. But compared to the damage Pidgeot had just taken, it was a worthy trade.
The moment Pidgeot's wing strike connected, sending Beedrill flying back, it let out a pained cry. A faint purple aura began to seep from its body.
"That's..." Kenji's eyes lit up.
"Oh no!" Melody gasped, instantly recognizing the sign. Pidgeot was poisoned!
"A disastrous turn of events! Melody's Pidgeot has been poisoned! She'll have to end this battle fast!"
A small smirk played on Kenji's lips. The scales of victory had tipped. The Focus Energy he'd used earlier had paid off, allowing the Poison Jab to land as a critical hit, ensuring the venom was successfully injected.
From this point on, he didn't even have to engage. He could just stall, and the poison would do the work for him. The toxins were already sapping Pidgeot's stamina with every passing second.
I can't drag this out! Melody thought.
"Pidgeot! Use Air Cutter!" she commanded, wisely choosing to keep her distance. That last Poison Jab, amplified by Huge Power, a critical hit, and a same-type-attack-bonus (STAB), had dealt devastating damage. She was lucky it hadn't knocked Pidgeot out then and there. If this fight continued, the poison would finish the job.
"Pidge!" Gritting through the pain, Pidgeot flapped its wings, sending a volley of wind blades at Beedrill.
"Dodge with Quick Attack, then use Venoshock!"
With its boosted speed, Beedrill was a blur, too fast for even Pidgeot's Keen Eye to track. It effortlessly weaved through the barrage of attacks, the wind blades harmlessly striking the ground behind it.
"Wait... use Poison Sting instead!" Kenji corrected himself mid-command. He'd forgotten that Beedrill's proficiency with Venoshock was still low; it would be hard to land a hit. A rapid-fire Poison Sting was a better choice for ranged harassment.
Beedrill angled its body, and a hail of small, venom-coated needles shot from its stinger toward Pidgeot.
"Feather Dance!"
Pidgeot spun, creating a vortex of feathers that easily deflected the incoming needles. But every move it made, every ounce of energy it spent, only accelerated the poison's effect, draining its remaining stamina.
The next few exchanges were a repeat of the last. A full-health Pidgeot struggled to land a hit on Beedrill; a poisoned one stood no chance.
Finally, ravaged by the toxins, Pidgeot could no longer stay airborne. It collapsed onto the battlefield.
"Pidgeot is unable to battle! Beedrill is the winner!"
"Let's hear it for competitor Kenji, who has advanced to the finals! Melody will move on to the third-place match!"
Melody recalled her Pidgeot, her expression a mix of disappointment and respect. Both trainers handed their Pokémon over to the medical staff for immediate treatment.
After defeating Melody, the final match against Suzanne was almost an afterthought. Her ace, Breloom, was a Grass/Fighting-type. Against Beedrill, this was a nightmare matchup. Fighting-type moves were 4x resisted, dealing almost no damage, while Beedrill's own Poison-type moves were super-effective.
The final battle was, as Kenji expected, an easy win.
The third-place match between Melody and Leon, however, was a different story. While Melody was the more skilled trainer, Leon's Golem was a defensive wall. It simply retracted its head and limbs into its boulder-like body, and Pidgeot's Flying-type attacks barely scratched it. It was a long, grueling war of attrition, but Melody eventually wore it down, securing a hard-earned victory for third place.
She was fuming after the match, complaining loudly that she needed to catch a Pokémon specifically to deal with Rock and Ground types. Kenji silently agreed; a Gyarados or a Hawlucha would fit that role perfectly.
"After a week of intense competition, the time has come! Today, we crown the champion of this year's Supernova Championship... competitor Kenji! And now, please welcome to the stage: Edgecliff Gym Leader Marcus, and the president and vice-president of the Windswept Pokémon Battle Club, who will present the awards to our top three finalists!"
Amidst the announcer's rambling and the applause of the crowd, Marcus and two other men walked onto the stage to present the medals to Kenji, Suzanne, and Melody.
The ceremony was nice, but Kenji was far more interested in what came next.
The first-place prize: one random Starter Pokémon Egg.
Of course, he had no intention of keeping it. From the beginning, he had planned to give it to Leo. With the Ekans egg still incubating, Kenji already had three Pokémon. A starter would make four. And that wasn't even counting the pseudo-legendary waiting for him at Metropolis Academy. Leo, with his single Pidove, needed this far more than he did.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have completed the mission! The reward has been distributed. Do you wish to draw now?]
No!
As usual, Kenji suppressed his excitement, closed the system panel, and decided to wait until he was home.
After the ceremony, the three finalists were led off the stage to an area where their prizes were waiting. Three staff members stood there; two held silver trays, and the one in the middle held a large, high-tech incubator containing a single Pokémon egg.
"Congratulations, and here are your prizes."
Kenji glanced at the other trays. Suzanne, the runner-up, had received a "Hard Stone," a rare Treasure that boosted the power of Rock-type moves. Melody, for third place, received a random Evolution Stone. Both were valuable, but his eyes were fixed on the incubator.