Pokémon: Sandstorm Sovereign

Chapter 21: An Easy Victory

"Go, Drilbur!"

"Come on out, Nidoran!"

Basalt and the red-faced boy threw their Poké Balls at the same time. The two Pokémon stared at each other, their fighting spirit blazing.

Nidoran♂ was a small, rodent-like Pokémon. Its body was purple with dark purple spots. It had large ears with teal-colored insides, small front teeth, and small red eyes. A poisonous horn grew on its forehead, and three rows of poisonous spines ran down its back, with the middle row being slightly longer. Its four legs were short, each with two toes.

Generally speaking, Pokémon are quite simple-minded, especially young ones. This Poison-type Nidoran♂ had no idea who its opponent was; it just felt that it could win with the venom on its body. Because its ability was Poison Point. The Poison Point ability gave Nidoran♂ a huge advantage in close combat.

"Both contestants, take your positions. Let the battle begin!"

As the referee waved his small flag and gave the command, the battle officially started.

"Nidoran, use Poison Sting!"

The red-faced boy made the first move, launching an attack preemptively. If he could poison Drilbur, he might still have a chance in this fight. Otherwise, the moment his opponent used Sand Tomb, his Nidoran would be done for.

Swish!

Dark purple Poison-type energy gathered at the tip of Nidoran's horn, instantly forming a long poison needle, the length of a finger, which shot straight towards Drilbur.

"Rapid Spin!"

Basalt waved his hand, unhurried.

Swoosh!

Drilbur's body spun violently, instantly becoming a spiral of energy. It was so fast that it even kicked up a whirlwind, filling the field with dust. When the dark purple poison needle hit this energy vortex, not only did it fail to penetrate, but it also made a ding sound and was instantly pulverized into dust.

Rapid Spin, defense successful!

As a move that combined offense, defense, and movement, Basalt had high hopes for Rapid Spin and had trained it frequently. As Drilbur's physical condition improved and it adapted to the spinning, the speed of its Rapid Spin had become faster and faster. At full power, it could even barely block Poliwag's full-strength Water Gun. Defeating a little Nidoran's Poison Sting was a piece of cake.

"Sand Tomb!"

Basalt waved his hand and gave the command to counter-attack.

"Chari~"

As Drilbur stopped spinning, the Ground-type energy in its body surged to its right claw. It then plunged its claw into the ground, sending the energy outwards until it reached Nidoran's feet.

RUMBLE!

With Nidoran at the center, the ground in a 3-meter diameter instantly collapsed, turning into a vortex-like Sand Tomb that began to slowly swallow Nidoran. The Ground-type energy was super-effective against the Poison-type Nidoran. On top of that, Nidoran was small; without its ears, it was less than 0.3 meters tall. So, even though it had only sunk a dozen centimeters, it looked as if half its body had been swallowed by the sand. No matter how much it struggled, it was useless.

"Nidoran!" the red-faced boy shouted in panic, but it was no use.

A minute later, Nidoran finally exhausted its stamina. Its eyes swirled, and it lost the ability to battle.

Basalt had won his first match.

Seeing Basalt win so easily without taking a single scratch, the students present immediately burst into discussion.

"That Sand Tomb move is so broken! Except for sandstorm Pokémon, which are less affected, and Flying-types, which are immune, any ordinary Pokémon that falls into it is probably done for."

"Exactly! Not only is your movement restricted, but you also take continuous damage from the energy, which constantly drains your stamina. It's so annoying!"

"But speaking of which, Drilbur's weakness is also very obvious. It's a physical, close-combat, Ground-type Pokémon. If it runs into a Pokémon that can fly, it's toast!"

"That's a good point. Although Mud-Slap and Sand Tomb can attack from a distance, they are both Ground-type moves and completely ineffective against flying Pokémon."

"Let me see, let me see! Wow, the class president is number 15. If everything goes smoothly, Basalt and the class president might meet in the semifinals."

"What a pity. By then, it will already be the semifinals. Even if Basalt loses, he'll still get a prize."

…

Basalt was usually a bit of a loner. He was handsome, and his Pokémon was strong, so he was very much envied by the other boys. With the rich kid and class big-shot Frank leading the way and often speaking ill of him, it was difficult for Basalt to integrate into the male social group. To this day, only Gavin could be considered a friend.

Basalt ended the battle cleanly and efficiently. Ms. Anya's beautiful eyes shifted. After a moment of thought, she wrote two words next to Basalt's name.

Excellent!

The class tournament was intense, with one match following another. After Basalt left the field, contestants number 7 and 8 took their places.

Soon, all sixteen first-round matches were over. Although the vast majority of the students' battles were rather amateurish with little technical skill, a few students were quite capable. One was Frank's Munchlax. With the help of the move Harden, its Rollout had become even more powerful, and it was extremely proficient with it. It didn't matter who the opponent was; it just rolled over them.

Another was the class president, Leo. Her Pidgey currently had four moves on display: Peck, Sand Attack, Gust, and Tackle. But because it had the advantage of being in the air, any short-ranged Pokémon that went up against it was just serving itself up for defeat. At this stage, many Pokémon didn't have any long-range attacks.

However, this situation wouldn't last long. As the students' Pokémon grew stronger, their movesets would become more diverse. By then, Pidgey certainly wouldn't be as difficult to deal with. At this stage, Flying-type Pokémon were mainly enjoying a temporary advantage.

After the first round of matches was over and the referee and teacher had taken a ten-minute break, the competition resumed. Since the Pokémon were all still at a low level and the intensity of the battles wasn't high, even if they lost the ability to battle, they could quickly recover their stamina by eating an Oran Berry. Plus, all the Pokémon continuing on were winners, so it wasn't a big problem.

Basalt's second-round opponent was contestant number 8, Jasmine, whose starter Pokémon was the Grass/Bug dual-type, Paras. Paras was an arthropod-like Pokémon, similar to a cicada nymph. Its body was mostly orange, with three pairs of legs, the first pair being larger and with sharp tips. It had five granular bumps on its forehead, and two red mushrooms with light yellow spots were parasitizing its back.

The battle began. Paras used Stun Spore, but under the strong wind generated by Rapid Spin, the powder couldn't get close to Drilbur. After the Stun Spore was dealt with, Drilbur used its old trick: one Sand Tomb to trap the opponent, then non-stop Mud-Slaps to lower the opponent's accuracy and obscure its vision. It secured another easy victory, completely unscathed.

It was a smooth, comfortable, and silky-smooth victory.

"Why do I suddenly feel like an elementary schooler beating up a kindergartener?" Basalt chuckled to himself. A baby cup tournament? I think I'm getting a little arrogant.

The third match came quickly. Basalt's opponent was contestant number 1, Dylan, and his starter was Meowth. Dylan's Meowth had managed to win an upset victory against a Fighting-type Mankey in the previous round with its trump card move, "Fake Out." Its strength was not to be underestimated.

"Fake Out, huh? That's a bit troublesome. I hope it doesn't have the 'Technician' ability, or this could get really annoying." Basalt blinked and stroked his chin.