Knockout Round

The twin brothers came from a fighting dojo in Johto that had been established for quite some time. It was always known for producing many strong Fighting-type trainers. Even Bruno, one of the Elite Four, regularly visited the dojo for training.

Hitmonchan ran in a zigzag pattern, trying to make its opponents confused. With a well-developed lower body, it could move at high speed. As it got closer to them, its right hand, which was covered in a red boxing glove, was covered in flames.

Hitmonchan specialized in punching and was able to learn Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and Thunder Punch. A well-balanced repertoire of moves allowed it to beat many opponents with ease.

Meanwhile, Hitmonlee took a few steps forward and jumped high in the air. While Hitmonchan focused on punching, Hitmonlee evolved to become a powerful kicker. Its legs were able to freely contract and stretch like a coiled spring, giving its kick a greater reach. While falling, it swung its right leg toward Beedrill.

Hitmonlee's Double Kick from above and Hitmonchan's Fire Punch from the front. Both of their attacks were aimed at Beedrill and, at the same time, blocked her escape route.

Seeing this, Ran became flustered. She had never fought in this kind of battle before.

The plan of the twin brothers was simple. It was to take out the weak Pokemon first. After eliminating one of the opponent's Pokemon, they would focus on dealing with the remaining Pokemon.

"Gardevoir, block them!"

Suddenly, Hisoka's voice rang out.

Hearing that, Gardevoir raised one of her hands. Her eyes suddenly flashed with an exceptionally dazzling blue light.

When Hitmonchan was just about to hit Beedrill, it suddenly stopped in its tracks.

"Chan!"

It tried to move its body but couldn't even budge. Then, it was surrounded by a blue aura and lifted into the air.

Hitmonlee also ended up in the same way. Under Gardevoir's control, both of them were manipulated like a marionette, unable to control their bodies.

"Damn! It's Psychic!"

The twins cursed inwardly.

'The other Pokemon must be a Psychic-type. We need to of something else.'

They looked at each other in understanding.

"Beedrill! Use Fury Attack now!"

Ran immediately reacted. She might have a little panic at first, but after Hisoka's shout woke her up from her daze, she quickly seized the chance.

Gardevoir's job was pretty simple. She only needed to lock her opponents while her teammate was attacking them.

"Bzzz!"

Beedrill rushed straight toward the opponents with its stingers ready. She then jabbed her glowing stingers at them happily.

Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee, who were unable to move, could only suffer under her repeated attacks. Even though her jabs were weak, they still hurt a lot.

One of the twins quickly thought of a way to get out of their current predicament. He knew it was close to impossible to escape from Gardevoir's clutch. In the end, he had no other choice but to sacrifice his Hitmonlee temporarily so Hitmonchan could get away.

He looked at his Hitmonlee being attacked by Beedrill and said, "Hitmonlee! Use Helping Hand to Hitmonchan!"

A golden aura emerged from within Hitmonlee's body. It looked at Hitmonchan and transferred the aura to it.

The other twin's eyes lit up as he saw that.

"Hitmonchan, Vacuum Wave!" he ordered immediately.

Hitmonchan received the boost from its teammate, instantly regained control of its body, and managed to break free from Gardevoir's control.

As it fell to the ground, a strong wind formed around his fist. Then, it jumped up and fired a tornado at Beedrill.

Bang!

Beedrill didn't expect that turn of events and was blown away by the gale. The strong impact made her feel dizzy, and she slowly fell to the ground.

"Grrr!"

Ran clenched her hands tightly. Her face was flushed with anger at Beedrill's shameful display.

'Taunting the opponents, being careless... I must teach her a lesson after this,' she thought, fuming.

"Ha... Let's end this Gardevoir. Psybeam," Hisoka facepalmed.

Initially, he wanted to let Ran have some experience in this kind of battle. But who would have thought this would happen?

'Oh well. Let's get this over with.'

Before Hitmonchan had even time to react, a multicolored beam suddenly struck it.

Boom!

A huge explosion occurred, kicking up a large cloud of smoke.

Thud!

After the smoke died down, everyone could see Hitmonchan lying against the wall. Then, it slowly slid down the wall and fell to the ground with swirly eyes, leaving behind a human-shaped pit on the wall.

"..."

The arena suddenly fell into silence.

Hitmonlee, who had just stood up, was also stunned. It turned around and saw Gardevoir looking at it with her hand raised.

The twins were floored at what happened just now. They looked at each other in dismay and raised their hand together.

"We admit defeat!"

"..."

The silence continued for more than ten seconds before Hisoka decided to break the silence.

"Ahem!"

Everyone's eyes fell on Hisoka.

"I believe that's our win?"

...

Viridian City,

Team Rocket Underground Base,

A match had just ended on the television's screen. The camera then slowly moved to focus on Hisoka's face.

"This one is not bad. His Gardevoir is very strong. Try to get in contact with him."

Giovannie pointed out.

Then, the Persian next to his feet woke up and stretched out its body. Then, it rubbed its body against his legs.

"What do you think, Persian?"

"Meow!"

Persian leaned its head into Giovannie's hand and nodded lazily.

Ariana smiled and picked up the folder on the table. She flipped through the pages before finding what she was looking for.

"His name is Hisoka. 18 years old and was born here in Viridian City. A silver-rank hunter and Dark City's gym leader. Oh?"

She was slowly reading out Hisoka's information to Giovannie when something caught her attention.

"What?" Giovanni lifted his head.

"Here's where it gets interesting. He was also involved during our attack on S.S. Anne six months ago. He managed to defeat Dwayne, a member of Tyson's Elite Squad. He also had a good relationship with Officer Ryoichi."

"Well, well, well. A hunter and a gym leader, huh? That's quite interesting. As for his conflict with Tyson, that doesn't matter. Talent is the most important thing for us right now," he waved his hand.

"I will send someone to contact him soon," Ariana nodded.

She then picked up the remote control and switched to other channels. 80th arena appeared on the screen, where a battle was underway. Among them was a trainer from the Hoenn region, one of their main targets this time.

...

"Blaziken! Use Sky Uppercut!"

"Blaze!"

A chicken-like Pokemon let out a sharp cry. The Majority of its body was red with beige, yellow, and gray accents. Behind its head were beige, hair-like feathers that reached its back.

It had a small red face with a V-shaped crest on its head, featherless, gray hands, and yellow feathers on the bottom of its legs.

It quickly ducked under a Snorlax's punch, stepped its leg on the ground, and jumped. Then, it raised its glowing fist and delivered an uppercut on Snorlax.

Thump!

The punch struck Snorlax right on its chest, sending it flying away with a pained scream.

Boom!

The Snorlax flew momentarily in the air before it fell heavily. After being hit multiple times by Blaziken, it finally couldn't hold it any longer as it passed out on the ground.

"Wow! That Pokemon is so strong!"

"Yeah, it looks so cool too. What was its name again?"

"That's it! I'm going to catch that kind of Pokemon in the future."

...

The crowd whispered among themselves as they watched Blaziken standing in the arena. Although it was the first time they had seen this kind of Pokemon, its cool appearance and powerful strength had conquered their hearts.

"Hey, Harrison! You're hogging all the attention to yourself."

An orange-haired young man in a purple kimono waved his fists wildly.

"Haha!"

A short, brown-haired young man laughed, showing a kind and sunny smile. He wore a simple purple shirt, beige pants, and a pair of white sports bands on his hands.

"What can I say, Morrison? My Blaziken is just that cool," Harrison joked.

Hearing that, Morrison snorted in disapproval. He then looked at his Pokemon and said, "Swampert! Earthquake!"

"Jump, Blaziken!" Harrison quickly ordered his Pokemon.

After Blaziken defeated Snorlax, there was only a Golem left for them to defeat. In fact, they could just take their time to defeat the opponent slowly. But his friend obviously did not want to stay here any longer. Earthquake was a large-scale attack. Not only it would hurt Golem, but also his Blaziken.

With a light push, Blaziken jumped several meters high, shocking the crowd. Blaziken had strong, muscular legs that gave it great lower body strength. It helped its kicking and jumping abilities.

After that, its hair-like feather spread out in the air. Doing this would allow it to glide in the air for a short time, enough for it to avoid the impact caused by the Earthquake.

In Hoenn, trainers who owned a Blaziken would gather at Mount Chimney once a year. Together, they would hold a Blaziken Jumping Competition. His Blaziken was among the top twenty Blaziken who jumped the highest last year.

The Swampert slammed both its hand on the ground hard. Then, a shockwave spread out from it.

Boom!

The ground cracked as the battlefield shook. The cracks quickly spread forward. Facing such a move, there was nothing Golem could do.

It fell into the cracks caused by the strong vibration. Although it had not completely lost its ability to fight, it was trapped underneath the rocks, unable to move its body.

In the end, the Swampert used a Water Gun to take it out of the fight.

...

"Snorlax and Golem have lost their ability to fight. The winners are Harrison and Morrison from Hoenn!"

The referee announced the results amid the cheers of the crowd.

A week ago, Harrison had just arrived at Johto to start his trip. After winning his first Johto gym badge, he suddenly saw the Celadon Double Battle Tournament advertisement on television. The first prize caught his attention.

He was quite interested in artificial Pokemon after hearing about it some time ago. He wanted to own one, but unfortunately, they were too rare.

So after hearing about the reward for the first place, he immediately registered online. After that, he invited his friend Morrison as his partner competition and came to Kanto together.

His friend had no interest in Porygon. He only wanted to eat all kinds of tasty foods.

So they both made an agreement. As long as they won the tournament, Harrison would take the Porygon and treat him to famous food in Kanto and Johto using the prize money.

Regarding the competition, Celadon Game Corner planned to hold it for three days. The first day would be the knockout stage, where 32 people would be selected for the second part of the tournament.

During this time, most of the participating trainers used their main Pokemon. No one wanted to be eliminated in the first round of the knockout stage.

...