On the field, Arcanine was being chased around by a Solar Eevee with an expression of pure terror on his face. Watching the two Pokémon, they'd nearly lapped the entire arena, and yet they still hadn't stopped.
Solar Eevee was behind Arcanine, continuously launching Illusion Ray and Shadow Ball at him.
And Arcanine, for some incomprehensible reason, hadn't been fighting back at all—just constantly dodging.
Though Arcanine's evasive form was somewhat undignified—at times leaping up in a comedic fashion, at other times rolling across the ground twice.
But it had to be said, it was actually working. At the very least, every single one of Solar Eevee's attacks had been dodged.
"Why isn't Jace commanding Arcanine to fight back?" Auron looked confusedly toward Jace at the edge of the field, only to find Jace also helplessly laughing at himself in misery.
Auron: ???
Was Jace under some kind of hypnosis move? Just watching Arcanine get chased around without fighting back?
This farcical battle ultimately ended with Solar Eevee's stamina giving out, unable to stand back up any longer.
In the end, the referee declared Arcanine the victor. The battle was over.
"Why didn't you have him counterattack? You just stood there and watched that Solar Pokémon chase Arcanine around?" Auron asked the moment Jace stepped off the field.
Jace laughed bitterly. "It's not that I didn't want to counterattack. Did you see the opponent's trainer?"
"No? What does the trainer have to do with anything?"
Jace glanced around nervously, like a thief, and then spoke in a hushed voice to Auron.
"Right at the start, my Arcanine won a round. Then they sent out Solar Eevee."
"Yeah, and then?"
"Solar Eevee—I figured it was a Psychic type, so I went ahead and commanded Arcanine to use the Dark-type move Crunch."
"That makes total sense."
"Right, but the problem was with that Crunch. Arcanine bit Solar Eevee right on the face."
Auron: "...Did they... kiss?"
Jace laughed bitterly and nodded.
"Yeah. They kissed."
Now Auron understood why Arcanine hadn't been fighting back. He'd taken advantage of the other Pokémon—and felt guilty about it.
Suddenly, Auron paused. "Hold on—is that Solar Eevee male or female?"
Jace helplessly rolled his eyes. "Female, big bro. What are you even thinking? If it were male, Arcanine would've beaten him into the ground a long time ago."
"Female works out then, haha. Your Arcanine's love life is coming along faster than yours."
"Don't even bring it up. I'm so frustrated. A perfectly good freshman battle, and it ended up like this."
Jace wore a miserable expression as he walked alongside Auron.
"So where are we going anyway?"
Auron blinked, stopping in his tracks. "I... don't actually know."
Jace: ...
"Right, who's the closest to us again?"
"Tim at Arena 24."
"Let's go find him."
"Let's go."
The two figured out their bearings, then turned around and retraced their steps back the way they'd come.
"You sure it's 24?"
"I'm sure, but... this?"
The two stared at the platform with confused expressions, watching the two Pokémon and their trainers on the field. They didn't recognize a single one of them.
"Let's just call him... he should be done by now, right?"
"Fine. Following you really does lower my IQ." Auron grumbled, pulled out his phone, and dialed Tim.
"Hello? Hey, where are you guys?"
"I'm at Arena 65, with Serena. Everyone's here with me. Where did you two go after your matches? I looked for you just now and couldn't find you."
"It's a long story. I'll tell you later. We're heading over to find you now."
"Sure, I'll wait here for you."
With that, Tim hung up.
Auron put away his phone and tilted his head at Jace. "Ready?"
"Let's go."
The two wandered their way over to Arena 65 and found that indeed, everyone was gathered there—watching Serena's battle on the field.
"That's so shameless!"
"Seriously, who could win against this?"
Auron had barely gotten close when he heard Tim and Peter commenting on the match.
Auron looked toward the field with some curiosity. Was Serena's opponent really that shameless?
On the field, Milotic's opponent was a Dark/Steel-type Slash Commander.
After watching for a while, Auron finally understood why the two had reacted the way they did.
Milotic's move pool simply didn't contain anything capable of dealing massive damage to Slash Commander.
So Serena could only play it safe—staying at a distance and continuously pelting him with Dragon Breath, Ice Beam, and Water Wave from range.
Slash Commander of course wasn't about to just sit there and take it. While constantly weaving around Milotic's attacks, he was also rapidly closing the distance.
But every time Slash Commander got close, Milotic would bat him back with either Dragon Tail or Aqua Tail, and then the entire cycle would repeat all over again.
Slash Commander also couldn't set up. The instant he attempted Swords Dance, Milotic would slam him with Dragon Whirlwind to cut the setup short and prevent any boost from taking hold.
Though occasionally Slash Commander would manage to punch through Milotic's defensive barrage of moves and deal a bit of damage, that damage was quickly healed right back up by Milotic's Water Ring.
Auron couldn't help but glance at the Slash Commander trainer's face. Tsk tsk, that was one dark expression.
"Hey, Auron—where did you two disappear to just now? I went looking for you and couldn't find you anywhere."
"Ahem, ahem—it's a long story. I'll explain later." Auron coughed a couple of times, trying to brush past the topic. After all, he couldn't exactly admit he'd gotten lost.
"Slash Commander has lost the ability to battle. Milotic is victorious. The winner of this match is Serena Elm."
With the referee's announcement and Serena's triumphant cheer, everyone turned their attention forward. The question of where Auron had gone was quietly dropped.
"Hmph!"
Serena's opponent let out a cold, indignant snort, furiously recalled Slash Commander, and stormed off with a black expression on his face.
"Tsk tsk, that was brutal."
"Really pitiful."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Their opponent's strength clearly wasn't lacking—but being taken apart like that... who could stomach it?
"Am I impressive? Clean sweep! Two for two!" Serena came bounding over with a grin she couldn't suppress no matter how hard she tried.
"Mm-hmm, very impressive."
"Mm-hmm, well done."
"Right, right—those two said exactly what I was thinking."
Everyone responded to Serena in turn, but the perfunctory tone was painfully obvious.
Still, Serena didn't seem to mind in the slightest. She simply scrunched up her little nose and didn't give their brushoff a second thought.
"Did you all sweep too?"
Auron nodded. "Yeah, clean sweep."
Jace also nodded, grinning. "Me too. Swept clean."
Peter glanced at the two of them and followed suit. "Yep, same here."
In the end, only Tim was left. Tim felt everyone's eyes shift toward him and quietly turned his back, refusing to engage.
Everyone burst out laughing, and after that, left off teasing Tim.
It really was unavoidable. Though Tim had done an excellent job raising Dragonair, in a tournament where everyone else was running fully evolved Pokémon, sweeping cleanly was still a tall order.