Even rapping now...
Kashiwagi stood in silent disbelief, watching his opponent mime scratching a turntable in the air while sputtering "pfft-shhh" beatbox noises. He felt like he had just encountered a rival whose intelligence stat was severely lacking.
Red lights flashed on the walls.
According to the staff member who brought him in, this was the signal for both parties to prepare. The chosen format was a 3-v-3 single battle—victory went to the side that knocked out three of the opponent's Pokémon or forced a surrender.
Seeing the signal, the Rapper finally stopped his lip-chafing performance. He scanned Kashiwagi's outfit, hoping to identify his faction. However, Frobo had wisely advised Kashiwagi to swap his Team Snagem uniform for plain clothes before entering the Colosseum.
The Rapper stared for a long time but couldn't place him. His plan to pick a counter-Pokémon based on Kashiwagi's organization was officially dead in the water.
Beep—!
A sharp alarm blared.
Kashiwagi threw his Poké Ball and immediately sprinted forward. The unwritten rule of the Pyrite Colosseum was that you couldn't target the Trainer directly, nor could you attack a winner or a loser after the match—but injuries sustained during the chaos of battle were outside the staff's jurisdiction. "Collateral damage" was unavoidable.
Frobo had warned him that many rookie Trainers loved using wide-range moves to take out the opposing Trainer to secure a win. But to Kashiwagi, that was pointless. Hurting this man gained him nothing; defeating his Pokémon was the only way to help Lairon grow and master more power.
"Lai-ron!"
Lairon landed in a flash of white light. Seeing his Trainer running along the side, he quickly kicked into gear and overtook him.
Across the field, the Rapper hesitated for a moment. Only after seeing Lairon did he make his choice.
Pop!
The white light cleared, revealing a beige furball with limbs growing out of its head, pig-like ears, and a snout—a Primeape. Known as the Pig Monkey Pokémon, it was perpetually enraged; the angrier it got, the stronger its muscles became.
The Rapper had clearly used the "second-pick" advantage to choose a type that countered Lairon's Steel/Rock typing, but this choice cost him the initiative.
"Rock Tomb!"
Lairon's movements were nearly simultaneous with the command. His front claws slammed into the ground, and countless massive boulders erupted from the earth amidst rumbling vibrations, flying toward Primeape!
Normally, rock projectiles aren't exceptionally fast, but because Kashiwagi had shortened the distance between them beforehand, Primeape had almost no time to react.
"Smash them with Rage!" the Rapper shouted frantically.
By the time the command left his lips, the boulders had already arrived, slamming into Primeape one after another. Even though it struggled to shatter one or two rocks, the effort was futile.
"Prime!"
Primeape crossed its arms in front of its face, let out a pained grunt, and was quickly boxed in by a wall of debris and dust. It couldn't see Lairon at all.
The Rapper's vision was also obscured. In his hesitation, he didn't dare order his Pokémon to break through the smoke to find Lairon's position—another gift of time for Kashiwagi.
"Sand Tomb!"
With a loud shout, Lairon struck the ground again. The mechanical-pressed yellow soil began to crumble and collapse. Within breaths, a massive, swirling, funnel-like pit formed beneath Primeape!
Primeape's body fell uncontrollably into the center. It spun and sank as the quicksand swallowed its legs, rendering its movements useless. It tried to struggle, but like an ant in a lion's pit, the more it fought, the faster it sank. Within seconds, it was submerged up to its waist, completely helpless.
The Rapper yelped and immediately tried to recall Primeape with his Poké Ball.
However, the swirling Sand Tomb wouldn't allow it. The "Trapped" status meant that even when the red light hit Primeape, the recall failed to trigger.
As the Rapper failed repeatedly to save his Pokémon, Lairon wasted no time. He condensed several sharp stones in the air and hurled them at the trapped target.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Four dull impacts.
The target practice Lairon had been doing lately paid off; out of five stones, four hit their mark. All four exploded directly against Primeape's skull. The monkey's furious expression went blank, its eyes rolled back, and it lost consciousness.
"Hiss!"
The Rapper froze, his face pale as he looked through the settling dust at Kashiwagi's blurred silhouette. A chill ran down his spine. His Primeape had been systematically dismantled by a single combo.
Where did this guy come from? I've never heard of him in the arena. Is he an outsider?
On the other side, Kashiwagi whispered a word of praise to Lairon. He was equally curious about the Rapper—but for a different reason.
Too weak.
There was zero coordination between the man and his Primeape. He acted like a rookie Trainer from the anime, standing there like a statue while his opponent attacked. You could at least shout 'Dodge it!' Kashiwagi thought. Why would you choose to counter-attack the moment you see an incoming projectile?
Is he that confident, or just that stupid?
Still, thanks to this amateur opponent, Kashiwagi discovered something Lairon needed to work on: the startup time for SandTomb was too long.
Typically, there are two ways to use that move. One is a swirling sandstorm vortex that traps the opponent. The other is the "Antlion Pit" they just used. While the pit has the power to reshape the battlefield, it is heavily dependent on the terrain. On a granite floor, Lairon wouldn't have been able to liquify the ground so quickly.
And in that extra time, God only knows what a real opponent could do.
He hadn't noticed this flaw before because maintaining a private battlefield was expensive; he'd only been able to train in the Underdome. Plus, Mawile could "fly" with her sheer speed, making Sand Tomb useless against her anyway.
Kashiwagi watched as the sweating Rapper finally managed to recall his fainted Primeape. He felt a flicker of anticipation for the next Pokémon. Even if this guy was incredibly green, it was better than having no opponent at all.
----
Colosseum Lobby
Later, Frobo met Kashiwagi, who walked out looking somewhat unsatisfied.
"How was it? Feel a bit different from your usual scraps?"
"Definitely." Kashiwagi nodded. Even compared to his early battles against Otsuka in the Underdome, the Colosseum style was "polite." It lacked the desperate, "all-or-nothing" aggression of the slums.
It was a far cry from the "Charity Tournament," where people would attack the Trainer before the Pokémon if they got the chance. No... that wasn't a "match," that was a "slaughter."
But Kashiwagi knew that this back-and-forth arena style was the real world of Pokémon battling. This was the sport that captivated every region.
"You'll get used to it," Frobo patted his shoulder. "Just don't mix it up with a real fight outside. This place is a controlled environment under Duking's rules."
"Understood."
"By the way, there's a tournament here next month. If you're interested, you should sign up. The fee is cheap, but the rewards for a high ranking are incredible." Frobo pointed to a large screen nearby.
It displayed an announcement for the "Pyrite Colosseum Battle Open."