Capítulo 174: Ace VS Marnie

"AND FOR THE FIRST ROUND WE HAVE LIEPARD VERSUS VESPIQUEN!"

The announcer's voice rang out as both Liepard and Vespiquen appeared in the arena, one by it's lonesome, and the other accompanied by hundreds of Combee.

"Already we can see how serious Ace is taking this match Steven, as he had yet to bring out Vespiquen throughout the entire tournament." Professor Oak immediately observed from the commentator's box.

"Indeed. And not only does he immediately seize the advantage with her increased strength as an alpha, but Marnie will also have to figure out how to deal with all of the Combee accompanying Vespiquen." Steven said in agreement.

"Liepard, Hone Claws and Double Team!" Marnie quickly ordered.

"LIEPA!"

With a cry, Liepard multiplied into dozens of copies of itself while simultaneously channeling dark type energy into it's claws to increase their lethality.

'Vespiquen, focus on offense while having the Combee protect you with Defense Order.' Ace told Vespiquen mentally, who trilled loudly in response.

"Now Liepard, use Night Slash!" Marnie ordered once their preparations were complete.

"LIE!"

With a cry, all of the Liepard copies suddenly channeled dark type energy as they each sent dozens of blades made from pure darkness into the air at Vespiquen.

'Now!'

"""Bee bee!"""

As one, several of the Combee hovering around Vespiquen placed themselves in front of their queen to tank the attack for her, keeping her safe with nary a single scratch.

"What?!" Marnie uttered in shock when she saw that not a single one of Liepard's attacks connected with Vespiquen, as unconscious Combee rained from the sky. But there were still an overwhelming amount of them left.

"And that is exactly why Vespiquen are a terror to face in the arena." Professor Oak suddenly said.

"That's right professor. Not only are Vespiquen themselves fairly powerful, but their hives can also battle alongside them as a part of their strength." Steven said in agreement, while also explaining to the crowds. In particular, Aaron of the Elite Four in Sinnoh was watching with interest, also having a Vespiquen of his own.

'Now Vespiquen, use Air Slash Barrage!' Ace mentally commanded her once the numerous Night Slashes had ended.

"QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!"

Crying out loudly in affirmation, Vespiquen suddenly began moving to create dozens of blades of air that rushed down at her opponents, eliminating one Liepard copy after another.

"Damn it! Liepard, jump up into the air and use Sucker Punch!"

"Liepard!"

The sleek feline quickly did as it's trainer commanded as all of the remaining copies leapt up into the air to get at Vespiquen, even going as far as to use the remaining Combee as footholds to change their angles and come at her from every direction. But with each passing second Vespiquen was destroying more copies with Air Slash.

"Looks like Vespiquen might be in a bit of trouble here! She'll have to figure out which of the Liepard is the real one fast!" Steven declared.

"That won't be necessary." Professor Oak said casually, making his fellow commentator look at him in confusion.

"Ace is an aura user Steven. Some moves like Double Team are useless against him since he can always tell which one is the real pokemon through it's aura. If I had to venture a guess, Ace and Vespiquen are intentionally targeting all of the copies before going after the actual Liepard."

"Wait, seriously?" Steven asked, but the professor's words were immediately proven correct.

Right as the final Liepard clone disappeared, the real one was just about to hit Vespiquen with a paw coated in dark type energy. But then a single Combee suddenly intercepted it to protect it's queen.

"Bee!"

"Lie?!"

'Now Vespiquen, use Fury Cutter.'

"QUEN!"

Taking advantage of the momentary pause after the Combee took the Sucker Punch, Vespiquen suddenly went on the offensive as she channeled bug type energy into her claws, before using them to slash the now defensless Liepard.

"PARD!" It cried out in pain from the attack.

"Liepard!" Marnie cried back with worry.

'Now use Power Gem to send it crashing down!'

"Ves!"

With the gem in her forehead glowing, Vespiquen produced a powerful ray of light that hit Liepard to send it crashing down to the ground with far more force than it would have before.

'Now finish this with X-Scissor.'

Not needing to be told twice, Vespiquen readily crossed her arms before making a slashing motion with them, producing a powerful X-shaped blade of bug type energy that shot down at Liepard as it struggled to rise to it's feet.

"Get out of there Liepard!" Marnie cried out, but it was pointless.

*CRASH!*

Dust covered the arena as the powerful X-Scissor impacted it, with Liepard right in the center. and when it cleared a moment later, everyone saw that there were now two large gashes cut into the arena itself, with an unconscious Liepard right in the middle.

"No way..." The leader of Team Yell uttered in disbelief, the entire team falling silent in shock.

But no one was as shocked Marnie herself.

Even if she knew she was having an easier time making her way up the rankings due to Team Yell, despite her repeatedly telling them not to, Marnie was still a capable trainer that had been raised in the Spikemuth Gym by her big brother and the current Gym Leader, Piers. So she couldn't believe that one of her pokemon was taken out so easily until one of the referees made their announcement.

"LIEPARD IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!"

"..."

Clenching her fists in frustration, Marnie had no choice but to recall Liepard back to it's pokeball.

"Liepard, return... You did well."

Marnie then looked back at Ace as he stood across from her, before glancing upwards at his powerful Vespiquen, accompanied by an army of Combee.

"Go, Morpeko!"

"Peko peko!"

Compared to the sleek and agile-looking Liepard from before, Morpeko was a tiny rodent that barely stood a foot tall with mostly yellow fur, one side of which was black, while the other was brown.

"AND MARNIE IS GOING WITH MORPEKO, THE TWO-SIDED POKEMON!"

"An interesting choice. Obviously, Marnie is hoping that Morpeko's electric typing will give it an edge over Vespiquen." Professor Oak said said in observation.

"Indeed. But Vespiquen still has most of her Combee available, and she still has the bug type advantage over Morpeko's dark typing." Steven replied.

"Either way, this matchup is sure to be interesting." Professor Oak concluded.

"Morpeko, use Electric Terrain!"

"Morpeko!"

With Vespiquen and her hive flying above and watching, Morpeko channeled electric energy into it's paws before slamming them down onto the ground of the arena to electrify it entirely.

Electric Terrain was a move that helped to amplify electric type attacks, while also basically giving electric type pokemon the home field advantage. It was similar to battling them somewhere like Thunder Ridge, where even Zapdos made it's home.

But that wasn't enough for Marnie.

"Now Morpeko, use Nasty Plot!"

"Peko?"

The hamster-like pokemon asked cutely, before looking back at Vespiquen with a vicious smirk.

"Morpeko...." It practially cackled while rubbing it's paws together, thinking all sorts of nasty thoughts as it's yellow fur began to shift to purple while it's eyes turned red.

"And now on top of Electric Terrain and Nasty Plot, it appears that Morpeko has also shifted into it's infamous 'hangry' mode." Professor Oak said as he watched the transformation take place with interest.

"'Hangry mode'?" Steven asked curiously, having never heard of this particular pokemon or it's unique transformation before.

"Yes, It's hangry mode." The professor confirmed, before elaborating, "Despite it's small size, a Morpeko can eat enough to rival even a Snorlax at times. And if they don't get the food they're craving, then they become hangry. Not only does the transformation make all of their attacks more powerful, but it also imbues every one of their attacks with dark type energy. The downside is that they are more likely to go on a rampage than listen to their own trainers, and focus entirely on finding food instead of properly battling."

There was a series of different reactions throughout the crowd from professor Oak's commentary about Morpeko, ranging from those who were dumbfounded on how such a cute and little pokemon could cause such trouble, to those who had suffered at the hands of a Morpeko in the past.

Curiously, Marnie's Morpeko was seemingly in control of itself as it entered it's hangry mode, thanks to the intensive training the duo had gone through in the past. Because of this, Morpeko focused all of it's hanger at Vespiquen as bolts of black lightning sparked around it.

"Now Morpeko!" Marnie declared, now that Morpeko was boosted by Electric Terrain, Nasty Plot, and it's hangry mode. "Use Thunder!"

"MorPEEEEEEEEEEEEKO!"

Roaring out how hangry it was, Morpeko unleashed a powerful torrent of black lightning at Vespiquen that almost rivaled the attack Ash's Pikachu dealt to Solrock and Lunatone the other day.

Almost.

And as for Vespiquen, who had been waiting patiently for Morpeko and Marnie to finish their preparations all this time?

'Hyper Beam.'

"QUEEEEEEEEN!"

With the gem on her forehead shimmering brightly, Vespiquen unleashed a powerful blast of energy right as the Thunder was about to hit her.

*BOOM!*

*CRACKLE!*

Bolts of black lightning arced in every direction as the two attacks hit, but hit nothing due to vespiquen being shielded by her own Hyper Beam, and her Combee all taking refuge behind her.

The momentary stalemate between the two attacks created a spectacle like nothing the spectators had ever seen, the pitch-black lightning and the bright Hyper Beam fighting for dominence, before the latter quickly won out. The audience quickly went from watching a contest of power between two opposing elements, to watching as one of the most powerful attacks shot towards a tiny and defensless looking Morpeko.

"Get out of there Morpeko!"

"Peko?"

*CRASH!*

Everyone watched as Morpeko vanished under the intense light of the Hyper Beam attack, before the sound of the impact reached them and the arena was enveloped in a cloud of dust.

"Wow. I don't think Morpeko will be able to come back from that one." Steven said in observation, though professor Oak was silent as they waited to see what the verdict was.

And to everyone's surprise, Morpeko wasn't out of this match just yet.

"Mor....pek.....ko..."

The little hamster was struggling to rise to it's feet in the middle of the small crater that had formed from the Hyper Beam, even while covered in dirt, dust and injuries.

"You can do it Morpeko!" One of the Team Yell thugs yelled out suddenly.

"Get up Morpeko!"

"We believe in you!"

After the one, the rest of Team Yell began shouting for Morpeko to stand and continue fighting, before the rest of the crowd around them joined in as they all cheered Morpeko on.

"""MORPEKO!"""

Soon everyone was cheering Morpeko on as it slowly rose to it's feet, before they all cheered as it successfully stood up and pumped it's paws in victory.

"MOR-PEK-K-!"

*CRASH!*

"""..."""

Any cheering died in their throats as an X shaped attack came down from the sky at Morpeko, knocking it back down and rendering it unconscious completely.

"MORPEKO IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!"

Even as the announcement was made signaling Morpeko's resignation, everyone was struck silent as they tried to process what just happened. Of course, they all turned towards the source of the X-Scissor, Vespiquen, before directing their attention to Vespiquen's trainer, Ace.

"What? This is a battle, not a shounen anime." Ace stated pointedly.

It wasn't like he was wrong, but a lot of people couldn't help but want to ask if he could read a room.

"Morpeko, return..." Marnie said, recalling the pokemon to it's pokeball. She then ran her hand over her remaining pokeballs as she debated which one she would send out next.

Since these were the finals they were going with six on six matches, unlike the maximum of three from the preliminaries. Unfortunately, two of Marnie's four remaining pokemon had fighting typing, meaning they would be even weaker against Vespiquen than Liepard and Morpeko. Then there was Marnie's other pokemon, one of which was her strongest pokemon, while the other....

"Go, Honchkrow!"

"HOOOOOONCH!"

Amidst a cloud of darkness, a large crow-like pokemon appeared with dark-blue feathers that resembled a hat on it's head, and thick white feathers on it's chest.

"Honchkrow, huh?" Ace remarked with a wry smile, before surprising everyone as he held out a pokeball. "Vespiquen, return."

At his command, Vespiquen and all of her Combee disappeared as they were sucked inside the pokeball, leaving Ace's side of the arena empty. He then turned towards one of the two pokemon at his side, and asked,

"How about it? You DO want to rule the skies someday, don't you?"

"GEOOOOOOOO!"

*WHOOSH!*

"""KYAAA!"""

With a shrill cry and a powerful gust of wind, Pidgeot shot up into the air to face his new opponent, making the girls cry out as he did so due to their skirts being flipped up by his downdraft. They were wearing short-shorts under their skirts of course, as cheerleaders, but it was still shocking to have it happen so suddenly.

Pidgeot of course made an entire lap around the arena to show off his alpha greatness to all of plebeians below, even as he pointedly ignored Ace yelling from below, "YOU FUCKING PEACOCK!"

It was only after he was satisfied that he had shown off enough that Pidgeot stalled in midair before Honchkrow, seemingly ready to begin the match now.

"Oh! This will be interesting!" Professor Oak exclaimed with excitement.

"Indeed. Ace recalled one alpha to replace her with another. I can't even imagine what Marnie must be feeling right now." Steven said while looking down at Marnie to gauge her reaction.

As could be expected, her expression was one of frustration and irritation while her clenched fist shook at her side.

Falkner meanwhile sat up straighter in his seat in anticipation of seeing what Ace's Pidgeot could do. He already knew that it could race, but how strong was it in a battle?

"Honchkrow, use Sucker Punch followed by Foul Play!" Marnie quickly ordered.

"Honch!"

'Hurricane.'

"Geo!"

Their orders given, both pokemon started to move as they made to attack, Honchkrow by amassing dark type power as it hurtled towards Pidgeot, and Pidgeot by manipulating the air around him as he spun around rapidly to create a swirling vortex.

"!!!"

"Honchkrow, get out of there!" Marnie hurriedly tried to ammend, only it was too late.

"Krow!" Honchkrow cried as the powerful winds sucked it into the vortex against it's will, leaving both it and Marnie at a loss of what to do until she had an idea.

"Ride the winds Honchkrow! Use them to increase your speed, and make your attack stronger!"

At her command Honchkrow stopped fighting the winds and allowed them to pull it in, right at Pidgeot in the center of the Hurricane.

"Kroooooooooow!"

With a cry, Honchkrow delivered the most powerful Sucker Punch it had ever managed onto Pidgeot, boosted by the winds of the Hurricane, only to find it's attack hitting an impentrable wall.

"Pi." Pidgeot sneered at the other bird, having long since used Protect to act as a defense against it's attack. And then with a mere flick of his wing, Honchkrow was dragged into the violent winds of the Hurricane to be whipped and tossed about.

"Honchkrow!"

'Take it down.'

"Geo!"

With a cry of affirmation, Pidgeot began his own assault of Honchkrow now that they were in HIS turf.

First he used Double Team to create numerous illusionary copies of himself, before each and every one of them shot at Honchkrow while using Aerial Ace over and over again. Pidgeot was moving so fast, that it seem as it Honckrow was genuinely being attacked from all sides by several opponents at the same time.

Then, with one last Tackle attack, Honchkrow was sent flying out of the Hurricane to crash to the ground, right at Marnie's feet.

"HONCHKROW IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!" One of the referees declared after taking a quick look at it, before Marnie returned it to it's pokeball.

"You fought as hard as you could..." She whispered to the pokeball, before returning it to her belt as she directed a fierce look to Ace as Pidgeot rejoined him on his side, seemingly finished battling.

How?

How were his pokemon so powerful?

Half of Marnie's team was down, and she hadn't even managed to land a hit against a single one of his main pokemon.

It was as if he was playing with her...

"Alright then!" Ace declared, making everyone look to him as he held up a new pokeball before tossing it oout onto the arena. "How about you this time, Exeggutor!"

"TOOOOOR!"

A large tree-like pokemon appeared this time, rustling the leaves on it's head while also stamping it's feet in excitement for the coming battle.

"AND ACE CHOOSES EXEGGUTOR THIS TIME!" The referee announced to everyone present.

"Now this is an interesting choice." Professor Oak said as he looked down at the next pokemon his student had sent out.

"Indeed professor. After all, Exeggutor is part psychic type, while Marnie specializes in dark type pokemon. That means that whichever one she sends out next will be completely immune to it's psychic type attacks." Steven said as he explained Exeggutor's situation to the rest of the crowd, making them in turn mutter amongst themselves about Ace's choice.

One person however felt a sense of relief, as Steven had been correct. And not only would her pokemon be immune to Exeggutor's psychic type attacks, it would also deal more damage against him in turn as well.

"Lets try to even the score, Scrafty!"

"Scrafty Scraft!" Cried out the aforementioned pokemon, a humanoid with a tail, and thick, loose skin that resembled baggy pants and a hood that could even be pulled up over it's head, even with it mohawk-like sail.

"AND ITS SCRAFTY VERSUS EXEGGUTOR!"

"Scrafty, use Leer then follow up with Crunch!" Marnie ordered her pokemon with renewed vigor, fully intending to win this time and catch up. But Ace wasn't going to stay idle either.

"Right, use Sunny Day! Middle, use Pollen Bomb straight up into the air! Left, use Magical Leaf on Pollen Bomb!" Ace ordered out loud for the first time since the battle began, which would've surprised some people if it weren't for what his Exeggutor did next.

With three heads attacked to it's body, the head on the right immediately prouced a vibrant ball of light that shined down on the arena like a blazing sun. At the same time, the head in the middle used the modified version of the move Seed Bomb, in which each seed instead contained spores for Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, and Poison Powder. And then, only a split second after the middle head shot the seeds up high, the head on the left used Magical Leaf to slice the Pollen Bombs open, and scatter the pollen mixture all over the arena.

So while Scrafty was using Leer on him, Exeggutor changed the weather and scattered a mixture of spores to make his opponent paralyzed, sleepy, or even poisoned all at once.

Obviously, people were quite confused.

"What just happened?" Steven asked professor Oak, who's eyes were shining in academic glee as he watched Exeggutor.

"Ace, what was that?!" Professor Oak asked him directly, his curiosity getting the better of him as he flat out ignored Steven's question.

"Well, a while ago we battled against a Machamp that was REALLY strong, and was able to use a different move for all four of it's hands. So, I started wondering if the same thing could be applied to pokemon with excessive body parts, like three heads?" Ace explained from where he was, his voice carrying so that everyone could hear him.

"Amazing!" Oak exclaimed, looking like a child on christmas. But the battle wasn't over yet.

"Scrafty!"

With a cry, Marnie's Scrafty shot forward without caring about the pollens around it at all, due to it's Shed Skin ability. Even if it was paralyzed, poisoned, or fell asleep due to an attack, it would swiftly recover anyways.

As it charged forwards Scrafty filled it's mouth with dark type energy to use Crunch, which would heavily damage Exeggutor from it's psychic typing.

"Scraaaaaaa-!"

It opened it's outh wide, preparing to bite down on Exeggutor, right before it vanished.

"Right, use Teleport! Left, use Leech Seed! Middle, use Stomp!" Ace commanded out loud again, thought he didn't necessarily need to. He just was now for added effect as he commanded all three heads of Exeggutor to attack.

"Tor!"

With a cry, Exeggutor vanished right as Scrafty tried to attack him, making his jaws snap shut on empty air before Exeggutor reappeared right behind it.

"Tor!"

Exeggutor gave another cry as his foot slammed into Scrafty's back for a powerful stomp, while the head on the left shot a seed at Scrafty that latched on before it was sent flying across the battlefield.

"SCRAFTY!" It cried out in shock from the sudden attack, tumbling head over heels before coming to a stop in a seated position.

"Are you alright Scrafty?!" Marnie asked worriedly.

"Scrafty!" It declared in affirmation, rising to it's feet and flexing to show it was ok. But as it did so, numerous vines covered Scrafty's body from head to toe, restricting it's movements and absorbing it's energy to send to Exeggutor.

"Scrafty, use Fire punch to get rid of those vines!" Marnie ordered.

"Scraft!"

With it's fists flaring to life, Scrafty was soon vine-free as it burnt them all to ashes.

"Good! Now, try and use both Fire Punch and Ice Punch on Exeggutor!" Marnie commanded, taking inspiration from Ace as she tried to get Scrafty to use two moves at once.

"Scrafty?"

Cocking it's head curiously, Scrafty then looked at Exeggutor while recalling how all three of it's head could be used to attack at once.

"Scraft..."

Determination filling it, Scrafty shot at Exeggutor while channeling fire and ice type energies to each of it's fists, causing one to be covered in a layer of frost while the other burst into flames.

"Now all three, Solar Beam."

"""?!?!"""

Surprise filled the entire stadium as all three heads of Exeggutor opened their mouths, and immediately produced powerful beams of grass type energy that shot right at Scrafty.

"Block it!"

"Scraft!"

With flames in one hand, and ice in the other, Scrafty tried to block all three attacks from hitting it, putting all of it's efforts into stopping them here and now. But unfortunately the Sunny Day from before was still active.

The reason Ace had Exeggutor use Sunny Day right off the bat was that he possessed the Chlorophyll ability, which increased his speed and reaction time in bright sunlight. On top of that, several of Exeggutor's moves relied on the sunlight to make them stronger. Solar Beam could be used without any charge time, and Synthesis could be used to recover any damage he took almost instantly.

And while Scrafty's Fire Punch was similarly boosted thanks to the Sunny Day, it wasn't enough to block THREE Solar Beams at the same time, and the pokemon was quickly overwhelmed before being enveloped by all three of them.

"Scrafty!" Marnie cried out, before the dust cleared to reveal Scrafty standing there, right before it collapsed.

"SCRAFTY IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!" The referee declared, announcing the defeat of Marnie's FOURTH pokemon as she returned it.

Now she was truly starting to panic.

Just what would it take to defeat this guy?!

This also put Marnie in a bind.

She only had two pokemon left, one of which was her strongest pokemon, while the other was also significantly weaker against Exeggutor than her other pokemon. Her dilema was that Marnie did not want to send out her strongest pokemon and risk it being defeated here and now, yet sending out her other one was akin to treating it as a sacrifice.

After some deliberation, Marnie gritted her teeth and threw out her next pokemon while calling out, "Go, Toxicroak!"

"Gehehehe!" The Toxicroak giggled with seemingly sinister glee, while it's body also shuddered noticeably. Marnie could only sigh at that.

It was one of Toxicroak's abilities, which would alert it if it's opponent had any attacks hat would be super effective against it, like psychic type attacks.

But, since the psychic type pokemon,Exeggutor, having psychic type attacks was no surprise, marnie took it in stride.

"Alright Toxicroak! We need to get a win, here and now!" Lets go!"

"Croa!"

Craoking in agreement, Toxicroak shot forward at Exeggutor with the full intent of defeating him as soon as possible.

'Psyshock.' Ace commanded telepathically.

"Tor!"

Immediately all three heads contributed as they amassed psychic type energy, and shot it at Toxicroak.

"Use Sucker Punch to block it!" Marnie readily ordered, having already expected them to use the obvious approach against Toxicroak.

"Croak!"

With one of it's fists covered in dark type energy, Toxicroak smashed through the attack with ease and without losing any of it's momentum, allowing it to continue it's charge towards Exeggutor.

"Oh?" Ace uttered with humor in his voice.

"Exeggutor, Psyshock with all three at once." He commanded out loud.

"Tor!"

This time, instead of combining their focus in one attack, all three of Exeggutor's head fired their own attack at Toxicroak at the same time, the middle one firing right at it, while the left and right's curved to attack it from the side.

"Leap up and use Shadow Ball!"

Listening to Marnie's orders, Toxicroak leapt up into the air right before the attacks could reach it, sailing over them while conjuring a massive ball of ghost type energy to send at Exeggutor.

"Teleport, and then Stomp." Ace commanded, prompting Exeggutor to immediately vanish as it Teleported away, and reappeared right above Toxicroak.

"Toxicroak!"

"Croak?"

*CRASH!*

As a result of Ace's Gravity training, as well as Exeggutor using it on himself constantly after learning the move, Toxicroak was LAUNCHED at the ground with enough force to create a small crater where it had landed.

But that wasn't enough to defeat it.

"Toxicroak, use Shadow Ball!" Marnie ordered, and the corresponding attack suddenly shot up out of the dust cloud towards Exeggutor, who readily used Teleport to avoid it, while another of his heads used Psychic to hold himself up in the air.

"Psyshock!"

Again, Exeggutor fired a wave of psychic type energy at Toxicroak that the toad-like pokemon easily dodged, before leaping up at Exeggutor in the air.

"Do it Toxicroak!"

"Crooooooooak!"

With dark type energy gathering in both of it's fists, Toxicroak was prepared to deal a significant blow to Exeggutor as it seemingly wasn't going to use Teleport this time.

Instead, right before Toxicroak was about to hit Exeggutor, the living tree used Flash to completely blind his opponent momentraily, making Toxicroak cry out while trying to block the light with it's arms. And with his opponent so defensless, Exeggutor used Psyshock to send it crashing back down to the ground, before following up with a second attack.

"Toxicroak..." Marnie uttered in disbelief, having started to believe that they would FINALLY be able to counter attack. But as the dust cleared, there was Toxicroak, unconscious.

"TOXICROAK IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!"

"..."

"Return." Marnie said, calling her pokemon back while Ace did the same, leaving her with only one pokemon left, while Ace still had the three he already sent out, and three more on top of that.

"It looks as if this might be the end for Marnie, with Toxicroak being retired without taking out a single one of Ace's pokemon." Steven said in observation.

"Indeed. And since she is also unable to use Gmax due to there being no power spots outside of Galar, then this could very well be it." Professor Oak added, to which Steven nodded in agreement while several of the people watching started wondering what Gmax was.

Regardless, as the professor said it couldn't be used here, so Marnie was unable to rely on the transformation as she grabbed her final pokeball.

"Go, Grimmsnarl!"

"Griiiiiiiiimm!"

This time a pokemon covered in bands of blackened hair appeared in the arena, snarling ferociously while looking out at the crowd around it as it waited for it's opponent.

"I choose you, Nidoqueen!"

"Queen!"

"Haaa."

As the other pokemon appeared in the arena Marnie sighed in exasperation, as if she had expected any different. With three pokemon left to choose from, OF COURSE Ace would pick one strong against the strongest on her team.

HOWEVER!

Marnie knew she couldn't give up! She had all of Spikemuth counting on her!

So, even if she was destined to lose, she wouldn't stop fighting until it was inevitable!

"Grimmsnarl, use Spirit Break!" Marnie ordered her pokemon.

"Grimm!"

Grimmsnarl snarled in compliance as it rushed at Nidoqueen with vicious glee, fully intending to break her to the point that she'll never want to battle again.

Unfortunately for it, Nidoqueen was fiercely determined to prove herself in this battle. She was no longer the scared little Nidorina that Ace had picked up after she was 'traded' away and abandoned. SHE WAS A QUEEN!

So instead of having her spirit broken as Grimmsnarl slammed into her, Nidoqueen wrapped her arms around it and squeezed as tightly as she could. Normally this would also poison her opponent thanks to the poisonous quills covering her body, but the thick fur covering Grimmsnarl's body protected it somewhat.

But that was fine.

'Sludge Bomb.'

"Nida!"

From a point blank range, Nidoqueen blasted Grimmsnarl in the face with a large blob of toxic sludge. Not only poisoning it, but also doing significant damage due to it's fairy typing.

"Snarl!"

Grimmsnarl snarled as it struggled and broke free of Nidoqueen's hold on it, stumbling backwards as it tried to wipe the poison from it's face in irritation. Normally this would be a hard blow, but Marnie expected their attack to fail in some way, and planned for that.

"Grimmsnarl, use Stomping Tantrum!"

"Grrrrrrr!"

Growling angrily, Grimmsnarl channeled all of that anger as it charged at Nidoqueen with ground type energy filling it's body.

'Hold.'

*SLAM!*

Again, Grimmsnarl slammed into Nidoqueen to deliver a significant amount of damage due to her poison typing, but that had been what she was waiting for.

'Now, double Poison Jab!'

"NIDA!"

Roaring in response, Nidoqueen jabbed both of her hands into Grimmsnarl's sides as they became saturated in poison, worsening it's poisoning and dealing a significant amount of damage to it. But Grimmsnarl wasn't done just yet.

It was Marnie's last hope, and it planned to answer her pleas for victory.

"Grimmsnarl, use Ice Punch on it!" Marnie ordered, planning to take full advantage of the close proximity of Grimmsnarl and Nidoqueen to deal as much damaged as possible. And besides, it was already poisoned, so trying to avoid Poison Point didn't matter.

"Snarl!"

Copying Nidoqueen as both hands became covered in ice, Grimmsnarl repeatedly punched her in every place it could reach, while she returned the favor with Posion Jab.

At that moment one of Ace's pokeballs opened randomly, allowing Nidoking to emerge on his own as he stood beside Ace and roared angrily.

"NidoKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!"

Naturally, every eye turned towards Ace, who shrugged as he translated, "Nidoking is angry more poeple aren't cheering for Nidoqueen."

His words triggered a wave of applause as Grimmsnarl and Nidoqueen entered an all out slug-fest, with the former dancing around the latter to shower her with Ice Punches while she tried to return the favor with Poison Jabs.

'It's time to finish this Nidoqueen! Give it an Iron Tail!'

Hearing Ace's mental command, Nidoqueen waited until Grimmsnarl came in for next attack, only being wary of her paws, before she surprised it by swinging around with her tail coated in steel type energy.

"Grimm!" It cried out in alarm, before being sent flying across the arena from the force of the hit and landing in a heap.

"AND GRIMMSNARL IS DOWN! CAN IT GET BACK UP, OR IS THIS THE END FOR IT AND MARNIE?!"

Everyone watched with bated breath as Grimmsnarl struggled to get to it's feet, before all the strength left it's body and it collapsed.

"GRIMMSNARL IS UNABLE TO BATTLE! ACE KETCHUM WINS!"

A cheer went up at the referee's announcement as the victor was decided, and the first of the semi-finalists was declared.

"A little one-sided, but still an amazing match." Professor Oak stated with a smile from seeing his pupil win.

"Agreed professor. I for one am excited to see what Ace will show us in the coming battles." Steven said in agreement.

As they gave their opinions, and the audience cheered, Ace and Marnie both made their way onto the arena as they recalled their pokemon before meeting in the middle.

"It was a good match." Marnie said, her tone bitter from just how hard this loss was. It wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't been so one-sided. But still, she and Ace shook hands to show good sportsmanship as he added,

"Agreed. Though a word of advice, try to build and train your team with people knowing your preference for dark types in mind. It's too easy to find counters for you if we all know your battling preference in tournaments like this. Though I suppose I can help you work on that."

"???"

Marnie appeared confused at Ace's words, not knowing what he meant by helping her until she recalled soemthing VERY important.

"Don't tell me you forgot our wager?" Ace asked her with a growig smirk, while Marnie felt her entire face heat up as she blushed crimson all the way down to her chest.