A Haze instantly erupted from the flame atop Litwick’s head, enveloping the entire battlefield.
The students in the spectator stands could only see the upper half of Onix’s body standing tall.
The already small Litwick had its size reduced by half after using Minimize, becoming even smaller.
“Onix, use Rock Slide!
Knock it out in one hit.”
Onix already had mediocre eyesight, and its large size made it impossible to see the scene inside the Haze.
Furthermore, the minimized Litwick within the Haze had all but vanished from its field of vision; it couldn’t find Litwick’s silhouette at all.
Onix randomly unleashed a Rock Slide into the arena, but its luck wasn’t great, and it didn’t hit Litwick.
Seeing this, Onix could only turn back and look at its Trainer with a pleading expression.
Roxanne was in a bind now.
She had also been captivated by Litwick’s appearance earlier and hadn’t paid close attention to its position when the opponent activated Haze.
Before its Trainer could locate Litwick on the field, Onix felt a searing pain in its tail.
Its massive head turned to look, and it discovered a small, ghostly blue flame in the Haze, scorching its tail.
Before it could see clearly what it was, the ghostly blue flame vanished into the Haze.
Little did it know that it was now in a burned state, and the searing pain was continuously draining its stamina.
“Onix, don’t use your eyes, use your senses!”
This brings us to a bit of trivia: (Pokédex: Because Onix has a Magnet in its head, it won’t lose its way even when digging through the ground.)
Using the Magnet in its head, Onix sensed Litwick’s position through the magnetic field of the battlefield—it was in the corner of the arena.
Roy was slightly surprised; it seemed Roxanne had some real skill to be able to become the Big Sister of the class.
“Use Slam!”
Roy decided to retract his previous thought.
She had some skill, but not much.
This time, Litwick didn’t even bother to dodge.
Onix’s tail swept into Litwick, passing right through its body without causing the slightest bit of damage.
This scene completely baffled the people who were just about to celebrate victory.
Why did it pass through?
Some members of the Advanced Class who understood Ghost-type Pokémon explained, “Ghost-type Pokémon are immune to Normal-type and Fighting-type move damage.
Unless your Pokémon has the move Odor Sleuth or the Scrappy Ability, you cannot hit a Ghost-type Pokémon.”
The educational moment ended.
A colorful wave of light from within the Haze struck Onix’s head.
Immediately afterward, a strange radiance appeared before Onix’s eyes, and dazzling, multi-colored rings began spinning in its mind.
It felt as if something was manipulating its emotions.
Before its eyes, it seemed to see Litwick’s silhouette.
At this moment, Litwick was looking at it with a provocative expression, turning around to pat its own candle-bottom.
It was absolutely intolerable!
Onix was uncontrollably enraged and lashed its tail fiercely toward Litwick, but instead, waves of pain shot through its own body.
Only then did Onix realize that it wasn’t Litwick’s silhouette at all, but its own body.
Before its stone head could process what was happening, Litwick’s silhouette appeared again, performing the same action.
The difference was that this time, countless Litwick were flitting about before its eyes, even dancing.
Onix completely lost its reason and began unleashing moves indiscriminately, even whipping its own body and head with its tail.
No matter how Roxanne called out from the command platform, it was useless.
She had completely lost control of Onix.
Fortunately, its level wasn’t very high, so it couldn’t cause much damage to the arena.
The crowd in the spectator stands was confused.
Why was Onix constantly hitting itself?
Finally, Onix ran out of stamina, triggering its Sturdy Ability.
Accompanied by another wave of searing pain, Litwick’s Will-O-Wisp drained the last of Onix’s stamina.
With a loud “boom,” Onix’s massive body fell to the ground in frustration, its eyes spiraling.
It had lost the match without even seeing where its enemy was.
The Haze dissipated.
Only a palm-sized Litwick remained in the arena, hopping around.
If one didn’t look closely, it might be impossible to see it at all.
The entire arena was silent.
Roxanne stood dazed on the command platform.
She…
lost?
How did she lose?
Why did Litwick disappear?
And why did Onix attack itself for no reason?
Countless questions swirled in her mind.
It wasn’t just her; the people in the spectator stands, especially Roxanne’s lackeys, felt their faith crumbling bit by bit.
Was this right?
They had watched the entire match and seen absolutely nothing.
The female students who were originally cheering for Litwick also fell silent; Litwick’s image didn’t seem so cute anymore.
Ever since Roy shouted “Haze” and “Minimize” from the command platform, they hadn’t seen a trace of Litwick.
What happened to the promised “fists-to-flesh,” 1v1, real-man Pokémon battle?
Why was only Onix on the field constantly struggling and releasing moves?
Where did that little candle of Roy’s go?
The referee in charge of the battlefield was also confused.
In the end, it was Teacher Linna, who had come to watch out of concern for any accidents, who gave a reminder, and the referee finally realized the battle had ended.
“Onix is unable to battle.
The winner of this match is Roy’s…!” Well, the referee hadn’t seen Litwick either.
Teacher Linna, who was watching, had seen the entire match clearly through the infrared camera on the battlefield, looking through the Haze.
The moment Litwick used Minimize, it released a Will-O-Wisp on Onix’s tail, then hid in the Haze to use Minimize again to increase its evasiveness.
Onix had managed to find Litwick’s position through the surrounding magnetic field, but the Slam normal attack could not cause damage to a Ghost-type Pokémon.
Instead, it caused itself to be hit by the opponent’s Confuse Ray because it was too close to Litwick.
Move: Confuse Ray.
Effect: Displays strange light to confuse the opponent.
Causes the opponent to become confused.
Confuse Ray caused Onix to fall into a state of confusion and attack itself, while Litwick in the corner used Minimize again.
This time, even she almost lost sight of Litwick in the footage.
The burned state continued to scorch Onix, which made the already confused Onix even angrier, to the point of ignoring Roxanne’s commands.
It could be said that more than half of Onix’s damage was contributed by its own confusion effect; Litwick’s Will-O-Wisp burned away less than half of its HP.
By the same logic, this meant that from start to finish, Onix had lost without ever touching Litwick.
Was this right?
Was the sunny, cheerful boy she had just met this morning really the same Trainer who had used Litwick on the command platform just now?
Teacher Linna couldn’t help but shiver.
How could there be such a disgusting strategy?
Is this really her student?
Prejudice against Ghost-type Trainers: Cunning +1.
While everyone was still immersed in the previous match, Roy, fearing a beating, left behind the words, “A bet is a bet; I’ll be waiting for your love letter tomorrow,” and then prepared to sneak away from the battlefield with Litwick floating on his shoulder.
Having regained her senses, Roxanne hurriedly recalled her Onix and ran toward the academy’s infirmary.