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Mienshao's kick would connect with the Compass Pokemon, the impact creating an audible gong-like noise as the floating Rock and Steel type was sent tumbling through the air, leaving behind its mini noses to just fall to the ground lifelessly. Probopass wouldn't go too far due to its weight, shocking that Mienshao was able to send it soaring at all, the kick that powerful. The Compass Pokemon would hit the ground several feet in front of Barbara, laying there motionless as it was knocked out. All Barbara could do was look down at her Pokemon, watching as it slowly began to rotate and point north again in spite of being knocked out.

"Well that certainly didn't go completely as planned." Barbara commented as she recalled her Pokemon. "You have some powerful Pokemon, Tristen. Not only are they physically powerful but they are also powerful in their bonds with you. You have a lot of potential and while I'm certainly not winning this battle I am excited to try out this next one. Using this one was my entire reason to participate in this tournament." Barbara said as she took out another Heavy Ball and tossed it onto the field. The device would pop open and in a burst of light would reveal a very large crab-like Pokemon standing at almost seven feet tall. A Focus Sash was tied around one of its legs.

"Klaaawf!" Roared the Ambush Pokemon as it snapped its claws in the air, the students and staff all letting out gasps and began to murmur and carry on about the sheer size of this 'Klawf' Pokemon. From what Tristen could hear them say this crab was apparently abnormally large for its species and many were wondering where it came from and how Barbara got her hands on it. The woman smirked as she too heard all the comments.

"How do you like my Klawf? Tell your parents you got to face the former Stony Cliff Titan when you get a chance." Barbara kinda bragged, proud of her capture. "Though I suppose it's not as big as Freth remembers it, oh well. Time to see what the former Titan can do. Klawf, use Swords Dance!" The woman ordered. Klawf would begin to skitter from side to side, snipping at the air wildly as it conjured up a few 'swords' made of energy which would spin around its body before clanking together and being absorbed into the crab, thus raising its Attack sharply. Whatever it did next was going to really hurt.

The sand continues to blow.

Mienshao would move in and sweep the giant crab's legs with a powerful blow, particularly one of its front ones, the force of the sweeping kick forcing the leg to buckle at the knee causing the Klawf to topple forward forcing the former Titan to use one of its claws to support and try to right itself again. However Barbara knew she couldn't wait for that, they needed to counter attack right away else wise this nimble critter would strike again while Klawf was getting back up.

"Klawf, use High Horsepower and fling yourself at it!" Barbara cried out to her Pokemon.

With a bellowing cry the Klawf would give up on getting back up and instead bent its other front leg so that it was leaning toward a bit. The crab would then dig both of its claws into the ground in front of it and quickly charge up Ground energy in its body. With one powerful thrust it would use its claws to fling itself forward, empowered by the collected Ground energy, sending itself on a collision course with Mienshao, flat top of shell first, as it aimed come down and crush the much smaller Pokemon as it landed upside down. Sure, it would be a little slow to get back on its feet but if they're lucky they just took the annoying stoat out.

There was no dodging or preventing the Drain Punch, Mienshao getting a clean hit off of the former Titan Pokemon and not only delivering a very painful blow but also taking for itself some of the Klawf's health. Barbara would grimace out of annoyance as she watched the entire scene transpire, having partially hoped they would take Mienshao out then and there but alas the annoying stoat managed to not only hang in there but recover some of the damage they did. She knew she wasn't going to win this battle but at the very least she hoped to force Tristen send out his third Pokemon.

After watching her crab get back up on its feet she looked to Mienshao, noticing it was still conscious but was now laying down on the ground vulnerable. This was it, their time to strike and take it down, to force that last Pokemon out. Her Pokemon wasn't looking too good either, already near fainting, and the sandstorm was now dying down but still, it was now or never, they had to try. "Klawf! Take it out with Metal Claw!" Barbara commanded.

With a cry the former Stony Cliff Titan would raise one of its claws high into the air, charging up Steel energy in it, the claw giving off a shimmery silver glow as it became coated in Steel energy. With another cry the giant crab would swing its claw down upon the helpless Mienshao, aiming to crush it and ensure it didn't get back up.

“Mienshao! You need to get up!” Tristen shouted, trying to spur his fighting type on. With the attack call to the Klawf, Tristen noticed the crab was already up and started to make its way towards Mienshao. “Mienshao!” Mienshao turned over and started to push itself back up, managing to get on all fours. Mienshao looked up, seeing the claw starting to glow by the metal claw as the Klawf approached and drew back. With that kind of assault power, it was more than enough to bring Mienshao out of this fight. “Mienshao! Move!” Mienshao managed to push itself and roll the other way. Dirt, dust, and debris started to fly as the Klawf slammed its steel empowered claw down to finish off Mienshao. Mienshao quickly pulled itself up, hobbling a bit on the first couple of steps, then sprung off the ground, kicking off the Klawf’s arm then flops itself on the ginormous back of the Klawf. Mienshao’s claws dug in, trying to hold on for dear life with what strength it had left, trying to make sure the Klawf didn’t suddenly buck the hardy fighting type off.

A desperation play, Tristen had to admit, but it was all he had left with what he and Mienshao had. Tristen and Mienshao only had one shot left less they end up exposing Dragonite in front of the student body. “Mienshao! Reversal attack!” Mienshao pulled an arm back, squaring itself up as best as it could.

“ME-SHO!” Miensho shouted, driving a harsh palm straight down into the back of the Klawf, drilling harshly into the shell.

Mienshao knelt there on the Klawf’s back, heavily panting right after the palm strike it delivered, satisfied with managing to win out over his opponent, but boy, was this battle tough. Mienshao once again just flopped on the Klawf’s back, and this time, it didn’t care if it got up. For some odd reason, even the rocky back of this crab was comfortable. Mienshao was exhausted. Tristen sighed out as soon as the referee’s call, relieved that Dragonite didn’t have to be called out in this battle. He went over and retrieved his Mienshao, recalling it back to its Pokeball for the time being. It deserved the break it was about to get here in the next few moments. In fact, perhaps both Rampardos and Mienshao should be treated to something after this, win or lose. These two were doing work. Tristen looked up, seeing Barbara approach him. Tristen took her hand to put on the look of sportsmanship, but this entire time, Barbara, rather she intended it or not, unnerved him. “Yeah, sure. I will.” Tristen said, not really too sure what to say beyond that to her. Her knowing of his history, albeit somewhat generally as far as being a Snagem goes, left him wondering if she would in fact spill. She was with the others that were part of Ms. Raifort’s expeditions. She knew of Freth and his relation to her. And what did she mean by that she can see “why they kept him around”. Was she talking about Snagem in general? Why wouldn’t they want to keep him around? It was…weird.

Tristen made his way off the battlefield and went to get his Pokémon tended to once again to be ready for whatever his next battle was. As he waited, he couldn’t help but to think back to the battle he was just in. “This is getting harder…” he silently said to himself, once again kicking himself for his earlier spat of mild arrogance. The competition was getting pretty fiercer the more he continued on. These students really did want a crack at Nemona for whatever reason. Like she was the gold standard as to what to achieve. Or at the very least, doing all they could to impress her favor in getting the Tera Orb prize. Whatever the case, he started to wonder if he would be able to keep Dragonite out of any limelight until the right time because right now, even that was starting to feel like an impossibility as much as it was him just sweeping all the teams with only either Mienshao or Rampardos alone.

Getting back to his seat, he managed to see B’s battle with Gloria, which to Tristen’s astonishment, was surprised to see Gloria here. He didn’t expect her to battle any more than he expected Fela to, but nevertheless, B was the one who managed to achieve victory. Taking a glance at the board, that meant that B was now Tristen’s next opponent. Now that he was noticing it, B was kind of running pretty hot as well just as Tristen was. Not having to reveal his entire party as of yet. That said, Tristen did note the Pawmo which was a Pokémon he remembered his adoptive father battling when they arrived here to Paldea and how it took the business end of a Decidueye’s Leaf Blade. The other Pokémon, he had the feeling he knew what it was. It had to be the evolved state of those Fidough. He remembered being told they were Fairy types, which did kind of throw a kink in the works. While Mienshao did have a Poison jab, he didn’t want to rely on it if he didn’t have to. That left Rampardos to perhaps to a lot of work this go-round. Maybe he could land an Iron Head attack or two to make it submit. A lot of maybes and what ifs on that one. B so far has shown that he is a pretty competent battler.

Watching Matteo’s battle soon after went almost as predictably. That Kilowattrell Pokémon was dominating the battles fairly single-handedly in Matteo’s party. Tristen was hoping at this point that someone could have pressured Matteo by now in at least sending out a second Pokémon so he could perhaps plan a little ahead, but no such luck. He was honestly going really hard into these battles, pushing the Killowattrel as hard as can be. For some odd reason, Tristen started to reminisce back to a trainer years ago. He almost forgotten his name since it had been so long ago to him at this point. Alan, otherwise known as “the Unbeaten”, a title bestowed to him by those of the Battle Dome. He remembered all too distinctly how ‘the Unbeaten’ subtly pulled the strings of the battles that transpired, giving hints to trainers so Alan could face them and show his superiority in the end and face off with Tucker. A ruse that ultimately failed when Alan pegged Tristen, still generally a novice trainer for all intents, as an easy mark, leaving Alan as ‘the beaten’ and humiliated. Tristen still has the Flying gem that was later given to him by one of the staff, a gift from Alan, as an apology for being underhanded as he was. The parallels that Tristen was dealing with now was almost uncanny. While Matteo wasn’t being underhanded, that Tristen knew of at least, he was more than concerned with being better than anyone else. To be the next ‘Orange Blitz’ or ‘Naranja Flash’ or whatever nickname his father was originally bestowed, and surpass even that. Anything else be darned. At this point, Nemona wasn’t even a concern anymore…it was just the matter of getting Matteo to eat Murkrow. If the battles continued as they have been, that was going to be easier said.

Round Three would finally set in and Tristen up and took his place on the battlefield once more. B, the young prodigy, was ready to go. “Alright, B, give me everything you got.” He said. Tristen at this point was going to try to do the same. To do otherwise would be a major disservice to B and to each other’s Pokémon. First up apparently was his Dachsbun. Tristen wasn’t still all too sure what these things were capable of, even given what he has seen today during B’s battles, but he was pretty certain sending Mienshao was a fairly bad idea for now. “Go! Rampardos!” Tristen called out, tossing the Pokeball out onto the battlefield. In a flash, once again the dino takes center stage.

“BA-WA!” the prehistoric beast shouted, once again psyching itself up by slamming his head on the ground and giving a skyward roar. With a couple of stomps to get into position, he looked down at the bread dog with its piercing red eyes, ready to strike.

“Rampardos! Iron Head!” Tristen shouted. Start of strong, adapt from there. The usual M.O., testing B’s mettle.

With a roar, Rampardos barrled off towards the Dachsbun, his head now getting a silvery sheen, coming at the hound as if a full-speed locomotive.

Tristen and Rampardos would both be caught off guard by the resiliency of this bread hound. Between Rampardos’s sheer force display and further empowered by the Life Orb, it was astounding that this thing was one of the few actually stood up to it, let alone retaliate with a crushing Body Press attack, knocking the dino for a loop. “Rampardos!” Tristen shouted. Looking back at the hound, however, something started to make more sense. It was trying to finish eating something. Something more than likely to soften the damage. Probably any other day such an attack would have flattened this dog, but B had that hint of foresight. “Rampardos! Are you alright?”

Despite getting rocked as he did, Rampardos managed to get back up off the ground, not caring for such an attack at all. “Ba…Ba-Wa!” Ramparos roared out.

“Yea, I know! Try Rock Slide!” Tristen then shouted. He needed to make sure Rampardos didn’t take such a hit again. Taking him on from range might do the trick. Rampardos smashed the ground before it and then started to fling all manner of rock and rubble towards the hound.

“A what?” Tristen asked. Trailblaze? The heck was that? The rocks rained down on the target and it looked like Tristen wasn’t going to find out. But from the dust, Tristen and Rampardos was caught off guard, seeing the Dachsbun emerge from it like a shot, grass power trailing behind it and ramming into the Rampardos with it.

“BAWA!” Rampardos end up getting staggered back; the attack hit true, causing a great deal of damage to the Rock Pokémon. Tristen was caught completely astonished as to what this hound was doing and for that matter, it just only got Tristen to realize there was perhaps a whole other library of attacks that he was unfamiliar with in this land of Paldea. It was a thought he had to lay to rest for later.

“Rampardos! Are you okay!?” One thing was for certain, that attack had to be a super effective attack. It looked as if a Grass attack of some kind.

Rampardos managed to push itself back up off the ground, but it was wincing, hurting pretty badly. It wasn’t going to be much to take the dino out as well. B was honestly going to give Tristen and his Pokémon a severe run for their money. “Ba…ba-wa…” He ended up having to shake his head, trying to keep his head in the game and try to shake off whatever pain it was obviously under. The hound wasn’t the only one running on adrenaline.

“Alright, try a Bulldoze!” He then shouted.

“BA!” With a harsh windup, Rampardos slammed his head down on the ground and unleashed the massive shockwave across the ground. Dirt and rubble was tossed all over the place in its wake as the attack rushed for the hound.