Settling back into their seats, Kumiko and Reina were now joined by Hazuki and Midori, who they just eliminated from the tournament. Since she didn't have time to ask them before their match, Kumiko wanted to know what Hazuki and Midori were up to after they parted ways.
Explaining their side of the story first, Kumiko retold her journey from the point where she went with Nozomi through Reed Forest to her and Reina challenging the Gym yesterday. After she had finished with a few additions from Reina, she turned to Hazuki and Midori, signalling them to start talking.
"Well, Midori and me went back out into the woods after you left to catch more Pokémon" Hazuki explained. "And there was where I caught Tubacabra. Midori didn't catch any Pokémon there, but she had her little sister send over Macaroon from her home."
"The next day, we went back to challenge the Gym. I narrowly won by the skin of my teeth, but you should have seen Midori!" Hazuki exclaimed. "She only used Macaroon in her Gym Battle, but she managed to knock out both the Gym Leader's Pokémon!"
"What, really?" Kumiko was surprised. Despite knowing that Midori had voluntarily withdrew her Gym challenge the first time they went there and battling against her just now, Kumiko hadn't expected someone as innocent as Midori to pack such a punch.
"Yeah! After we got our Gym Badges, we spent two days getting lost in Reed Forest, but after emerging back out in Perto City, we went to challenge the Gym there! Thanks to battling a lot of wild Pokémon in the forest, we both managed to get stronger there and defeat the Gym Leader easily!" Hazuki seemed to get more and more pumped up as she spoke.
"On the way to Edian City, Midori caught a Flabébé and nicknamed her Valse, while Hazuki-chan caught a Shroomish and nicknamed him Staccato!" Midori continued. "When we arrived here, we decided to try our luck at a nearby raffle stall, and that's how we ended up here!"
"Huh, so you two also got your passes at the same raffle stall as us." Kumiko noted. "Then meeting you guys here was a stroke of luck."
"Ooh! Look!" Midori pointed at the battlefield. "The next battle's starting!"
Seeing as this round was the semifinals, there were only two battles taking place, with the one about to start being the first. Kumiko audibly gulped as she realized that Reina and her were next in line after this battle, with their opponents this time being Natsuki and Yuuko.
Doing a facepalm, Kumiko shook her head at her forgetfulness. Being so wrapped up in talking to Hazuki and Midori, she had completely forgotten who she was facing. Since both Natsuki and Yuuko had one more year of experience under their belts, their battle was going to be more uphill compared to the previous two.
Shifting her gaze back down to the battlefield, Kumiko saw that Nozomi and Mizore had already sent out their Togedemaru and Mimikyu, and were waiting for their opponents to do the same.
"Hey, Kumiko-chan," Midori called at her. "Did you catch any new Pokémon after we split? Oh, and what other Pokémon does Reina-chan have? You two still haven't told us yet."
"Yup, I caught a Mareep and named her Sparkle when we were travelling from Perto City to Edian City, and she evolved into a Flaaffy during my Gym battle here." Kumiko answered. "Reina's starter Pokémon is a Froslass named Idina, and the newest addition to her team is an Alolan Vulpix named Demi that hatched out of an Egg a couple of days ago."
"Wow! So you're like an ice queen!" Hazuki was entranced by the trend in Reina's Pokémon. "Right, Reina?"
While Reina hadn't heard anyone refer to her by that nickname, she felt that it was quite fitting for someone like herself, with her personality and all. Though Kumiko hadn't confirmed it out loud in front of her yet, Reina had long suspected that her special one also thought of her that way.
Childishly giggling to herself at the thought of Kumiko calling her by that name, Reina elicited curious looks from Kumiko, Hazuki, and Midori. Straightening herself back up with a blush on her face, Reina felt embarrassed that Kumiko had seen her lose her composure.
"Nozomi Kasaki and Mizore Yoroizuka of Team 1 will advance to the finals!" the referee announced, causing the four girls to realize they had missed the bulk of the match while they were talking.
"Kumiko, we have to go and prepare!" Reina hurriedly reminded her. "We've only got five minutes left until it's our turn!"
Scampering down to their allocated preparation room, Kumiko and Reina's sudden departure was given a farewell by Hazuki and Midori waving goodbye to them, eager to see how their friends would perform in their next match.
"Hazuki-chan, don't you think that Kumiko-chan and Reina-chan make a perfect couple?" Midori asked. "Not only do they make good partners when battling, but they're so close together!"
"Uhh… Midori," Hazuki thought that her friend made a mistake. "Don't you mean they make a good team?"
Midori sighed. "Ah, Hazuki-chan. You really don't have any idea, do you? How sweet and naïve you are…"
"Hey, Kumiko!" Natsuki shouted. "Give me and Yuuko a good battle, will ya?"
"Eh, what?" Kumiko called back at her from the other side of the battlefield. While there was still some time before the battle actually began, she hadn't expected Natsuki and Yuuko to finish preparing this early and show themselves, even though she and Reina had done the same.
"What I mean is, make sure this battle goes down to the wire!" Natsuki yelled even louder, her voice finally managing to tickle Kumiko's ears. "We were only lucky that we got into this invitational, and we're not backing down! Not when Yuuko's hopes and dreams are on the line! Oh yeah, and my chance to see HTT live! I'm a fan of their music!"
"That's right!" Yuuko added. "After we win this, then it's just one more battle before I'll get to meet Kaori Nakaseko in person! I won't give up this chance to meet my idol that easily!"
"Good luck with that," Reina fired back. "Kumiko and I won't relinquish this chance to get stronger to you two. Sure, we'll give you a good fight, but we're the ones who are going to win and get the prizes once everything ends."
Reaching for their Pokéballs, Kumiko and Reina sent out Orpheus and Eurydice, prompting Yuuko and Natsuki to do the same with Heart and Soul. The referee confirmed that all four participants' Pokémon were on the battlefield and began the battle. "Match start!"
"Dualshock!" Natsuki and Yuuko ordered their Pokémon in unison, and Heart and Soul both fired out Psyshocks that headed towards Orpheus and Eurydice.
As Kumiko commanded Orpheus to Teleport around and dodge the incoming attack, Reina had a different counter in mind. Taking out her trumpet, she simply played a long note, and Eurydice used Psychic to stop the attack just before it reached her.
Seeing that their opponents had used extremely different strategies to deal with the same attack despite possessing the same Pokémon, Natsuki and Yuuko immediately got angry at each other for failing to account for this.
"Why didn't you tell me that Kousaka and Oumae's battling styles were so different?" Yuuko questioned her partner. "You seem closer with Oumae than I am with Kousaka, yet you didn't know that they would respond to the same attack in different ways, even after they already battled two times today? Where are your eyes?"
"Guess I could say the same to you, princess." Natsuki snarked back. "Who was it that dragged me back to discuss 'strategy' when we could have observed our opponents up front and planned from there? Oh, that's right, you!"
"Really? You could have said something about that earlier on, but you didn't!" Yuuko was fuming. "Heart, Shadow Ball duet!"
"That's because you were too damn cute, so I couldn't tell that directly to your face!" Natsuki's pent up rage was starting to spew out, then she blushed as she realized what she just said. "Screw it! Soul, Helping Hand!"
As Heart was charging up two Shadow Balls in both her hands, Soul gave her a friendly slap on the back, which caused the Ghost-type attack to be surrounded by a white light. Throwing them out, Natsuki then gave Soul another order. "Use Psychic on those Shadow Balls!"
A new ring of Psychic energy formed around the two Shadow Balls, causing them to change direction abruptly and head towards Orpheus and Eurydice at impossible trajectories. With one swerving towards him, Orpheus managed to slow one down with Confusion, while Eurydice destroyed both attacks with two rounds of Psychic.
"Gah! Kousaka's Ralts is the stronger one!" Natsuki vented. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier, Yuuko? She's your friend! You should know more about her than I do!"
"Look, I know that Kousaka's good in battle, but I didn't know that she had that much raw power!" Yuuko ranted. "Aside from these matches, the only time I've seen her battle was with her Froslass! You'd think I'd know about how good her other Pokémon are? Give me a break!"
Natsuki was pissed "Fine! I'll give you one! Soul, Ally Switch then Protect!"
Just as Heart was about to be hit by dual Magical Leaves from Orpheus and Eurydice, Soul swapped positions with her, then put up a barrier that shielded them from the leaves. Now being able to attack safely again, Yuuko did so with Heart. "Use Shadow Ball again!"
Heart fired up another Shadow Ball and directed it towards Orpheus, knowing that he would be easy pickings compared to the much stronger Eurydice, who was currently dealing with Soul's defensive tactics. After firing it out towards him, Orpheus Teleported away from Heart's move on instinct, but Soul immediately used Psychic to manipulate her own Shadow Ball after Teleporting away from Eurydice.
With Orpheus constantly Teleporting around, Kumiko realized that she and Reina had been stuck on the defensive for most of this match, and that meant both Heart and Soul hadn't received much damage. Telling this to Reina, her special one also agreed with her that they would need a new course of action if they were to win this battle.
Seeing their opponents' relative inaction, Natsuki and Yuuko knew that this was the perfect opportunity to break the deadlock they were in. While they were the ones dishing out the most damage, very little of it had actually hit Orpheus or Eurydice. This chance was all they needed to turn the tide.
"Natsuki, you ready for this?" Yuuko asked her partner, knowing that she would be thinking the exact same way as her.
"Ready when you are, princess!" Natsuki cracked her knuckles, then struck a pose. "Sucker Punch duet!"
Heart dissipated her Shadow Ball and Teleported back to her Trainer's side along with Soul. Springing into action after Soul powered her up with another Helping Hand, she moved across the battlefield so quickly that she was little more than a blur to anyone watching, and finally appeared again in front of Eurydice.
Her arm stretched back in a fist, Heart punched the Ralts in front of her, but just as the force from the attack was transferred over, Soul swapped places with her using Ally Switch and delivered his own Sucker Punch, instantly doubling the damage dealt.
The resulting impact from the two super-effective moves was devastating, with Kumiko and Reina cringing as their Pokémon was sent flying back. Seeing that their signature combination had worked wonders in dealing significant damage to their opponents' strongest Pokémon, Natsuki and Yuuko high-fived each other, congratulating themselves on a job well done.
Just as they were preparing to deal with their opponents' Pokémon, two Shadow Balls slammed into Heart and Soul as they were caught off-guard. Knowing that Orpheus didn't pack this sort of punch, Natsuki and Yuuko were surprised at how Eurydice managed to cling on and counterattack even after receiving two super-effective moves head on.
Upon glancing back at the battlefield again, Natsuki and Yuuko saw Eurydice preparing to charge up two more Shadow Balls again, looking none the worse for wear. Panicking, they also looked at where Eurydice had been sent flying a moment before and saw Orpheus there, currently struggling to stay conscious after all that damage.
"So you two finally figured it out." Reina explained, her voice slightly straining from the volume she was speaking at, as she told Natsuki and Yuuko what Kumiko and her just did. "From observing your previous battles, we saw that your synchronicity with each other was almost flawless, so we borrowed a technique from you two in case either of you thoung of pulling off a combination attack."
"Orpheus can survive more attacks than Eurydice, so we devised a plan where he would swap positions with Eurydice to tank the hit, since it would be the logical assumption to target the more powerful Pokémon first from your point of view." Reina continued. "Big mistake. Eurydice, Shadow Ball duet."
Firing out the two Shadow Balls she was charging, Natsuki and Yuuko were sufficiently angry at how they had been duped to focus on the battle again, telling their Pokémon to dodge as they began arguing again.
"Why didn't you tell me how brainy and gutsy Kousaka was?" Natsuki questioned Yuuko. "Out of all the opponents we've fought so far, she's the only one to even consider using her partner's Pokémon as a decoy to preserve her own Pokémon's health! How did Kumiko even agree to that?"
"Well, I know she was an honor student from her time at school," Yuuko shot back with her answer. "But she usually relies on brute force offense in battle from what I've seen of her before this, though that was because most of the opponents she's faced were much weaker than her. Maybe being with Oumae made her less aggressive?"
"Huh, that's possible." Natsuki smiled at the thought that Kumiko had managed to melt the chains that bound her ice queen's heart, turning her into a gentler person in the process. However, those thoughts were stopped short as she realized that the Shadow Balls that Heart and Soul dodged were coming back towards them.
"H-how?" Yuuko was shocked at the way the Shadow Balls were moving on their own. Since Eurydice's attack hadn't hit anything yet, that meant she couldn't use another one yet. A look of horror dawned on Natsuki and Yuuko's faces as they realized that Orpheus had won his battle with fatigue, and was now using Confusion to help Eurydice steer her Shadow Balls.
"Don't underestimate Kumiko." Reina muttered under her breath in a sinister voice.
Their moment of revelation was soon cut short as both Heart and Soul were struck by Eurydice's dual attacks, pinning them to the ground. Teleporting above them, Eurydice fired several Shadow Balls below her, effectively preventing Heart and Soul from getting up.
Once the dust from her barrage cleared, both Heart and Soul had fainted from receiving so much damage. Teleporting to Orpheus' side before she impacted the ground, Eurydice helped her brother back up before they warped to where Kumiko and Reina were.
"Natsuki Nakagawa and Yuuko Yoshikawa of Team 12 have been eliminated. Kumiko Oumae and Reina Kousaka of Team 13 will advance to the finals!" the referee announced.
After getting back to their seats, Kumiko and Reina were visited by Natsuki and Yuuko, who seemed to be slightly miffed at how their battle turned out.
"So, looks like you beat us at our own game, huh?" Natsuki commented. "That trick you pulled off with Kousaka? Simply amazing. Though if I were you, I wouldn't agree with having my Pokémon taking all the damage."
"It's fine." Kumiko saw nothing wrong with what Reina did. "It was a strategy that only worked with the two of us cooperating, so we both needed to be on board with what was going to happen."
"Well yeah, but that won't save you in your next match," Natsuki informed her. "Your opponents in the finals are Nozomi Kasaki and Mizore Yoroizuka, friends of ours. Nozomi's technique is about as good as a Gym Leader's, while Mizore's know to fight on par with an Elite Four member."
"Actually, I've met them both before." Kumiko told Natsuki, causing her friend's eyes to widen at the sudden reveal. "Well, mainly Nozomi, but I've seen Mizore battle on TV a couple of days ago."
"What?!" Natsuki was shocked. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I didn't really know they were your friends, since you never told me before." Kumiko matter-of-factly answered. "Though you did mention before that you had a friend who played flute, but I never connected the dots."
"OK, then. My bad." Natsuki admitted. "But still, since you've met them, that makes things a bit easier to explain. I've never seen the Pokémon they're using in the tournament before, which means that they must have been newly caught, so I can't really tell you anything about them. Even so, don't think they're just using this as a test run for their new partners! Whenever Mizore plays, she plays for keeps, especially with Nozomi around. I swear, the lengths she goes to impress her…"
Kumiko's mind swam with this dump of information from Natsuki. Though she hoped that Natsuki would give her some information about their upcoming battle, this completely turned her expectations upside down. Short of knowing a little of both Nozomi and Mizore's battling styles and their power, Kumiko was left completely in the dark about who she was about to face.
Seeing the look on Reina's face, Kumiko also saw that she had come to the same conclusion. Throughout their battles in this tournament, Nozomi and Mizore had steamrolled all their opponents, needing very little strategy to progress this far. If they combined this strength with their tactical minds, then Reina and her would have little chance of winning.
But that didn't mean they were entirely giving up hope.
After waving a quick goodbye to Natsuki and Yuuko, Kumiko and Reina headed down to the preparation room, with a short amount of time left before the finals were scheduled to be held.
"Long story short, I think we're screwed." Kumiko addressed Reina while she was panicking at the challenge they were about to face. "The difference in skill between us and our opponents is extremely large. I mean, one of them was able to match an Elite Four member! How do we have any hope of winning this?"
"Calm down, Kumiko." Reina began. "While Miss Nakagawa couldn't tell us much about our opponent's Pokémon, she did say they were only caught recently, so Miss Kasaki and Miss Yoroizuka shouldn't have had much time to train them. We can use that fact to our advantage."
"How?" Kumiko didn't know what to process from Reina's words. Did Reina know something she didn't about this matchup?
"Look at it this way." Reina began to explain. "It usually takes a certain amount of time before a caught Pokémon gets fully accustomed to being under a Trainer's command, so a Trainer's unique battling style and strategy doesn't truly shine through during this period."
"Throughout this tournament, Miss Kasaki and Miss Yoroizuka were solely relying on their Pokémon's sheer power to win their battles, which meant they didn't have any sort of plan in mind. If we can deduce any weaknesses in how their Pokémon attack, then we can exploit them and force them to rely on a more tactical approach, which would mean that they wouldn't be able to fight as well." Reina concluded.
"I see one problem with this approach." Kumiko pointed out. "Using brute force alone, Nozomi and Mizore's Pokémon could easily knock out Orpheus and Eurydice in a few hits before we can even find any flaws. We can't win on both the power and strategy fronts."
"Precisely." Reina responded. "Which is why we need to dodge first and dodge hard."
After their few minutes of planning had been used up, Kumiko and Reina stepped on to the battlefield for what could be their last match. Looking around the battlefield, she saw Nozomi wave at her from the other side, while Mizore just stared at the oboe she was clutching in her hand.
Not wanting to seem impolite, Kumiko waved back at her, though she knew that in a moment all pretense of niceness would drop in the heat of battle. With how tough Nozomi and Mizore were, Kumiko was still heavily doubting that Reina's strategy could work in this situation, even if it was the only chance they had.
Sending out Orpheus and Eurydice, Kumiko and Reina saw that Nozomi and Mizore were just about to throw out their own Pokéballs.
"Rondo, repeat after me!" Nozomi energetically called out as her Togedemaru emerged from its Pokéball.
"Ostinato, repeat after… Nozomi?" Mizore's voice was hesitant as she sent out her Mimikyu.
The referee confirmed that all the participants had sent out their Pokémon, and began the final match. "Battle start!"
"Rondo, Iron Head! Ostinato, Shadow Claw!" Nozomi ordered both Mizore's and her own Pokémon. Her Togedemaru spun forward at Orpheus and Eurydice, while Mizore's Mimikyu remained in place and extended a ghostly arm outwards in a flanking position.
Seeing that Rondo was rushing forwards towards him, Orpheus Teleported out of the way just before the Roly-Poly Pokémon could hit him, and reappeared behind his opponent. Rondo stopped in her tracks to turn around and face Orpheus, then started spinning towards him again.
Meanwhile, Eurydice was busy using blasts of Psychic to try and knock back Ostinato's Shadow Claw, but the Mimikyu just simply swatted them away with its enlarged arm, clearly unaffected by the powerful attack. Sighing, Reina played Danse Macabre on her trumpet, ordering Eurydice to use Shadow Ball instead. To her surprise and delight, it seemed to hurt Mizore's Pokémon instead of just being repelled, causing its Disguise to pop.
Looking at Rondo chasing Orpheus around the battlefield and Eurydice futilely attacking Ostinato, Mizore turned to look at Nozomi. "Do you need me to do something?"
"It's alright, Mizore." Nozomi answered her. "Kumiko should only be a three-badge Trainer at most, and her friend should also be similar in skill level. Winning this should be a piece of cake."
"Oh…" Mizore trailed off. The reason she and Nozomi had even bothered to enter this tournament in the first place after winning their passes in a lucky draw was to find strong opponents to battle against. However, Mizore was disappointed when all of the opponents they had faced so far could easily be crushed without much effort.
It seemed that Oumae and Kousaka would prove to be the same.
Stepping back, Mizore let Nozomi take over again, leaving her desired at the reins. Since the was most likely going to be another one-sided battle, there was no need for Mizore to waste any energy in thinking up strategies to win. All she wanted was to win and go home. This was boring.
As Orpheus and Eurydice continued to counter their opponent's moves, Reina was beginning to see some flaws in how their opponents' Pokémon were attacking. Even though Nozomi's Togedemaru was constantly attacking at high speeds, it still needed to stop and reorient itself to change directions, and it seemed that there was a limit to what types of attacks Mizore's Mimikyu could block with its shadow arm.
Conveying her observations and possible counters to Kumiko, Reina's special one nodded at her suggestions as she chose to take on Nozomi's Togedemaru, while Reina would be in charge of defeating Mizore's Mimikyu, seeing as their Pokémon had moves that were well-suited to deal with them.
Just as Rondo was about to change direction after Orpheus had Teleported again, Kumiko used the short moment where she needed to reorient herself to command Orpheus. "Use Fire Punch!"
Orpheus Teleported close to Rondo and attacked, his flame-wreathed fist dealing a super-effective impact at close range. However, he immediately recoiled after his attack struck, the fire around his hand dissipating as he shook in pain.
Reina glanced at Orpheus, wondering what had happened to him when the hand of Mizore's Mimikyu suddenly disappeared just before another one of Eurydice's Shadow Balls hit it. Looking around to see where it went, Reina was about to tell Eurydice to change tactics when a shadow crept up below her and lunged up, trapping Eurydice in the grasp of Ostinato's spectral hand.
"Kumiko, that must have been Togedemaru's Ability, Iron Barbs!" Reina exclaimed. "If Orpheus continually attacks Nozomi's Togedemaru, then he'll gain more damage with each hit and faint!"
"Yeah, but Eurydice is stuck in the arm of Mizore's Mimikyu!" Kumiko replied, fully aware of how much they were screwed right now. Even when they had a thought-out plan, their opponents had managed to overpower them with little effort, rendering anything they did moot.
As Orpheus and Eurydice struggled with the damage their opponents were slowly racking up on them, Reina was starting to lose her cool. Though they had some challenging moments in their past battles, this was the first time that Kumiko and her were truly pushed up against the wall with nowhere to go.
"Wow, the girl with the Togedemaru is so cool! I want to be just like her!" a girl in the audience exclaimed, her Staraptor cawing in agreement. "Wonder what's her name?"
Ui Hirasawa prepared to open the case she had at her side.
Her mind racing against the clock to come up with a plan to get their Pokémon out of their current situation, Reina could see no options in front of her. Starting to despair, she did the only thing she could think of: play her trumpet.
Putting its mouthpiece to her lips, Reina played one of her favourite trumpet solos from a book that also included three others for euphonium, tuba, and contrabass. Why the author had chosen to create a collection of solos from such fundamentally different instruments was a mystery to her, but that didn't matter. All she wanted was to calm her nerves.
As her melody winded its way out of her trumpet, the entire audience was entranced by the tune she was playing, her rich tone and impressive technique putting the icing on the cake for this piece's already beautiful composition.
Despite Eurydice already hearing her Trainer play her trumpet many times before, there was something special about this melody that seemed to give her the strength she needed to break out of the firm grip she was caught in. Reaching her arms out to try and pry herself free, Eurydice's body suddenly glowed with a bright blue light.
As both Kumiko and Reina realized that Eurydice was evolving, Orpheus was also beginning to be surrounded by that same light as well just as he was about to be hit by Rondo, most likely due to the Psychic link with his sister.
Both Ralts' limbs were increasing in length as they grew larger overall, with their green 'hair' stretching outwards and down their heads. The 'gown' around their waists flared up and became ruffled tutus, and their previously hidden eyes not only became visible, but became bigger in size. Once they were no longer shrouded by the blue light, both Orpheus and Eurydice had evolved into Kirlia.
On the other side of the battlefield, Nozomi was dazzled by the dual evolution. "That was… beautiful."
However, Mizore was unfazed by this event, choosing to focus on the battle rather than get distracted like her desired, though given what she saw in front of her, she would have chosen to be entranced.
With newfound strength gained after evolving, Eurydice broke free of Ostinato's ghostly grasp and fired a Shadow Ball, her increased power meaning that Mizore's Mimikyu had more trouble deflecting it. Close by, Orpheus attacked Rondo instead of Teleporting away from her, his increased Attack helping to deal more damage than he received in turn.
As their Pokémon were being beaten back, Mizore turned to look at Nozomi, who was trying to give out new orders. "Do you... need my help now?"
"Yeah, sure." Nozomi hurriedly replied. "Command Ostinato from here, OK? I'll only focus on Rondo from here."
Raising her oboe and putting its reed to her lips, Mizore played her own rendition of Danse Macabre that seemed more sinister and ominous than what Reina played, with each new beat signalling Ostinato to change his arm's direction, which prevented it from being hit by Eurydice's Shadow Balls. Playing it for a while, she put an accent on her current note, and Ostinato's arm lunged forward at Eurydice.
As Kumiko was trying to tell Orpheus when to use Fire Punch and prevent him from suffering unnecessary recoil, Nozomi solely focusing on ordering Rondo meant that her movements were now more quick and precise, with her rolling around the battlefield with more force than before, this time starting to add some curving to her movements.
Kumiko was starting to get motion sickness from all the different directions that Rondo was moving in, but eventually she pinpointed a moment when Rondo was going to impact Orpheus amidst all the chaos.
Reaching towards his opponent, Ostinato's ghostly claw was suddenly disoriented as he was knocked back. Looking at the angle of impact, Mizore then glanced up at the sky above her and saw a Teleported Eurydice slowly floating down, the ghastly wisps of a spent Shadow Ball dissipating from her hands.
Using another Teleport to get closer to her opponent on the ground, Eurydice fired several more Shadow Balls at Ostinato as Reina played Danse Macabre again, her version being more glorious and triumphant compared to Mizore's, serving as a rebuttal to her previous dominance in battle.
Gearing up, Rondo spun even faster than before, knowing that even with a sudden evolution in the middle of battle, one more Iron Head from her was all she needed to take down her opponent. Upon command from her Trainer, Rondo rolled as fast as she could, hoping to strike her opponent before he even realized it.
Unfortunately, the lack of situational awareness at high speeds went both ways for Rondo, and she was met face-first by Orpheus' primed Fire Punch.
Stopping in her tracks from the force, Rondo was met with more Fire Punches from Orpheus, who had managed to light up his left hand with fire after his evolution. With both Rondo and Ostinato being on the receiving end of the curb-stomp this time, Nozomi and Mizore were left with no options available to them.
Running out of strength to continue using their current attacks, Orpheus and Eurydice fell back on Kumiko and Reina's orders once their Trainers also realized this. Now that both their opponents were down, Kumiko and Reina decided to go for one final attack and finish them off as they shouted in unison. "Confusion!"
Orpheus and Eurydice leapt up into the air before firing out their Psychic moves simultaneously at their opponents. Though this simple move dealt little damage, it was still enough to deal the finishing blow to the weakened Rondo and Ostinato.
After the dust had settled, the referee came to a decision.
"Nozomi Kasaki and Mizore Yoroizuka of Team 1 have been eliminated, which means I am pleased to inform you that Kumiko Oumae and Reina Kousaka of Team 13 are the victors of the Edian City Double Battle Invitational!"
A/N: Fun fact, due to how I create a backlog of chapters, I actually wrote this chapter before the two Nozomi and Mizore-specific chapters, which means that the chapter where they capture their Togedemaru and Mimikyu is more of a retcon to explain how Mizore, who is seen battling an Elite Four member, has a Pokémon that can lose to Kumiko and Reina. That, and she was getting bored of the entire thing.
You may have also noticed a seemingly random reference about a girl with a Staraptor in the text, which is actually a reference to Nozomi's biggest fan IRL (at least in the English-speaking world). For those that know, see if you can guess who that is!