Journey Towards Greatness

Julian just entered the top 64 with a single move again continuing to make his fans wait for the big battle.

Once Julian was done he decided to get a private room and watch the other battles, right after Julian there were many other battles, some of them were mediocre in his eyes while some of them did stand out. ​​

On the fifth battle, he finally saw someone familiar walk in, it was Karl, it has been very long since Julian has seen him, last time they battled, Julian easily defeated him and now he wants to see how much Karl has improved.

Karl walked into the battlefield and waited for his opponent, the crowd was clearly cheering for Karl, and Julian was surprised by this, he didn't think that a new face like Karl would have such popularity.

He smiled and watched wondering how this will all play out, encountering a powerful opponent right now is the preliminary is very easy so Karl might come across a very strong opponent in the very beginning.

Karl's opponent walked in and from the looks of it, this trainer didn't stand out much compared to Karl, every strong trainer has a confident aura around them and this person had none.

Julian 'This might be a very boring fight'

He thought while still in doubt, he didn't want to judge a person just by how they look, when he first saw Yesh, he looked like a creepy kid, if he had not seen Yesh battle, he would have thought of him to be just another random weird kid.

The referee also walked in and started the battle, Karl sent out his Scolipede while his opponent sent out a Swanna, a good choice against Scolipede.

With both trainers ready to battle, the referee started the battle.

Karl decided to go on defense as he has an idea on how to counter his opponent.

His opponent started with a Water Pulse but Karl's was very fast and dodged it very easily, his opponent tried multiple attacks from distance but Karl's Scolipede was very fast and his opponent couldn't get even on hit on it.

Julian was surprised by Scolipede's speed, he knows that these pokemons are very fast but this one seems even faster than normal ones, it might be a huge challenge overcoming that speed.

Karl's opponent soon got very frustrated and decided to get close and land some physical hits but this was the biggest mistake he could make, as soon as his Swanna dove in using Aerial Ace, Karl made his move.

Karl "Wrap it and then use Take Down"

As Swanna got close and was about to land the Aerial Ace, Scolipede used its long body and many legs to suddenly wrap around Swanna and grab onto its wings, it took the hit but in exchange, it caught its opponent.

It then put its whole body weight behind itself and slammed Swanna on the ground and didn't let go, Swanna was hurt and tried to get out but the grip was very tight.

Karl "Use Toxic"

While Swanna was still wrapped, Scolipede used Toxic and poisoned it badly before beating it to exhaustion while the Toxic slowly knocked it out, the Swanna couldn't handle Scolipede's body weight, and the more it tried to struggle the more exhausted it got and the Toxic started to work even better.

Once Swanna was out cold, Scolipede released Swanna and went back, the referee made the call declaring Karl's victory.

Julian who was watching this was surprised by how Karl took down his opponent, he could have used other methods and could have won easily but he used a method he had never seen before, trapping a pokemon and make itself the reason behind its demise.

In that battle, Karl's Scolipede didn't waste any energy at all, it just used a Take Down using its bodyweight, it then used which doesn't need much energy, and then used its bodyweight to bully Swanna into submission.

Julian wondered how he would get out of the situation and soon came up with many ideas, these might be risky but it's better than getting pressed down by a heavy pokemon which can also poison your pokemon.

Julian 'Interesting, he might have changed his battle style but it's too early to come to a conclusion.'

He thought and left the room, there were no other big battles, in this stadium, he decided to go to the other stadiums because Ash also seems to have his battle today in the south stadium and it should just be staring.

To Julian's surprise, Ash was battling Trip, he didn't expect the two of them will be battling in the very first round in the preliminary, unfortunately for them, one of them will have to say goodbye to their Unova journey.

Julian wondered how much Ash has improved on his own this time, he didn't come across Ash much during his stay in Unova but he seems to be doing well, he drew with Yesh before but Julian has no idea how much he has improved since then.

Well, he will find out soon.

He entered the south stadium and found himself another private room to watch the battle from, he watched as the seventh battle finally came to an end and it was time for the last battle in this stadium and that is Ash vs Trip.