Confirming they were ready, he blew the whistle with a sharp, decisive motion.
"Tweet—!"
As the whistle sounded, Ash and the girl shouted simultaneously.
"Flame Rush!"
"Quick Flash!"
The arena was a standard 34x19 meter hard-soil field, designed for the practical exam.
During the Baby stage, few Spirit Beasts possessed abilities capable of covering such a large distance instantly to strike their opponent.
Thus, the opening move for most battles involved using mobility skills to close the gap.
In both games and reality, seizing the initiative was paramount.
Larvanine's skillset lacked inherent high-speed movement abilities.
To compensate, Ash had spent the past six months working alongside Larvanine to develop their own version of a classic first-strike skill inspired by Pokémon—Quick Attack.
Combining this move with Larvanine's natural tendency for spring-loaded starts, they had perfected a unique opening gambit.
While their Quick Flash didn't guarantee a priority hit like in the games, the extensive training gave Ash confidence that Larvanine could match up to other Spirit Beasts with innate speed skills.
As expected.
In the blink of an eye, two streaks—one red and one green—intersected near the center of the arena, narrowly missing each other.
Both Spirit Beasts spun around simultaneously to face their opponent.
Behind the Pyrogecko, its Beast Master raised her right hand.
The red insignia on the back of her gloved hand glowed with a faint white light.
"Flame Breath!"
The creature which looks like a fusion of lizard and dinosaur features, opened its mouth wide and unleashed a torrent of high-speed flames at Larvanine who was only two or three meters away.
At such close range, even with Larvanine's quick reflexes, there was no chance of evasion.
Moreover, this attack was infused with most of the Beast Master's spiritual power, making it far more potent than an ordinary Flame Breath.
It was evident that the Pyrogecko's Beast Master intended to settle the match with this decisive move.
However, Ash who witnessed this scene, remained unflustered.
Instead, she calmly watched as Pyrogecko's attack closed in on Larvanine.
This was precisely what she had been waiting for—a move meant to clinch victory.
Since their spiritual and physical energy was inferior to their opponent's, if they couldn't win in a single strike, defeat was inevitable.
"Sunny!" Ash called out Larvanine's name.
In response, Larvanine spat out several long, resilient threads of silk.
Then—
With rapid spinning, the silk threads turned into a spinning white gyroscope.
Upon contact with Pyrogecko's flames, the threads transformed into flailing, fiery whips.
The principle of this maneuver was to use spinning to transform ranged attacks from a single direction into a multidirectional defense-and-offense mechanism.
In situations where spiritual power was limited and true protective skills were out of reach, this tactical adaptation became Ash's best substitute for the Protect skill in her strategy.
And it worked.
With Larvanine's high-speed spin, fiery whips lashed out repeatedly, striking Pyrogecko and producing sharp "crack-crack" sounds.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
By the time Pyrogecko's Beast Master realized what was happening, her Spirit Beast had already been flung across the field by the counterattack, slamming into the wall beside her.
"Pyrogecko!" the young girl cried out in alarm.
Before she could act, Ash gave her next command: "Silk Machine Gun!"
Ash wasn't about to let such an opportunity go to waste.
She immediately channeled all her spiritual energy through the soul mark on the back of her hand, empowering Larvanine's attack.
In the blink of an eye, needle-like silk threads shot out from Larvanine's open mouth.
"Pyrogecko, dodge it!" the young girl shouted in panic.
Despite her warning, Pyrogecko who is still reeling from the earlier collision, was too slow to react.
Several needle-like silk threads struck its hind legs.
"Pyrogecko!"
Pyrogecko staggered and collapsed, letting out a pained cry as the venom in the silk began to take effect.
Ash clenched her right fist tightly.
Following the principle of striking while the opponent was down, she issued her final command: "Don't stop—knock it out!"
Larvanine who is visibly exhausted and panting, crouched low to the ground, gripping the dirt with its forelimbs.
It launched itself at Pyrogecko, which was desperately trying to steady itself.
"Dodge and use Fireball!" the young girl yelled, she abandoning all caution as she channeled all her spiritual energy into Pyrogecko through her own soul mark, hoping to temporarily alleviate the venom's effects.
With the help of her Beast Master's spiritual energy, Pyrogecko managed to stand back up.
Unfortunately, it was still one step behind!
Before Pyrogecko could counterattack, Larvanine had already closed the distance, slamming forcefully into its throat just as it was gathering power for its fireball attack.
Boom!
This time, the heavy blow to its throat was too much for Pyrogecko.
It rolled over several times on the ground before finally collapsing, its eyes flipping shut as it completely lost consciousness.
"Tweet—!"
The referee glanced left and right before blowing the whistle to signal the end of the match.
He loudly announced the result.
"Pyrogecko is unable to continue the fight. Contestant number 31143, Ash Bloom, wins!"
"How can this be…"
The girl in the dress staggered back a step, staring in disbelief at her Spirit Beast lying motionless on the ground.
Her confident composure from before the match had completely crumbled.
"Pyrogecko! Get up!!" she yelled, stomping her foot and shouting at her unconscious beast. "I spent so much money buying you, and this is how you repay me? Get up right now!!"
She had been so close.
Just a little bit more, and she could have made it to the final rounds…
How could this happen? How?!
Clenching her fists, the girl glared angrily at Ash, who was receiving her contestant number card from the referee, and at Larvanine resting on her shoulder.
Feeling frustrated, she turned around and kicked the now-conscious Pyrogecko, shouting, "If you've woken up, get up and follow me! Or do you expect me to carry you back?!"
"Tweet—!"
The referee's whistle sounded again, issuing a warning.