Never had Magnus seen such a huge multitude gathered in one pce, yet there was a stunning silence.

  But that was just the word that could describe the atmosphere.

  Stunned!

  Everyone had left their seats, all heads ing, trying to see what had transpired.

  Magnus and the three friends did not have tle; now that all the attention was on the ground, they had a perfect view.

  The referee had nded o where the two Manticores pyers were attempting to revive the still Charizard.

  Magnus had both hands c his mouth as he mumbled to himself,

  "Please stay down... just stay the fuck down."

  Several minutes passed as the team tried all they could, but the frozen Pokémon seemed to be beyond anything they could offer at the moment.

  Eventually, even the pyers stepped away, looking crestfallen.

  The referee didn’t have far to go as he walked to where Gyarados was r madly, beirained by some spell cast by the team defender.

  His voice broke through the still stadium with pristine crity.

  "The Manticores have failed to restore their Pokémon. Charizard is therefore uo tihe Griffins are therefore the winners of the first round."

  The chaos that followed hit new levels sihe battle began.

  The Griffins' fahrowing hats off, jumping and screaming like they had woch.

  But it did not matter, not to Magnus.

  Gyarados had won... he had won.

  "Oh my God!" The entary was back, booming above the roar like it had been twice amplified. "Would you believe it? The Griffins, the underdogs, fourth from the bottom of the league, and they have beaten all the odds, turhe tables on the would-be winners..."

  The Griffins' crowd seemed to grow even more exhirated with the entary. Someone was even on top of the seats with only pants and no robe on, jumping up and down with absolutely no care in the world.

  "And oh my, what a move... what a move... certainly, we have never witnessed Gyarados use that particur move in past battles. Dole, care to tell us the move?"

  Dole must have been the Gyarados handler's name because he suddenly turned from where they were flying, appuding, and bowing to their fans, with their Pokémon r over its victory.

  "The move... oh, that..."

  The handler not only looked caught off guard but fused as well.

  Of course, they had no idea, Magnus thought.

  There was only one expnatioher the serpent had heard him, or... it had acted out of its own instinct.

  His ination was towards the former because it was more sensible. I mean, if it had been its own instinct, it should have used any water atta its previous battle. Magnus' instruust have triggered something in Gyarados.

  "That... was... a special attack... we call it Ice Attack... vicious... unstoppable."

  The handler's voice rang across the stands and was greeted by more screams from their fans.

  Someone began to t, "Ice, Ice, Ice," and the cry was taken up immediately. Half the stadium was now yelling in unison, making it sound like a choir of sorts.

  "Ice Attack, my foot. The guy was just making shit up; he had no clue about what had happened. You had to give it to him, though, for his quick thinking."

  Whether they k or not, Gyarados had just used what, in the Pokémon world, would be an Ice Beam attack. And he was right—against any Flying type, that move was unstoppable.

  "They call it whatever they want, but he had won."

  He threw his hands inside his pants arieved his ticket.

  Magnus knew he had won. I mean, the ref had decred it, but he just had to firm.

  True enough, just like the clerk had informed him, when he unfolded the piece of part, the twenty-falleons had turned into a golden color with the word WON o them.

  "You won... you freaking won!" someone suddenly yelled o him.

  And suddenly, even Fred, who had looked devastated at the loss, was screaming and patting him with awe.

  "By Jove, I never met a daredevil like you, mate," he said, taking the ticket from him and scrutinizing it dreamily befee tore it from his grasp.

  "Careful, dude," Fred jeered at his brother. "That is 24 Galleons, mate. You don't want to tear that."

  "Yeah... we might have to sell you to cover it," Gee answered, gng over the paper with a coveting look just like his brother.

  What the four hadn't noticed was that they were practically the only ones showing such thrill in their stand; everyone else looked miserable, and with good reason.

  Just like the entator had begun by expining, losing only one round here had crippled the Manticores' ces of winning the trophy.

  Now, even if they won the remaining rounds, they were at the mercy of the Beast Brothers' battle results.

  That, however, was not the only reason for the fans' pain. Of course, most of them had beeremely overfident ieam, and most had pced their money in favor of them. Sihe odds had beeremely meager, one had to stake a siderable amount in order to receive anythi.

  If anything, most were m their loss as much as their team’s.

  "But look... they apparently have decided the Pokémon for the sed round," Lee, who now had the part, excimed. "The Manticores have a Rhyperior up against a bloody Garp."

  Magnus took it excitedly and scruti.

  The two Pokémon that Lee had mentioned were scribbled on the line where the clerk had told him they would appear ohe sed round was determined.

  "Looks like they never learn... see," he said, showing the paper to the three who had gathered around him. "The Manticores are still the favorites with an odd of two; Garp has a three."

  Magnus reached back to his pants pockets and produced the quill that the betting clerk had given him to use when pg his bets.

  A quice at the field below, and he could see that both teams were returning from their short break. The referee was already waiting for them at the ter.

  "I have to hurry," Magnus said as the quill moved to the bnk gap on the Griffins.

  Before Fred held his hand to stop him.

  "Wait... what? Mate, you 't be serious. Griffins again?... You know there is no way they will lose this time."

  "And with a Rhyperior, much less... that thing is a walking mountain," Gee backed his brother. His voice, however, cked the vi it had before the first round had begun.

  Lee was silent, but Magnus could see he was with the twins.

  "Pss... You three holy think it's about what they want?... You think if it were up to them, they would have lost the first round?" he said sarcastically as he freed his hand from Fred’s grip and scribbled his stake.

  "You are nuts, mate... you are," Gee excimed as he looked at what Magnus had written. "He threw all of it on the Garp..."

  "No way... all the twenty-falleons?" Lee yelled as he peered at the paper befiving him a fused look.

  "I say he is barking mad... that’s what he is... Dude, you just gave them back all their Galleons," Fred groaned in clear disappoi.

  Magnus smiled.

  "So you said before the first round." He patted the part fondly, looking at the green hat had appeared o his stake.

  72 Galleons pending.

  Slowly, however, his eyes began to drift with a cloudy look.

  Truthfully, he was feeling the same doubts he had experiehe first time.

  Magnus was familiar with the two Pokémon... and just like the first round, he had goh type advantage.

  See, Garp’s Ground type had an upper hand against Rhyperior’s Rock/Ground.

  This was, however, not the sole reason. Rhyperior was a rocky fortress, so in terms of raw strength, Garp would not stand a ce. That was why he was hoping that the Griffins would not try close bat.

  Garp was vicious and calg, but the skill Magnus was betting on was her of those—it was its nimble physique.

  While Rhyperior was a bloody tanker, his attacks were slow, and hitting a swift oppo like Garp would be a big task.

  Magnus was fideood a good ce here, just so long as the Griffins were not stupid enough to fall into the Manticores’ trap of close bat.

  "Please don't be stupid," Magnus begged.

  ***

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