"And now it's time for our sed round," the entary began, dwarfed by a mixture of joyful and taunting screams from the Griffins' stand, who were still mog their Manticores terparts.

  "And this time, it's a duel of giants... Witches and wizards, I give you the Griffins' Garp g against the Manticores' Rhyperior!"

  This time, the Pokémorance was not as swift nor as aggressive as the first round.

  The huge fged nd-shark-like Pokémon was the first to arrive at the ter, just o where its Griffin handler and defender were h.

  Having watched the anime, Magnus knew both Pokémon were huge, but seeing them here with naked eyes and in their real form took the experieo another level...

  He could see the saw-like teeth protruding from Garp’s maw... Its bde-like fin tail swooshed patiently as it eyed its oppo, who roag slowly with heavy steps.

  Even from where he was seated, he could feel a small tremor arising from Rhyperior’s steps as he approached.

  The Manticores had clearly gone for brute strength here.

  Rhyperior looked like a walking fortress. The drill-like horn on its face made it hard to fully observe its facial features, but the rest of its features were a pin message of intimidation.

  Almost every part of its body was covered with rocky armor, but what made Magnus begin to pity his Galleons was the on-like hand and the menag battering-ram tail.

  "One good hit from that tail, and yalleons are gone, mate," Fred yelled above the noise of the crowd.

  "Thanks for those encing words," Magnus yelled back, his eyes glued to the field.

  "Anytime, mate," Fred said, patting him on the back.

  The referee pointed his wand to his throat, and the sed, his voied across the stadium.

  "Pyers, please magnify your voice."

  The four repeated the same a as they recast the Sonorous spell.

  "And ready in three, two, one... Fight!"

  Again, the ref’s wand shot out, and the Protego shield charm shattered.

  And stupid is what the Griffins proved to be.

  Just like the first round, immediately the shield fell, the attacks were unleashed.

  "Atta the belly!" the Griffins’ handler cried seds before the Manticores' man yelled, "Sm!"

  "The fuck?" Magnus cried in shock as he left his seat. If he had been in that field, it was the Griffins’ handler who would get the smming.

  "What an idiot"… I mean, the iions were good… The Griffins no doubt wao attack the less-armored parts on the Rhyperior, but the timing was seriously bad.

  Garp lunged with its sharp teeth, preparing to tear through Rhyperior’s rocky armor.

  Now, Rhyperior was slow, and for a sed, Magnus had thought that Garight actually succeed.

  He was dead wrong.

  The rock on-like arms closed oreamlined body seds before the teeth found their mark.

  "Pull back! Pull baow!" the Griffins’ handler screamed.

  But no matter how much Garp tried, it was like he had stuck his head into a glued wall. He couldn't escape Rhyperirip.

  Then the vicious tail began to swoosh.

  Slow they were, but with the target locked ihe battering-ram attaded with reverberating for Garp’s exposed side.

  Oer another, and all the while, the poor Pokémon twisted helplessly.

  "Pull back… pull back!" the stupid handler kept g as if he could not see how useless that was.

  "Fu’ idiot." Magnus did not kly who he meant… Maybe it was him for risking all the money oupid team.

  At this rate, all the bones in Garp would be broken into shards.

  "They…." Magnus moaned as he spped the seat in front of him. "They have screwed me," he groaned, slumping bato his seat and g his head in anger.

  'What was I thinking…? Just like Gee had said, it’s not like the Manticores would lose twi a row, and worse, to a team that was fourth from the bottom of the league.'

  A sudden shrill brought him from his mournful thoughts.

  The Griffins' crowd was r madly, making it hard to hear what any of the handlers were saying.

  Looking down at the field, however, the reason for the Griffins’ fans’ newfound voices was clear.

  The pain must have given the Garp a newfouermination. Its saw-like teeth were buried in Rhyperior’s rocky arm, and somehow it seemed to have weakes grip… The monstrous hands still held it in pce, but Garp had somehow mao get room for some movement.

  Its mouth kept opening and sinking into one of the arms, but still, the oppo seemed to feel nothing. The smming tail kept hitting with shuddering force…

  Magnus almost wished for the ref to break the locked Pokémon, but it seemed there was no hope of such a thing happening.

  Magnus noticed the Griffins’ defender casting some spell every time their Pokémon was attacked, but he could not tell what it robably something to absorb the damage.

  "I am telling you, this is over… They should just forfeit. There is no way Garp will be able to fight after that."

  Gee was about to support his brother when the Griffins’ fans drowned him out.

  Garp had pulled away!

  Magnus had seen it.

  It might have been Luaybe Garp’s bites had finally touched an exposed spot.

  Rhyperirip had sed, and Garp had pulled out of the trap.

  "Retreat!" its handler screamed as Garp dodged a tail ssh and swiftly limped back towards where its team had retreated.

  "Told you…" Fred said, indig the limping Pokémon. "They are just putting off the iable."

  The Silver Griffins were now attending to their Pokémon, which, to its credit, looked more calm pared to the Rhyperior.

  The rocky Pokémon was rumbling at its defender, who was cheg its arm. It seemed Garp had found its mark after all.

  The ref first touched down at the Griffins’ er.

  "Maybe they are resigning," Gee said hopefully.

  But even from the determined way they were taking care of their Pokémon, Magnus k was not the case.

  All of them must have broken the voice-magnifying spell because what they were saying was inaudible.

  The ref, however, looked satisfied with whatever they had talked about, and he flew towards the Manticores.

  The Rhyperior’s handler actually had to meet the ref a good distance from the raging Pokémon, which was giving a hell of a problem to the defender who was fighting to finish putting final touches on its bitten arm.

  "Both teams have agreed to tihe ref said, taking off from the ground.

  "Fight!"

  The Manticore defender released their Pokémon from the restrictive spell, and it immediately sent miniature earthquakes as it ran tarp.

  The Garp handler said something to the Pokémon before magnifying his voice again and joining his teammate in the air.

  Garp immediately charged toward the oning oppo.

  Magnus was relieved to see it was not limping anymore, but for the love of his Galleons, what the hell was it doing… Not running itself into another beating, was it?

  Seds before the two cshed, Garp gracefully danced sideways away from the closing hands…

  Rhyperior screamed a guttural roar as he missed and cruised helplessly past the target.

  By the time it had turned around, Garp’s maw had closed on its foot in more than three bites.

  The tail came swooshing madly, but by then, the nimble target had swung out of read circled back again.

  "That’s it… That is what I was talking about!" Magnus cried with renewed hope.

  It seemed that the Griffins had realized what he had known all along: they could not beat the Rhyperior in a direct brawl. They were now clearly utilizing evasive maneuvers.

  Garp danced pyfully around the t oppo, and with every missed attack, Rhyperirew restless.

  And so did its handler…

  He was calling all manners of attacks, but by the time his Pokémon turo deliver it, the enemy had already circled bad sank its teeth in one pce or the other.

  "Coward!" Fred was screaming. "How are they supposed to fight if it keeps attag from behind?"

  "Well, no one is stopping it from doing the same, is there?" Magnus screamed back sfully. Not long ago, Fred had not allowed him a sed of peace. Turns out karma was indeed a two-timing bitch.

  The anger on Fred's face was equally mirrored by Rhyperior and his team. They were beiless and clueless. The Pokémon's only hope now remained on its tail, which also proved to be useless. It was sshing blindly, and so far, not a single swing had hit Garp.

  The tter, however, had covered every inch of its oppo’s exposed flesh with tless bites, all the while pyfully dang away from its attacks.

  The Manticores did not seem to find a respoo this tactic. The rules did not permit pyers to attack opposing Pokémon directly, but the vice versa could happen, and so they were wary of flying too close.

  Rhyperior had now gone barking mad—it was screaming and sshing blindly, not g about its handler’s ands.

  Slowly, however, evetering ram tail began to slow down enough so that Garp got a ce to utilize its sharp tail fin.

  Maybe it was not as powerful as Rhyperior, but her was it weak.

  It only took five well-timed fin attacks—the fifth hit ended everything.

  Rhyperior froze, but Magnus knew what had happened before his three friends did.

  "It's a knockout… it's a bloody knockout!"

  Garp dived.

  Its sharp snout smmed into Rhyperior's back, and just like a colpsing fortress, the Pokémon that had threateo steal away his luck tumbled forward like a loose avanche.

  When it hit the ground, the drill horn sank ly into the dry earth.

  Magnus screamed!

  ***

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