"HAHA! Be prepared to lose, Satoshi!" Hiroshi taunted him, immediately taking his place on one side of the open area that Kim Jin Seok opened up for the unofficial beast tournament.
"Sigh~ are you kidding me?" Satoshi scratched his head and positioned himself on the other end of the open field.
"FOR THE FIRST BATTLE! GIVE IT UP FOR SATOSHI AND HIROSHI!" Kim Jin Seok announced.
Honestly, Kim Jin Seok felt relief when Hiroshi and Satoshi were paired up together for the first fight. It might probably be a stroke of luck but at least Satoshi would have a decent fight against another Red Salamander. Had it been anyone else, he'd have lost big time and Kim Jin Seok didn't want that. He wanted Satoshi to at least feel his bond with his Red Salamander despite it being one of the weakest beasts to ever exist in the Beast Dimension.
Hiroshi rubbed his nose as his red salamander walked in front of him, screeching like a lunatic while turning around. It was a goofy red salamander that even Hiroshi was a tad bit embarrassed by it. But that didn't stop him from owning the red salamander though. Wearing a straight face, he extended his hand towards Satoshi who stood on the other side of the open area, telling him to release his red salamander so they could commence with the first round of the tournament.
"Where's your red salamander, Satoshi?" Hiroshi asked, taunting Satoshi as if that would do him well in the fight. To be fair, he was excited... that is until Satoshi started smiling.
"One question though..." Satoshi pointed out, out of nowhere, as he accessed Orb Oboros's dimensional storage and got his Alpha Red Salamander. "Why is your Red Salamander so small?"
Satoshi's Altered Type Alpha Red Salamander came out, screeching just like Hiroshi's Red Salamander did. However, its screech was more vibrant as it is intimidating. Its sheer size is probably fifty or more times larger than a normal red salamander, and adding to that, it gave off incredible heat from its body. Everyone on the sidelines felt the sheer power that emanated from Satoshi's Red Salamander.
Everyone's reactions to the Altered Type Alpha Red Salamander were pretty much the same— with all of them hanging their mouths in amazement. Even Kim Jin Seok was not excluded from the surprise that everyone felt, and his jaw dropped to the ground as well while his eyes almost fell out of their sockets. "That's a... an Altered Type and an Alpha Type... what are the chances of that happening?!" He exclaimed, admiring the Altered Type Alpha Red Salamander in all its form and glory.
"Oi oi, are you kidding me right now?" Hiroshi's mouth twitched as Satoshi's Altered Type Alpha Red Salamander approached his Red Salamander. He could've sworn that his Red Salamander peed himself as it stared at its giant counterpart.
Satoshi's Red Salamander didn't waste any time. With one slap, Hiroshi's Red Salamander was sent skittering sideways, hitting its head on the ground a couple of times as it mercilessly rolled. Once it stopped rolling, it was already done for— it had already lost its consciousness with its eyes a swirly doodly mess.
Everyone gasped. Even Kim Jin Seok who was supposed to announce the results of the first battle on the first bracket was shocked and he paused for a few seconds before regaining his composure. "Ehrhmm~ and the winner of the first match is— MIDORIYAMA SATOSHI!" He screamed Satoshi's name in the end.
His sudden change in volume got everyone back to their senses and they exhilaratingly clapped at the expected turn of events. It was so underwhelming to the point that it was actually exciting.
"Oh no, my red salamander." Hiroshi rushed towards his tamed beast and carried it. "What are you on about, Satoshi, you didn't tell me that your Red Salamander was a giant one... and it even had a nice vibrant scarlet, almost orangey color. That means it's an Altered Type, right? Sigh~ how could you be so lucky."
"I thought you were going to beat my red salamander?" Satoshi responded, rubbing more salt on Hiroshi's already salty wounds.
"I didn't know your red salamander was a giant!" Hiroshi voiced out.
...
...
In the second match of the first round, it was none other than Midori and his Vinerinna. Apparently, their opponent was another red salamander and they won by the skin of their teeth. After all, Vinerinna is a grass-type and grass-types are weak against fire types. Even though Vinerinna was a rare beast and strong enough than most grass types, it still is weak against a common fire type which is the red salamander.
"So your tamed beast is an Alpha Red Salamander, huh? Too bad mine's the Frost Elephant." Lydia commented, once again seating herself beside Satoshi. "I'm in the second bracket and honestly, no one can defeat me over there. I'll wait for you in the finals, Satoshi." She continued.
"Um yeah... sure..." Satoshi muttered. After all, before he could get into the finals, he still needed to fight Shiroi's Fluffy Penguin.
As mentioned before, red salamanders are weak against water types and ice types. That's why the Fluffy Penguin is probably the red salamander's worst matchup. Compared to the Frost Elephant which only has one type— ice— the Fluffy Penguin has two types, which are ice and water. In other words, the Fluffy Penguin is a much more formidable opponent compared to Lydia's Frost Elephant.
The Fluffy Penguin and the Frost Elephant are both A-Grade Beasts, so they have a clear shot at beating the SS-Grade Altered Type Alpha Red Salamander due to the convenient matchup.
"AND THE WINNER IS—" Satoshi's line of thought was interrupted by Kim Jin Seok's announcement of the last match in the second bracket. "And now, for the second round! We already have the matchups on the board!" He announced.
Satoshi and his Red Salamander were pitted against Midori and his Vinerinna.
"MIDORI! AVENGE ME!" Hiroshi screamed from the sidelines as Midori took the opposite side of the open area.
Satoshi also stood there as well, drooping his shoulders in the process since he didn't want to stand out too much. That didn't do much though since his Alpha Red Salamander was too colossal for its size.
"Honestly, I wanted to tap out since my Vinerinna won't stand a chance against your Alpha Red Salamander. But I figured that wouldn't be half as fun. I might as well get the most out of this experience and help my Vinerinna grow." Midori said, patting his Vinerinna on its head. "Do your best out there, Vinerinna."
Vinerinna squealed, then its red glowing eyes narrowed as it stared at Satoshi's Alpha Red Salamander.
"All right then," Satoshi continued. He was overjoyed to know that Midori wasn't backing down from the fight despite the type disadvantage, and that gesture gave him an idea. "How about this? I'll let your Vinerinna try out three attacks. If you can knock out my Red Salamander in those three moves, or rather, if you can deal a substantial amount of damage, then I'll be the one to tap out."
"Are you sure about this, Satoshi?" Midori grinned.
"Sure,"
"FOR THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE SECOND ROUND! GIVE IT UP FOR MIDORI AND SATOSHI!" Kim Jin Seok announced.
"Vinerinna! Use leech seed!" Midori didn't waste a single second as he unleashed his first attack. "Leech seed plants a seed on the target. After a target under the effect of Leech Seed takes its turn, one-eighth of its HP will be drained and the same amount of HP will be restored to the target's opponent." Midori then announced, giving the textbook definition of the move.
On the other hand, Satoshi's Alpha Red Salamander didn't move a single millimeter, it just stood there, confident that the leech seed won't affect it.
And it was right on the money. As aforementioned, Satoshi's Alpha Red Salamander gives off intense heat from its body, which actually burned the seed thrown at it. Before the seed could even be planted, it was already reduced to ashes.
"Tsk~ and here I was, confident that it would work," Midori said to himself. He only had two moves left and he didn't know what else to do in order for Vinerinna's attack to reach Satoshi's Altered Type Alpha Red Salamander.
"Vinerinna! Use vine whip!" Midori called out, making Vinerinna lash out some of its vines towards the Red Salamander. As usual, the vine whips were reduced to ashes and Vinerinna screamed in pain since its vines were extensions of its body.
"Last one... Vinerinna! Use poison sting!" Midori was getting desperate. Poison sting has a twenty percent chance of poisoning the target as long as the attack connects. Crossing his fingers, Midori hoped that the attack would at least hit Satoshi's monstrous red salamander.
Just like Vinerinna's first and second attack, the poison sting also didn't connect. It was also reduced to ashes before it even reached the red salamander.
"I guess that's a wrap." Midori sighed. "I forfeit."