Crobat, having successfully blocked the previous move, immediately began preparing another one without hesitation as he flew away from Pelipper, who continued pursuing him relentlessly.
Winona reacted quickly, calling out, "Plan D."
Pelipper responded instantly and began preparing his next move while continuing to chase after Crobat.
Crobat flew as fast as possible to widen the distance between himself and Pelipper, but since his speed advantage wasn't overwhelming, he couldn't create a significant gap very quickly.
By the time his move was ready, both Pokémon were still well within the range of most long-range attacks.
However, Crobat had anticipated this and immediately used Confuse Ray.
A strange beam of shimmering light shot toward Pelipper, who reacted unusually quickly and barely managed to dodge the attack.
Winona had carefully studied Alex's match against Steven, so she had specifically prepared her Pokémon to deal with Confuse Ray, an attack that could be avoided with enough concentration, quick reflexes, and a little luck.
Although that preparation didn't guarantee that her Pokémon would successfully dodge the move every time, it increased the odds of avoiding it a bit.
Crobat looked visibly displeased when he saw his attack miss, but he immediately began preparing another move without wasting any time.
Alex was also unhappy, as he knew that missing the attack was a major setback.
His best hit-and-run strategy with Crobat relied heavily on the Pokémon's exceptional Speed and a specific combination of four moves: Toxic, Roost, Protect, and Confuse Ray.
It was an incredibly annoying strategy that was very difficult to counter unless the opposing Pokémon happened to be immune to Toxic.
Confuse Ray was the cornerstone of that strategy, making the missed attack particularly costly for Alex.
Pelipper finished preparing its next move and unleashed Ice Beam once again.
Crobat tried to dodge, but the beam still struck him, leaving him with only about one-third of his HP remaining.
One more direct hit like that would almost certainly defeat him.
Pelipper immediately began preparing another move, and by now, even most of the spectators could easily guess which attack it was likely preparing.
Alex could guess it as well, of course, but there wasn't much he could do about it.
Sometimes, a simple and direct strategy was more than enough to pressure or beat even the most complicated tactics.
Flying at full speed, Crobat finally managed to leave Pelipper's effective attack range, but he quickly realized that he was rapidly approaching the edge of the arena.
As soon as his move was ready, he used Roost once again, restoring his HP to roughly fifty percent and allowing himself to survive at least one more Ice Beam.
Crobat then immediately began preparing another move as he reached the edge of the arena.
Since he could no longer continue flying in a straight line, Pelipper finally had the opportunity to close the distance.
The moment Pelipper entered a reasonably favorable range, he immediately unleashed his prepared move.
Crobat attempted to dodge the Ice Beam once again, but he failed and was struck for a second time.
The attack was simply too fast to avoid from such a short distance; dodging it would have required an exceptional stroke of luck.
Crobat was now in very poor condition, but thanks to the remarkable life enegie in every Pokémon's body, his injuries were not life-threatening, and he could still fight at nearly full capacity despite the pain.
Pelipper immediately began preparing yet another move while continuing to pursue Crobat, who was once again flying away.
However, Crobat suddenly did something unexpected.
After fleeing for several seconds, he abruptly performed a U-turn and flew straight back toward Pelipper.
Before Pelipper could properly react, the distance between the two Pokémon had already shrunk to just ten meters, and because Pelipper hesitated for a brief moment, the gap closed even further to only five meters.
Crobat could have flown even closer, but instead stopped at a distance of approximately five meters from Pelipper.
Alex regularly trained his Pokémon's moves to raise them to the Expert and Master Ranks, often conducting numerous experiments to determine how each move performed under different conditions.
For example, he had tested at what distance Crobat's Shadow Ball was most likely to land a critical hit against another Pokémon.
Although those experiments showed that the difference in performance based on distance was relatively small, they consistently indicated that a distance of roughly five meters was the optimal range for Crobat.
To make the experiments as realistic as possible, Scizor had frequently served as Crobat's sparring partner, with the two Pokémon taking turns attacking each other.
Alex knew that fighting from this optimal distance increased Crobat's odds of landing a critical hit by only about 3 percent.
Normally, getting that close would also greatly increase the risk of Crobat being hit in return, making the trade-off questionable.
In this particular situation, however, Crobat needed only a single decisive hit to turn the battle around, so that 3 percent increase came with virtually no downside.
Crobat finished preparing his move and immediately unleashed a Shadow Ball aimed directly at the small spot in the center of Pelipper's forehead—his most vulnerable point.
Pelipper reacted quickly and shifted its head slightly to the side.
The Shadow Ball still struck its target, but that slight movement prevented the attack from becoming a critical hit.
Pelipper had been accumulating damage due to his poison throughout the fight. After taking that hit, he was left with only about one-third of his HP remaining.
Pelipper's own move was ready as well, and it fired yet another Ice Beam that Crobat failed to dodge.
Crobat's body fell from the sky before crashing unconscious onto the battlefield.
Alex could do nothing but shake his head.
He had invested so much time and effort into "perfecting" that strategy, only to have it defeated by a Pokémon that had relied on little more than a single repeated attack throughout almost the entire battle.
Alex knew he shouldn't think about it that way, but he couldn't help dwelling on the result.
As he ran toward Crobat with a Hyper Potion already in his hand, he found himself wondering whether there was still some way to improve the strategy even further.
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