Chapter 371: One-on-One Defense
After sensing the change, Arthur immediately made an adjustment!
"Fall back! Use Dragon Dance!"
He stopped the brute-force assault, retreated to cast a buff, and strengthened himself.
Even if he still couldn't crack this Shuckle, after completing the buff, Arthur could recall Old Flame and gain a significantly enhanced trump card.
But then, Leo immediately reacted.
"Use the rocks to get airborne! Use Power Split!"
So he did know Power Split!
But unlike Simon, who used Power Split as a decisive, battle-ending move, Leo in this match seemed to be using it merely as a deterrent.
A means of interruption to ensure you don't dare to casually cast a buff.
He himself didn't seem to care whether the Power Split was successful or not.
But even so, upon seeing the Shuckle deliberately roll into the rocks on the field and launch itself into the air, Arthur could only choose to retreat for the time being.
"Fall back!"
Shuckle's natural strength is too low. To get a buff only to have it averaged out with the opponent's would be a massive loss.
Old Flame swung his tail like a baseball bat, swatting the flying Shuckle far away.
But this action also inadvertently interrupted his Dragon Dance.
"ROAR!"
Old Flame let out a furious roar.
This battle was incredibly frustrating for him.
But for the moment, all Arthur could do was advise him.
"Don't be in a hurry to chase!"
Although he didn't say it directly, Old Flame understood the subtext: use this opportunity to rest.
But Leo clearly wouldn't allow that.
A smile of complete control crept onto his lips.
"Continue using Rollout!"
At this point, Arthur had finally figured out his opponent's plan.
Leo had no intention of attacking at all.
He didn't care if Power Split succeeded, nor did he care if Rollout could shift into a higher gear.
All he wanted was to not let Arthur's Old Flame rest!
Rollout must be stopped!
Every dozen or so seconds this move rolls, it's equivalent to stacking a buff. Its power will grow stronger and stronger.
This was a blatant, unavoidable strategy!
He was forcing Arthur to come and stop him!
If Arthur tried to retreat and buff, he would have Shuckle roll up and use Power Split to force Old Flame to interrupt!
If he didn't buff, he would just happily drift across the field.
This time, after seeing through his intention, Arthur deliberately delayed his command, preparing to let Old Flame rest for a bit before interrupting Shuckle's Rollout.
After all, with Shuckle's weak strength, the first few gears of Rollout posed little threat to Old Flame. Letting it get up to third gear wasn't a big problem.
In fact, Arthur was still scheming in his mind about how to surprise the opponent and let Old Flame get off a Dragon Dance.
But just then, the referee suddenly blew his whistle, catching Arthur completely off guard.
"Contestant Arthur, passive play, one warning!"
The referee's words snapped Arthur back to reality.
He then realized that this wasn't a wilderness battle he was familiar with; this was an arena match.
Professional matches have penalties for passive play. If a trainer and their Pokémon on the field do not attack or take any action for a period of time, they will be warned by the referee. Three warnings, and you forfeit the round!
He had learned this rule back in the youth camp, but in his year-plus since debuting, Arthur had never encountered this situation, so he had forgotten about it.
The smile on the opposing Leo's lips became even more elegant and composed.
The Rollout that Shuckle was currently using was a god-tier move for avoiding the passive play penalty.
Because, by definition, Rollout is considered an attacking move, and one that requires charging, he could completely explain his endless rolling as "building up momentum." Even if, subjectively, he was being more passive than Arthur, by the rules, this could not be judged as passive play.
He was not like Arthur, who had only started to learn about competitive Pokémon after transmigrating. As a veteran of the league, an evergreen player, Leo would never make such a rookie mistake when it came to the rules.
Even though everyone on the field could clearly see that it had been Arthur's Charizard actively attacking this entire time, and Leo was just stalling, stalling, stalling, the one who had just received a warning was Arthur.
This was a legitimate use of the rules of competition.
"Charge forward! Stop its Rollout!"
Helpless, Arthur could only yield.
These were the rules of the arena. He had no choice but to obey.
After stopping the Shuckle, he immediately commanded, "Use Will-O-Wisp!"
As long as Will-O-Wisp hits, it has a 100% chance of inflicting a burn on the enemy.
But Leo immediately countered.
"Use Safeguard!"
As the captain of the Demon King Team, his Pokémon would not have any obvious gaps in their move pools. Status conditions were not a problem for him.
However, Arthur wasn't trying to exploit an inability to cure the burn. He was trying to exploit the moment Shuckle used Safeguard, when its neck and head had to stick out!
Shuckle's moves are cast from its head.
"Grab it, Old Flame!"
Old Flame saw the opportunity and lunged forward, grabbing Shuckle's slender neck!
The defense of Shuckle's soft tissues was certainly no match for its enchanted shell!
Directly attacking its soft body would surely be much more effective than trying to crack a turtle shell!
However, Leo was also ruthless.
Seeing this, he immediately commanded, "Self-harm! Use your own blood as lubricant to retract your neck! Continue using Withdraw!"
For the players of the Demon King Team, commanding a Pokémon to self-harm came with no burden at all.
And Leo was much stronger than Dylan, who Arthur had faced last year. Back then, Dylan had to issue three commands to make his Whimsicott self-destruct. But the moment Leo's words fell, his Shuckle decisively spewed a mouthful of blood and actively pushed its neck onto Old Flame's claws. Using the gushing blood from the wound, its neck slipped out of Old Flame's grasp in a flash.
As the former number one player in the league, regardless of his attitude towards his Pokémon, at least in terms of his control over them, Leo completely outclassed his teammates like Lucas and Dylan.
His Pokémon, even when treated as tools, still respected and feared him, not daring to disobey in the slightest.
Old Flame had successfully injured the Shuckle.
But it was not the kind of effect he and Arthur had wanted!
And in this match, Shuckle was holding Leftovers. If they dragged this out for another twenty minutes, this small wound would probably be fully healed.
At this point, Arthur had used all the countermeasures he could think of. For the time being, he had to admit that Old Flame really couldn't take down this Shuckle that just wanted to stall until the end of time.
And so, he had no choice but to take out his Poké Ball.
"Contestant Arthur has used his mid-battle switch first! His Charizard has been recalled! What on earth is going on?" the newcomer commentator shouted with excitement.
But beside him, Sage Hwang was much calmer. He once again pointed out the mystery of this round with a single sentence.
"The Demon King Team's analysis department has scored another victory! They keenly observed that Contestant Arthur's Mega-capable Charizard has low stamina and is not suited for a long battle, and so they formulated a very targeted stalling tactic. Captain Leo's tactical execution was also flawless, a beautiful defense. It seems that Contestant Arthur's ace, Charizard, has been completely shut down by Captain Leo's Shuckle. What will Contestant Arthur choose to do next?"
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