Chapter 390: The Three-Trick Pony
For the first round, Elara sent out a Scolipede.
The Scolipede was entirely crimson, shaped like a centipede, but its body was a bit plump, almost chubby. It wasn't as long as a real centipede.
It actually fit the current image of the "Fat Tiger Team" quite well, a general plumpness.
And on Arthur's side, he sent out Specter.
Logically, against a Bug/Poison-type Pokémon like Scolipede, Gengar is at a type disadvantage. But Arthur wasn't flustered at all.
Because Elara's biggest problem right now was her "three-trick pony" strategy.
Her routine was basically fixed. By now, almost everyone could guess her opening moves.
So, Arthur knew it wouldn't be long before she switched out her Scolipede.
The real battle would only begin then!
Sure enough, at the start of the match, Elara followed her usual script.
"Scolipede, use Superpower!"
The Fighting-type ultimate move: Superpower!
It attacks the enemy with astonishing strength, usually in the form of a body slam. After the burst of power, the user suffers a side effect of weakness, with both its attack and defense being lowered for a period of time.
This was why Arthur had sent out Specter.
The Ghost type is largely immune to the Fighting type.
So, Specter only had to take the physical impact of the opponent's charge. The explosive and concussive damage from the Fighting-type energy would be minimized.
Specter was raring to go. It even actively lowered itself to the ground, opening its short arms to welcome the Scolipede's challenge.
With its Levitate ability, Specter could have relatively easily dodged this move in the air, but this time, it chose to respond to the opponent's charge in a more hot-blooded way! (Note 1)
Arthur let him be.
Because it didn't matter.
This was all just a prelude.
The Scolipede, enveloped in a deep brown energy, rumbled forward like a main battle tank!
Although its body was bulky, its speed was not slow at all!
Don't be fooled by the fact that the Scolipede was so fat it barely looked like a centipede anymore. It was actually a very agile fatty.
The hit landed, and Specter slid back a dozen meters.
Type immunity only applies to the mutual nullification of energy. It has no mitigating effect on pure physical impact.
Most of the damage from the exploding fighting aura was like a gentle breeze, but the impact of the collision did make Specter's short arms go numb.
It was an ultimate move, after all. It packed a punch!
This got Specter a little fired up.
But unfortunately, the next second, just as he was about to grab the Scolipede for a passionate wrestling match between males, the opponent slipped away.
"Stall out the cooldown, then use Baton Pass!"
Elara was still following her three-trick pony routine.
After knocking the opponent back, the Scolipede didn't press its advantage. It immediately retreated to its own side of the field and began to move around with fancy footwork, not attempting to attack again.
Stall. Just hard-stall.
After its cooldown was over, it returned to its starting position and created a small barrier on the spot.
Leaving behind the sigil of the move Baton Pass, it was then immediately recalled by Elara.
The move Baton Pass can condense all of the Pokémon's current buffs into a sigil, leaving it for the next teammate to enter the field.
And the states that can be passed on are not just buffs, but also debuffs.
A debuff can also be passed on. It's just that no one normally does such a thing.
But Elara was different. This was the final trick of her three-trick pony—
She then sent out her ace Pokémon: a Serperior with the Contrary ability!
The Contrary ability reverses all buffs and debuffs!
This way, the negative debuff sigil left by Scolipede, which lowered its attack and defense, was instantly transformed into a buff effect when it was picked up by Serperior! (Note 2)
Then, Elara commanded, "Use Leaf Storm!"
The Grass-type ultimate move: Leaf Storm!
This move originally also had a debuff side effect. After using it, the user's special attack would be sharply lowered for a period of time. But under the reversal of Contrary, after firing this ultimate, Serperior became even more energized. The energy around its body was visibly rippling and expanding like water waves!
After picking up Scolipede's Baton Pass sigil and firing off this Leaf Storm, Serperior had accumulated boosts to its attack, defense, and special attack!
This had basically reached the limit of what the Contrary ability could reverse!
At this moment, Serperior was bathed in a rosy, wave-like energy, and its entire style was different from other Pokémon.
After that, Elara's command was very simple—
You've been buffed. Go!
And so, Serperior was full of confidence!
Serperior went in!
Serperior bravely coiled around Specter!
And then, they heard Arthur calmly utter a single sentence: "Use Clear Smog."
Specter let out a mischievous puff of smoke at his opponent.
Serperior typed GG…
Elara also let out a helpless sigh.
This was the tragedy of her as a rookie.
Because her tactics were relatively one-dimensional, once her intel was thoroughly studied, it wasn't that hard to counter her.
At the beginning of the season, when everyone was still unfamiliar with her, her three-trick pony had been repeatedly effective. At that time, she had achieved three consecutive wins. It was quite impressive!
After all, if you're facing this strategy for the first time, without any preparation, and you suddenly see a Serperior with fully boosted attack, defense, and special attack, wreathed in strange energy waves, both tanky and dealing a lot of damage, it's a real headache.
Many veteran main players had been defeated when they had tried to go head-to-head with it.
But unfortunately, after people became familiar with this strategy and came up with targeted counters, Serperior could no longer be so arrogant.
Then, to completely crush Serperior's hopes, after Specter had already used Clear Smog, Arthur immediately followed up with a Haze command.
A two-pronged approach, with both an instant clear and a continuous erosion. This made it impossible for Serperior's reversed buffs to stack up.
As for the small waste of a move slot, that was a minor issue for Specter.
Beating a non-buffed Serperior, even without using any moves, was a piece of cake for him.
Elara's Serperior was currently only at the main singles level. With full buffs, it might have been able to turn the tables on Specter, but without buffs, it was clearly not enough.
"Pin it down! Don't let it get away! Use Poison Jab!"
The Poison type is super-effective against Grass, so this time, Arthur didn't have Specter use his favorite Shadow Claw.
But the scene was more or less the same.
Unlike other Poison-type Pokémon that like to play with smoke and poison, Specter didn't like to mess with those slow, poisoning tricks.
If you're going to do it, do it hard!
He clenched his fist, and purple energy clung to it like a fighting aura. He brought his fist down with a resounding thud!
A rare physical move for the Poison type: Poison Jab!
It can be used in various ways, usually by stinging the enemy with a poisoned tentacle or spike. But Specter didn't follow the conventional path. He was used to using his fist for a large-area poison injection.
And you had to admit, the effect was pretty good.
The Poison-type energy clinging to his fist corroded Serperior's skin with a sizzling sound, and the purple quickly spread throughout its body!
This one blow was exceptionally effective, and Specter had even managed to inflict the poisoned status.
Note 1: Before the seventh generation, Gengar had the Levitate ability. It was removed in the newer versions, but I've given it back to Gengar here.
Note 2: In the games, you actually can't play like this. Baton Pass and Contrary can't be combo'd this way. For this, just consider it a custom rule.
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