Chapter 449: Extreme Rationality is Irrationality
As the Scolipede skillfully brandished its purple dual blades, the Araquanid could only retreat step by step.
Araquanid's Water Bubble ability allows it to handle Fire-type moves with ease. This oil-like bubble can cover its entire body, making it immune to burns, further reducing fire damage, and, as long as the water film is not depleted, all of its Water-type moves are greatly enhanced!
This ability is also very strong, and it is exclusive to Araquanid. Only this type of Pokémon has it.
Unfortunately, this membrane-magic is useless against a slashing attack like Cross Poison.
The Scolipede chased the Araquanid from one end of the field to the other, determined to show its opponent who was in charge of this arena!
This left Quincy utterly shocked.
Is this the same "three-trick pony" Elara he was familiar with?
You've only been at Starlight and Frost for a little over a month, and you've changed this much?! What on earth have they been teaching you?!
Is it really that exaggerated?!
It wasn't until a minute later, when the Scolipede's Speed Boost ability triggered for the first time, taking its speed to the next level, that Quincy finally confirmed—his opponent had really changed her tactics!
The commentators started to tease, "Oh my heavens! Elara's Scolipede isn't doing a quick-switch! Is my youth coming to an end?"
For the Scolipede to fight for a full minute meant that Elara could no longer Baton Pass to her Serperior.
Because Serperior's Contrary ability cannot accept positive buffs.
At this, Quincy no longer had any worries.
"Araquanid, use Lunge!"
The Bug-type move: Lunge!
Don't be fooled by its ordinary name. It is, in fact, a high-level, top-tier Bug-type move.
Its power is quite impressive, and as long as it successfully pounces and pins the enemy, the energy shockwave has a 100% chance of weakening the enemy!
This is also another of Araquanid's signature moves, almost an exclusive. Very few Pokémon can learn it.
The only pity is that Araquanid's membrane-magic only boosts Water-type moves. Otherwise, this would be a sure-kill!
Unfortunately, it can't be boosted.
But at this point, it was too late for Quincy to use this move.
The Scolipede had already triggered its Speed Boost once and was on a roll!
"Roll to dodge the lunge! Get up and use an uppercut! Circle around to its back, land a full Cross Poison, then create distance!"
After a rolling dodge, an uppercut, a circle to the back, and a cross-slash—a silky-smooth little combo!
Then, the Scolipede could use its speed advantage to create distance again, giving the Araquanid no chance to pin it down!
The Speed Boost ability is just a bit slow to get going. But once the Scolipede has warmed up, this Scolipede, which has been meticulously trained by Arthur these past few days, is not weak at all!
Quincy had been completely careless. All of his pre-match attention had been focused on guarding against Elara's Serperior. He had not given this crimson Scolipede the respect it deserved.
By the time he realized it, the red, horned, triple-speed dual-wielding mad dog was already on a rampage!
Helpless, it was Quincy's side that was the first to use their mid-battle switch.
He then sent out his true ace Pokémon: Incineroar!
A tiger-headed, bipedal, humanoid Pokémon that resembles a beastman. Its type is Fire/Dark.
At the same time, it is the most common and iconic Intimidate Pokémon on the professional stage.
The Intimidate ability, in the first exchange of a battle, can cause the opponent to become severely stunned and their muscles to weaken.
It's a perfect counter to a physical attacker like Scolipede.
"Incineroar, use Flare Blitz!"
Quincy's opening was also very霸气, an ultimate move, determined to see the first-impression kill through to the end!
Can't give the opponent a chance to recover!
But Elara also had a counter.
"Use Baton Pass!"
After using this move, she also immediately switched Pokémon, at the same time dodging the Incineroar's Flare Blitz.
It left the Incineroar charging at nothing.
Then, she naturally switched to her recently-trained potential backup: Espeon!
Espeon is a special attacker. The muscle weakness from Intimidate had no effect on it. It came out and immediately hit the opponent with a Dazzling Gleam.
Although using a Psychic-type Espeon against a Dark-type Incineroar is a type-disadvantage matchup, Elara was not afraid. Relying on the speed boost passed on from the Scolipede's Baton Pass, she always maintained an ambiguous distance from her opponent, never making contact but never letting him give up hope.
A very green-tea playstyle.
This naturally made Quincy think of using the classic Dark-type move, Snarl, to counter!
Snarl is one of the few long-range moves in the Dark-type arsenal that can deal damage without contact, and its damage range is much larger than the circular burst of Dark Pulse.
It was undoubtedly the best choice in the current situation.
And Snarl also has a weakening effect, which can block the opponent's energy flow and lower their special attack for a period of time!
A perfect counter for a caster-type Pokémon like Espeon!
Everything seemed to be working out perfectly, developing very rationally.
However, sometimes on the professional stage, being overly rational often means being irrational!
Because the opponent is also a professional player. There's no reason they wouldn't have thought of something so logical.
At this moment, Quincy already had a vague sense of unease.
But he really had no other, better attacking options.
He was familiar with Elara's Espeon and knew its ability was Magic Bounce. This ability can reflect many moves that only have a weakening effect without direct damage, including various status-inflicting moves.
This meant that Quincy's choices were already very limited.
And this had played right into Elara's calculations!
After the Espeon had used Dazzling Gleam several times to suppress and control the distance, forcing the Incineroar to use Snarl three times in a row, Elara finally showed her hand!
"Espeon, use Baton Pass! And then—I forfeit!"
A direct forfeit, exceptionally decisive.
Quincy had smoothly taken a point, but at this moment, he wasn't happy at all.
"Oh no!!"
He finally realized he had fallen into a trap!
Elara had wanted him to repeatedly use Snarl!
Because her Espeon also knew Baton Pass!
In the past, Elara had a direct Scolipede-to-Serperior Baton Pass chain. But now it was different!
She had added another Pokémon to her chain, and this had lulled Quincy into a false sense of security.
In that situation, using the super-effective Snarl with its sufficient damage range was indeed a rational choice.
But—extreme rationality had, in the end, led to irrationality!
Quincy had been out-schemed!
Then, the Serperior took the stage. Quincy had no way to stop it from picking up the energy sigil on the field…
The Contrary ability reversed the weakening from the previous Snarls!
In an instant, the buff fluctuations on the Serperior were pushed to their absolute limit!
In reality, every Pokémon has a limit to how many buffs it can handle. Any more, and the body can't take it. Not only will it have no further effect, but it will even become a burden.
And at this moment, the boost to Serperior's special attack had instantly been maxed out!
The ripples of energy around its body seemed to distort space, making it look dreamlike and illusory!
"Incineroar, use Parting Shot!"
At this point, Quincy continued to use a weakening move, trying to gamble on pushing the opponent's buff limit over the edge.
But Elara would not give him this chance again!
"Hyper Beam!!"
She opened with her most powerful ultimate move!
The beam of light shot across the ground, carving a straight, scorching trench!
One hit—
K.O.!!
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