Chapter 653: Wicked Wisdom
Hearing Future Yuzuru shout the command "Trick," Arthur was momentarily stunned.
Because as far as he recalled, this move usually required physical contact to be executed, right?
At this moment, Lina was still flying in the air.
The Sableye, less than five feet tall, was far from being able to touch her.
However, a surprising scene unfolded—
Future Yuzuru smiled faintly, and the skill glowed as promised in front of Sableye. A beam of light wrapped around a severed tail and flew rapidly toward Lina in the air.
"The move activated successfully?! My god! It seems Future Yuzuru's Sableye has specially developed the move Trick!"
As the highest level T1 event in the world, the Champions Cup represents the highest honor for professional clubs. Naturally, every player on this stage holds a competitive spirit.
Arthur prepared before the match, and so did others!
The deep development of the move Trick was Future Yuzuru's preparation for this duel.
The item she had Sableye hold was Lagging Tail.
A magical severed tail, specially processed and containing mysterious psychic power.
Like the Iron Ball, this was also an item with purely negative effects!
Pokémon holding this item were unaffected in normal movement and attacks, but once they used a move, the casting speed would be severely slowed down, and the casting wind-up would be greatly amplified.
Coincidentally, the acceleration effect of the Prankster ability could counteract this side effect well, which was why Future Yuzuru chose Lagging Tail over Iron Ball for this round.
Forcing a negative item onto Lina was already deadly!
Even more deadly was that Lina soon reacted and complained anxiously to Arthur through their telepathic link.
"Master, my Charizardite X was taken!!"
That's right, this was the deadliest trap Future Yuzuru set for Lina!
Because Arthur's Lina was different from other Mega Pokémon; she carried two Mega Stones every time she went on stage.
After Mega Evolution was completed, having the Mega Stone swapped away wouldn't immediately cancel the evolution state, only significantly shortening its duration. This wasn't fatal in the arena because a single round in arena battles wasn't long anyway.
However, the situation was different for Lina.
Because according to habit, she would evolve into Mega Charizard Y first at the start.
In other words, she hadn't used her Charizardite X yet!
And now, Future Yuzuru very slyly had Sableye target Lina's unused Charizardite X!
This was undoubtedly more effective than Steven's tactic of using Misty Terrain and Flash Fire in the winner's bracket match!
She directly sealed one of Lina's evolution paths!
"Lina, pin him down, Fire Punch!"
At this moment, Lina had reverted from Mega Charizard Y form as usual, but she couldn't evolve into Mega Charizard X anymore.
The key item was stolen!
Helplessly, Arthur ordered her to attack freely.
Sableye's frontal combat power generally wasn't strong, so he might as well try to force a kill!
But Future Yuzuru calmly ordered: "Sableye, use Imprison again!"
After this move, she recalled Sableye without hesitation.
In close quarters, Lina couldn't dodge Sableye's Imprison.
Although it was a counter-pick Pokémon with limited move reserves, Lina undoubtedly had a very targeted configuration against Sableye's move pool.
No need to guess, she definitely knew Fire Punch!
Under the principle of the Imprison move, Lina would be unable to use her signature move Fire Punch next.
Then Future Yuzuru switched Pokémon.
But according to arena rules, as long as Sableye hadn't been defeated, the stolen Charizardite X didn't need to be returned.
And Lina had to keep holding the Lagging Tail until she defeated Sableye in this match.
But judging by this posture, Future Yuzuru obviously wouldn't easily send Sableye out again.
At this time, the commentators gradually tasted the deeper flavor of this round of exchange.
"Trading one for one at the limit!! The Nine-Tailed Fox captain's tactical thinking is very sinister. She stole the opponent's Charizard's most commonly used Mega Stone and sealed the opponent's best move. As long as this Sableye doesn't appear again, the Starlight and Frost player's Charizard will remain in a state of missing abilities.
"Using the method of almost sacrificing one of her own Pokémon to seal most of the combat power of the opponent's strongest ace!
"Is this the wicked wisdom of a trainer?
"This Nine-Tailed Fox captain doesn't seem as pure and kind as she looks."
Hearing this, Future Yuzuru's fans were naturally indignant, cursing the live commentator.
"What are you saying? This is called tactics! This is the charm of competition!"
But the Kubfu fans wouldn't indulge them.
"Too vicious! The most poisonous heart is a woman's!"
"Hah! Witch, I knew you had bad intentions!"
However, on the field, Arthur appeared very calm.
Being targeted represented a kind of respect to some extent.
Wasn't this also a reflection of his increased international recognition?
Then seeing Future Yuzuru switch in her Fire-type ace Pokémon Arcanine, he basically realized he should switch Pokémon too.
Fire-type Pokémon are immune to burns.
Having lost her best Mega Charizard X battle form, Lina's current combat power probably couldn't match that ace doggy.
Even though the opponent's ability was Justified, which wasn't very suited for arena battles.
"Lina, use Ancient Power!"
Gambling on Ancient Power, unfortunately, his luck wasn't great today, and he didn't trigger the all-stat boost effect.
Then—
"Use Dragon Rush again!"
Diving and smashing the ground, causing a loud boom.
Before the dust from the explosion cleared, Arthur took out his Poké Ball and recalled Lina.
Just using the recall to avoid a long cooldown period.
This was also the wicked wisdom of a professional player!
In this way, both sides used their mid-battle switch authority very early in the opening.
This phenomenon also foreshadowed that this Captain's Match was destined to be an evenly matched and fierce battle.
Instead of the one-sided crush like Arthur's previous two rounds against the two Hoenn teams!
Future Yuzuru proved at the start that she was definitely not a minion like the captains of Magma and Primordial Sea!
As for whether she could end Arthur's winning streak, we'll have to wait and see!
At this moment, both sides finally started the formal first round of confrontation.
The Pokémon Arthur switched in was the little dragonfly!
As the one switching in second, Arthur still held the type advantage: Flygon's Ground-type moves were super effective against Fire-types!
Future Yuzuru's tactical targeting was very successful; Lina was indeed suppressed for now.
But in the upcoming duel, Arthur still had plenty of surprises prepared for her!
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