Chapter 656: Who's the Nastiest?
It didn't take long for Arthur to figure out Future Yuzuru's tactical intent—
She was aiming to stack Stealth Rock this round!
The moves she had used so far: Life Dew, Stealth Rock, Minimize, Attract, and later Flash and Thunder Wave.
Except for Stealth Rock, not a single one was a damaging move!
This tactic had reached a heinous extreme—Future Yuzuru had abandoned all direct damage-dealing moves.
Although the move limit in T1 events had expanded to eight, and she still had empty slots, from the looks of it, she clearly didn't intend to attack.
Time soon proved this.
After Specter's repeated Sludge Bomb barrages poisoned Blissey, Future Yuzuru quickly used another move: Safeguard!
The seventh move slot!
Still no damage capability.
After another ten minutes of fierce fighting, Life Dew's continuous healing could barely keep up, so Future Yuzuru ordered:
"Blissey, use Soft-Boiled!"
Blissey quickly condensed an oval egg with energy, then swallowed it whole.
Instantly, her injuries healed visibly!
Blissey's signature move, the survival god skill, instant healing: Soft-Boiled!
The eighth move slot was used too.
Blissey carried out the word "stall" to the extreme!
Specter's hands were getting sore from punching...
But judging by this posture, he conservatively estimated he would have to fight for another ten minutes...
Torture!
However, compared to Specter's torture, what worried Arthur more was—none of the Stealth Rocks laid by Blissey had detonated yet!
Even when Arthur realized something was wrong and consciously had Specter rush into that area to trigger the mines, they still didn't explode.
This meant the target preset by Blissey for Stealth Rock wasn't Specter at all!
This was not good news...
Arthur would rather the target be Specter. Detonating in batches, Specter could easily take the damage, and if the injuries got too heavy, he could just stay away from the minefield or use Substitute to escape. Not a problem.
But if the opponent's target wasn't Specter, it was troublesome!
Landmines detonating in batches versus detonating all at once posed completely different threats!
By now, this round had been going on for over fifteen minutes!
Arthur lost count of how many mines Blissey had laid!
The threat was growing!
He knew he needed to end this quickly.
But a Pokémon like Blissey, especially a captain-level ace Blissey determined to stall, was really hard to kill!
She was just too tanky!
After another ten minutes, Specter's punching speed had visibly slowed down.
Poor guy, he wasn't injured, but his stamina was failing.
At this moment, Future Yuzuru suddenly said, "I surrender."
Catching the entire audience off guard.
Only Arthur's heartstrings tightened instantly.
He immediately realized this wasn't good news.
It likely meant the opponent felt enough mines had been laid.
Stealth Rock, as energy constructs, didn't last forever. Future Yuzuru couldn't stack them indefinitely.
Now the problem was thrown back to Arthur—he had to guess who Blissey's designated target was.
Lina? The little dragonfly? Greninja? Or Old Flame?
He dared not send out Lina or Old Flame, because Charizard is doubly weak to Rock-type moves. This explosion would be certain death.
So only the little dragonfly could go up and gamble.
Ground-type Pokémon resist Rock-type moves. If he guessed wrong, there might still be a chance of survival.
So in the third round, he decisively sent out the little dragonfly.
Then Future Yuzuru sent out Sableye second.
Seeing Sableye, Arthur ordered without thinking: "Use Protect!"
With Sableye, there must be a trick!
Because once Sableye fell, the Charizardite X it stole with Trick would have to be returned. Future Yuzuru wouldn't easily let Sableye take risks.
But—
The little dragonfly landed and quickly opened the energy shield.
However, one second passed—
Two seconds passed—
Silence on the field!
No explosion?
Arthur was stunned.
Impossible!
That doesn't make sense!
Is your Sableye here just to feed?
Wouldn't one Earthquake from me crush you in minutes?
Until three seconds later, the moment the Protect energy shield disappeared—
"Sableye, Poltergeist!"
The next moment, a terrifying explosion resounded through the stadium. The violent tremor made the audience in the front rows scream and fall into chaos!
Arthur raised an eyebrow.
Amidst the roar of flying debris, he finally understood the opponent's full routine.
It turned out Blissey's Stealth Rock had no target set at all; it wouldn't explode no matter who stepped on it.
Future Yuzuru's real calculation was to use the Poltergeist move to manipulate the effect of items to control these energy constructs, turning trigger mines into manually detonated bombs.
This required a deep understanding and expansion of the Poltergeist move.
But recalling the first battle in the desert, where Future Yuzuru had used Rotom's Poltergeist combined with nanobombs to perform a very flashy trick, Arthur suddenly felt this was unexpected yet reasonable.
Future Yuzuru had a unique research and understanding of the move Poltergeist.
You guys are really nasty...
The next moment, the referee raised the flag without hesitation—
"Flygon is unable to battle!"
Looking at it this way, Blissey's exit seemed very valuable.
She single-handedly wore down Specter significantly and took out the little dragonfly in one wave, completely turning the tide back.
Pink Devil, well-deserved.
Poor little dragonfly, who had just enjoyed a solo sweep game not long ago, was targeted again in the blink of an eye.
This was probably the law of conservation of luck...
One explosion, Stealth Rock cleared, match ended on the spot.
The whole round took only three seconds, forming a stark contrast with the previous half-hour bladder-busting round!
"This match is really something. One round stalling to the extreme, one round flying fast. Interesting."
Professional players shook their heads watching this match.
You guys are really nasty!
Although the match was fast, the subsequent leveling of the field took a lot of time.
Even Future Yuzuru herself probably couldn't count how many Stealth Rocks Blissey had buried in those twenty minutes.
Anyway, the staff responsible for leveling and repairing the field had a very fulfilling job this time.
It's all a blessing!
Then the fourth round began.
The score was pulled back to 1-2. Finally, it was Future Yuzuru's turn to send out a Pokémon first.
After some thought, she indeed sent out her strongest ace: Carbink, who had inherited the Legendary's signature move!
Arthur exhaled.
Heh!
I've been waiting for you!
He immediately took out a Poké Ball.
The next moment, the commentators exclaimed.
Because this time, Arthur revealed a new Pokémon that had never appeared in the Champions Cup so far—
Aegislash!
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 35 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you