"Misdreavus—Thunderbolt!"
"Milotic—Dragon Pulse!"
The moment the match began, both sides went in hard. The golden beam of Thunderbolt collided head-on with the rippling surge of Dragon Pulse. The backlash scattered in every direction, but neither Pokémon seemed to take any real damage.
Serena Elm's gaze tightened. Misdreavus's Thunderbolt—used before evolution—had met Milotic's post-evolution Dragon Pulse as an even match. That wasn't exactly good news.
"Milotic—Ice Beam!"
"Again—Thunderbolt!"
They issued commands at the same time; the two moves clashed again.
This time, Ice Beam pressed Thunderbolt back just a little, but the collision still burst into an explosion of light and mist.
Serena thought through Milotic's movepool and felt a plan snap into place.
"Milotic—Dragon Dance!"
"Misdreavus—Thunderbolt!"
Yin Hanling had expected Serena to keep trading move power, but the other side suddenly went for a boost.
Even though Thunderbolt struck Milotic mid-dance, Milotic didn't falter—the move didn't get interrupted. Its Attack and Speed rose by one stage.
"Again!" ×2
They both repeated the order.
Serena was dead set on sharpening her Milotic's Attack and Speed.
Yin Hanling, meanwhile, couldn't quite see why a specially oriented Milotic would bother boosting its Attack—but he did know one thing about battles: if your opponent wants to pull something off, don't let her.
On the field, Milotic gritted through the damage from Thunderbolt and forced its boost through.
Serena silently tallied Thunderbolt's damage against Milotic's remaining HP.
Then she bit her lip, decided to take a risk—fortune favors the bold.
After all, the odds that Milotic would be outright KO'd by a single Thunderbolt weren't even twenty percent. If it's under eighty percent, it's not a real gamble.
"Milotic—Dragon Dance!"
"Misdreavus—Thunderbolt!"
Same orders, same scene—same result.
After tanking three Thunderbolts, Milotic still didn't fall. Its Attack and Speed had climbed to +3 each.
Serena let out a breath.
"Milotic—Recover!"
"Misdreavus—Thunderbolt!"
Yin Hanling clenched her teeth. Double-damage Thunderbolt, and Milotic had eaten three of them like it was nothing? No way. If a fourth one didn't do it, then the other side had to be cheating.
But the turn didn't go as Yin Hanling had imagined. Instead of stacking more boosts, Milotic used Recover and restored its HP.
With Speed at +3, Milotic twisted its body and slipped past the incoming Thunderbolt with a lithe, serpentine sway.
That single sway drew a hush and a thousand thudding hearts from the stands.
Up to now, they'd watched Milotic take Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt, their nerves stretched to snapping. Finally, they saw Milotic begin its counterattack—and the entire crowd surged with excitement.
Serena did the math in her head and kept her instructions coming.
"Milotic—Dragon Dance!"
"Misdreavus—Nasty Plot!"
Yin Hanling had figured something out too. Instead of throwing another Thunderbolt at that wall of special bulk, it'd be better to boost first and then go for the strike.
After all, they'd seen it already: Milotic's Special Defense was too high. It would take at least four Thunderbolts to bring it down.
Both Pokémon were powering themselves up, but Milotic was noticeably faster about it.
"Milotic—Dragon Dance!"
Before Misdreavus had even finished its previous boost, Milotic had already started another one.
That put Yin Hanling on edge. She hurriedly ordered Misdreavus to fire a Thunderbolt.
But with Speed at +5 after the boost, Milotic was obviously faster. The moment the dance ended, it darted aside. Thunderbolt's gold arc skated past the tip of Milotic's tail by a hair.
"Milotic—Dragon Dance!"
Watching Milotic coil and sway in midair again, Yin Hanling's inner sirens wailed. She didn't yet know what Serena was aiming for, but this next boost absolutely had to be stopped. Even if she couldn't fully interrupt it, she had to at least pin it down.
"Misdreavus—Thunderbolt!"
As the lightning raced up toward the dancing Milotic, Yin Hanling mouthed a silent prayer.
"Crit. Please crit."
The entire arena went quiet. Time itself seemed to slow to a crawl. The electric light crept toward Milotic, inch by inch.
The audience—still caught in Milotic's spell—found themselves praying too.
"Hold it—hold it!"
Maybe many prayers can drown out one. The Thunderbolt struck—and the freshly boosted Milotic withstood it.
Serena's lips curled, her finger cutting toward Misdreavus with buoyant confidence.
"Milotic—Aqua Tail! Finish it!"
With Speed at +6, Milotic flashed forward. In the blink of an eye, it was in Misdreavus's face.
Before Misdreavus could react, Milotic's tail whipped across its body.
Misdreavus's form was sent spiraling through the air before it dropped limply to the floor, eyes turning to little swirls.
"Misdreavus!"
Yin Hanling blanched. One hit—down? Impossible.
On the field, in the aisles, across the stands—no one made a sound. In the entire arena, only Yin Hanling's hurried footsteps and Milotic's measured breaths remained.
Silence broke, and an eruption of cheers crashed down.
What they'd thought would be an ordinary match had turned into one thrill after another. And in the final bout, they'd even witnessed a one-hit knockout.
Once Yin Hanling confirmed that Misdreavus was otherwise fine, she recalled it into its Poké Ball and walked toward Serena.
Hooking an arm through the one that had just returned Milotic, Yin Hanling whispered, "How did you dare keep boosting like that?"
Serena glanced at her, pinched her nose with a fond smile. "Dummy. I calculated it."
"Calculated?"
Yin Hanling was lost. How do you calculate something like that?
Serena laughed and explained:
"First exchange—Thunderbolt and Dragon Pulse canceled out. Second one—Thunderbolt and Ice Beam canceled out, but Ice Beam clearly pushed forward a little."
"That told me your Misdreavus and my Milotic are at roughly the same power tier—call it freshly mid-tier strength."
"So, do the math on both sides' Sp. Atk and Sp. Def, Atk and Def, plus type matchups. The result is: against me, your Thunderbolt is super effective, but even then I've got an eighty-percent chance of living four of them. The remaining twenty percent is basically the crit rate."
"By the same logic, with super effective Aqua Tail—" she made a tiny face at the name but went on smoothly, "—if we ignore crits, your Misdreavus can also live four. Even with one crit mixed in, you'd still live four, because Aqua Tail is physical."
"Then I ran it one step further. After taking three Thunderbolts, there's an eighty-percent chance I'm still fine. So I bet on that line."
"But once my Attack hit +3, you could only survive two Aqua Tails."
"Still, Misdreavus is a Ghost type. If I didn't end it in one, you'd wise up to close-quarters danger, and that would swing the tempo against me."
"So I used Recover first to top off. Recover comes out faster than Dragon Dance, and against that I was confident Milotic could dodge your Thunderbolt."
"After that, the words just kept coming—I called Dragon Dance again. You used Nasty Plot too."
"Then I checked the numbers again. Not good. +4 Attack wasn't any better than +3; either way, it still took two hits to KO. But at +5, there was a twenty-percent chance to one-shot. And at +6, it was a guaranteed OHKO."
"So…"
(End of Chapter)
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