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Sinnoh Region, Celestic Town Historical Research Institute.
After accompanying the research team to complete their exploration of the Lustrous Globes, Cynthia could finally set aside her main occupation and return to her relaxed Champion lifestyle.
"So boring..."
Late at night, Cynthia sat on the sofa, helplessly staring at the ceiling.
After so many days, the archaeological work surrounding the Spear Pillar ruins had finally concluded. All that remained was waiting for other teams to discover the most crucial "Spear Key."
However, suddenly freed from high-intensity work and returning to her usual relaxed Champion routine...
She found herself somewhat unaccustomed to it.
"The League's work has been well distributed by Lucian. I don't seem to have much to help with."
Thinking this, Cynthia couldn't help but shake her head helplessly.
Nominally, she was the Champion of the Sinnoh League—the region's representative face—but the League seemed to function perfectly fine without her involvement. Lucian and the other three Elite Fours had already managed everything in perfect order.
But this was fine too—professional matters should be handled by professionals. With reliable Elite Four member Lucian, she only needed to trust them completely.
So what should she do during this long-awaited vacation?
Cynthia—the late-stage sufferer of decision paralysis—struggled to think but found no clear direction. She soon lifted her head, looking at her Garchomp lying beside her, hugging a Togepi plushie while resting.
Seeing this, Cynthia couldn't help but smile.
Though Garchomp appeared fierce, it had actually been insecure since childhood, often needing to hold something to fall asleep.
First, it was her arm. Then it was Togepi's egg before hatching.
Now, Togepi had long since evolved into Togekiss, and Garchomp had become more mature and reliable.
However, when back home, it still occasionally displayed its old habits unconsciously.
"Garchomp?"
Sensing the gaze, Garchomp immediately looked up in confusion.
"Shall I lie down with you for a while?"
Cynthia smiled slightly, teasingly suggesting, which immediately earned her an eye roll from Garchomp.
"Garch..."
After crossing its arms in refusal, Garchomp lay back down on the carpet.
When young, perhaps because it hatched while being held by her, it truly enjoyed sleeping with Cynthia.
But now, acting spoiled was no longer suitable.
After evolving, its skin had become more battle-adapted—rougher and covered with sharp blades and spikes. One careless move might hurt her.
So even though it secretly wished to be spoiled by Cynthia like when it was young, it forcibly suppressed this impulse.
However...
If it kept refusing, would she feel sad?
Thinking this, Garchomp silently lifted its head, glancing at Cynthia from the corner of its eye.
Completely contrary to its imagination, Cynthia didn't seem to care about its refusal at all. She had already picked up her phone, seemingly watching something.
Garchomp felt relieved but also unexpectedly disappointed.
Of course, its little actions went completely unnoticed by Cynthia.
Her attention had been captured by a pop-up notification on her phone.
"You're live streaming again!"
Cynthia raised an eyebrow and immediately clicked in without hesitation.
During the expedition period, she had gradually lost track of time—completely forgetting it was Sunday today.
The only one who would stream during late night hours was Aiden, far away in Paldea with a time difference.
She had just received Aiden's message this afternoon saying he had decided to participate in this month's Psychic-type Master Tournament. It would be good to see how much he had improved recently.
Psychic-type trainers were all monsters.
Besides Caitlin, Kanto's Sabrina and Kalos's Olympia were also extremely formidable Gym Leaders.
If his strength wasn't sufficient, even if Aiden could devise various absurd tactics to counter Psychic-types, the results might not be ideal.
"Of course... this also relates slightly to the other potential sandstorm Mega options being a bit lackluster."
The moment she entered the stream, Aiden's first words made Cynthia raise an eyebrow.
Today's strategy would be a Sandstorm Team?
"Garch?!"
Hearing the familiar male voice, Garchomp—who had been resting on the floor—immediately sprang up.
Aiden! It's you again!
Why does it always feel like he's making fun of me whenever I hear him speak?
As for the reason...
Though not explicitly stated, when talking about Sandstorm Team members who could master Mega Evolution—who else could it be!
Seeing Garchomp's reactive response, Cynthia only smiled faintly, then explained:
"Aiden is streaming. Would you like to watch together?"
During this period, due to Kalos's Professor Sycamore and Hoenn's Devon Corporation collaborating to reveal the secrets of Mega Evolution to the world, trainers from all regions had already received related information.
Even her grandmother, Prof. Carolina, had prepared Garchomp's evolution stone and Key Stone in advance.
Today, Cynthia had taken advantage of her free time to try using this special power with Garchomp. But for some reason, Garchomp didn't seem to adapt to it well, appearing much clumsier than before evolution.
Though Aiden was far away in Paldea, he seemed to have some research on Mega Evolution.
So Cynthia had originally planned to ask Aiden about Garchomp's Mega Evolution after his stream ended.
Perhaps this could also be an opportunity to improve the relationship between Garchomp and Aiden?
However...
When Cynthia made this suggestion, Garchomp looked suspicious but still quickly approached.
Just then, Aiden's next words immediately came out:
"I don't think I even mentioned who—you all start guessing it's Garchomp?"
"Garch?!"
Garchomp was clearly stunned for a moment, then its expression instantly darkened.
You tricked me here just to face me head-on?
You really deserve to die!
This kid is truly terrible—never allowed near our Cynthia again!
Cynthia also hadn't expected Aiden to joke about Garchomp again in the stream.
It seemed like the first time she discovered his streaming—it was the same scene...
Since childhood, Aiden had apparently enjoyed teasing Gible, so their relationship had always been in this neither-good-nor-bad state.
Similar to Caitlin actually.
A flicker of memory flashed in Cynthia's eyes, quickly noticing Garchomp's sullen expression beside her. Her eyes suddenly sparkled with an idea.
Just now, she had thought of a potentially interesting development.
"Garchomp."
"Garch?"
Calmly speaking, Cynthia immediately received Garchomp's confused gaze.
"Since Aiden said such excessive things..."
"Why don't we snipe him once—use your in-game Garchomp to defeat him head-on~"
...
After entering the battle interface, Cynthia's team quickly appeared on screen.
Spiritomb, Roserade, Togekiss, Milotic, Lucario, Garchomp.
A single glance showed no repeated types. The Pokémon in her team mostly had special functions, nearly all being all-around attackers and defenders.
Even Spiritomb, with slightly weaker offense, could use moves like Destiny Bond or Hypnosis—bringing unique contributions to the team.
The gap between Regional Champions and other elite trainers was indeed directly perceptible from team composition.
Especially geniuses like Cynthia and Steven—unrestricted by single-type teams, with unfathomable team depth—made them extremely difficult to counter.
This was also why Aiden could easily defeat Wallace but felt this battle against Cynthia would inevitably be extremely difficult.
"However... even if it's difficult, I still have to try."
While Aiden clicked his tongue inwardly, he had already entered his pre-battle hyper-focus mode, his gaze locked on Cynthia's team composition.
"If Spiritomb leads, it would probably try to use Hypnosis to establish advantage. But this playstyle relies too much on luck. It might work against beginners, but Cynthia wouldn't consider it at this moment."
"Considering my Sandstorm Team... if I were Cynthia, I'd likely choose Lucario to lead and secure counter-positioning—aiming to focus-fire the most important weather setter, Tyranitar."
"Milotic is also possible, but my team has Wash Rotom. She definitely wouldn't want Volt Switch to chip damage, and would have to consider the interference ability of Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave."
Aiden quickly began muttering to himself.
This was his signature habit—meaning he was about to get serious.
"But Wash Rotom is also very weak against Roserade. Being one-shot isn't likely, but if its HP gets pressured, subsequent Sandstorm Team deployment will be troublesome."
"So I can't rush to reveal my hand at the start—better to test first."
"The safest choice... send Skarmory to block."
About half a minute later, Aiden's expression gradually became firm.
He quickly locked in his lead—
Skarmory!
After hearing Aiden's entire muttering process, the chat viewers were stunned.
[??? Holy cow—Teacher Azure is some kind of supercomputer? Just rambled a bunch of stuff I couldn't even understand...]
[I know this one—first do this, then do that, and finally choose Skarmory!]
[Teacher Azure's prediction ability is getting more absurd—isn't he just estimating the opponent's lead Pokémon and countering? Now he's listing all possibilities before the match even starts and immediately creating countless counter strategies? Can normal humans do this!]
[Maybe Teacher Azure usually just puts on a show, but today facing this cutie has brought out his true strength?]
[I've always said Teacher Azure is actually a psychic, specializing in Future Sight!]
[He's usually fine, but 100% serious mode Teacher Azure today is truly absurd—he hadn't even entered the game but already calculated how the opening would develop... so ridiculous...]
Last Sunday, Aiden was still continuing his previous ideas, teaching them about team rotation principles and basic team-building knowledge.
But today, he immediately brought them intense high-level play...
Aiden had no time to deal with the chat's complaints.
After he confirmed his lead, both sides quickly prepared. The game screen soon switched to the Battle Chateau.
Aiden, in a red cape with confident steps, faced off against Cynthia walking toward him—her heroic and spirited figure.
Their simultaneous appearance on screen made many viewers exclaim "domestic violence match."
[Will Teacher Azure dare to win today? I recall rumors saying he's actually Sinnoh's son-in-law, eventually returning to Sinnoh to eat soft food (slang for being a sugar baby)?]
[Very possible—when Teacher Azure first started streaming, Cynthia appeared. Everyone has seen their relationship since... wait, is our Paldea treasure boy about to be taken by a cabbage??]
[Whether he can win or not, do you think this is coincidence? I feel like Champion Cynthia specifically came to snipe Teacher Azure...]
[Not coincidence—this is an open scheme!]
After both stood in position on the field, with intense drumbeats sounding, both sides simultaneously threw out a Poké Ball.
The battle began instantly.
Red light flashed on both fields. Aiden's side saw Skarmory—covered in metallic luster, its wings stirring gusts of wind—appear first.
Cynthia's side, as Aiden had predicted, was his very familiar Lucario.
Very conventional—but Aiden had little good way to handle it.
His Sandstorm Team, excluding Excadrill which required weather activation, was relatively slow overall.
Therefore, only Garchomp—which could use Earthquake and outspeed Lucario—could effectively counter it.
But Garchomp's weaknesses were too obvious, easily completely locked down by Togekiss. So he couldn't possibly lead with Garchomp to secure positioning.
Skarmory had few weaknesses, and even double super effective hits weren't usually fatal to it.
At least Lucario definitely couldn't do anything to it.
Normally, when the opponent posed no threat, Aiden should immediately seize the opportunity to set up Spikes.
However...
"Lucario, Aura Sphere!"
"Skarmory, Body Press."
As Aiden had expected, Cynthia immediately chose an aggressive offense at the start.
This matched his impression of her playstyle.
Regarding Cynthia's tactical style, after observing the entire Dragon-type Master Tournament before, Aiden already had some understanding.
Replacing defense with extremely fierce offense, the pressing rhythm often overwhelmed opponents—very spectacular aggressive strategy.
His side didn't have any speed advantage, so he could only defend as much as possible while slowly looking for opportunities to counterattack.
At this moment, setting Spikes was of course possible, but facing a Lucario that likely wouldn't rotate first, Aiden needed to apply appropriate pressure.
So he waited for Cynthia to make her move before immediately following up with an offensive command.
Skarmory's Special Defense was indeed a weakness, but with Lucario's power, one-shotting it was still somewhat difficult.
On the contrary, this extremely powerful Body Press—also super effective against Lucario—would require serious consideration from Cynthia's side about whether to tank it.
After all, Lucario had almost no recovery methods.
Even without Iron Defense boosting, with Skarmory's defensive capabilities, this Body Press might not one-shot the opponent but would at least cause severe damage.
Aiden quickly smiled.
After both sides made their commands, the faster Lucario initiated the attack first. After brief charging, a pure energy-formed Aura Sphere locked onto its target, rapidly attacking the charging Skarmory, blasting off many steel feathers.
Aiden glanced at the damage, then suddenly felt internal alarm bells ringing—his smile freezing—
This damage... something's off!
His Skarmory was a very balanced tank setup.
Normally, this Aura Sphere's power should just barely exceed half.
However, Skarmory's HP bar instantly dropped by about 2/3 after taking the hit—clearly exceeding his expectations by a lot.
From the damage, its held item was most likely Life Orb or Black Belt.
Though both would take two hits to KO it anyway, the practical meaning was completely different...
The reason was simple—Aiden's Skarmory held a Sitrus Berry.
In the game, Sitrus Berry automatically activates when a Pokémon's HP exceeds half, restoring 1/4 of its HP.
Therefore, half damage and 2/3 damage were actually the difference between surviving two hits and three hits—a complete world of difference.
Realizing something was wrong, Aiden instinctively looked at the opponent's Lucario.
After the move, its HP showed no depletion.
So it could completely eliminate the possibility of holding Life Orb.
If it were Life Orb, great—lowering its own HP line would mean Skarmory's Body Press had higher chance of one-shotting it.
But unfortunately, Lucario's item was almost certainly Black Belt.
Thinking this, Aiden actually felt relieved.
The only good news was... if he had chosen to set Spikes at the start, he would definitely be losing big time now.
At least now there was still a chance to trade damage—or even trade life.
Aiden's Skarmory, which he had pinned hopes on, immediately accelerated forward after being attacked by Lucario. Soon using its body as a weapon, it dove down from high altitude toward Lucario.
Aiden took a deep breath, silently waiting for good news.
Type advantage plus Skarmory's maxed defense Body Press—power should be enough to take down a Lucario without defensive investment.
Trading Skarmory's HP for one Pokémon—he should still be profiting.
As long as he could seize the positioning opportunity to Roost and recover, Skarmory would be back to full health.
Aiden's thoughts were beautiful, but reality had a small problem...
After Skarmory's attack ended, Lucario's HP did drop dramatically from full to a very dangerous level as he expected.
However, just as its HP was about to bottom out, this surging momentum abruptly stopped.
From the HP bar estimation, Lucario should have remained at about 10%+ HP.
A very delicate range.
Seeing this, Aiden instinctively frowned.
This power... something's wrong!
Even if he got unlucky with Body Press's minimum damage roll, it shouldn't be this low.
Wait—could it be...
Cynthia's Lucario never considered speed from the start, instead maxing out Special Attack and HP?
After mentally calculating for a second, Aiden reached a definite answer:
Exactly!
Though Lucario's mid-speed dual attacker setup was indeed awkward—maxing speed might still not outspeed others—but normally trainers would still struggle with it.
Who would have thought Cynthia directly abandoned this point, transferring the unused speed to bulk…
And even more absurdly—she actually guessed right!
Aiden couldn't help but twitch his mouth.
[This intense right from the start? Wasn't it agreed to test first—why are Teacher Azure and Cynthia exploding right away?]
[Setting Spikes earlier would have been a real loss—you'd just waste Skarmory's HP while Lucario could keep standing and continue aggressive offense with no risk.]
[Seeing Teacher Azure's smile disappear—I'm relieved. Looks like he's truly about to get heavy punched today!]
[Teacher Azure—you have this day too?]
As Skarmory's attack ended, returning to its half-field, it quickly shook its body. Taking out a Sitrus Berry from who knows where, it immediately swallowed it without hesitation.
The Sitrus Berry's energy quickly converted to HP, rapidly raising Skarmory's health to a relatively healthy level.
But Aiden knew very well—
Skarmory couldn't survive Lucario's second Aura Sphere, nor could it act first to finish off its remaining HP.
So he had to switch out!
"Come back, Skarmory."
Without hesitation, Aiden immediately commanded.
To be honest, this team setup was slightly overconfident.
For Sandstorm Teams, the most fatal Fighting-type had almost no good defensive switch-ins in his team—only Skarmory could shoulder the responsibility.
But actually, not expecting the opponent to be Cynthia, whose main was a Special Attack-focused Lucario, Skarmory's excellent physical defense completely went to waste—so the effect was just so-so.
After Skarmory was forced out, there weren't many choices to block Lucario.
But coincidentally, there was one Pokémon that could threaten it—
"Go, Scizor!"
"Lucario, use Aura Sphere again!"
Aiden decisively sent out Scizor.
Its Bug+Steel typing gave it excellent bulk, with only Fire-type as a fatal weakness—which happened to be Lucario's blind spot.
So even though Cynthia took advantage of his rotation timing to command Lucario to use Aura Sphere again, Aiden remained calm.
Like Skarmory, Scizor also had recovery methods.
Before evolving into Scizor, it was Scyther—which could master the recovery technique Roost. And because Flying-type was optimized away, it didn't even have the side effect.
Even after taking hits, it could quickly recover health.
And with its Technician-boosted Bullet Punch, finishing off a low-health Lucario like this would be effortless.
So though it seemed he lost big time just now, forced to switch out Skarmory.
Actually, whether Skarmory or Scizor, the HP loss could be recovered through Roost anyway.
On the contrary, Lucario with infinitely lowered HP was somewhat dangerous.
As Scizor appeared, the opponent's Lucario quickly charged another Aura Sphere, easily dealing nearly half HP damage to Scizor.
Seeing this, Aiden couldn't help but smile.
What did damage under half mean?
It meant even if standing there letting Lucario hit it, with constant Roost, it simply couldn't do anything to this Scizor.
Unless it got critical hits twice consecutively.
But Aiden obviously wouldn't give it that opportunity.
"Scizor, Bullet Punch!"
This time, Aiden didn't make any prediction.
Because it wasn't needed.
Bullet Punch's priority was extremely high—forget Lucario, even Garchomp would struggle to react.
So Cynthia would definitely recall Lucario, not letting it waste HP pointlessly.
And he only needed to keep applying pressure—no matter who she switched in, they'd first take some damage from Scizor.
Almost simultaneously with Aiden's command, Cynthia also immediately reacted.
"Come back, Lucario!"
Before Scizor could act, a red light shot out from the opponent's half-field, recalling the already wounded Lucario into its ball.
"Go, Milotic!"
The elegant sea serpent appeared, using its elastic body for defense, blocking the extremely fatal Bullet Punch that would have finished off Lucario.
The attack was insignificant, not consuming much of its HP.
But after Scizor's attack ended, Cynthia's Milotic's body quickly showed some burn marks, while its colorful scales also emitted a faint glow.
[I know this one—using Flame Orb to trigger Milotic's Marvel Scale ability, gaining a huge defense boost. Wallace used this before!]
[Probably learned from Teacher Azure's previous Heracross with Guts + Flame Orb, headbutting everything. Teacher Azure's tactics seem to have been studied by many people...]
[Same Milotic, same strategy—last time Wallace used it against Teacher Azure, he got crushed. Wonder if Champion Cynthia can win this time...]
To this, Aiden wasn't particularly surprised.
Because as early as in the Diamond/Pearl remakes' main story, Sinnoh Champion Cynthia had already used this strategy on the Victory Road.
In a sense, she should be considered the world's earliest developer of this strategy.
And Milotic inherently had good resistance to Steel-type Bullet Punch. After triggering Marvel Scale, the power would only further decrease—no deterrent effect at all.
After entering burn status, since only one abnormal status could exist simultaneously in the game, other interference effects like sleep or poison also wouldn't work on it.
Using continuous slight HP reduction as the price, this Milotic's field presence ability qualitatively improved—a very worthwhile trade.
However, Aiden's goal had already been achieved.
Scizor indeed couldn't do much to Milotic, but the reverse was also true.
"Scizor, Roost!"
"Milotic, Aqua Ring."
Both sides very tacitly stopped fighting simultaneously.
On Aiden's side, Scizor landed on the ground, quickly restoring HP through its special rest method, soon fully recovered.
Cynthia's Milotic used Aqua Ring to suppress the continuous burn damage with layered water screens.
[Why isn't Teacher Azure being greedy? At this moment, if Scizor uses Swords Dance, wouldn't there be a chance to Baton Pass and start sweeping with teammates?]
[The idea is good, but Milotic can learn Haze—you can't set up in front of it.]
[Indeed—better to Roost and recover. Next time it appears, it can still tank damage. To Teacher Azure, Scizor is the most versatile punching bag...]
[Shouldn't Teacher Azure send out Wash Rotom to start electric therapy on the opponent? Feels like after Lucario's threat is gone, the opponent can hardly break through our iron wall!]
[Talking about the Sandstorm Team—but where's my sandstorm?]
[No choice—old Tyranitar is completely countered by Lucario. Teacher Azure has no choice but to find an opportunity to bring it in later...]
Actually, Aiden was thinking even more than the chat estimated.
Lucario had indeed lost quite a bit of HP, but if given the chance to come back, the threat was still enormous.
So he needed to be even more ruthless—striking while the iron was hot to completely eliminate its possibility of returning.
"Scizor, U-turn!"
As Aiden decisively commanded, his trainer avatar on screen had already raised its arm, ready to recall Scizor.
This time, Cynthia on the other side didn't make a command simultaneously.
After two or three seconds passed, Scizor had already smoothly executed U-turn, kicking Milotic while using momentum to retreat backward. Recalled into its Poké Ball, she only belatedly commanded.
"Come back, Milotic."
She didn't make any prediction—only recalling after him.
Aiden immediately raised an eyebrow.
If it were someone else, he might actually believe the opponent had hesitated and made a mistake.
But this opponent was Cynthia—the fierce competitor who just recently dominated the Dragon-type Master Tournament.
And...
With their understanding of each other, how could Aiden not know the tricks of this little fox Cynthia?
So this was a trap!
Originally, he planned to send Skarmory again, using information asymmetry to set Stealth Rock early, completely eliminating Lucario's possibility of returning.
One layer of Stealth Rock's effect would just make Lucario "get ingrown toenails" upon appearing—falling immediately.
But clearly, Cynthia had predicted his idea, hence immediately recalling Milotic.
The purpose was simple—to reset to the same positioning as at the start.
Skarmory vs Lucario.
Both could finish the battle in one hit, but with speed advantage, Lucario could securely take down Skarmory—completely solving this troublesome defensive and spiker.
Aiden thought for two seconds, suddenly enlightened, his lips unconsciously curling upward.
If so, then I'll surprise you.
"Go, Garchomp!"
Without hesitation, Aiden sent out Garchomp—currently the fastest Pokémon in his team.
His team's overall speed wasn't fast, but neither was Cynthia's team.
The fastest on both sides was Garchomp.
However, sending out Garchomp in front of Cynthia always gave Aiden a strangely satisfying feeling.
On Cynthia's side, her thoughts were actually quite close to what Aiden guessed.
After his Garchomp appeared first, Cynthia unusually froze for two seconds before belatedly sending out her own Garchomp.
Two Garchomps stood on the field one after another, making viewers smell something unusual in the air.
[Do you think... is this Teacher Azure's guiding match for Cynthia? Whose understanding of Garchomp is more reasonable?]
[Teacher Azure: Watch closely, Cynthia—this is how to use Garchomp!]
[But both sides are actually evenly matched—can't really tell who'll win yet. Could the deciding factor be this Garchomp positioning?]
Both sides sending out the same Pokémon was a dilemma for both commanders.
Because using this Pokémon meant both sides had some understanding of it.
For Cynthia—who had Garchomp as her only ace since debut—this was even more so.
What moves Garchomp has, what it can learn—she clearly knew well.
And Dragon-type mirror matches were more like high-stakes gambling.
With such obvious type advantages between them, both sides were actually dancing on the blade's edge. Any move successfully used or countered could directly decide the match's outcome.
So initiative became incredibly important.
Cynthia had now fallen into a dilemma.
She had given Garchomp a Mega stone to further boost its combat power.
But now it seemed like foreshadowing...
In the game, after Garchomp Mega Evolves, because of its enlarged body, its speed correspondingly decreases slightly.
In most matches, this speed might be dispensable for it.
But uniquely in this battle against Aiden, when two Garchomps appeared together on the field—she could no longer use Mega Evolution.
With identical setups, letting Garchomp Mega Evolve was undoubtedly a bad move—directly handing over the most valuable initiative in the match, with risk far outweighing reward.
"Garchomp, Outrage!"
After taking a deep breath, Cynthia quickly decided.
This was already the best choice she could think of.
If Aiden didn't carry a speed-boosting item, her command would definitely act first.
And the Dragon-type's big finisher Outrage could completely one-shot Aiden's Garchomp.
Simultaneously, Aiden also quickly smiled.
He could roughly predict what was in Cynthia's mind.
But there was one thing Cynthia could never have imagined—
His Garchomp's setup might completely exceed her expectations!
"Garchomp, we'll also use Outrage!"
Though both sides made the same command sequentially, any clear-eyed person could see Aiden was at a significant disadvantage.
[Teacher Azure, you fool! Reacting slightly slower means you can't win the speed contest against the opponent!]
[The person above—your vision is too limited. Haven't you noticed Teacher Azure is deliberately holding back? What if he really wins but loses his life in the game? Don't you agree~]
[POG—such understanding, so reasonable. I appoint you as the Azure scholar!]
[But with Teacher Azure's personality, he probably wouldn't hold back in such peak battles... feels like he has no other choice but to play like this...]
Almost all viewers felt this move put Aiden at a huge disadvantage.
The reason was simple.
If Garchomp got one-shot first, Aiden's side would no longer have any Pokémon that could match Garchomp's speed.
Even if Cynthia's Garchomp Mega Evolved later and lost ten points of speed, it could still freely dominate in endgames.
Even Mega Tyranitar would have to consider carefully before dealing with this incredibly destructive Garchomp.
After all, it couldn't outspeed it, and Garchomp's movepool still contained Brick Break.
So this move might very well be the deciding factor.
Two red-eyed Garchomps quickly tangled together.
Outrage—by triggering the emotional switch on Dragon Pokémon, making them rapidly enter a furious state and wildly attack opponents. During this process, Pokémon no longer listen to trainers' commands.
Incredibly powerful, but after using the move, the Pokémon would fall into confusion and might even attack itself.
Thus, it was a move trading future risk for immediate destructive power.
The moment the two Garchomps clashed, Cynthia's immediately initiated the attack, venting infinite fury on its opponent.
The terror of Outrage created small explosions in the air mid-flight—its power clearly felt through the screen.
After taking the first Outrage hit, Aiden's Garchomp's HP bar immediately rolled at an extremely terrifying speed, seeming about to break through the bottom line.
However...
Like the previous Lucario, Aiden's Garchomp also seemed to have godmode on—as the HP bar gradually cleared, it actually forcibly stopped the downward trend.
Though its HP was already like a flickering candle, it didn't fall.
On the contrary, as the attacker, the other Garchomp immediately suffered repercussions after using Outrage—quickly losing over 1/4 of its HP.
This was actually very abnormal.
Because normally, Garchomp's default ability in battles was Rough Skin, which should only deduct 1/8 HP when hit by contact moves.
"What a pity—my Garchomp isn't the common extreme speed attacker, but a bulk-focused setup."
Aiden silently breathed a sigh of relief, casually saying.
Bulk-focused Garchomp was also a very common setup in his previous life's battles—Aiden's main reliance for hard countering Cynthia.
After mentally calculating the opponent's Outrage damage, he was very confident Garchomp could tank Outrage.
Now, it was time for his counterattack.
Aiden smiled slightly, quietly waiting for the upcoming reversal moment.
After taking the hit, Aiden's Garchomp's eyes burned with even greater fury. Its furious Outrage attacked the opponent with unstoppable force.
This time, Cynthia's Garchomp wasn't as lucky as the previous Lucario—its HP bar instantly bottomed out.
However...
To be honest, Aiden's side also suffered considerable loss.
Because both had Rough Skin, after personally eliminating its kin, Aiden's Garchomp—with HP already like a flickering candle—quickly suffered retaliation from the opponent.
Two similar-looking Garchomps cleared their HP one after another, collapsing to the ground. The viewers were stunned for a moment.
[What??? Teacher Azure's Garchomp is so bulky—even survived an Outrage hit?]
[Legendary survival king—even after losing initiative, still managed a 1-for-1. Was this also in your calculations, Teacher Azure...]
[I say durable Garchomp is correct, Mega Garchomp is wrong!]
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