This match was clearly more anticipated than yesterday's. One was universally acknowledged as the third strongest in the school, a pillar of the current school team. The other was seen as the future leader, the one who would bring them glory and success. Everyone wanted to know who would win.
Both sides took their positions. Miao Shuang, as usual, announced the rules, stating that the match would be treated as an official battle.
After a short while, at the sound of her whistle, the match began!
Two Poké Balls were thrown!
Bang! Bang!
"Milotic."
An elegant, beautifully curved figure landed on the field. Its pale yellow body surface shimmered with a faint glow. Light blue long fins resembled delicate silk ribbons. Its colorful scales looked like splendid, colorful stained glass. Its tail fin was like a noblewoman's folding fan, glittering with gold, luxurious and extraordinary.
This supremely noble creature was dazzling at first glance, deeply captivating the viewer. Even standing on a dirty loess field, its beauty was not diminished. Instead, it made it stand out even more.
The moment Li Xiang saw it, he almost thought it had the Cute Charm ability, but it actually had Competitive, which counters Intimidate and stat reductions. He caught onto this.
He quietly breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the Rotom in front of him. Abigail was unexpectedly straightforward and easy to read, but her choice wasn't wrong. Because:
"Light Screen."
"Mirror Move."
Two Pokémon, tens of meters apart, one after the other, created pink glass barriers in front of themselves. The barriers shimmered slightly and then disappeared.
"Mud Sport."
Milotic opened its mouth and spat out brown-black mud, decisively coating its body and the surrounding area with it.
Mud Sport was a move that almost no one in the games would choose. Its effect was to weaken the power of Electric-type moves for a certain duration. Without restrictions, it was quite an excellent move for Milotic. The downside was that it was very dirty.
Li Xiang keenly noticed the disgust on Milotic's face. After all, it was the embodiment of beauty and an extremely vain creature. How could it be happy being covered in foul-smelling mud? Was it willing to sacrifice so much?
Li Xiang snapped his fingers. Rotom silently used Nasty Plot.
If he didn't consider switching Rotom out, under these circumstances, it might only have one chance to attack. Because Milotic would almost certainly use Haze to try to clear Rotom's stat changes before Rotom could get close. Using Will-O-Wisp or Toxic would also be eliminated by Refresh.
Under normal circumstances, Milotic had very high endurance. On top of that, its innate level and training were factors here, and there was also a Light Screen. It would be very difficult for an ordinary Rotom to knock it out in one hit.
What would happen if it failed to knock it out?
The likely result was being taken down by Mirror Coat. This move returns double the damage taken to the opponent. It was very suitable for taking an opponent's maximum output, then using its remaining health to take them down.
The strategy was simple and effective. The key was whether the user could withstand the hit. That was crucial.
However, Li Xiang's Rotom was different.
Even if its Electric-type moves were ineffective, it still had Leaf Storm to use. Even if it caused its own special attack to drop, if it couldn't take down Milotic, whether it dropped or not wouldn't matter.
Could Protect hold up?
In the games, in a one-on-one battle, return damage moves couldn't be blocked by Protect, so he didn't know if it would work here.
To be honest, at this moment, Li Xiang really wanted to pull out a damage calculator to calculate exactly how much damage Rotom could do. But a damage calculator was useless here, and time didn't allow it.
Milotic was already approaching Rotom. Once it reached a certain range, it would almost certainly lead with Haze.
Li Xiang could actually switch Rotom out and send in another Pokémon to face Milotic. But assuming Protect would work, Li Xiang believed that with Rotom's special attack, its own Protect wouldn't be able to block the recoil damage.
The shield would inevitably break, and the residual damage would very likely leave Rotom crippled.
Milotic, on the other hand, could recover using many moves. Rotom had no recovery moves but could use Pain Split. Thinking this way, there was no real need to switch Rotom out.
After all, there were so many possibilities. Rotom might be able to use Leaf Storm before Haze could touch it, and Leaf Storm might very well knock out Milotic in one hit. Even if it couldn't knock out Milotic, the returned damage wouldn't necessarily take out his Rotom either.
All those Energy Powders and Energy Roots they had consumed weren't for nothing. From this perspective, Abigail's Milotic was practically charging in to be taken down. Unless Milotic's training was on par with Rotom's, which had consumed those supplements. But how likely was that?
Li Xiang had confidence in Rotom.
"Nasty Plot."
He watched Milotic slithering closer, its body twisting, and had Rotom boost its special attack again. A cloud of smoky energy appeared above Rotom's head.
The two grew closer and closer.
Suddenly, Milotic moved with incredible speed! It opened its mouth and instantly emitted choking black smoke, surrounding everything!
The black smoke spread rapidly, like the smoke and blast wave after an explosion, giving others almost no time to react. But Rotom, already prepared, suddenly opened the valve on its chest!
A hurricane and swirling energy leaves rushed out wildly, like a roaring dragon, blasting forward! The target was directly aimed at the approaching Milotic!
In an instant, the thick black smoke in front was suddenly blown away by the Leaf Storm. Countless particles of dust were sucked into it, surging forward along with the emerald green storm!
"Mirror Coat!"
Amidst the howling of the hurricane, Li Xiang vaguely heard this command, and in the distance, a pinkish-purple light indeed lit up.
Victory or defeat hinged on this one move! As if time had stopped, diagonally in front of Li Xiang, Rotom had its valve wide open, pouring out Grass-type energy.
Not far away was the smoke obscuring vision, along with a faint hint of pink light.
Everyone in the audience watched this scene nervously. Many could see that this was the move that would decide the match.
Then...
BOOM!
It was like tens of thousands of speakers exploding right next to your ears! A purple barrier immediately appeared, blocking the dust, smoke, and the sound of the explosion.
"Protect!"
Li Xiang shouted, not caring whether Rotom heard him or not. He decisively threw himself sideways. Because an even larger Leaf Storm than before was now hurtling back toward Rotom!
Mirror Coat had taken effect! Milotic had withstood the Leaf Storm after two Nasty Plot boosts!
Had it not taken the full hit? Had it dodged part of the power?
Li Xiang knew the biggest difference between the games and reality was that move power was fixed in games, but here, power decreased if you dodged part of the move.
If Milotic was hit by only half or less of the Leaf Storm, this outcome wasn't impossible.
Or maybe it was another case of "Milotic held on because you wished for it to"? Wasn't that going too far?
Li Xiang covered his face to prevent dust from flying into his eyes. The wind howled; he couldn't hear anything else but the loud rushing noise. The aftershock even caused him to do a somersault.
Li Xiang staggered to his feet and quickly turned to look at Rotom, his heart filled with some anxiety.
Although he trusted Rotom, he couldn't deal with an opponent whose situation was unclear and who seemed to be cheating on the battlefield.
Smoke and dust swirled. Li Xiang couldn't immediately see where Rotom was and couldn't help but shout.
"Wooosh!"
From within the smoke came Rotom's response. It had held on too!
His suspended heart relaxed slightly. Rotom's voice sounded quite normal. It must have also dodged part of the attack, or perhaps Protect had blocked most of the power.
"Defog!"
As soon as he said it, wind blew from where Rotom's voice had come from, stirring the surrounding dust and smoke away, and even blowing off the distant black smoke.
Faintly, the sound of shattering glass was heard, a sign that the Light Screen had been dispersed by Defog.
Rotom revealed its figure. Just as Li Xiang had thought, its stamina hadn't dropped to a critical point. Its body was simply tired, barely able to continue fighting. It could certainly manage to use Milotic's Recover against it. It probably hadn't taken the full brunt of the returned Leaf Storm.
Li Xiang breathed a slight sigh of relief and turned to look into the distance. The situation on the opponent's side was immediately revealed to him.
He was stunned.
Abigail was crouching next to her unconscious, battered Milotic, stroking its head.
"Beeeep!"
Miao Shuang blew her whistle.
So it had been taken down, but had one last breath left before fainting, so it had still managed to return the damage?
Li Xiang: "..."
He had witnessed this situation once yesterday, with Feng Laiyi's Steelix that had knocked itself out. Were all their Pokémon this tenacious?
Li Xiang and Rotom exchanged a glance. He could see some frustration in its eyes as well.
Should he try to exchange blows and wear down the opponent? But in its current state, its reactions might not be as fast as an opponent at full strength, making it easy to fail.
They had won one gamble. It was better to stop while ahead. Abigail seemed to have decent luck.
"Return, buddy. Good work."
He recalled Rotom to let it rest temporarily. Poor condition could be restored. He would keep it as an ace in the hole. That was better than risking a loss.
Both sides took out new Poké Balls and released their Pokémon one after the other.
"Arfwooo!"
A melodious wolf howl rang out first. A fluffily furred Arcanine landed, releasing an indescribable intimidating presence toward its opponent. This howl could even give people goosebumps.
And its opponent was Greninja, pitch-black in color, with a calm and composed expression, unmoved by this ghostly howl. The former had triggered its Intimidate ability, lowering the latter's physical attack.
"Heh."
Greninja chuckled softly, entering its Camouflage state while simultaneously activating its stealth.
What it loved most was playing hide-and-seek with dogs, especially when the dog used Odor Sleuth.
"Odor Sleuth!"
Sure enough, Arcanine raised its head, sniffed the air lightly, and searched for that unusual scent. Then, it successfully detected an indescribable odor in the distance. It was very conspicuous.
It had found it!
"Arf!"
Arcanine barked back to Abigail.
"Extreme Speed! Go!"
At the command, Arcanine shot forward with a bang! A streak of shining white light trailed behind it!
Incredibly swift!
It charged straight for Greninja!