Chapter 428:
"Ice Beam!"
This time, as if responding to the intent in Kaede's words, Rosaline also issued the command for Ice Beam.
Two crystalline blue beams of frigid energy shot from the mouths of both Pokémon.
They met in mid-air. Upon the existing ice field, a towering wall of ice rapidly formed, radiating intense cold. The wall's momentum pushed... toward Alolan Ninetales' side.
Moreover, numerous icy spikes protruded from it in Alolan Ninetales' direction.
This clearly indicated that in this clash, Alolan Ninetales was slightly outmatched.
When Pokémon of the same type used the same move in a direct energy clash, it was often the best way to gauge their respective mastery over that elemental energy.
In this Ice Beam exchange, Kaede could see one obvious issue: Alolan Ninetales' refinement and control of Ice-type energy was noticeably less polished than the opponent's Mr. Rime.
He wasn't surprised by this.
After all, the opponent was a Pokémon with over a decade of experience, having fought countless battles. His own Alolan Ninetales... its battle experience... probably didn't even amount to a fraction of the other's?
But interestingly, Alolan Ninetales' raw energy intensity wasn't that far behind!
Otherwise, the push wouldn't have just tilted toward its side; it would have been completely overwhelmed.
Remember, there was a ten-level power gap between them!
"Wait, no, the opponent just finished a battle. Plus, there's the significant energy drain from using Blaziken's Ability earlier!"
'Just as I thought!'
On the other side, observing this scene, Rosaline's eyes grew even brighter.
This Alolan Ninetales, born barely half a year ago, just like that Blaziken, lacked extensive battle experience.
"How strange."
This only deepened her curiosity about how Hayashi Kaede had raised these Pokémon.
Even Blue from the Kanto region, known as the 'Breeding Expert,' couldn't possibly bring Pokémon to this level without them engaging in frequent battles!
Kaede, having sized up the difference, didn't ponder for long. He immediately gave Alolan Ninetales its next command.
"Alolan Ninetales, Blizzard!"
While Ice resisted Ice, Alolan Ninetales wasn't particularly skilled with Psychic or Fairy-type moves either. On the contrary, its Ice-type, weather-related Blizzard was its most mastered move, one directly enhanced by the Legendary Ice-type Pokémon's blessing.
Moreover, with Alolan Ninetales on the field, Hayashi Kaede no longer had to worry about the opponent using any spatial tricks.
With a light tap of Alolan Ninetales' paw on the ice, the once sunny sky was rapidly obscured by dense, dark clouds. Then came the howling wind and a sudden, heavy snowfall.
This made Satoshi, livestreaming from above, frown nervously, instinctively urging his Aegislash to fly farther back.
He couldn't help but grumble inwardly.
*Just moments ago, it was scorching sun, from the move Sunny Day, sweating buckets. Now, not even a minute later, it's a Blizzard.*
*The temperature drop is insane. I can't handle this.*
But flying farther away meant his phone's camera, good as it was, couldn't penetrate the blizzard's snow flurries and the swirling storm. All that was visible was a gloomy, white haze.
The livestream audience immediately protested.
"Don't do that, Bro! Hang in there! You fly so far away, how are we supposed to see?!"
"Come on, man, fly closer! This is Alolan Ninetales' big moment!"
"Buy a Rotom Phone next time! Stop using that thing! You're a famous commentator now!"
Comments scrolled rapidly across his phone, turning Satoshi's inner grumbling into outright cursing.
*Why don't YOU fly over there?!*
*Last time, the Leaf Storm nearly took me out during the League Conference commentary. Now this Blizzard... even from this distance, I can feel the temperature's dropped below freezing!*
But pressured by the massive number of gifts he'd just received, he could only say, "It's not... that I don't want to fly closer. It's just the snowstorm ahead is too intense. The temperature here is already below zero. If I go any closer, I'm afraid if I try, I'll just... [die]?"
Before he could finish that sentence, his phone screen exploded with another frenzy of gift animations.
One helicopter gift after another soared up the screen.
It was dizzying to watch.
"Got it. Not enough gifts, folks? Let's send more!"
"Satoshi, if you go over there, I'll send you ten helicopters right now. How about that!"
Satoshi took a deep breath and looked down at his Aegislash. "I think we can still give it a try, right?"
≡[..]≡: "Aegislash..."
"Alright, Aegislash, use King's Shield."
"Aegislash..."
.....
"Another Blizzard of this magnitude?"
Wind and snow poured down, layer upon layer covering the ice sheet. Blizzard represented an area-of-effect attack. This meant that as long as the storm raged, the biting wind and driving snow would continue to pelt the opponent's Pokémon as energy-based damage.
The earlier Sunny Day had already impressed Rosaline, but this Blizzard was in no way inferior.
In fact, it was even more shocking to her than the Sunny Day.
While her knowledge of Sunny Day was limited, she had Pokémon that knew Blizzard too.
And this Blizzard before her was completely on par with, if not surpassing, the level her own Pokémon could achieve!
"Mr. Rime?"
As the ice and snow fell, before Mr. Rime could even feel much pain from the storm's assault, it quickly encountered another disadvantage.
The ice surface!
The originally solid ice was now blanketed by a thick layer of snow.
Its name was Mr. Rime.
Its pair of ice-blue feet allowed it to glide gracefully and flexibly. But now, the ice was buried under snow. This snow wouldn't allow for smooth, effortless movement.
In contrast, Alolan Ninetales had already vanished into the swirling white maelstrom the moment the storm began.
Its pure white fur was the perfect natural camouflage within the blizzard!
"Don't panic, Mr. Rime. Use Psychic Terrain to sense its location!"
Faced with this situation, Rosaline remained calm.
The ice float was created by Mr. Rime. By layering Psychic Terrain over it, as long as there was significant pressure change on the ice, Mr. Rime could still detect it with its Psychic power.
Mr. Rime thought the same.
But as a pink wave of Psychic energy spread across the entire field, Mr. Rime's expression soon froze in bewilderment.