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Under the rain.
The Melt strategy was extremely annoying and had the highest utilization rate.
Unlike in the games, where it simply raised Defense without any additional effects, here, Melt meant actual melting.
Vaporeon melted into a puddle of water, and Grimer melted into a pool of sludge. With the rain curtain providing cover, it was almost like Greninja's camouflage—impossible to distinguish with the naked eye.
Without special means, it really wasn't easy to find this guy hiding in the puddle.
Of course, in its melted state, it couldn't escape Foresight or Odor Sleuth, nor could it hide from Aura Vision, and it definitely couldn't dodge omnidirectional moves.
Moreover, the duration of Melt was limited. The principle involved liquefaction by altering cells—it wasn't evolution and couldn't be maintained permanently.
Every second it was maintained consumed more stamina and attribute energy.
Therefore, the opponent had Vaporeon use Melt at the start for a specific purpose.
"Baton Pass!"
The opponent called out softly.
Under the rain curtain, a puddle of water flew back into its PokéBall, while a large, red-and-white PokéBall with a human-like face appeared on the field.
The melted state wasn't transferred via Baton Pass; only the raised Defense was.
"Beep!"
"Magic Coat!"
The moment it landed, Corviknight, who had been waiting for this, used Taunt again.
A stream of insults shot out like rapid fire. Electrode frowned, its anger barely contained, almost exploding on the spot!
Fortunately, it held back.
But the Magic Coat intended to counter Taunt had failed without achieving anything.
'Why is your Taunt so fast! And so accurate!'
The opponent couldn't believe it.
Magic Coat had almost no start-up lag!
Moreover, under normal circumstances, even if Taunt succeeded, the target could still use a move at the same time they were Taunted.
But Corviknight's Taunt was always exceptionally fast and there was no time to react!
It was as if it could guess what move he would use.
On the other side...
Li Xiang, upon seeing Electrode, seemed to understand something and showed a look of sudden realization.
Gyarados, Melt, rain, and Magnet Rise Electrode—likely with Static ability too.
Wasn't this that online strategy called the Bouncy Ball tactic? The Lightning Bouncy Ball strategy—
In essence, Gyarados used Stone Edge to create stone pillars.
Vaporeon used Melt and Baton Pass to boost Electrode's defensive capabilities, then Electrode entered the field, used Magnet Rise to eliminate its only weakness, and bounced back and forth between the pillars using Discharge.
This resulted in extremely fast, wide-area, omnidirectional attacks. If it collided with the opponent, it could even cause paralysis.
Most trainers couldn't react in time. The rain also helped cool down its body, which heated up rapidly from high-speed bouncing.
According to experiments, Defense-boosting moves could effectively extend Electrode's bouncing duration.
After all, crashing into pillars also caused damage and consumed stamina. Boosting Defense could mitigate this to some extent.
Unfortunately, the opponent got a bit greedy and, like Li Xiang, preferred to test the waters first. But while testing, the Gyarados couldn't be recalled.
Corviknight had already used Taunt, how could you recall it? Recalling it would be a foul.
After some hesitation, he decided to risk setting up rain, use Stone Edge before fainting, and sacrifice Gyarados altogether.
But then...
Anyway.. Without pillars to bounce off of and without levitation, the Lightning Bouncy Ball was nothing.
The entire strategy was disrupted. If the remaining two couldn't form a new strategy, it was basically time to concede.
There was also a high-end version performed solely by Electrode, but it was too difficult for students.
"Thunder!"
The opponent tried to struggle.
In the games, Thunder and Hurricane were guaranteed hits in rain.
In this world, guaranteed hits were gone. Instead, Thunder's start-up lag was greatly reduced in rain, and it borrowed charge from the clouds to conserve attribute energy.
Hurricane's range expanded, and its power increased slightly with the expansion. The wind force also strengthened, and powerful Pokémon could even lift heavy objects with it.
A bolt of lightning shot out from Electrode and into the dark clouds!
KRAKOOOM!
Thunder roared!
Electricity flickered within the clouds as opposing charges collided, almost instantly accumulating and growing into a roaring thunder dragon that crashed down!
On the field, white light flashed!
But Corviknight wouldn't just stand there and take it. The moment Electrode used Thunder, it was already charging toward Electrode!
Once attribute energy left the body, it showed no mercy—it would hit everyone equally!
Electrode, seeing this, quickly rolled backward. Its innate 150 Speed made its movements terrifyingly fast, putting several meters between them in the blink of an eye!
BOOM!
The thunder dragon struck the ground!
But… it just ended up hitting a green circular shield.
The electricity dispersed, completely neutralizing with the Protect's energy and vanishing without a trace.
"The shield didn't break!"
The opponent's heart sank. He shouted, "Discharge!"
The sound of thunder almost coincided with his command, but Corviknight was already within point-blank range of Electrode.
A sharp whistle sounded!
Jade-green energy enveloped its body—Tailwind accelerated it, allowing it to crash into Electrode before it could release the electricity!
U-turn!
Hit!
Corviknight's body turned into a stream of light and returned to its PokéBall!
Discharge missed!
"Too slow again!?"
The opponent was so angry he wanted to hit someone. Rain Dance was too slow, Magic Coat was too slow, and now Discharge was too slow!
If the move had been used, it would have definitely paralyzed Corviknight, catching it right there!
Follow up with another Thunder, and it might have been taken out.
Even full durability had its limits. He didn't believe Corviknight could withstand so many moves. But now, it was too late for regrets.
Corviknight had already returned to Li Xiang's PokéBall.
Next to take the field was the one he had been wary of all along.
—Incineroar.
"ROARR!!"
The robust humanoid tiger ignored the falling rain and roared at Electrode!
Intimidate activated!
Electrode's Attack fell!
According to the intelligence provided to him, Incineroar was Li Xiang's strongest Pokémon, both in defensive and offensive capabilities.
Next was the extremely fast Riolu and last was the elusive Greninja.
He had thought Li Xiang would lead with Incineroar, entering with Intimidate to lower Attack. Instead, it was a Mirror Armor Corviknight that wasn't even in the intelligence reports.
And it was so strong!
'How did he have enough time to train so many powerful Pokémon in just three years?'
The opponent felt gloomy.
What was even harder to accept was that after Incineroar entered the field, its Fake Out caused Electrode to flinch for an extremely long time.
So long that when Incineroar punched the ground, causing a small earthquake and generating yellowish shockwaves, Electrode couldn't even escape the earthquake's range.
It took the super-effective earthquake head-on.
RUMBLE—!
The tremors sent Electrode flying into the air!
"Volt Switch!"
The opponent shouted, taking out a PokéBall, trying to switch Electrode out.
But Incineroar was faster. It thrust its hips forward and fired a Flamethrower, the thick column of fire blasting through Electrode and instantly taking it out.
It never made physical contact with Electrode to avoid triggering its Static or Aftermath abilities.
The rain gradually stopped, the clouds dispersed.
Vaporeon's manual rain had ended. The opponent's second Pokémon was defeated.
In the spectator stands, the watching students discussed fervently, teachers took photos with their phones, and some recorded videos.
"It's over. Let's see the second one, Haruki."
Fukoja Shizuya looked up at the sky, his expression neutral but clearly unable to watch any longer.
"You're just writing off the rest like that?"
Tenzoji Ki glanced at him but silently took out his phone to contact the reserve team members.
"Is a battle of attrition necessary? Our goal isn't to make him lose. No need to humiliate the rest." Fukoja let out a long sigh as another exclamation reached his ears.
Looking down, Vaporeon had used Melt again, trying to blend in with the remaining rainwater, but Incineroar hit it with Burning Jealousy, inflicting a burn, forcing it to reveal itself.
Then, it was sent flying with a single Thunder Punch, rolling seven or eight times at the edge of the field before fainting on the spot.
It offered no resistance, or rather, couldn't resist in time.
"This Incineroar isn't right."
He narrowed his eyes, feeling its output was absurdly exaggerated—just eyeballing it was alarming.
"Do we have intel on his Pokémon's energy levels?"
Fukoja asked Tenzoji.
"Not specifics. It's said they're all around level 45. That Metang might be a bit lower."
Tenzoji paused, then said, "Yes, you heard right. What was our highest level when we first enrolled?"
"Level 43. The other two were level 40. The rest weren't trained much."
Fukoja said quietly, watching the composed Li Xiang below. "This guy... is a downright monster."
Tenzoji deeply agreed, wondering whether it was luck or misfortune to be born in the same era as someone like this.
Come to think of it, did Xia Chunyu's opponents think the same way back then?
For a moment, the captain of Sakura University fell into deep thought.
Below…
Li Xiang saw the reserve students stand up and head into the passageway. He was taken aback and asked Nagayama Kunimi, "Senior! What's going on?"
Nagayama Kunimi was also a bit confused. He smiled and said, "Don't worry, Junior. Maybe the coach called them. Just wait a bit... Haruki!"
His voice suddenly rose an octave, as if someone had grabbed him by the neck.
Li Xiang looked over and saw a delinquent youth with a pompadour, triangular eyes, a leather jacket and pants over a white shirt, covered in rivets, chewing bubble gum.
He occasionally blew a big bubble that popped with a snap before he sucked it back in.
'Bosozoku?' (Japanese youth delinquents)
The word flashed through Li Xiang's mind, because this guy's outfit was far too reminiscent of it.
"Ahem, Junior, this is the new reserve member for this year's school team, third-year Kawakita Haruki."
Nagayama Kunimi seemed a bit nervous and even used slang.
'Third year... eighteen years old? I'd believe it if you said twenty-eight.'
Li Xiang internally complained, but nodded on the surface to show he understood.