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Both trainers recalled their Pokémon.
They watched each other warily. Each still had one Pokémon left to send out, making it impossible to feel completely confident.
The Delinquent thought it was probably Incineroar. That way, all three would have means to switch without relying on PokéBalls for pivoting.
But he couldn't rule out the possibility of another Pokémon for which he lacked detailed intelligence.
Like this Corviknight...
How exactly it broke through that Aqua Cutter to hit Slowbro with its Brave Bird was something the Delinquent desperately wanted to know.
He remembered that the Pokémon with vague information in the reports were a Rotom and a Metang. The latter, he recalled, was obtained at the beginning of the year, trained for less than half a year—nothing to fear.
The focus was on that Rotom. The delinquent youth, Haruki, pondered as he sent out his Toxapex, which had recovered some HP thanks to Regenerator.
Yes...
Even while wary of the Electric-type Rotom, he still chose the Water/Poison-type Toxapex because he felt that the more he feared and worried about something, the more he guarded against it, the more likely it was to appear.
Might as well be straightforward. Anyway, at this stage, there was no need to rashly reveal his third Pokémon.
As long as he didn't send out the third one and acted fully confident, his opponent would grow suspicious. The more suspicious they became, the more unstable their mindset would get.
'How can you battle well with an unstable mindset? Psychological warfare is an important part of Pokémon battles, kid—Huh?'
Seeing the Wash Rotom hovering in the air opposite him, Haruki was stunned.
'This isn't following the script! I played it straight, so you should play it straight too!'
Sure, Corviknight and Rotom have some synergy, covering each other's Fire and Electric weaknesses, but this...
The delinquent youth's previously steady mindset, maintained even after losing Slowbro, suddenly wavered.
'It's fine, we can still fight!'
He took a deep breath and shouted, "Baneful Bunker!"
The Toxapex, upon landing, immediately erected its shield, just in time to block the multicolored strange light shot by the Rotom.
'So it was Confuse Ray, trying to exploit Toxapex's lack of Taunt?'
After blocking the move, the delinquent decisively switched Toxapex out.
If it were at full health, he believed Toxapex could withstand Rotom's attacks. But now, with Toxapex's HP only slightly above half, it was better to switch it out and let Regenerator restore HP.
It was also time for his third Pokémon to enter the fray.
On the opposite side....
"Tch! Switched out again!"
Li Xiang cursed under his breath. Seizing the moment to switch Pokémon was a trainer's basic skill, and preventing the opponent from switching was equally fundamental.
Trainers like this Delinquent were completely different from the amateurs he'd faced before; they switched their Pokémon with decisive speed.
Their ability to predict moves was also sharp.
But that was fine. At least he had forced the third Pokémon out.
Bang!
A flash of white light.
A robust, humanoid Pokémon appeared, covered in dense black hair, with sharp fangs and a mouth, greenish skin, and curved nose and ears.
It landed over ten meters away from Rotom.
Where to place the newly switched-in Pokémon was also a nuanced decision. Most of the time, it was within effective move range.
'This Pokémon should be the eighth-generation Dark/Fairy-type, Grimmsnarl. Its role was support, disruption, and offense.'
Li Xiang's thoughts raced.
So the delinquent youth, as expected favored the 'evil' or 'toxic' archetype. (Dark and Poison)
And, no surprise, this Grimmsnarl probably had the Prankster ability.
But why not lead with Grimmsnarl you ask?
Probably afraid of Incineroar and Greninja too.
However, a standard disruption-oriented Grimmsnarl wasn't particularly useful against Rotom either. Thunder Wave was ineffective, set up screens and Defog removed them.
That left only...
"Protect!"
"Fake Out!"
A green shield unfolded in front of Rotom, blocking the white shockwave slapped over by Grimmsnarl!
Slap!
The Protect made a crisp sound before dissipating!
Losing the initiative after switching, so using Fake Out's priority to compensate and deliberately placing it ten meters away.
Rotom could potentially outspeed Grimmsnarl, but it wasn't guaranteed. Blocking with Protect was safest.
No need to gamble on luck; a misstep could mean disaster.
"Electric Terrain!"
"Protect!"
Both used status moves simultaneously!
Rotom released a ball of bright electricity that hit the ground and rapidly spread outwards. The green shield that lit up in front of Grimmsnarl wasn't attacked at all, standing alone and looking utterly awkward.
Normally, this would be a Taunt speed tie, since neither had Magic Bounce to defend against it.
Rotom had already used Protect, and Grimmsnarl had Prankster, so it might be able to Taunt first, locking down Rotom's status moves.
However, the opponent didn't dare to gamble either. He was afraid Rotom's Taunt might be as fast as Corviknight's, so he decided to play it safe, using Protect to test the speed of Rotom's Taunt.
If it was fast, he'd just block it, and next turn he could attack straight up. If it was slow, then next turn he could Taunt and seal Rotom's moves.
A seemingly risk-free plan, but this time, he was thinking on the second level, while Li Xiang was on the third level.
He had thought one step further.
In the end, the delinquent wasted his Protect, and Li Xiang gained an Electric Terrain.
Pokémon battles are a process of guessing each other's intentions, especially when move restrictions are lifted, making the guessing game infinitely more difficult.
This often led to trainers who weren't quick-witted enough being tactically outmatched.
Ultimately, some decided to just charge headlong into battle, attacking without much strategy.
This was quite common in high-level play too. Focusing solely on honing attacking moves, not relying on those status moves, like the previous Slowbro was a prime example.
"Argh!!"
The delinquent scratched his head irritably, looking like his brain was overheating, "Spirit Break! Get it!"
Seemingly choosing to attack head-on now.
Grimmsnarl charged towards the Wash Rotom, the long hair on its body forming a thick whip in its right claw under its control, wrapped in a pink glow, slicing through the air!
The air whistled sharply!
Spirit Break, a Fairy-type physical move, Grimmsnarl's signature skill, has the effect of lowering the opponent's Special Attack!
'Going all-in on brute force? I don't buy it!'
"Volt Switch."
The Wash Rotom suddenly released three thick rings of electricity, flying towards Grimmsnarl's hair whip!
In his field of view, Grimmsnarl's hair also covered its eyes, nose, and ears.
A see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil posture.
Clearly, this was to prevent Rotom from using Taunt at close range after a switch, forcing the Taunt to fail.
He was prepared.
The two moves collided, attribute energy exploding into fine smoke. The Wash Rotom, as if knocked back by the residual force, returned to Li Xiang's PokéBall.
Grimmsnarl retreated two or three steps, the hair on its face parting to reveal a fierce expression.
"He didn't take the bait?"
The delinquent frowned slightly, watching Li Xiang open a PokéBall and release Greninja, which landed and vanished.
'He passed up such a good Taunt opportunity? Too patient! Trick Room was still active.'
Grimmsnarl inherited Greninja's speed, moving incredibly fast; a few steps and it seemed ready to take off.
"Whoaaa! What is this speed! It's insane!"
The delinquent ran alongside Grimmsnarl, shouting in astonishment, "I'm unstoppable now! Bulk Up!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the burly Grimmsnarl's eyes lit up with a red light, red tendril-like smoke rose, and the hair on its body instantly began to writhe like snakes!
It very much gave the impression of powering up for a big move.
"Come on, let's see if you can dodge, or if Grimmsnarl has more hair! False Surrender!"
The delinquent shouted excitedly. The Grimmsnarl in front of him let out a low roar!
"Grrr!"
The hair on the back of its head suddenly grew madly, very unscientifically splitting into dozens of spiral spikes, gleaming with a black-red luster, curving and stabbing forward!
The attack range was incredibly large, covering a fan-shaped) area over ten meters in front of it!
Simultaneously, Grimmsnarl sped forward across the field like a bulldozer!
At this scale, unless you could fly completely into the sky, there was simply no way to dodge.
Even the sky might not be safe. Finding Greninja was only a matter of time.
On the other side, Li Xiang kept backing away, afraid of being caught in the crossfire, but he stopped halfway, because—
Sssht.
A light sound.
The blood-red hair spears met an obstacle.
"Found it!"
The delinquent's eyes lit up, seeing the invisible object pierced by Grimmsnarl's hair spears, "Sucker Punch!"
"Grrr!"
The hair on Grimmsnarl's claws lengthened rapidly, gleaming with a black light as it whipped down on the transparent object!
Thump!
Although the transparent object was invisible, the delinquent knew it had been sent flying high into the air!
"Dark Pulse! Finish it!"
Countless chaotic black-purple ring-shaped waves gathered in Grimmsnarl's mouth—
Thump! Pop!
First a dull sound, then the sound of something exploding.
Under the delinquent's stunned expression, Grimmsnarl was suddenly hit by a black object, followed by being drenched in a foul-smelling purple sludge, howling in agony!
'Gunk Shot?! From the sky!?'
The delinquent looked up rapidly but found nothing; the space above was empty and the invisible object that had been knocked away now held a giant Water Shuriken in its hand, seemingly out of nowhere.
It hurled the Water Shuriken forward!
The delinquent's pupils constricted sharply, "Protect!"
Grimmsnarl, suffering from the corrosive poison, tried desperately to raise a shield but found the water shuriken flying too fast.
It couldn't react in time!
Boom!
The Water Shuriken hit its mark!
White water mist exploded with a whoosh!
"Groooan—"
Grimmsnarl let out one final cry of agony before thudding to the ground.
Fainted.
The delinquent looked up at the empty air, momentarily stunned. The Trick Room also ended at that moment, dissipating into nothingness.
At the edge of the field, Li Xiang walked in slowly, a smile on his face.
"You wanted to make me impatient, but you lost your cool first. Was the speed fun?"
In the mind games between Rotom and Grimmsnarl, it seemed like both sides were still calm, and the delinquent had shown patience, but in reality, their mental fortitude had been pushed to the limit.
So, when Grimmsnarl gained Greninja's extreme speed, obtaining a huge advantage for once, his mood instantly became euphoric and upon discovering Greninja, he let his guard down against his surroundings.
The result?
He fell right into Greninja's invisible Substitute trap.
'Psychological warfare.... It's not just your forte, bro.'
Li Xiang's lips curled into a slight smile.