Chapter 237: The Reaction Was There, But the Luck Wasn't
Arthur had never before shown such obvious emotional fluctuations on the competitive field.
In Asher's words: this kid had always been extremely reserved, secretly laughing on the inside while his face remained eternally deadpan.
So, his current towering rage almost scared his teammate, Elijah, out of his wits.
Elijah, who had known Arthur since the youth training camp's graduation tournament, was seeing his partner this agitated for the very first time.
This stemmed from the fact that in Arthur's view, the status of wild Pokémon and domesticated Pokémon were completely different!
When facing wild Pokémon, he could end them with a single sword strike without any mercy, regardless of whether they were cute or playful. In this respect, he was far more cold-blooded than the trainers of this modern era of peace, because that had been his line of work in the past.
However, when it came to domesticated Pokémon, his feelings seemed far more abundant than most people's in this era!
Because in the era he had lived and fought in, the Pokémon willing to follow humans were only a very small fraction of the total population. The more intelligent a Pokémon was, the more unwilling it was to easily abandon its clan to follow a human.
Therefore, in the minds of the trainers of that era, the status of a domesticated Pokémon was always extremely high!
If one were truly in a desperate, do-or-die situation charging into enemy lines, it would be one thing to take a Pokémon down with you in a self-destruct; such things were not unheard of in that era. But to make a Pokémon go to its death merely for a competition—Arthur's values could absolutely not accept it!
Unfortunately, in the end, Greninja was still unable to defeat Whimsicott before it could act.
The opposing player issued the command for the third time, heavily, "Whimsicott, use Memento!"
Afterward, the Whimsicott on the field, which was already crying its eyes out, still obeyed the command and used the skill.
In an instant, wounds as if from a multitude of sharp blades erupted on Whimsicott's body, from the inside out. This force seemed to want to tear its body to shreds!
Blood spurted out, the light in Whimsicott's eyes vanished in an instant, and its body subsequently plummeted from mid-air.
At this time, Greninja, which had been frantically attacking, instead stopped its assault.
"Catch it, Greninja…" Arthur commanded, his voice hollow.
At the same time, the referee raised his flag—
"Whimsicott is unable to battle. Player, please recall your Pokémon."
A beam of red light shot out, and the opponent recalled Whimsicott.
This red beam of light became the final valve that stabilized Arthur's emotions.
The fact that the Poké Ball's recall beam could still function normally on Whimsicott meant that the target was at least still alive and hadn't died on the spot.
Otherwise, a corpse could not be recalled into a Poké Ball.
And this, in reality, was mostly thanks to Arthur promptly having Greninja stop its attack and proactively catching the falling Whimsicott.
In contrast, its own master had never once thought of providing any insurance for the Whimsicott after it had released "Memento." Even its teammate, Magnezone, had shown no intention of coming over to support it throughout the entire process.
Arthur's face was terrifyingly grim at this moment.
However, the match was still going on—
The goal of a one-for-one trade could be said to have been exceeded: Whimsicott was out of the match, and Greninja hadn't even fallen yet.
But from another perspective, it could also be said to be a failure: because while Whimsicott was knocked out, it had cursed Gallade.
That's right, the target of the opponent's curse was not Greninja, but Gallade.
Because the curse brought by "Memento" was a weakening of the body and energy, it didn't count as a status condition, so the skill "Rest" couldn't cure it.
This was the style of the Demon King Team: they wouldn't think of providing insurance for their own dying Pokémon, but they would be extremely calm and ruthless in carrying out their tactics.
Their tactics were precise, thorough, and stable. They never considered the variable of the bond between player and Pokémon, because they never pursued that kind of thing in the first place.
This style made Arthur feel extremely angry and resistant, but it was undeniably effective.
At this time on the field, although the Sea Carp side had a two-on-one advantage, Greninja was afflicted with the triple negative statuses of paralysis, poison, and the speed reduction from Cotton Spore. Gallade was even worse off; it had also eaten the weakening and energy suppression curse from "Memento."
"You fall back and use Rest first. I'll hold off Magnezone," Arthur temporarily suppressed his emotions and communicated with his teammate first.
No matter what, they had to let Gallade cure its poison and paralysis first.
However, at the same time, the opposing player also had Magnezone lock onto the retreating Gallade.
"Use Flash Cannon!"
He even temporarily ignored the Greninja beside him that was continuously cutting at it with water kunai, choosing to use a ranged skill to constantly pursue Gallade.
What is the opponent doing? Why not finish off the weakened Greninja first?
A trace of confusion rose in Arthur's heart.
In a group battle, spreading out damage was the biggest taboo. As the saying goes, "injuring ten of his fingers is not as good as breaking one of them."
The opponent's actions were very abnormal.
Thus, after Gallade used "Rest" to clear its status conditions and returned to the battle, he kept a close watch, secretly sending a thought to Greninja to conserve its skills as much as possible while attacking and to be ready to retreat at any time.
Sure enough, after Gallade, holding its "Psycho Cut," charged up again and a few more rounds of exchanges had passed, the opponent seized an opportunity when both Greninja and Gallade were surrounding Magnezone and gave an exceptionally decisive command: "Use Explosion!"
"Greninja, Substitute!"
The opponent had once again made this kind of command that completely disregarded their own Pokémon's safety.
The Normal-type skill Explosion: in short, an upgraded version of Self-Destruct.
"BOOM!"
A terrifying blast wave swept across the entire field, causing the players and the front-row spectators to all involuntarily raise their hands to cover their faces.
A hemispherical energy shield rose in the center of the field, then the hot air rose, pushing upwards, gradually forming a mushroom-like shape.
The staff on the sidelines responsible for preparing the field looked at this rising mushroom cloud, the light gradually fading from their eyes.
Damn it, we need to get paid double for this match!
The explosion had not yet subsided, but the referee had already raised his flag at the first opportunity.
However, the content he read out seemed to be a little different from what everyone had expected.
"Gallade is unable to battle! Player, please recall your Pokémon as soon as possible—
The match continues!"
The match continues?
Hearing this, many people were baffled.
After a massive explosion, the match could still continue?!
Arthur was the first to react.
"It's the Sturdy ability."
Magnezone's ability: Sturdy. When hit by a single massive blow that would normally be fatal, it triggers, forcibly holding the body together and allowing the Pokémon to continue fighting for a period of time.
It was equivalent to a one-time "Battle Continuation."
So, Magnezone had miraculously held on.
And not far away, although Arthur had reacted in time and used "Substitute," Greninja's condition was still extremely poor.
The teleportation effect of "Substitute" had already created reaction time for him, but just when his reaction was on point, his luck wasn't.
After creating distance with the teleport, the paralysis effect on Greninja happened to trigger at that exact moment, causing a brief stiffness that prevented it from completely dodging the subsequent explosive shockwave.
The energy blast and shockwave ultimately slammed solidly into Greninja, sending it tumbling several times.
At this moment, it was struggling to stand up, but its two legs were constantly shaking like a sieve.
It took a full ten-odd seconds before Greninja finally managed to stand up, once again raising its head to look at Magnezone.
However, at this time, the opponent had proactively given up on attacking.
"Use Protect."
This command, at this moment, seemed so despairing.
The poison continued to spread. The next moment, Greninja's body suddenly trembled, and finally, with its body still standing tall, it lowered its head and slowly closed its eyes.
Until the very end, it stubbornly maintained its standing posture as it fainted.
The referee raised his flag—
The winner and loser had been decided.
After a long moment, Arthur, helpless, let out a long sigh.
(End of Chapter)
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