Chapter 242: A Good Fisherman Never Comes Home Empty-Handed
Afterward, although Weezing was fighting one-on-two, it managed to hold on for much longer than Nidoking.
Floating in mid-air, plus the interruption from its Stench ability, meant that Greninja could no longer smoothly execute its infinite close-combat combos.
However, this was ultimately futile.
Because Gallade was not afraid of being poisoned.
After a long and difficult stall, Weezing, having finally exhausted all its stamina to wait until Greninja succumbed to poison, didn't even have time to catch its breath before the well-rested Gallade rushed over and cut it down with one sword strike.
The referee raised his flag.
The result of the match was locked in, with no more suspense.
Woodenly recalling his Weezing, the expressions on the faces of the sibling pair from the opposing team were quite ugly.
In this match, they had purely been victims of their own cleverness.
Neither of the two Poison-type Pokémon they had sent out were actually their main Pokémon.
Originally, as a pair with the potential to challenge for the Best Rookie award, if they had used their main Pokémon and fought normally, even if they couldn't guarantee a comeback, they should have at least been able to have a good back-and-forth fight.
Unfortunately, they mistakenly thought they could replicate the Demon King Team's swift victory, deliberately adjusting their tactics and bringing out two Poison-type Pokémon to target Arthur, only to end up screwing themselves over.
Their idea had seemed beautiful—Nidoking's raw power was much stronger than the force-evolved Whimsicott! At the same time, a genuine Poison-type Pokémon's "Toxic" was much more potent than Whimsicott's "Poison Powder."
If necessary, Weezing could also use "Explosion."
At first glance, their replica lineup seemed quite similar; they thought they had learned 70-80% of the strategy. However, once the battle started, they discovered they were like the man from Handan learning a new walk—a clumsy imitation that was only laughable.
They simply didn't understand why the Demon King Team had chosen Whimsicott in the last match.
That was the best counter-measure that even a team with a Pokémon reserve as vast as Demon King's had to carefully select after a long search!
A truly professional analysis team had given Arthur and his Greninja one hundred and twenty thousand percent respect.
However, the half-baked replica team thought they could easily achieve the same counter just by finding any random Poison-type Pokémon.
The result was that after Greninja got close, it directly took them out with a seamless, 100-to-0 combo, executed with a smoothness comparable to a fighting game.
Nidoking falling too quickly directly led to the collapse of their entire tactical system.
Poison was indeed a rather unbeatable status condition in an arena where items were banned, but its onset ultimately required time to slowly accumulate.
Unfortunately for them, in this match, Greninja gave them no time at all!
After the match ended, Elijah finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He had finally gotten his first win in a professional match, which moved him beyond belief…
"Amazing, Bro Arthur."
To celebrate this first victory, he also took the initiative to change his form of address to "Bro Arthur."
Even though, in terms of physical age, he was several years older than Arthur.
Arthur also let out a long breath.
"Now, for a short while, we probably won't be encountering these kinds of cobbled-together poison teams again."
Elijah was stunned for a moment, then he quickly reacted, "You guessed that the opponent would use a poison lineup this round? You did it on purpose?"
"Mm, I guessed a little. The Ghost Dragon Team's Pokémon reserve isn't as exaggerated as the Demon King Team's. It's basically impossible for them to pull out an uncommon Pokémon like Whimsicott on the fly.
Based on the Pokémon they've revealed before, Nidoking and the other pair's Poison-type Slowbro were the most likely possibilities."
But Elijah was still confused. "Then, if you guessed they would use poison, why did you still send out Greninja? Wouldn't it have been better to use Mismagius?"
Mismagius knew "Aromatherapy." In terms of curing poison, it was much more effective than Gallade's "Rest," providing an instant cure without fear of being interrupted.
However, Arthur just smiled upon hearing this.
"Why must I cure the poison? Isn't winning faster this way?"
"Ah, this…"
For a moment, Elijah was speechless.
Arthur then looked straight ahead and added, "Besides, if I send out Mismagius and reveal Aromatherapy, it's very likely that no one will use Poison-type Pokémon to target me in the future. Wouldn't I then miss out on many opportunities to fight these non-main Pokémon?"
At this moment, upon hearing this, Elijah couldn't help but exclaim "Holy crap!" in his heart!
Looking again at Arthur's calm appearance, his gaze clear and fixed forward, he finally understood deeply why Asher had called him "introverted but passionate."
This person looked so proper on the surface, but the amount of devious... ahem, tactical, water in his belly was not small at all!
Indeed, not every player had a Poison-type Pokémon as a main from the start.
But before Arthur sent out Mismagius and revealed "Aromatherapy," using poison would always be a very tempting bait, luring opponents to cobble together non-main Poison-type Pokémon to "counter" Arthur.
Just like the Nidoking in this match.
Although the Nidoking in this match barely had professional-level strength, in the domain of close combat, it was no match for Greninja at all; it was far too inferior.
If they weren't insistent on targeting the fact that Greninja couldn't cure poison, the Ghost Dragon Team would definitely not have sent out such a Pokémon for this match.
The result was that they were counter-killed!
Arthur was actually using Greninja's weakness of being unable to cure poison to fish for opponents, and he had successfully fished out a non-main Poison-type Pokémon with insufficient raw power.
Elijah, who had thought Arthur was being overconfident, was now stunned as if by a heavenly being.
He had never thought that one could use their own weakness to pull off such a slick move.
He then asked again, "But what if in the future, we encounter a team that brings out a Poison-type Pokémon like Muk?"
Muk's soft, fluid body could be said to completely counter Greninja's close-combat combos.
Arthur glanced at him, his face asking, little bro, are you stupid?
"Then I'll just send out Mismagius. Do you even have to ask?"
"..."
Sure enough, a good fisherman never comes home empty-handed. If you really encounter a situation where you can't catch a fish, then just switch to a net!
At this moment, Elijah couldn't help but start to imagine—
What if, after this match, there were still teams that wouldn't give up, that still insisted on targeting this weakness of Greninja, and prepared some more specialized Poison-type Pokémon, only to see Mismagius enter the field and skillfully use "Aromatherapy"? He wondered what their expressions would be like then.
As he imagined this, Elijah couldn't help but admire Arthur even more.
He never thought that this person was not only stronger than him, but his heart was also dirtier!
As expected of a popular player!
It seems I still have a lot to learn.
With this small round over, Sea Carp's score was now in the lead, at 5 to 4.
However, a one-point difference couldn't decide the victory. Both sides still needed the final match to determine the outcome.
For the final doubles match, the Sea Carp side naturally sent out the two sisters, Luna and Bella.
And the other side sent out one starter and one rotating player.
Originally, everyone thought the other side was being overconfident, but they were shocked when the Pokémon appeared on the field—
Sea Carp was the one being overconfident!
Because in this match, the Pokémon that Luna sent out was not one of her two regular main Pokémon.
But a backup Pokémon she had been training recently: Beedrill!
(End of Chapter)
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