Chapter 260: An Ice-Type Civil War
After leaving Little Eevee behind, Arthur headed back to his own side.
The match was about to begin, and he couldn't just keep hanging out in the other team's lounge area.
"Stay here and be good. No running around, no causing trouble. I'll come get you after the match."
He gave Little Eevee a firm reminder before he left, lest it decide to run off on its own again.
Not long after, the match officially began!
The commentators were still hyping up the rivalry between the two teams, trying their best to create a tense atmosphere of a showdown between new-generation prodigies.
Little did they know that off the field, Arthur's Little Eevee had practically already defected to the enemy.
The whole "fated rival" atmosphere was really failing to take off…
About two hours later, the singles portion of the match concluded.
The Sea Carp Team was currently trailing 2 to 4.
The main singles players from both teams were relatively close in skill, both being mid-tier competitors. As a result, there were no clean sweeps; all three 1v1 matches went the full five rounds, which was why it took over two hours.
The long matches had even started to tire out the audience.
Although in most cases, the main singles players should have more popularity than the doubles players—after all, 1v1 is a more competitive format than doubles—this year's Sea Carp and Starlight and Frost teams were the exceptions.
Their results, popularity, and buzz were almost entirely generated by their doubles matches.
It got to the point where the audience was eagerly waiting for the 1v1 portion to hurry up and end.
When the main players from both sides returned to their lounges, they all wore helpless expressions.
Being there in person, they could easily feel the crowd's mood.
All they could do was let out a long sigh, marveling at the formidable new generation. This year's rookies were truly fierce!
Finally, with a passionate cry from the commentator:
"And now, let's welcome the doubles players for the first round!"
For the first doubles match, both teams knew what the crowd wanted. The Sea Carp Team sent out Arthur and Asher, while Ivy and Bianca took the stage together.
There was no need to deliberately break up a matchup that the audience was so excited to see.
In an instant, the stadium erupted in a tsunami of cheers and applause!
Despite being just first and second-year rookies, Arthur, Ivy, and Bianca were receiving the kind of support and treatment usually reserved for champion-level captains.
Asher, the only non-rookie among the four, was silently shedding tears in his heart.
This was supposed to be a movie about four people, but I'm the one who never gets a name...
The referee blew the whistle, and both sides sent out their Pokémon.
At that moment, another high-decibel roar erupted from the crowd.
Because Arthur had once again sent out his youthful, not-fully-grown Lapras!
Now, there were a total of four Ice-type Pokémon on the field.
On the Sea Carp side: Lapras and Weavile.
On the other side: Alolan Ninetales and Froslass!
Even though it was a warm spring day, the sight on the field made the audience shiver instinctively, as if they had been transported back to the depths of a harsh winter.
"Well, this is quite a rare sight! We have four Ice-type Pokémon on the field. It looks like this round will be a civil war between Pokémon of the frozen plains."
Arthur and Asher's expressions remained unchanged.
This lineup was something they had seriously discussed before the match; it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision.
The reason was that the two sisters' preferred strategy was extremely hostile to other types.
The moment it appeared, the Ninetales threw back its head and let out a cry like a celestial fox howling at the moon. Energy gathered in the sky above, and in an instant, a dark cloud formed over the arena.
It was a similar tactic to the Otter Team's rain-and-thunder combo—
Ninetales's ability was clearly the same as the Pelipper's from before.
But where the Pelipper brought rain, this Ninetales brought snow!
The temperature instantly dropped by several degrees.
On the sidelines, Arthur and Asher expertly unfolded the cotton jackets they had been holding under their arms and draped them over their shoulders. Then, they each quickly pulled out a small felt cap and put it on.
Now that the season was more than halfway through, even the rookies had mostly revealed their preferred Pokémon and strategies.
Going into the match against Ivy and Bianca, Arthur and Asher had long anticipated this scenario.
Snowfall is a more domineering pseudo-weather field than rainfall.
Under the current dark cloud, all non-Ice-type Pokémon would continuously take damage from the biting cold.
This wasn't just simple cold; it included an energy-draining effect that couldn't be resisted by just having thick fur.
To counter this strategy, you either had to fight for control of the field, using moves like Rain Dance, Sunny Day, or Sandstorm to change the weather.
In a real battle, taking control of the weather wasn't as simple as just using a move last; it was a contest of energy output.
Whether it was a rain cloud, a snow cloud, or the artificial sun of Sunny Day, they were all products of a Pokémon's energy. Seizing control of the weather was essentially a process of using your own energy to drive out the opponent's field.
However, Ivy's Ninetales was not afraid of this contest.
Not only did it have the ability Snow Warning, but its move list also included the corresponding move, Hail (Note 1).
And its proficiency with that move was high. When it came to fighting for weather control, she was very skilled.
On the Sea Carp side, however, Arthur's Pokémon hadn't learned such moves yet. While Asher's Blaziken knew Sunny Day, he wasn't confident he could overpower the Ninetales.
So, after some discussion before the match, they decided to abandon the idea of using Blaziken against Ninetales.
Instead, they adopted a different approach—
If you can't beat them, join them!
They would also use Ice-type Pokémon, piggybacking on the Ninetales's snowfall.
This effectively brought everyone back to the same starting line.
This also had another advantage: Ice-type Pokémon have a natural resistance to Ice-type moves.
This further weakened Ivy and Bianca's advantage.
The match began, and Ivy gave the first command: "Ninetales, advance! Use Dazzling Gleam!"
Seeing the situation, Ivy herself gave up on attacking with Ice-type moves.
Her Ninetales also had high proficiency with the ultimate move Blizzard, which would have received a boost to its speed and power in the snowy weather, just like Thunder in the rain.
However, Lapras has a double resistance to Ice, and Weavile also resists Ice to some extent.
This made the cost-effectiveness of using Blizzard highly questionable.
She had no choice but to have Ninetales attack with a Fairy-type move instead.
At the same time, Arthur's side had a very clear plan—
"Lapras, continuous Water Gun! Suppress the Ninetales!"
"Weavile, use Agility! Get around the Ninetales and close in on the Froslass!"
Their target was not the big fox that was actively approaching them.
Weavile's Dark-type moves were super-effective against Froslass's Ghost-type.
Their plan for this match was to use Froslass as their breakthrough point!
This was especially true because they knew the opposing Froslass had an ability that was perfectly suited for snowy weather: Snow Cloak.
They had to keep a close eye on this Froslass and, if possible, take it out quickly. Otherwise, it would become an endless source of trouble!
Author's Note (Regarding Note 1):
In the Pokémon games, Hail and Snow Warning create the same weather condition. In this story, this weather is referred to as "snowing."
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