Chapter 271: Intelligence Black Hole
For most players who delegate their Pokémon's training to club instructors, acquiring one new skill every two to three months is already considered an impressive rate of progress.
For rarer, more difficult moves, spending half a year on a single one is common.
After all, no matter how self-disciplined a Pokémon is, it can't maintain 100% focus and dedication when its trainer isn't around.
That's why, in this circuit, intelligence on a player is generally considered timely and relevant for the current season; it doesn't become outdated that quickly.
However, Arthur was destined to be a freak who didn't play by the rules!
His arrival had completely shattered these conventions!
Because he never delegated his Pokémon's training. At any time, even when training until the early hours of the morning, he would always insist on accompanying his Pokémon, never leaving a single one behind!
Therefore, with him, all the standard models of judgment were useless.
Previously, the media and some other teams' analysis departments had often referred to Arthur as an "Intelligence Black Hole." At the time, the Yankee Team's rookie, Derek, had thought little of it.
Tch, isn't it just a rookie who pulled out three main Pokémon in his first season? That's only one more than me. It's not like I'm jeal... I mean, it's no big deal!
But it wasn't until this very moment, facing Arthur directly, that he had a sudden epiphany—
The so-called "Intelligence Black Hole" wasn't just about having a lot of Pokémon!
Even for the Pokémon Arthur had already used, you often had no way of gauging the depth of their move pool!
At the beginning of the season, after analyzing the recordings of Arthur's first few matches, everyone had unanimously concluded that his Greninja had no Ground-type moves and no way to cure status conditions.
However, in a recent match, Greninja had just demonstrated Rest, shattering the second conclusion.
And at the very beginning of this match, he used Spikes, shattering the first.
And it didn't stop there!
Just when Derek thought, that should be it, right? This is already ridiculous! Please, master, stop with the magic tricks, Greninja then, once again, pulled out another new move that wasn't in their records!
That's right, Haze was another new move Greninja had just learned this year.
Since it already knew Smokescreen, it was a similar type of move, so it learned Haze very quickly, mastering it in just a few days.
On top of that, spurred on by Little Eevee, after recently learning Rest, it had also taken the initiative to put in extra training and master another new skill.
In the span of a single season, Greninja had now added a total of four new skills to its arsenal!
Its efficiency was nothing short of incredible.
Because of the monstrous new presence of Little Eevee, Greninja had been so caught up in its own contemplative self-doubt that it had probably forgotten—
When it came to public opinion, its own rate of improvement was now the stuff of nightmares for every team's analysis department!
"What the hell!"
Derek was so angry he was grinding his teeth.
They had been preparing this Plus and Minus combination ever since he joined the team with his Ampharos during last year's transfer period. It had taken them more than half a year to get ready. Their Plan A and Plan B were so perfectly tailored, yet they were repeatedly and forcefully dismantled by new skills that Arthur seemed to pull out of some other dimension.
It was an infuriating feeling!
And yet, he had to maintain a smile and continue giving commands.
"Get out of the Haze first!"
After his move missed, Derek didn't even dare to let Ampharos remain in the black fog.
His Ampharos, with its soft, bubbly body and short arms, could only throw little punches if it ran out of moves. But that thing on the other side was like a master assassin, still terrifying even without any skills!
This wasn't cowardice; it was a strategic retreat.
After waiting for what felt like an eternity for the cooldown to end, he immediately gave the command: "Use Magnetic Flux!"
An Electric-type move: Magnetic Flux, the exclusive buff for a Plus and Minus team!
Its effect is to chant for a period of time, after which it enhances the energy flow between nearby Plus and Minus Pokémon, while also increasing the defense and special defense of all allied Plus and Minus Pokémon.
This could be considered their team's Plan C.
When the opponent avoids battle, they begin to cast this exclusive buff. At this point, the opponent must either choose to forcibly engage or sit back and watch them get a double buff and skyrocket in power!
It seemed like a choice between two options, but in reality, the enemy had no choice at all.
You could never let them finish casting that. If you did, the rest of the match would be unwinnable.
"Greninja, use Shadow Sneak!"
Arthur also seemed to be getting anxious, shouting a new command in a particularly loud voice.
So anxious that he's resorting to the fastest priority move to interrupt? Derek smiled faintly. You've fallen for it!
"Cancel the cast! Use Discharge directly!"
He was certain that Greninja itself was coming!
Because if it was just sending a shadow to attack, and the attack wasn't strong enough to interrupt the cast, their entire plan would collapse.
He bet that Arthur wouldn't dare take that risk.
In fact, he was right. Greninja itself did charge out of the Haze to attack.
But he wasn't entirely right.
Because this time, Arthur was playing a trick.
After Greninja landed a sharp chop on Ampharos, it suddenly vanished in a flash!
"What?!"
Derek had only blinked, and in front of Ampharos, Greninja had turned into Gallade.
At this, a roar erupted from the stands. The entire stadium was boiling with excitement!
The audience had figured out the trick even before Derek did.
Because they could see the move counter boards on the side of the field.
The counter board clearly recorded Arthur's gambit—
He had deliberately shouted "Shadow Sneak" very loudly, but the move he actually had Greninja use was U-turn!
A Bug-type move: U-turn! Luna's Beedrill had used it before. Its effect is to instantly switch places with a teammate in the rear after landing an attack.
This was the truth behind the great frog switcheroo!
This kind of play was allowed under competitive rules, but the price was that both the shouted "Shadow Sneak" and the actually used "U-turn" would be recorded on the move counter board, essentially costing an extra move slot to achieve a deceptive effect.
But this was a price Arthur could afford to pay.
It was still early in the match, and Greninja had plenty of move slots to spare.
Sacrificing one move slot to catch the enemy completely off guard was worth it.
More importantly, at this moment, Derek's composure had shattered again.
Because, for crying out loud, this U-turn was another move that wasn't recorded in their intelligence on Greninja!!
That's right. This was the new skill Greninja had just learned recently, spurred on by Little Eevee.
How the hell am I supposed to command now?! Derek's inner self angrily slammed a card down on the table.
How am I supposed to defend against this?!
In his eyes, the opponent was like a black hole, making it completely impossible for him to make any judgments.
At this moment, he finally, deeply understood what "Intelligence Black Hole" truly meant.
It was just ridiculous!!
After the switch, Gallade took the Discharge from Ampharos in Greninja's place.
Although it was also painful, at least Gallade wasn't weak to Electric, so the hit wasn't crippling.
But what was even more terrifying was this: Greninja, having switched places, now appeared in front of the terrified Minun!
Like a little white rabbit meeting the big bad wolf.
Minun's eyes went wide with fear!
This was clearly not their Plan D.
This wasn't in the plan at all
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