Chapter 404: Pity He's a Pervert
Arthur's opponent in this match was a veteran starter from the Blaze Team—
The All-Star main player: Simon!
He was one of the cornerstones of the current Blaze Team, one of the four famous "quirky kings" of the old Blaze.
These four kings included their captain, Mason, who had once been reported to the Pokémon Protection Association for publicly stating, "What's wrong with liking Gardevoir?";
Chloe, a genius of luck who used a Metronome Clefable as her ace but had once failed to roll a six in eighteen consecutive turns during a live-streamed board game;
Luke, who had once cosplayed as a Gothita on a live stream, but had forgotten to shave his leg hair, leading to his channel being mass-reported and banned.
And finally, this gentleman, whose ace Pokémon was a Shuckle, and who had become famous after an unfortunate slip of the tongue in a post-match interview where he said, "The inside of a Shuckle feels a bit like a silicone doll," earning him a reputation as a pervert that he would likely never be able to wash away… Simon.
To be fair, in that interview, the host and Simon had actually been discussing the topic of Shuckle storing and fermenting berries inside its body. Simon had just used a strange metaphor in a moment of brain-fart. He probably hadn't meant it that way.
And he himself was actually quite handsome, with the appearance of a perfect gentleman.
And he was thirty-nine years old, already married with children.
But none of this stopped the netizens from teasing him as a pervert who bore the name of a gentleman.
Every time this player appeared on the field, the live stream chat would inevitably be spammed—
"Pity he's a pervert!"
The commentator introduces: "For this match, the Blaze Team is sending out the veteran we're all familiar with, Simon!"
The chat spams: "Pity he's a pervert!"
The commentator continues: "Speaking of which, Simon also won the Best Rookie award back in the day. And his opponent today, Arthur, also just won this honor last year. I wonder what kind of sparks will fly between these two former Best Rookies today?"
The chat spams: "Pity one of them is a pervert!"
The commentator tries to hype up the atmosphere one last time before the match: "Alright, the match is about to begin! Let's see whether the veteran's stable play or the rookie's fierce assault will come out on top!"
The chat still spams: "Pity this veteran is a pervert!"
Poor guy. One slip of the tongue, one wrong word, and a meme follows you for the rest of your life…
It had truly become a tale of one gentleman, one lifetime, one couple; one word, one meme, and an endless void of regret…
But setting aside his proclivities, Simon's own skill was no joke.
A complete lineup, rich tactics, and powerful Pokémon!
For the first round, both sides sent out their Pokémon. Arthur chose Old Flame, and his opponent immediately pulled out a relatively rare, niche Pokémon—Dusclops!
This Pokémon is very rarely seen in other people's matches, but for Simon, it wasn't so unusual.
The commentator recognized it at a glance: "Oh?! We see that in the first round, Simon has brought out a hero from the Champions Cup two years ago, the Dusclops that single-handedly shut down the Hoenn Grand Master Team's Mega Blaziken! In that case, we don't even have to guess its held item. It must be the Eviolite!"
Dusclops is not a final-form Pokémon. Normally, this kind of Pokémon wouldn't appear on the professional stage. You'd definitely evolve it to its final form before competing.
However, this is where a magical item comes into play: the Eviolite.
Its effect is that when held by a Pokémon that is not fully evolved, it greatly increases its defense and special defense!
This item is specifically designed for not-fully-evolved Pokémon.
Therefore, Simon's Dusclops had been specially trained as a specific counter-pick to deal with an opponent's Mega Evolution.
Without an opponent with Mega Evolution, a Dusclops without an item has no advantage.
But once it holds an item, it's a completely different story!
The Dusclops species is already skilled in defense, and their final evolution, from Dusclops to Dusknoir, primarily boosts their offensive capabilities. Their defensive stats can be said to be fully evolved at the Dusclops stage.
Paired with the Eviolite, it instantly becomes an extremely excellent tank!
And compared to Leo's previous counter-pick, Shuckle, Dusclops has a unique advantage: its ability is Pressure!
This ability forces the enemy to constantly overcome an immense sense of pressure when fighting it, thus expending more stamina.
It's perfect for a battle of attrition!
The commentator said directly, "It seems Simon has targeted Arthur's ace right from the start."
To this, Arthur just smiled and, in a rare move, spoke into the microphone. "You're really taking a gamble, aren't you? Aren't you afraid I'll lead with my Gengar?"
If Arthur had led with Specter, the Dusclops wouldn't be able to hold an item. And the Ghost type is weak to itself. As a pure Ghost-type, Dusclops's weaknesses include Ghost.
If it had run into Specter, the Dusclops would have been a sitting duck.
To this, Simon also returned a smile. "When facing a strong enemy, you always have to take some risks to win."
A very high-EQ reply.
He had both explained his motive and subtly praised Arthur.
The commentator also took the opportunity to comment, "Simon's move is indeed risky! From this, we can also see that in this round, he has truly placed Arthur on the same high level of importance as the world champion Grand Master Team! He's not being careless at all! As a rookie in only his second year as a pro, his first as a main singles player, Arthur is truly bearing a level of importance that he shouldn't have to at his age!"
The chat at this point started spamming again—
"This main player may be a pervert, but he's also overly cautious!"
In any case, the "pervert" label was destined to stick. Even the person himself had gotten used to it…
Arthur was also speechless.
"Old Flame, evolve! Then, Flare Blitz!"
Having learned his lesson from the battle with Leo, this time, the moment he saw this kind of counter, Arthur was already prepared to switch Pokémon.
An opening ultimate, then use the mid-battle switch to avoid the ultimate's cooldown.
A standard play on the professional stage.
And the opposing Simon had clearly seen through Arthur's intention.
"Dusclops, use Gravity!"
So, Simon wasn't in a hurry to attack. He very pointedly used a field-affecting move: Gravity!
The Psychic-type move: Gravity!
Its effect is to create a super-gravity zone in the surrounding area. The increased gravity will make it impossible for any Pokémon to fly, and abilities like Levitate, as well as the Flying type's immunity to Ground-type moves, will also be nullified!
It was clear that the opponent was already setting up a combo for his subsequent plays.
His move was not only to ground Old Flame, but also to target Specter's and Mismagius's Levitate abilities
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