Chapter 411: Alakazam
After the singles matches, the overall morale of the Starlight and Frost team was still high.
Upon his return, Arthur was warmly welcomed by his teammates.
"Well played, Brother Arthur!"
"I feel like you're on track for an undefeated regular season."
"Your record is terrifying!"
Up to this point, Arthur had indeed not tasted defeat.
And the quality of these wins was top-notch, including several All-Star players, and even last year's League Cup singles runner-up and third-place finisher!
Today, another All-Star general had been added to his list of defeated opponents!
Justin gave a thumbs-up and recited a classic meme that the fans had come up with for Arthur—
"My Brother Arthur never cuts down nobodies!"
This made Arthur a little embarrassed.
"That's enough, that's enough! There are still matches to be played."
Confidence and fighting spirit are good things, but you can't let your guard down.
Their opponent, after all, was the Blaze Team!
For the first doubles match, the opponent sent out the combination of Chloe and Rosaline, whom Arthur had faced last season.
However, this season they had transformed. Chloe's Clefable had now learned Follow Me and was playing more of a support and taunter role.
And Rosaline had newly raised an Alakazam to be her main damage dealer.
The humanoid Pokémon Alakazam is also a very popular choice on the professional stage.
Its advantages and disadvantages are both obvious—
Its advantages are high mobility, with access to Teleport and Ally Switch, making it very slippery. And its damage output is high, with an exceptionally outstanding special attack for its tier!
It can come and go as it pleases, and its damage is explosive!
The Kubfu Alliance hasn't had a particularly famous Alakazam in recent years, but other regions have.
In the Sinnoh League, the Royal Rapidash team's Gwendolyn von Capet has an exceptionally powerful female Alakazam, which has earned her the title of "LeBlanc."
Her use of Teleport and Ally Switch is said to be unparalleled. In the limited space of an arena, she seems to be everywhere at once!
She is also the last pillar of the Sinnoh League in recent years, a national-treasure-level professional player.
Last year, it was Gwendolyn's Royal Rapidash team that had eliminated the Blaze Team in the loser's bracket.
Whether Rosaline had been influenced by Gwendolyn when she chose to raise an Abra, which is notoriously difficult in its initial stage, is unknown.
Alakazam's initial form, Abra, is extremely prone to sleep. If left to its own devices, it can sleep for twenty-three hours a day.
Training such a Pokémon is not easy.
But even so, Alakazam's appearance rate in the professional scene is still not low, which shows that this species does have its unique strengths.
And on the Starlight and Frost side for this match, it was the sisters Ivy and Bianca.
They didn't get caught up in tactical adjustments. After making one change-up in their match against the Sea Carp team, they had returned to their normal combination of the two sisters fighting together.
A tactical reserve doesn't have to be used in every match. It's enough to just let your opponent see that you have it, to make them wary, to stop them from being reckless.
For this match, Ivy and Bianca were still using their normal snow-based combination, with Ninetales and Froslass.
Bianca didn't use her Pachirisu, which greatly disappointed the cute-pet fans.
"Pachirisu… my Pachirisu! I'm going to die without seeing a Pachirisu!"
"Friend, have you always had this symptom, or did it just start recently?"
In the stands, the conversation between two spectators drew some looks.
Although Pachirisu is indeed very cute, a person should not, at least, not that.
In this round, Ivy and Bianca played it safe and steady, not rushing, and not letting Rosaline's Alakazam's frequent teleports disrupt their mindset.
Rosaline's Alakazam has the Magic Guard ability, which makes it immune to the continuous cold damage from the snowy weather.
Logically, this should have made Ivy's stalling tactics seem pointless.
But they were still not in a hurry.
A calm mind, a slow and steady approach!
Until they seized an opportunity for a burst of damage!
Ivy caught a moment when the Alakazam had gotten a bit too aggressive, coming in close to use Psyshock, and she decisively made her move.
"Ninetales, use Disable!"
In an instant, the Alakazam's casting animation went from a smooth 60fps to a choppy 15fps…
And Bianca, as if by telepathy.
"Froslass, use Payback!"
The Dark-type move: Payback. Retaliate against the enemy with resentment. If the counterattack can be completed at the instant of the opponent's attack, the damage is greatly increased!
As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot, and get your revenge early.
If Payback can't be delivered on the spot, its damage is very average.
But if you can achieve a "perfect parry"-like instant counter, its damage can be comparable to an ultimate move!
And it's a Dark-type move, which is super-effective against Alakazam's Psychic type!
Ninetales's Disable had made the Alakazam lag, extending its casting time, which allowed Froslass to land a perfect Payback!
Explosive damage!
A critical blow!
"Alakazam, fall back, quickly!"
"Clefable, Follow Me!"
The opponent quickly tried to cover the retreat!
But Ivy and Bianca were also prepared!
"Focus fire on the Clefable! Froslass, use Astonish now!"
The moment its cooldown was over, Froslass let out a terrifying shriek!
The Ghost-type move: Astonish!
Its effect is, as the name implies, to startle the enemy with a terrifying shriek.
This time, Bianca's luck was very good. Astonish successfully scared the Clefable into a rigid state, and it flinched, unable to move!
This allowed her teammate, Ninetales, to bypass the Clefable's guard and go straight for the retreating Alakazam!
"A magnificent give-and-go!" the commentator praised!
"Ninetales, use Confuse Ray!" Ivy commanded.
With this move, she wasn't really hoping that Confuse Ray would actually confuse the Alakazam, but just to force her opponent to use a move to dodge.
"Alakazam, Teleport!"
Because as long as her opponent used Teleport, it couldn't use Recover!
No Pokémon is perfect.
Alakazam, while having powerful special attack burst damage and unpredictable mobility, also shares the common weakness of assassin-type Pokémon: it's very fragile!
A classic glass cannon.
Only by relying on the classic Psychic-type recovery move, Recover, could it sustain itself.
Rosaline's Alakazam hadn't been specially trained to take a hit. The full-power, super-effective Payback from Froslass just now had already left it in agony.
Now, the Alakazam desperately needed to recover!
But Ivy and Bianca were aiming for this very moment!
They had been patiently waiting for this entire round for this one burst of attack!
Hiding their blade for a long time, just for one killing blow!
"Pursue the Alakazam!"
"Coordinate with Ninetales! Focus fire on the Alakazam first!"
The two sisters coordinated perfectly, determined to take out the Alakazam first!
"Clefable, hurry up and move!"
But at this point, the Clefable had only just broken free from its flinched state.
"Ninetales, sacrifice yourself! Block off the Alakazam's attack angle!"
"Froslass, use Crunch!"
Now, Alakazam was in danger!
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