Chapter 414: Too Late!
Not far away, the Mawile and Azumarill were in a heated battle, but in the corner of the arena, the Togekiss and Gothitelle were in a state of peaceful tranquility…
It couldn't be helped. Bella's Togekiss couldn't leave, and the opposing Luke wasn't in a hurry to have his Gothitelle waste energy attacking.
After using Safeguard to cure its burn, the Gothitelle had just been using Heal Pulse, slowly and calmly sparring with the Togekiss.
Although Bella's Togekiss had the Hustle ability to increase its attack, it had always primarily served as a taunting support.
In the past, it had mainly supported Luna's Empoleon or Kabutops. This season, it was mainly supporting Justin's Pidgeot.
The Togekiss itself rarely played the role of the main damage dealer.
This meant that, for the time being, it was very difficult for it to heavily damage the Gothitelle.
And the most headache-inducing part was that Bella also had to be on guard against her opponent using Ally Switch to leave at any moment!
This feeling of being trapped while your opponent can leave whenever they want is truly frustrating!
For now, she could only place her hopes on her teammate.
But Justin's Azumarill was still young. For the time being, at most, it could only fight the Mawile to a standstill. A quick victory was still difficult.
And just then—
"Gothitelle, use Ally Switch!"
What was bound to happen, happened!
The opponent always had the strategic initiative!
The Gothitelle instantly switched places with the Mawile!
Affected by Shadow Tag, the Togekiss suddenly felt a strong pulling force from below. It was as if a hand had emerged from its shadow, viciously yanking it in the direction the Gothitelle had teleported away!
Fortunately, the distance created was too great, and the pulling force snapped halfway through.
But it still sent the Togekiss tumbling, rolling three times on the ground.
And in that opening, the opponent had planned this all along!
"Mawile, use Taunt!"
The Mawile that had teleported over was already prepared. It used Taunt the moment it arrived!
This gave the Togekiss no time to evade!
This would have been incredibly difficult to predict. The opponent could communicate within their team about when to switch and prepare in advance, while Bella's side could only guess.
And at the moment of the switch, the pulling force had made the Togekiss lose control of its body, making it even harder to control its line of sight.
Hit by Taunt! This meant that for the next little while, the Togekiss would not be able to use status moves or skills like Charm to limit the Mawile's offense!
At the same time, the Gothitelle that had switched places stepped down again!
It had stepped on the Azumarill's shadow!
Giving the Azumarill no chance to provide backup!
"This tactic is shameless!"
"So broken!"
"How can there be an ability as annoying as Shadow Tag!"
At this moment, the home fans of Starlight and Frost were all protesting.
The Champion Ability was truly living up to its name!
Soon after, facing an Aqua Tail that the Azumarill had forcefully thrown over, Luke timed it perfectly and executed a perfect parry.
"Gothitelle, use Mirror Coat!"
Mirror Coat is like the Psychic-type version of Payback. If you can counter at the instant of the opponent's attack, you can deal extremely high reflected damage. It's a huge test of a player's timing!
This time, Justin was still too young. His move's timing was precisely read by his opponent.
Of course, this was also related to the pressure he was under due to the unfavorable situation on the field…
Soon after, just as the effect of Taunt on the Togekiss was about to end, the Gothitelle used Ally Switch again, and then stepped on the Togekiss's shadow once more!
This left the Togekiss, which had just recovered and was about to limit the Mawile, once again useless.
Its series of limiting moves, like Will-O-Wisp, Charm, and Yawn, could never reach the opponent's main damage dealer, the Mawile!
Although Luke was a bit cringey when he cosplayed, his command was really something.
The Blaze Team's "quirky four kings" were only quirky in their off-stage lives. When they got into the arena, they were not quirky at all. On the contrary, each of them was a master of their craft!
Previously, the first two of the quirky four kings, Simon and Chloe, had been defeated. In this match, it was Luke's turn to restore the glory of the four kings!
In the end, in this round, the Gothitelle completely controlled the field with its back-and-forth Ally Switches, keeping Bella's Togekiss completely locked down.
The Mawile coordinated to deal explosive damage, successfully securing the win!
In the end, they had not allowed the Starlight and Frost team to extend their lead.
After the regular singles and doubles matches, the overall score was a tight 6-5, a mere one-point difference.
And for Starlight and Frost, this was not good news, even though they were still ahead by one point.
Because in the final captain's battle, they would be facing last year's "Best Captain" winner, the most stable cornerstone of this Blaze Team: the legendary captain, Mason!
Besides being an older bachelor, often criticized for having a relationship with his Gardevoir that went beyond that of a partner, and being repeatedly reported to the Pokémon Protection Association, this person was very skilled!
You could say that it was a good thing their team also had Simon, the pervert who played with a Shuckle. Otherwise, the title of "gentleman" would surely have been stuck to Mason.
To be honest, most of the live audience did not think Leo could beat Mason.
Including the members of Starlight and Frost themselves.
"Damn it, guys! Can't you give me a little more confidence? I'm your captain, for crying out loud!"
In the lounge, no one answered. Aaron picked up his thermos, Arthur threw up his hands. Everything was said without a word.
And just at this moment, the one person Leo least wanted to hear from gave him a word of friendly encouragement.
On the live broadcast, Sage Hwang said with a straight face, "I actually think Captain Leo has improved a lot this season. He might have a chance to hold the line."
"..."
Before he went on stage, Leo felt a chill run down his spine.
In the end, unfortunately, he still couldn't withstand the Sage's jinx. He failed to hold the line in the final captain's battle and was defeated by Mason 6-3.
The Blaze Team had made up a full three-point deficit in the final battle!
They had overtaken them with an overall score of 8-6!
In the end, they had staged a comeback and successfully defeated Starlight and Frost.
After the match, Sage Hwang laughed sheepishly. "I take back what I said before. It seems the big brother of the new generation of the Kubfu 'big three' is still our Blaze Team!"
Unfortunately, the audience expressed their protest with a flood of comments.
"Too late!!"
"Blacklisted the Sage for life!!"
"Old fool Hwang, damn you and your ancestors!"
Of course, the fans were just playing around. The players of Starlight and Frost were not about to blame their loss on something as ethereal as metaphysics and jinxes.
The headmistress-like head coach pushed up her glasses and said with a blank expression.
"Winning and losing are common in war. Experiencing a setback like this in the regular season might not be a bad thing for you. In a few months, there's still the playoffs. We will definitely face them again! Alright, now pull yourselves together. Do one last interview on stage, and when we get back, we'll have a lot to summarize from this match!"
The team collected themselves and followed the head coach out of the lounge.
The headmistress was right—
One loss was not the end of the world for the current number one team on the leaderboard, Starlight and Frost. They had long since locked in their spot in the winner's bracket of the playoffs!
But that didn't mean this loss was insignificant.
On the road to the championship, no loss can ever be just laughed off!
There was a lot to summarize from this battle when they got back
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