Chapter 43: Blame Me?
While most of the audience at this moment was still immersed in the astonishing visual spectacle brought by the electric move, the professional players Luna and Bella on the stands had already seen through the amateurishness of the Dratini's trainer.
Trainers are never just people who can shout out the names of moves to be good at the role.
Real battles are never the simple back-and-forth, turn-based games as seen in cartoons. Otherwise, "zero move pressure" wouldn't have been a high-level combat technique exclusive to professionals.
Pokémon consume energy and experience strain every time they unleash a move. This causes a Pokémon's condition to constantly undulate, rising and falling like waves.
There will be crests, and there will be troughs.
Gathering energy is the crest, while the panting and recovery after a move is the trough.
The troughs caused by some moves can be extremely severe, even leading to temporary exhaustion, weakness, or reduced abilities in the Pokémon. These side effects are more commonly associated with high-strain big moves.
"Thunder" is one of the less straining big moves, and the side effects aren't too obvious. But it still consumes significantly more energy than regular moves.
Therefore, giving the command to continue using high-strain moves immediately after a big move showed a clear lack of understanding of the Pokémon's condition.
"Ignoring the observation of the opponent's Pokémon's condition, she can't even grasp the state of her own Pokémon. This trainer is worse than a flower vase. It's better to let the Pokémon fight on their own than be controlled by her," Bella's comment was rather harsh, but not entirely unjustified.
However, at this moment, Luna's expression was still somewhat playful.
"But you know, the club might actually prefer a newbie like your little hottie to win."
Bella frowned but, unusually, didn't argue back.
Currently on the field, while many viewers hadn't recovered from the shock of the sky-splitting lightning strike, Arthur had quietly taken the initiative in the battle!
Arthur's decision was extremely decisive and firm.
He refused to be intimidated by the power of the big move!
Instead, he encouraged Froakie, dispelling his fear, while also instructing him to seize this precious opportunity to attack.
He had to gain the advantage before Dratini caught his breath!
And at this moment, the opponent's chaotic commanding coincidentally helped him.
If that money-flaunting woman had ordered Dratini to evade or defend and patiently wait out the energy depletion, Arthur might have considered surrendering.
But instead, she recklessly forced Dratini to continue using high-strain moves when her Pokémon was at its weakest.
This directly caused Dratini's "Aqua Tail" to take at least two beats longer than usual to charge.
During the process, it also had to endure continuous harassing attacks from Froakie.
By the time the move finally landed, Froakie was already prepared, calmly jumping aside to dodge.
"Whip Strike!"
Then, the opponent made a rare correct command.
Dratini swung her tail like a whip, unleashing a flurry of five consecutive strikes in an instant, leaving Froakie with almost no room to dodge.
"Whip Strike" is a series of fast and continuous strikes. At close range, it wasn't as easy to dodge as Aqua Tail. Whether you were careless or not, there was no escaping it.
But Arthur's response was equally timely.
"Pick up stones and use Thief!"
"Thief" and "Whip Strike" are both Dark-type moves.
Dratini's Dragon type wasn't at a type disadvantage against Dark. But Froakie could temporarily transform himself into a Dark-type using the Protean ability to gain some resistance.
Of course, this resistance only applied to the energy aspect. The physical whipping damage from the tail couldn't be completely avoided. While throwing the stones, Froakie had to forgo defense and fully take Dratini's barrage of strikes head-on.
But it was still worth it.
The Dark-energy-infused small stones hit Dratini squarely on the forehead, causing her to stagger back slightly.
The tail's whipping strikes also paused briefly.
"Now's the time, charge and grab her!"
Arthur's command was accurate and urgent.
Froakie, enduring the pain, lunged forward with all his might, jumping high and pouncing on Dratini, hugging her tightly with his arms and legs.
"Foolish, Wrap!"
The opponent commanded angrily.
Since Dratini was a serpentine Pokémon, naturally, she also knew the constricting move common to snakes.
At this moment, Dratini's tail quickly recoiled, coiling around the opponent with anger.
However, at this moment, Luna on the stands sighed once again, "Wrong again."
This was another mistake made by the money-flaunting woman.
Because she had obviously forgotten that the opponent also had a move—
"Lick!"
The next moment, Arthur indeed issued that command.
Froakie hugged Dratini's smooth and slender body and proceeded to lick her thoroughly from head to tail.
This scene was surprisingly lewd...
"Wrap" is indeed a constricting move, but while constricting, shouldn't you consider whether the opponent has any counterattacks, right?
Without a doubt, the paralysis effect added by "Lick" was the perfect counter to this kind of constricting move.
Because the damage from constriction doesn't erupt in an instant. It requires prolonged tightening to cause pain and suffocation.
However, the intermittent paralysis, causing temporary stiffness and weakness, would completely disrupt this process.
What the opponent should have done was to order Dratini to throw off the opponent as quickly as possible.
Creating distance for a magic duel, with Dratini's wide array of ranged abilities, it would have been enough to bombard Froakie into questioning his existence.
Unfortunately, this money-flaunting woman completely missed this point.
By the time Dratini fell into paralysis, it was too late for her to turn the tide.
What followed was just as Luna predicted.
Arthur's commanding was meticulous after gaining the upper hand, never giving the opponent any chance to make a comeback.
Until, after more than ten minutes, the referee raised the flag and blew the whistle.
He had won this match!
Even until the very last moment, many people still hadn't fully processed what had just happened.
After all, not every viewer had the eyes of a professional. Many were still subconsciously questioning—a pseudo-legendary unevolved Pokémon, and a pseudo-legendary equipped with high-powered moves, just lost like that?!
Wow, that's almost unbelievable, right?!
And when that afternoon came, and Arthur brought Froakie to participate in the semifinals, many people, including his opponent, were still astonished by this.
Surprisingly, Arthur's opponent in this afternoon's match was someone he had met once before.
He had seen this person in the player tunnel after a match earlier. At that time, this person wore a baseball cap and looked at him with a particularly resentful gaze, leaving a deep impression on Arthur.
Even now, the way the capped young man on the other side looked at him was still full of resentment.
"Friend, to be honest, you're really cursed. My predictions have gone wrong twice in a row because of you. I used to be called a fortune teller in the prediction world, but now thanks to you, I'm almost being called a jinx."
This person was quite strange and overly familiar – that was Arthur's first impression.
Then, he tilted his head and asked just one question, which silenced the other side.
"So... is this my fault?"
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