NOVEL NEXT Chapter 295: The Strategy
The move Meteor Mash has two uses in a real battle—
One is to summon a steel fist from the sky to strike the enemy like a falling comet from a distance.
The other is to concentrate the energy in one's own hand for a close-range, comet-like punch.
It's a very flexible attacking move, usable from both near and far.
It's also one of Metagross's signature moves.
What Clayton didn't expect was how agile Luna's Ninetales was. It was as if it had read his intentions; the moment Metagross made a move, Ninetales darted out!
Luna had also made many preparations for this match.
"Use Powder Snow!"
Ninetales quickly closed the distance to Metagross, but didn't dare get too close.
Metagross's close-combat ability is incredibly strong.
All pseudo-legendary Pokémon are apex predators in their native ecosystems, and Metagross is no exception. Don't let its blocky, iron-like appearance fool you; it's a carnivore.
It grabs its prey with its claws, quickly tears it apart, and then devours it with the sharp fangs under its abdomen. This is a hunting instinct encoded in its DNA. (Source: official Pokédex entry.)
Despite its stocky appearance, Metagross is actually a very ferocious Pokémon.
Ninetales knew it was no match for Metagross in close combat, so it only dared to continuously spray streams of cold air from a few meters away.
Powder Snow is a basic Ice-type move, roughly on par with the Water-type Water Gun. Its power is low, but its cooldown is very fast.
And it has an added effect—
"She's probably gambling on a freeze," Arthur analyzed.
Luna's Ninetales, just like Ivy's, also has the Snow Warning ability. The moment it entered the field, it had summoned a dark cloud, causing a gentle snowfall.
The temperature was dropping with the snow, and under these conditions, the probability of an Ice-type move triggering the frozen status is slightly increased.
And Metagross, just like Greninja, is a Pokémon that cannot learn Safeguard. Its only way to cure the frozen status should be the move Rest.
It seemed Luna's strategy was targeting this very point!
"But what about after that? The snowfall will cause continuous cold damage. Even if Metagross uses Rest, it'll wake up quickly, right? It'll still be a tough fight," Bella asked, exchanging thoughts.
Rest only needs a single moment of sleep to cure a status condition. The subsequent sleep is purely for healing, which was optional for the currently healthy Metagross. Waking up early would actually be a good thing for it.
"Then it depends on how Luna follows up her strategy."
With so little information, Arthur couldn't guess Luna's full plan either.
But his gut told him that her plan was more complex than just forcing the opponent to use one move. Otherwise, sending out a Ninetales with a type disadvantage would be just plain foolish.
Her research on the opposing Metagross surely went deeper than this.
The situation then unfolded exactly as Arthur had thought.
Both sides cautiously exchanged long-range attacks.
Metagross used Meteor Mash two more times. No matter how agile Ninetales was, it couldn't dodge them all. The second hit landed squarely.
The Steel type is super-effective against both of Ninetales's Ice and Fairy types. That one punch really hurt!
But during this exchange, it had also hit Metagross with four blasts of Powder Snow, and the final one successfully triggered the freeze effect!
Metagross was instantly encased in white frost, unable to move.
"Metagross, use Rest."
Clayton's response was as expected.
And at this moment, Luna finally showed her hand!
"Slowly approach it. Use Imprison!"
The command instantly drew gasps from the entire stadium.
Even the host couldn't help but exclaim, "So that's how she's solving it? That's incredible!"
The Psychic-type move: Imprison. Arthur had seen this move before. Its effect is to seal all of the opponent's moves that are the same as the user's!
This move is most common in mirror matches between Pokémon of the same type. When types are the same, the number of shared moves is naturally high, making Imprison a devastating weapon!
Of course, this weapon is not without its flaws. In reality, the more moves you need to seal, the slower the move's casting time.
If you're in a situation where both sides have deep, largely identical move pools, the casting time for this move might be longer than a song…
The greater the effect, the greater the cost. This is an unchanging truth.
But now, Luna had cleverly found a way to bypass this cost—
By letting the opponent put itself to sleep first!
"Brilliant!"
Bella slapped her thigh, genuinely happy for her partner.
Clayton also smiled faintly.
This young lady is interesting!
Ninetales stood in front of Metagross, its eyes glowing as it cast the spell for a full dozen seconds. And Metagross just cooperatively lay there, not moving a muscle.
In the end, it was the low temperature that woke it up early.
But Ninetales's Imprison had already succeeded!
"Fall back first!"
For the time being, Luna still didn't dare to let Ninetales engage Metagross in close combat.
However, she didn't expect this to play right into Clayton's hands.
"Use Magnet Rise! Create distance!"
The Electric-type move: Magnet Rise. Its effect is to use electromagnetism to temporarily gain the ability to float.
Metagross could already levitate using its magnetic field; this move allowed it to fly faster and higher.
Clayton didn't get greedy. Instead of pressing his advantage while his Pokémon was in good condition after waking up, he cautiously chose to create distance first.
"Shouldn't Imprison only seal Metagross's Psychic-type moves? Its Steel-type moves are still available, right? Why did he back off?"
The one asking was Monica, who had remained in the players' lounge.
Normally, the fan participants were supposed to return to the audience after their matches, but because she knew Arthur, the staff didn't stop her from staying. Arthur had even helped her get a bunch of autographs earlier.
Sitting in the players' area, Monica's viewing experience was on a whole other level.
When she didn't understand something, she could just ask, and the answers she got were far more professional than the host's commentary.
Arthur replied, "Because the main move Ninetales sealed was Rest. That's Metagross's only way to cure the freeze status. Now, he doesn't dare to take Ninetales's Powder Snow carelessly, so he's retreating."
Even though Metagross was currently in much better condition than Ninetales, and its Steel-type Meteor Mash dealt critical damage, it was now forced to fly around and avoid Ninetales.
"Logically, Clayton should switch Pokémon at this point, but he probably doesn't want to be the first one to use the mid-battle switch against a junior."
In singles, each player has one chance to switch Pokémon mid-match. If this were a regular season game, Clayton would have definitely switched by now. But this was an exhibition match.
Simply put, he had an "idol burden" to maintain.
This was, after all, a challenge from a junior player.
Just like when Roman had fought Arthur, he had actively given up this right, letting his Swampert stay on the field until it was defeated, essentially handing his opponent a point.
This put even more pressure on Clayton.
If others were giving points to rookies to be gracious, and you played too pragmatically, wouldn't that make you look like a poor sport?
Who knows if Luna had calculated that Clayton would be in this difficult position. In any case, her strategy continued, one link after another!
"Ninetales, use Encore!"
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 35 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you