NOVEL NEXT Chapter 325: We Have Ultimates Too
Switching out a Pokémon mid-battle does not change its designated slot.
In other words, the opponent now only had one free Pokémon slot left. The Noivern that had already been on the field would be locked into one of the three spots.
How should he choose now? Send out Noivern again?
But Noivern has no advantage against Charizard, especially not against Arthur's unconventional one, which has an abnormally high burst of short-range speed.
If it can't create distance, a Noivern of the same level is likely no match for a Charizard in a physical fight.
So, send out another Pokémon that counters Charizard? But then, all three of his Pokémon slots would be fixed. What would he use against Greninja and Arthur's final, unknown Pokémon?
Sometimes, singles battles are like this. It seems like you have three rounds, but if a crucial strategic point that you were supposed to win collapses, it becomes incredibly difficult to recover.
Even with the rule that the winner sends out their Pokémon first, it's still hard!
After much hesitation, with the countdown timer nearly finished, the Sea Carp main player finally made his decision!
He chose to save his Noivern to counter Arthur's subsequent Greninja and sent out a new Pokémon instead: Mandibuzz!
Mandibuzz is a female-only Pokémon, similar to Nidoqueen. Its male counterpart is Braviary.
It resembles a vulture, and it likes to use a bone to tie up the feathers on its head, giving its eyes a strangely alluring look.
This Mandibuzz wasn't specifically chosen to counter Charizard, but to counter the Mismagius that Arthur was likely to send out next!
Based on the intelligence the Sea Carp team had gathered, they judged that among Arthur's original team, only Greninja and Mismagius were qualified to compete on the main singles stage. After all, Arthur had never revealed Specter's specific data to his old team.
The appearance of one new Charizard could be an accident, but you can't possibly pull out even more unseen main Pokémon and one-shot me, right?
At this moment, the Sea Carp player's mentality was one of supreme confidence.
Therefore, he confidently predicted that Arthur's last Pokémon would be Mismagius!
So, he confidently set an ambush with the Dark-type Mandibuzz, waiting to counter the upcoming Mismagius.
At the very least, if he couldn't get Mismagius, Mandibuzz would at least have the advantage of flight against Greninja, so he wouldn't have to worry about being easily caught and combo'd to death.
He had thought it all through. A perfect plan.
And in practice, his tactics were just as smooth—
"Mandibuzz, tank this hit, then use Brave Bird!"
An ultimate move!
Another opening ultimate!
You had to admit, in main-singles-level duels, the frequency of ultimate moves was much higher than in doubles!
The opponent clearly intended to decide the match in one blow, planning to use an ultimate move to take out the already-damaged Old Flame's daughter just two seconds into the round!
Then, he would once again use the mid-round break to wait out Brave Bird's cooldown. In the next round, Mandibuzz would be as good as new!
A beautiful idea, and it even synergized with Mandibuzz's ability: Weak Armor—
Its effect is that when taking an attack, it can actively shed its outer protection, sacrificing some of its physical defense in exchange for a short burst of extreme speed!
As commanded, Mandibuzz flew forward to meet the charging Charizard. While taking a claw swipe, it actively "burst its armor."
In an instant, feathers flew everywhere!
Mandibuzz had actively shed some of its feathers, becoming literally bald in the process…
But she was bald, and she was stronger!
Her speed suddenly skyrocketed. She flashed through the rain of feathers, and in an instant, she had easily broken free from Old Flame's daughter's entanglement.
Then, she tucked in her wings, her entire body igniting with a brilliant red fighting aura. She transformed into a triangular arrow and shot forward at an even more terrifying speed, crashing into Old Flame's daughter!
The Flying-type ultimate: Brave Bird!
The Sea Carp player's lips curled into a confident smirk.
This blow would surely be the finisher!
But just as he was about to pour a cappuccino for his former junior teammate, Arthur calmly uttered two words that instantly changed his expression.
"Endure!"
While this wasn't one of the three famous proverbs of a certain perpetually ten-year-old boy in a red and white cap, its effect was at least eighty percent as real.
Because it was a move command.
The Normal-type move: Endure!
Its effect is to lock one's own status. All damage taken during the move's duration is delayed, granting a pseudo-invincible state where the user cannot be knocked out for a short time!
Like Protect, this move cannot be used consecutively.
Furthermore, in reality, there is no absolute invincibility. If you take an excessive amount of damage in an instant, it's not impossible to be killed right through the Endure state.
This is an extremely dangerous move. One wrong move, and you could really lose your life.
But as it happened, the death-defying little delinquent was very skilled with this move. It was one of the moves she had mastered best before being captured by Arthur.
It sometimes made Arthur marvel: it's a miracle this girl has survived to this day…
Fortunately, Arthur himself always knew what he was doing when he gave a command.
Using Endure at this moment was pushing it to the limit, but it would absolutely not threaten the life of Old Flame's daughter.
And the Endure state did not stop the Blaze ability from continuing to burn!
This one Brave Bird failed to one-shot Old Flame's daughter. Instead, it instantly ignited the flame on her tail to its absolute limit!
In an instant, the Sea Carp player knew something was wrong.
"Mandibuzz, fall back! Quickly!!"
He couldn't afford a head-on clash now.
The opponent now looked like a steel furnace on the verge of exploding. The temperature of her flames was already terrifying.
But Arthur wasn't about to let his opponent go so easily!
"Pursue! Maintain distance! The moment the cooldown is over, use Flare Blitz!"
This command was truly despair-inducing.
The Weak Armor ability had given Mandibuzz greater speed. Originally, she wouldn't have been worried about being caught by a Charizard.
But if the opponent also used a move to accelerate, there was nothing she could do.
Especially an ultimate move for acceleration!
The Fire-type ultimate: Flare Blitz!
Engulf the entire body in flames and charge the opponent at high speed! A fearless, unstoppable charge!
We have ultimates too, you know!
Although Old Flame's daughter had never been able to learn Rock Slide, which was why she always lost in the civil wars against the two leaders in the valley, she was very quick to learn ultimate moves of her own type.
A delinquent who could cause trouble everywhere and still come out alive naturally had no lack of combat talent.
At this moment, her Blaze ability was pushed to its absolute limit!
The duration of Endure had not yet ended, making her completely fearless of the recoil damage from Flare Blitz!
The flames shot into the sky!
In this moment, she was fearless. Her future was destined to be without regret!
"BOOM!"
"CAW!"
A massive explosion, intermingled with the shrill cry of a bald eagle…
Before the flames of the explosion had even completely died out, Arthur had already taken out his Poké Ball.
The effect of Endure was about to end, and the accumulated, delayed damage was about to erupt. There was no need to hold on any longer.
He recalled Old Flame's daughter, proactively conceding the round.
It looked like he had lost this small round, but in terms of the grand strategy, he had already gained a huge advantage.
The critically injured Old Flame's daughter had fully utilized her ability, and a single, extraordinarily powerful Flare Blitz had severely wounded the opposing Mandibuzz.
And as a bonus, the opponent's Weak Armor ability had also helped to screw itself over.
Although Old Flame's daughter had fainted, Arthur had actually come out way ahead!
This was clear just from the grim expression on the face of the main player from his old team—
Even though this was his first time on the main singles stage, the pressure was now completely on the Sea Carp side
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