Chapter 342: Your Luck Doesn't End There
The moment Old Flame began to evolve, Serena gave an instant command.
"Use Hydro Pump!"
A very discourteous opening with an ultimate move.
Because a Pokémon's evolution itself takes about a second, and reality is not an anime. No one is going to pause the battle to watch you transform.
So, Serena decisively seized this opportunity when Old Flame couldn't dodge and opened with her ultimate!
Blastoise lowered its body slightly, aimed the cannons on its back, and then fired with a thunderous blast!
Disregarding its exclusive move, Hydro Cannon, this was the pinnacle of direct-stream Water-type attacks!
And now, with a Mystic Water tucked inside its shell, the power of its Water-type moves was on another level!
A thick column of water surged forward with the force of a tidal wave!
But Arthur was completely unfazed.
He wasn't afraid of the opponent attacking.
In fact, he was afraid the opponent wouldn't attack!
As long as the opponent didn't try to drag the match into a stall-fest, he could accept anything.
After being hit by the Hydro Pump, Old Flame was sent flying backward. Fortunately, he completed his evolution just before crashing into the energy barrier at the edge of the field. With a spread of his wings, he successfully stabilized himself, avoiding being blasted out of the arena.
After shaking off the water droplets, he looked as majestic as ever.
The commentators all felt a sense of pity for Serena.
"To think she'd be facing a Charizard X."
After the white light of evolution faded, Old Flame's blue and black Mega form was officially revealed to everyone!
By gaining the Dragon type, Charizard X no longer has a weakness to Water. This was why the commentators were saying Serena's luck was bad.
But Arthur was about to show them: your luck doesn't end there!
"Charge forward! Use Thunder Punch!"
An incredibly decisive attack!
"Brace yourself! Take this punch!"
At this moment, Serena had not yet realized the severity of the situation.
Blastoise spread its legs, one in front of the other, lowered its center of gravity, and held its hands open.
She still thought she could take this punch.
After all, Charizard doesn't have the Electric type. In the main singles tier and above, the power difference between a Pokémon's proficient and non-proficient moves becomes more and more apparent.
And her main, Blastoise, was captain-level. Its base stats were absolutely solid. Taking this punch should be—
"BOOM!"
A loud explosion brutally interrupted Serena's train of thought, and at the same time, it interrupted the two commentators on the field who were still endlessly analyzing how Serena would counter.
They had just been speaking with such authority, predicting all the possible counters Blastoise could use after taking this punch.
But in the next second, Old Flame forcefully shattered Blastoise's defensive stance. A single punch to Blastoise's side ribs shattered a piece of its shell!
It instantly ended all their discussions!
The exploding arcs of electricity weren't particularly dazzling, but the ferocious power sent Blastoise flying back a full ten meters!
A captain-level Blastoise!
Without using Shell Smash, and without the opponent lowering any of its defenses, its shell was shattered by a single punch!
The live audience and the viewers watching the broadcast were all stunned!
"What—the hell?!!"
Serena herself was also shocked.
From her choice of the Mystic Water as her battle item, it was clear that she had originally intended to go on the offensive!
She had believed that her Blastoise, with its excellent physical stats, could withstand the damage from a Mega Charizard.
She never expected to be so swiftly proven wrong right at the start.
The offensive power of this Charizard was terrifying! Unnaturally so!
She instantly made several judgments—
The opponent's ability had likely changed to Tough Claws.
This Charizard's own physical strength was immense.
Combined with the clear personal style of the opposing player, this was very likely another close-combat, brawler-type Pokémon!
Based on these judgments, she decisively gave a command.
"Fall back! Lower your center of gravity! Avoid close combat!"
Last year, Arthur had used his Greninja to teach a lesson to all the doubles players in the league: the lesson was called Do Not Try to Fight Arthur in Close Combat!
This year, he had finally changed arenas, and many of the stronger, captain-level Pokémon were no longer afraid of Greninja, a junior who lacked raw power.
But today, Arthur was about to teach another lesson, using Old Flame to continue where he had left off! The lesson was still the same.
After being knocked back, Blastoise instinctively lowered its body, went down on all fours, and turned its toughest shell outward, trying its best not to give Charizard an opening.
It thought that by doing this, it could hold off the opponent's assault.
As Old Flame closed in, it continuously fired non-powered, high-pressure water pellets from the cannons on its back to harass him.
However, these did nothing to interfere with Old Flame.
With a slight turn of his head as he flew low, he easily dodged the water pellets.
As long as these non-skill water attacks didn't hit him in the face and obscure his vision, they couldn't stop his pursuit!
"Body Slam!"
Under Serena's command, Blastoise made a classic sumo move, lowering its body to charge at Charizard's waist.
"Pin it down!"
However, Arthur's command was still exceptionally aggressive. No dodging, no evading!
Old Flame slammed a heavy claw onto Blastoise's head, instantly breaking its grappling motion.
"Jump up! Downward tail whip!"
Then, Old Flame beat his wings to jump into the air, spun around, and brought his thick tail down in a heavy, circular arc!
"BAM!"
Another solid, booming impact.
Serena's Blastoise was once again heavily damaged. It was viciously slammed to the ground by the tail whip, its eyes seeing stars, its head spinning.
Old Flame landed, ready to follow up with another punch.
Fortunately, at this moment, his opponent's ultimate move's cooldown was finally over.
"Withdraw! Then use Rapid Spin!"
These were two move commands.
First, the Water-type move: Withdraw. As the name implies, it increases physical defense by retracting into the shell.
The second command was the Normal-type move: Rapid Spin, which uses the body's rotation to move and attack.
The commonality between these two moves is that their cooldown is extremely short, even shorter than basic moves like Tackle and Tail Whip.
Used in combination, they can be surprisingly effective, just like Defense Curl and Rollout. A classic combo.
The only problem is that it costs two move slots.
Since being promoted to captain, it had been a very, very long time since Serena had been in a situation where she was forced to use two consecutive move slots just to reposition and evade.
In the past, it had always been her using one move to throw her opponents into disarray, forcing them to constantly burn through their move slots to defend and compensate.
But who would have thought that today, the tables would be completely turned?
And even so, Arthur had no intention of letting her go!
"Heat Wave acceleration!"
You think you can escape with Rapid Spin? You think you can bully a Charizard for not having a short-range acceleration move?
Sorry, that doesn't work here!
Old Flame spread his wings, his body soaring into the air. With a wild blast of scorching air from behind, he felt a powerful push and instantly accelerated, once again catching up to the spinning, fleeing Blastoise!
He's old, his stamina is bad, he can't fight a long battle—
So he needs to send his opponent packing as quickly as possible!
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