Chapter 348: Winner Takes All
The moment Specter unleashed Hex, Serena also played her final ultimate move.
"Serperior, use Leaf Storm!"
The side effect from Serperior's first Leaf Storm at the beginning of the round had already worn off.
For this final gamble, Serena was going all in!
If I can hold on, if I can recover with Grassy Terrain, then I still have a chance! A big one! But if I can't hold on, this is the end…
"Go, big leafy snake!"
In the audience, the home fans supporting the Otter Team were clenching their toes in suspense. A young fan in his mother's arms let out a desperate cry of support.
This scene made Arthur and Specter look even more like the villains.
Especially Specter, whose purple-black aura, which even the swirling storm of leaves couldn't conceal, radiated a sinister energy. A true villain's presence.
The wind howled, and the leaves swirled.
For a moment, no one could see what was happening on the field.
"Who won?"
The audience was anxious, and the commentators were even more so.
Whether he could wash away his reputation as a jinx all depended on this one moment.
Only Serena, on the field, had already let out a sigh.
With their mental link, she knew the condition of her Pokémon a step before anyone else.
Serperior, regrettably, hadn't been able to hold on.
The small combo of a Fire Punch burn followed by Hex had one-shot her. Amidst the storm of leaves, Serperior had already lost consciousness…
"Go and catch her, Specter."
Arthur's command was issued, instantly igniting the emotions of the entire stadium.
The leaves had not yet settled.
But it sounded like the outcome had been decided.
Serperior was down!
A step behind the players, the referee raised his flag.
"Serperior is unable to battle!"
In an instant, the entire stadium was in an uproar.
Serena's second ace had also fallen!
The Otter Team's "Galactic Battleship's" most stable point-scorer, the third-ranked singles player in the entire league, the star player whose singles skill was widely considered to be even greater than the Otter's current captain—
Had been pushed to match point by Arthur, an eighteen-year-old rookie in his first year as a main singles player!
This was simply incredible!
The more talkative commentator on the field was now wearing a look of utter despair.
He no longer dared to make any bold predictions.
And even more shocked than the fans and commentators were the other members of the Otter Team.
Luna pointed out with sharp precision, "Serena is probably going to lose this match."
Although her teammates were reluctant to admit it, as professional players with a trained eye, they couldn't deny the fact.
The score was currently 2-1, but Serena's last Pokémon was already locked in. It could only be her Primarina.
After Old Flame had fainted, Primarina wouldn't be able to hold its Leftovers when it re-entered the field.
In terms of raw power, Primarina was not as strong as Serena's three main aces, and it was also still suffering from a burn.
No matter how you looked at it, there was very little hope…
With only one Pokémon left, Serena's one mid-battle switch, which she had been holding onto, was now automatically voided.
The path ahead was almost a dead end.
The rest of the match unfolded basically as everyone had predicted.
The moment Primarina entered the field, before it could even cure its burn, it was hit by a devastating Hex from Specter!
After that, Arthur had intended to use his own switch to have Greninja come in for the finish, but Specter insisted it could handle it. Arthur let him have his way.
After a year on the bench, Specter was probably itching for a fight.
Specter then fought through its paralysis, relentlessly bombarding Primarina with Sludge Bomb, forcing it to jump and dodge, crying out in misery.
Previously, when Specter and Old Flame had fought against captain-level powerhouses, their opponents were also ace Pokémon, just a hair's breadth away from their own former peak. Because of this, Specter and Old Flame's superior strength hadn't been so obvious.
It wasn't that they weren't strong, but that their opponents were also near the peak.
Now, facing a lower-tier opponent, Specter's overwhelming control of the battle was finally on full display!
Primarina had been able to hold on against Old Flame mainly due to a type advantage—the Fairy type is largely immune to Dragon-type damage. Old Flame's Outrage-fueled dragon punches had been about as effective as a normal attack.
But Specter was different!
His Poison type was, in turn, super-effective against Fairy!
A gap in raw power, an even larger gap in battle experience, no type advantage, and no held item—at this moment, Primarina had absolutely no path to a comeback.
Arthur had originally planned to switch Pokémon, but as the battle went on, he realized there was no need.
If it weren't for the paralysis slowing him down a bit, Specter probably could have taken out this beautiful sea lion in under a minute.
That's right. Although Primarina is incredibly graceful, looking like a beautiful mermaid, over eighty percent of its species is male. Serena's was no exception.
It fully proves the saying: when a male decides to be fabulous, the females don't stand a chance.
Unfortunately for it, in this round, Specter gave Primarina no chance to be fabulous.
After three minutes of an almost completely one-sided battle, Specter secured a clean victory, completing a two-Pokémon sweep.
When the referee finally raised his flag—
"Primarina is unable to battle!"
—many of the home fans in the stadium were still in a daze, sitting in their seats, stunned.
This was an outcome that no one could have imagined before the match.
The commentators were now smiling awkwardly, trying to talk about anything else.
In the live stream chat, the words "Stable Point-Scorer" in quotation marks were scrolling by in waves, all mocking the commentator's earlier confident statements with biting sarcasm.
In all fairness, Serena hadn't played badly. She hadn't disgraced her title as the strongest female singles player. No matter how dire the situation, she had never given up, always struggling and fighting back.
Whether it was Blastoise's desperate, final Hydro Cannon in the first round, or Serperior's all-or-nothing Grassy Terrain and Leaf Storm in the third, she had posed a real threat to Arthur and had added a great deal of suspense to the match.
But unfortunately, in competition, in any kind of competition, the winner always takes all!
To the victor go the spoils. Just as a champion can be remembered for decades, a runner-up is often forgotten after a few years.
Arthur had won. This fact trumped all debate!
A boy, only eighteen years old in appearance, after creating countless legends last year, had, in his debut on the main singles stage of this year's regular season, secured a victory of immense significance!
He had defeated Serena, last year's League Cup singles third-place finisher!
The weight of this one victory was astonishing!
After he came off the stage, all of his teammates and the team staff crowded around him to congratulate him.
"Well played!"
"A beautiful win!"
"Nice!"
With this, the Starlight and Frost team was now leading with an overall score of 4-0!
The gloom from their group stage elimination in the Devon Cup was, at this moment, completely swept away
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