Chapter 432: A Huge Win!
Not only did Roman not expect this punch, but even the commentators and the referee were completely unprepared.
"What did Arthur just command?" the commentator asked, bewildered.
The next moment, they saw Greninja's fist firmly plant itself on Swampert's chest.
Half a second later, with a sudden "squelch," the Swampert staggered back, fell flat on its back, and a fountain of reddish water erupted from its chest!
The stream of water had torn through the Swampert's skin and muscle. For a moment, fresh blood mixed with the gushing water, a spectacular sight!
It left all the spectators in the stadium completely stunned!
The referee, for a moment, was also at a loss.
What move was that? How the hell am I supposed to record the move slot?! You're making things difficult for me!
Fortunately, this was the playoffs. There were usually multiple referees on site, and someone with more experience quickly recorded the conventional move name on Arthur's side of the skill-tracking board—Rock Smash.
But this was clearly not enough to answer the flood of questions from the live fans and the viewers at home.
The live stream chat was already almost completely filled with question marks.
The commentator was also full of questions when he first saw the move slot.
"Is that move Rock Smash?"
If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't swear on a live broadcast, the commentator would have probably blurted out, "Are you freaking kidding me?!"
How does that power look like a Rock Smash? It wouldn't be out of place to call it an ultimate move, alright?! Didn't you see that reddish fountain shooting into the sky?! And isn't Rock Smash a Fighting-type move? How do you explain the gushing water?! I didn't read many books, don't lie to me!
Greninja's punch had hit the Swampert right in the chest, bypassing its tough hide on its back and limbs, striking its soft spot and dealing a pure, critical hit!
First, break the armor, then deal the damage!
An instant explosion! A ton of damage!
It left Roman so shocked and uncertain that his command was delayed for a moment.
Seizing this opportunity, Arthur quickly commanded, "Greninja, fall back!"
After landing one hit, there was no need to pursue.
First, let's just stall out the last bit of the swamp's duration.
After this one punch, his opponent would surely be on guard. It probably wouldn't be so easy to land such a pure, critical hit again.
But Arthur wasn't greedy. This was already a huge win.
To land a head-on blow to the Swampert during its most advantageous period! And then to successfully stall until the swamp disappeared.
He had a great chance in this round!
The distance between the two Pokémon slightly widened. Greninja was still on high alert, not daring to be careless for a single moment.
And at this moment, Roman didn't even dare to have his Swampert rashly pursue.
"Swampert, use Earthquake!"
After its cooldown ended, he had his Swampert use the wide-area ultimate move, Earthquake!
Although a Swampert using its own STAB Ground-type ultimate, Earthquake, is still very strong, from this choice, you could still see that Roman had already started to play it safe!
In the last moments of the swamp, he no longer dared to press his attack.
"Greninja, use Acrobatics!"
To this, Arthur's response was very calm.
In this round, his opponent had no way to seal Greninja's ability. His ninja's Protean was still active!
In a broad sense, Greninja's Protean is also a Champion Ability! In the arena, although it's not as sought-after as Shadow Tag or Huge Power, it's still one of the best, ranking at least in the top twenty among the nearly a thousand different Pokémon abilities!
Greninja jumped up, planted one hand on the ground, and performed a series of acrobatic flips. Through this, it temporarily changed its type to Flying, thus greatly reducing the damage from Earthquake!
The shockwave came, and it still felt a tearing sensation, but it was much, much lighter than if it hadn't changed its type.
But the impact and vibration from the Earthquake still made Greninja's form slightly unstable.
The Swampert seized the opportunity to stride forward, closing the distance and throwing a punch!
Greninja hastily parried and took some minor damage. But a few moves later, Greninja stepped down and felt a different sensation—
The swamp effect from the Grass/Water Pledge was finally over!
The strange suction force that had been constantly pulling from below was gone! Every time it lifted its foot, it finally felt light and normal again!
The horn of the counterattack was about to be blown!
"Slide and dodge the arm swing! Get up! Water Shuriken!"
The next moment, Greninja nimbly ducked, dodging Swampert's sweeping arm with a slide. It got up, threw out a few shurikens, then crossed its hands, and the water kunai were in its grasp once again!
But at this point, Roman was clearly on guard.
"Hold your ground, Swampert!"
And then, very quickly, Arthur once again used that move that seemed so unscientific to the commentators.
"Again! Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist!!"
This time, the field was no longer a swamp. Roman was no longer completely focused on attacking. And having been hit once before, he was now fully alert to this self-created move of Arthur's.
He immediately commanded, "Take a half-step back! Cross your arms and defend!"
This time, Greninja couldn't find an opportunity to cut into Swampert's center line and score a critical hit on its heart.
The Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist slammed into the back of Swampert's crossed arms, where there was even a hard, earth-yellow keratin protrusion.
Although the visual effect of this punch was still stunning, with water gushing out from the cracked skin, a single punch sending water splashing everywhere!
But the actual damage was far less than the previous critical hit to Swampert's chest.
The Swampert had taken the punch. And then, seeing that Greninja was about to retreat, Roman immediately shouted, "Tackle! Pursue him!"
Using the basic move Tackle for acceleration, the Swampert quickly caught up to the Greninja that was trying to retreat after landing a punch!
You're not going to get away with a free hit like that twice!
"Grab him! Then use Hammer Arm!!"
Roman had originally guessed that a powerful move like the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist would have a cooldown comparable to an ultimate.
The first time Greninja had used it, it had immediately retreated.
At this moment, for him to counter with a close-range ultimate, the timing was perfect!
He would surely be able to turn the tables on Arthur!
But who would have thought that a few seconds later, Arthur would once again give a command: "Greninja, use Acrobatics to clash!"
"What?!"
This time, Roman was truly shocked!
To this, Arthur just smiled faintly.
Didn't expect that, did you? The "water stream" in the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist is just a Water-type creation that was already summoned by Water Shuriken. At its core, it's just a Fighting-type Rock Smash!
Although it fully utilized the mechanics of first breaking the armor, then dealing damage, and the internal explosion of the water stream to maximize its damage, giving it the burst power of an ultimate move, its cooldown was still just the cooldown of a Rock Smash.
At the same time, the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist had emptied Greninja's hands of its kunai, which just so happened to meet the bare-handed requirement of the move Acrobatics!
This set of combos was interlocked, as smooth as silk!
And by using Acrobatics, it could also change its own type to Flying, temporarily giving Greninja a partial resistance to Fighting-type moves!
Killing three birds with one stone!
In this exchange, Arthur had made a huge win!
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