Chapter 436: Worrisome
The moment Little Lapras used Hail to fight for the weather, Roman once again showed his dominance—
"Poliwrath, use Belly Drum!"
The Normal-type move: Belly Drum. A rare, instant-cast, powerful buff! It can grant a Pokémon an extremely strong attack boost in an instant, an effect comparable to a Super Saiyan transformation.
However, the cost is also great. You must harm yourself before harming the enemy.
Poliwrath raised its palm and, with great force, slapped its own belly!
"THWACK!"
For a moment, it even produced a dull, drum-like boom. The impact was so great that it spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.
A true warrior is not only ruthless to their enemies but even more so to themselves.
"Go, Poliwrath!"
But to be fair, the move Belly Drum is quite a good match for the Water Absorb ability.
Instantly self-harming and then slowly recovering, maximizing the effect of the ability while also gaining an incredibly powerful buff!
In terms of pure attack boost, Belly Drum is arguably the strongest of all moves!
"Little Lapras, glide away! Fall back!"
Arthur decisively chose to have Little Lapras temporarily avoid the brunt of the attack.
But Roman knew very well that he couldn't let his opponent create distance at this time!
"Use Rock Tomb! Seal its escape route!"
With this move, Roman was going all in!
He had already used up five of his move slots against Mismagius's harassment. With this Rock Tomb, all six of his move slots would be gone.
Currently, Poliwrath's attacking moves were only the Water-type Waterfall and the Dark-type Payback.
This was the move set he had chosen in the previous round to quickly take down Mismagius.
But this set was not good against Little Lapras.
To cut off Little Lapras's retreat, Roman had resolutely made a choice—he would not leave a move slot for a Fighting-type move!
This decisiveness was quite astonishing!
The commentator was also in awe. "Captain Roman is extremely decisive! He deeply understands the principle that hesitation leads to defeat!"
And on Arthur's side, seeing this, he also gave a command. "Try to avoid the cursed rocks! After the opponent charges in, use Freeze-Dry!"
The moment this command was given, both sides had a feeling of "as expected."
Although there had been no previous intel showing that Arthur's Lapras knew this move, this was Arthur, after all!
Roman, seeing this, was not surprised. In fact, he felt it was only natural.
You say a counter-pick Pokémon shouldn't improve so quickly? But that's Arthur! Doesn't that just make it logical?
Even the commentator could only offer a convinced tone.
"Arthur's Lapras used Freeze-Dry on the Water-type Poliwrath. This is perfectly normal!"
Although Freeze-Dry is an Ice-type move, it is exceptionally effective against Water-type Pokémon, with an additional bonus!
This was also the fundamental reason why Arthur had chosen to use Little Lapras in this round.
Because Freeze-Dry includes a dehydration effect. Its damage mechanism is flash-freezing plus dehydration.
This way, while dealing damage, it can also maximally nullify the recovery effect of Poliwrath's ability!
You're dehydrated. Let's see you absorb water to recover now!
In addition, the opening Hail would gradually reverse the weather. The biggest mission for Little Lapras in this round was to completely disable Poliwrath's recovery ability!
To pull out the fountain the opponent was carrying on its back!
Otherwise, a Poliwrath with Belly Drum and a built-in healing spring would be truly difficult to handle.
Then, facing Poliwrath's increasingly ferocious iron fists after its Belly Drum, Arthur also commanded.
"Little Lapras, use Life Dew!"
Relying on the recovery move Life Dew to stay alive, it tanked its opponent's attacks and repeatedly used Freeze-Dry to dry it out!
This was Little Lapras's entire mission for this round.
Although if this continued, Poliwrath's victory was only a matter of time, Roman's expression was not happy at all.
He was already down to his last ace Pokémon!
For it to be worn down like this was clearly unacceptable to him.
"Charge in! Use Waterfall!"
For this round, he didn't just want a victory; he wanted a quick victory! And he had to preserve the condition of his last ace, Poliwrath, as much as possible!
Otherwise, he would never be able to make up for the disadvantage of his ace, Ludicolo, being taken out by Gengar!
Upon receiving the command, the Poliwrath quickly charged forward, and in front of Little Lapras, it first lowered its body, then delivered a powerful rising dragon punch from below!
Shoryuken!
Little Lapras was hit on the chin and was uncontrollably thrown back.
Then, a stream of water erupted from the ground under Little Lapras!
The position was chosen with extreme precision, right at the front of Little Lapras's underbelly!
Combined with the force of the rising dragon punch, Poliwrath was trying to use this one blow to directly flip Little Lapras over!
A Lapras has no hands or feet, only four fan-like flippers. If it's flipped over on land, it's very difficult for it to get back on its feet.
If this worked, Poliwrath might have a chance to take out Little Lapras in one fell swoop!
But—
Arthur's reaction was not slow at all!
"Use Body Slam!"
Poliwrath's Waterfall came quickly, but Arthur's command was just as swift. He didn't give his opponent a single chance!
He had raised a Lapras in his past life. The grandmother of Little Lapras was one of his earliest starter Pokémon.
No one knew the strengths and weaknesses of this type of Pokémon better than him.
You want to target Little Lapras in front of me? You're a long way off!
At this moment, the upper body of Little Lapras, which had already been flipped off the ground, banished its panic upon receiving the command and immediately responded!
It spread its front two flippers and, with the help of the move, forcefully pressed down!
The Normal-type move: Body Slam!
With this one blow, Little Lapras had used all its might in anger!
A young lady's belly is not for just anyone to see!
This pervert in front of her must pay the price!
"BOOM!"
A massive roar!
The Poliwrath had not reacted at all.
After its rising dragon punch, it hadn't even had time to retract its posture before it was pinned to the ground.
Numb…
It was truly numb!
Poliwrath was paralyzed…
Body Slam has a high chance of causing paralysis. This one had been a solid hit. The Poliwrath hadn't even been able to resist. It was instantly afflicted!
Roman, standing on the players' stage, let out a silent sigh.
This is hard…
Although his opponent was just a rookie, the pressure he was putting on him was no less than that of Leo or Serena in last year's singles tournament!
In fact, it was even greater!
Fortunately, in the previous round against Mismagius's Will-O-Wisp, the Poliwrath had already used Rest once.
"Poliwrath, fall back and use Rest!"
The paralysis effect could be cured.
But this one delay meant that his wish for a quick victory was now gone.
"Little Lapras, another Freeze-Dry!"
The rain had basically stopped.
All that was left on the field was the snow from Little Lapras's Hail.
The multiple, accumulated Freeze-Drys had almost completely dried out the moisture on Poliwrath's body!
The recovery effect of its Water Absorb ability was now almost nil.
Even if he could still win this round, the rest of the match would be very, very difficult for him.
Roman was worried
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