Chapter 603: A Brilliant Play
Roman's Swampert was facing a Beautifly.
Although not a Grass-type, Beautifly could learn several Grass-type moves, such as Energy Ball.
Since Swampert only had one weakness—Grass—it was inevitable that the opponent would target it.
Also, Beautifly's Bug/Flying typing gave it an advantage against Swampert: significant immunity to Ground-type attacks and a double resistance to Fighting.
The resistance to Fighting was emphasized because one of Roman's Swampert's signature moves was Hammer Arm, a powerful Fighting-type move.
The opponent had calculated every aspect.
Teams that make it to the Champions Cup have excellent intelligence gathering capabilities, not to mention this was the Platinum Team captain's second encounter with Roman.
"This Beautifly is probably a counter-pick prepared specifically for Swampert, right? Can Roman handle it?"
At this moment, everyone in Starlight and Frost was sweating for Roman.
But at the start, Roman's command remained calm.
"Swampert, use Tackle to accelerate, then use Water Pledge!"
He still chose the traditional opening.
At this moment, everyone in the Nine-Tailed Fox Team laughed.
"Is this Kubfu captain stupid? Beautifly is flying in the sky. Even if he creates a swamp with the dual Pledge combo, it won't affect the opponent."
Swampert rumbled forward into the opponent's half using Tackle.
At this time, the Platinum captain greedily ordered, "Beautifly, ascend and use Sunny Day!"
He didn't rush to attack, but chose to seize the weather first.
"Using Sunny Day to weaken Water-type moves isn't just for this round, but also to block Roman's other ace, Ludicolo, later. And most importantly, to assist itself in using Solar Beam later."
As professional players, Aaron and Leo saw through the opponent's calculations at a glance.
But Swampert on the field still plunged headfirst into the area where Sceptile had left Grass Pledge.
The Platinum Team captain smiled slightly, feeling secure.
Pledge moves also had a considerable cooldown.
But unexpectedly, the next second—
"Fling!"
Roman suddenly sped up his speech, catching him off guard with a command.
"What?!"
Swampert grabbed a handful of wet mud from the ground and hurled it vigorously at the airborne Beautifly!
The enchanted mud clod was fast and accurate, hitting Beautifly right on the forehead and knocking it down.
The timing was incredibly precise; even the Sunny Day chant was interrupted.
The Platinum Team members were stunned, while the Kubfu audience and players breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Not easy. That stubborn block of wood finally got it," Leo sighed with a smile.
"Yeah, he gets it now. He even knows how to play mind games."
As the saying goes, honest people are the hardest to guard against when they deceive.
Roman wasn't absolutely honest, but at the tactical execution level, he always gave the impression of being straightforward and direct. This caused the Platinum captain to completely forget one thing—
Players can bluff when giving orders!
Although there's a cost of locking a move slot early—if you shout it but don't use it, the move is still recorded as used.
But Water Pledge was a move Roman was destined to use in this round anyway. Sceptile's Grass Pledge was already laid down, so the second Pledge had to be used eventually.
Locking this move slot early was no burden to him.
So in reality, Swampert hadn't used Water Pledge just now; he had simply sprayed some water on the ground.
Then, with Fling, he caught the opponent completely off guard!
"The Random Field also helped Roman. The opponent's half was naturally a wetland in this round, causing the opponent to miss Swampert's little trick," Bianca added.
The Random Fields in the group stage included natural wetlands, which didn't have the terrifying slowing effect of wetlands created by Pokémon moves.
But visually, they were very similar, further leading the Platinum captain to misjudge.
In this round's Random Field, Roman's half was grass, and the opponent's was wetland, which was perfect for him.
After knocking Beautifly down with Fling, Swampert roared, leaped into the air like a legendary beast, jumped several meters, and smashed down hard!
Slamming the Beautifly, which hadn't had time to get up, into the marshy wetland!
"Suppress her! Don't let her take off again! Then use Water Pledge!"
As long as Beautifly was pinned to the ground and couldn't fly, all her type advantages were useless before Swampert!
And a grounded Beautifly would also suffer the slowing effect after Swampert completed the dual Pledge combo!
Once the swamp formed, any Pokémon touching the mud on the ground would be slowed. Unless it flew in the sky from the start without landing, even Flying-type Pokémon couldn't be immune to this effect.
"Beautifly, Energy Ball!"
With Sunny Day incomplete and Solar Beam having too many drawbacks, the Platinum captain was forced to choose Energy Ball as the main attack method.
But Roman didn't care.
A few seconds later, Swampert's Water Pledge smashed down!
Although this move was mostly valued for creating the slowing swamp, the base power of Pledge moves wasn't low!
Used by a captain-level Swampert with STAB, one hit left the fragile Beautifly dizzy and disoriented.
"Yes!!"
"Captain Roman, keep fighting like that!"
"Go for it, Roman!!"
At this moment, most of the Kubfu Alliance was cheering for Roman.
But the opponent wasn't weak either.
The Platinum captain was very calm. Seeing the situation was bad, he immediately adjusted his strategy.
"Use Whirlwind to force him back! Then use Poison Sting continuously!"
Normal-type move Whirlwind, a forced switch-out move like Dragon Tail.
The Platinum captain wasn't greedy at all. Seeing no chance to quickly defeat Swampert, he directly gave up on the double-effective Grass-type moves and considered poisoning Swampert first!
He wasn't in a hurry.
Even if he was at a disadvantage on the field and Beautifly was forced into a mud brawl, he still had the advantage in the big picture because he had no point differential pressure.
Even if he lost this round, using two Pokémon to defeat this Swampert would be a win for him.
Because the opponent only had three captain-level ace Pokémon.
And he only needed to get 4 points in this Captain's Match to steadily send the opponent to the airport.
You have no chance! he thought.
However, the next moment, a scene that horrified him appeared!
"Ignore the attack, grab Beautifly!"
The opponent predicted his move!
The moment the wind rose, Swampert lunged forward, grabbing Beautifly's long proboscis at the last moment.
Whirlwind blew Swampert away;
But it also took Beautifly with it!
The distance wasn't widened!
"Oh my god! What a brilliant read!! What a brilliant play!!"
At this moment, commentators all over the world exclaimed and screamed in high decibels.
Under desperate headwinds, Roman's command so far had been perfect, with successive brilliant commands amazing everyone!
Pressure didn't crush his will; instead, his current command repeatedly outplayed the opposing Platinum captain!
The former number one of Kubfu could still bring countless exclamations and screams on the world stage.
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