Chapter 604: Never Give Up
The Platinum captain had planned to use Whirlwind to push Swampert back, create some distance for Beautifly, and then use the ranged move Poison Sting to poison Swampert before reassessing the situation.
But unexpectedly, Roman had completely predicted his moves!
The moment Beautifly retreated slightly, Swampert lunged forward, risking his balance, and grabbed Beautifly's long, proboscis-like mouthpart.
Then Whirlwind took effect, sending Swampert flying!
But the Beautifly he was holding was dragged along with him...
The two Pokémon rolled into the swampy wetland together, still entangled.
The Platinum captain's plan completely failed!
His commands had been seen through and dismantled by Roman!
This made him click his tongue with a dark expression.
"Stubborn guy!"
In a desperate situation, Roman was still performing miracles. This tenacity made the Platinum captain feel both admiration and resentment.
"Try to break free, keep using Poison Sting!"
But the Platinum captain's strategy remained unchanged.
Poison him first!
Even if he couldn't win this round, he had to cripple Swampert's condition!
He also added, "Aim for the enemy's waist!"
Swampert's waist wound hadn't healed, and the intense movement had reopened the scab. The Platinum captain targeting this spot was quite ruthless.
"Bastard! Why are Sinnoh people so unsportsmanlike?!"
"If Captain Roman's Swampert wasn't injured, he'd crush you in minutes!"
The Kubfu audience was indignant, but the opponent was using the rules legitimately and hadn't fouled. The online condemnation had no effect on the referee's judgment in reality.
Beautifly spat out Poison Sting, and luckily, it poisoned Swampert in the first round.
"Swampert, Ancient Power!"
At this moment, Roman ordered a counterattack.
But this command was clearly unlike his past style.
"Even Roman can't resist using a gamble move like Ancient Power. Normally, he would choose a more stable Rock Slide or Stone Edge, right? Sigh, the pressure on him is too great."
Leo, watching the match, sighed.
Beautifly was doubly weak to Rock-type moves, so using Rock-type attacks was correct, but the choice of move mattered.
Ancient Power had low base power. Normally, Roman wouldn't consider this move because his style was always steady, straightforward, and violent.
But now, even such a straightforward and honest man couldn't help but pray for the small chance of triggering Ancient Power's all-stat boost miracle upon hitting. This showed how much pressure the Metro Team was under.
Unfortunately, the miracle didn't happen.
Ancient Power's secondary effect didn't trigger.
But Roman's expression didn't change.
"Keep attacking! Endure the pain! Even if you trade injuries, finish off the opponent as quickly as possible!"
Since choosing Ancient Power resulted in insufficient damage, he could only rely on Swampert's desperate offense during the cooldown period to make up for it.
"Beautifly, Flash!"
"Close your eyes, Swampert! Swing your fist to the right! After hitting, use Ancient Power again!"
Then the pace of attack on both sides accelerated significantly!
Seeing Swampert gambling on Ancient Power, the Platinum captain also decisively gave up on kiting and started trading blows.
"Beautifly, no need to defend, Energy Ball again!"
Beautifly also started disregarding its own safety for the sake of offense.
Because the Platinum captain had decided to sacrifice Beautifly quickly.
He couldn't give the opponent more chances to use Ancient Power!
As the side with the advantage, the Platinum captain didn't need to gamble on luck with Roman.
Soon after, the referee raised the flag—
"Beautifly is unable to battle!"
This round ended very quickly because both sides fought with a no-defense, trade-blows style. Both were desperate.
This also meant that although Swampert won the round, his injuries worsened...
Grass-type Energy Ball wasn't easy for him to take, especially since his previous injuries hadn't fully healed.
In the second round, it was Roman's turn to send out a Pokémon first, having won the previous round.
Everyone waited nervously.
"Send out Ludicolo. Use the wetland to trap the enemy, Ludicolo uses Rain Dance first, then slowly wear down the opponent with speed advantage. That should be the safest," Aaron guessed.
Roman's Ludicolo had the Swift Swim ability, boosting speed in rain.
Leo guessed, "I think Poliwrath is better. Roman's Poliwrath has stronger raw power."
However, to everyone's surprise, a red light flashed—
Roman sent out Swampert again for the second round!
"Still sending him out?! He's injured like that! The opponent will definitely send out an ace Pokémon to finish off Swampert! That guy has a Grass-type Trevenant!"
"Why is Roman still so stubborn? We just praised him for getting smarter in the last round."
Only Arthur saw through his situation first.
"It's not that he's stubborn, but he has to gamble on this. Don't forget, he not only has to win this match, but win by more than three points to bring the team into the knockout stage!
"If he doesn't dare send Swampert out after one round, it will be too hard for him to earn a three-point difference with only the remaining two aces. So he has to gamble on this, betting that Swampert can still defeat Trevenant before the wetland dissipates."
Someone else in this situation might think about protecting their record, their reputation, and their win rate, but Roman wouldn't!
If he were the type of player to protect his record, his Swampert wouldn't have been injured like this in previous matches.
If he truly knew how to be flexible and protect himself, he wouldn't have been unknown for the first ten years of his career.
No matter how desperate the situation, he would never give up hope of winning!
Because that was how he had carried the Metro Team step by step to this stage today!
He knew Swampert was heavily injured.
But he still didn't give up!
In this direct confrontation between aces, Water/Ground versus Grass/Ghost, Swampert was at a comprehensive type disadvantage, but Roman still calmly and firmly issued the attack command at the start—
"Swampert, Tackle to accelerate, close in and use Ice Punch!"
The wetland was still there, so at least a glimmer of hope remained!
Even if only the last glimmer remained, it wasn't time to give up the duel!
Swampert charged!
"Trevenant, Hex!"
Before the Pokémon made contact, the Platinum captain had Trevenant use the Ghost-type move Hex.
Beautifly's Poison Sting had already poisoned Swampert earlier, so Hex would deal damage comparable to an ultimate move!
Before engaging in close combat, the Platinum captain planned to get some free ranged damage.
But unexpectedly—
"ROAR!"
Swampert roared loudly during his charge, and in the next moment, to everyone's shock, he forcibly expelled the purple toxins from his body with sheer willpower!
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