Chapter 403: You Call This a Substitute?
The outcome of this battle was something no one had anticipated.
Although Tauros wasn't Zhang Zheng's main Pokémon, the issue was that Swampert wasn't Basalt's main Pokémon either!
Perhaps Zhang Zheng suffered a bit from underestimating his opponent, but to end the battle in such a head-on, crushing manner was still too shocking.
At this moment, everyone looked at the muscle-bound Swampert with chills running down their spines.
At least within the club, the only one who could suppress Swampert in terms of strength was probably Captain Li Di's Machamp, right?
Recalling Tauros in a daze, Zhang Zheng's face looked grim. With a cold snort, he threw out his second Pokéball.
Being defeated in three moves was a massive loss of face!
A red light flashed, revealing a blue, round-bodied Pokémon. It wasn't large, but three cotton puffs almost as big as its body extended from it—one on each arm and one on top of its head. Below the cotton puff on its head grew three or four leaves. It had round feet, a tiny tail, and red eyes.
"Jumpluff? Zhang Zheng sent out his main Pokémon! And Grass-type happens to quadruple counter Swampert. Zhang Zheng is going all out!"
"Of course! It was supposed to be a sparring match to guide the rookie, but he got wrecked in three moves. If it were me, I'd also do my best to regain face."
Listening to the discussions around him, Basalt remained calm.
Although Grass-type quadruple countered Swampert, Ice-type also quadruple countered the Grass/Flying-type Jumpluff. What was there to fear?
You have to know, Swampert's development of Ice-type moves was not weaker than other Ice-type Pokémon, even surpassing them slightly.
If luck was on his side, this could be an instant kill. After all, Jumpluff wasn't a powerful Pokémon to begin with, and its defenses and stamina were average.
Soon, the battle resumed.
"Jump~luff~"
Although it was an indoor arena with slow air flow, Jumpluff's speed was extremely swift. As it flashed through the air, people could only see afterimages, feeling their eyes couldn't keep up. Truly worthy of a Pokémon with a base speed of 110.
"Swamp-pert~"
In response, Swampert lowered its body slightly, charging power. With the super combo of Foresight, fin radar, and moisture locking, although Jumpluff was fast, it couldn't escape Swampert's perception.
Suddenly, Swampert spewed a stream of extreme cold air, spreading out like a net towards the rapidly advancing Jumpluff in mid-air, covering a large and wide area.
"My god, it actually used Icy Wind in a net form? What kind of elemental energy control is this?"
Everyone was surprised again. To some extent, this was a secret technique, as it made significant changes to the move's form.
However, despite the surprise, no one was worried for Jumpluff.
The next second, Jumpluff's speed skyrocketed, turning into a white streak of light to escape the Icy Wind's range, then rapidly approaching Swampert with menacing intent.
"That speed!!!"
Basalt was startled. Zhang Zheng's Jumpluff had been holding back even with that speed just now?
"Jump~luff~"
While rapidly closing in on Swampert, Jumpluff condensed a green energy ball and fired it quickly.
"Swamp-pert~"
Swampert showed a helpless expression. Using the super lock-on combo, it could lock onto Jumpluff. But locking on was one thing; its consciousness could keep up with Jumpluff, but its body couldn't. It couldn't execute any dodge or counter movements. It was somewhat like the duel between Sasuke and Rock Lee in Naruto.
Boom!
Swampert had no time to make any physical reaction before the Energy Ball hit it. An explosion rang out, and when the smoke cleared, Swampert had fainted.
"Chlorophyll ability?"
Basalt glanced out the window. Although this arena was indoors, the effect of the sunny day outside was greatly weakened. But if Jumpluff had developed the Chlorophyll ability deeply, even the slight sunlight penetrating through the window was enough to activate part of the ability.
"Instant kill!"
The muscles around Jiang Jun's eyes twitched violently. Is this how you guide a rookie?
However, although Basalt was instantly defeated, he didn't look too disappointed.
"Go, Cradily!"
Basalt threw out Cradily, one of his three main forces, causing another wave of exclamations from the crowd. Fossil Pokémon always had prestige. Especially when Cradily extended its tentacles and shook them slightly, the domineering aura of a prehistoric undersea predator was instantly revealed.
On the field, two Grass-type Pokémon, one big and one small, one in the air and one on the ground, faced each other.
"Damn second-generation rich kid!"
Zhang Zheng cursed inwardly while feeling incredibly envious. If not for his poor family conditions, with his talent, his achievements wouldn't be limited to a mere Second Division League. He despised those second-generation rich kids, but also longed to be one.
"Jumpluff, Fairy Wind!"
Although it was a Flying-type Pokémon, Jumpluff had no wings and relied on cotton spores to ride air currents, so it couldn't learn STAB moves like Gust, Air Cutter, or Hurricane, which was quite embarrassing.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Pink wind condensed from Fairy-type energy whistled over, mixed with silver specks of light.
"Dily-da~"
With its roots deep underground, Cradily didn't care about this little wind, unmoved no matter how it blew. In fact, Fairy Wind couldn't cause significant damage to it, feeling like a tickle.
"It's over, Basalt was careless! Looks like this second round goes easily to Zhang Zheng again."
The crowd shook their heads. Those who knew Jumpluff knew that Fairy Wind was actually just a diversion. Jumpluff's real killer move was the Sleep Powder mixed in the Fairy Wind, which had now fully covered Cradily.
As everyone knew, ordinary Sleep Powder was ineffective against Grass-type Pokémon of the same rank. But Jumpluff's Sleep Powder was a special, deeply developed version, with a hypnotic effect far stronger than ordinary Sleep Powder, fully capable of affecting Grass-type Pokémon. Somewhat similar to Numel's Will-O-Wisp!
But unexpectedly, Jumpluff's special Sleep Powder didn't take effect. Instead of a sleeping Cradily, they saw a Cradily firing on all cylinders.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Rock projectiles shot out like bullets, free of charge, chasing Jumpluff and hammering it fiercely.
Basalt had seen through Zhang Zheng's trick long ago. However, after absorbing Celebi's elemental essence, Cradily had gained a "Purification Power"; any negative status effects would be purified by this energy.
No panic at all.
However, Jumpluff was too fast. Although the rock projectiles were dense, they couldn't hit it for a while.
"Sandstorm!"
Basalt issued the command.
Soon, sand and dust flew, and in the blink of an eye, the training ground was enveloped in a sandstorm. Under the influence of the sand, Jumpluff's speed plummeted. Jumpluff could control its flight even in strong winds like hurricanes, but add rain, sand, or hail, and it couldn't manage.
"How can this be?"
Zhang Zheng's eyes nearly popped out, full of disbelief. Basalt ran a Sandstorm team, which everyone knew, so it wasn't strange for Cradily to know Sandstorm. The problem was that Cradily used a weather move while frantically attacking, which was terrifying. The difficulty of using weather moves was notoriously high. But in Basalt's hands, it seemed effortless?
Multitasking wasn't scary, but if the multitasking involved weather and offensive moves simultaneously, that was terrifying.
Under the influence of the sand, Jumpluff soon swayed uncontrollably, then was hit repeatedly by the double-effective rock projectiles, fainting directly.
"Basalt... won again!"
The crowd gasped.
Conversely, Zhang Zheng's hands began to tremble slightly. He felt he had no Pokémon with a sure chance of defeating the Cradily before him. Not to mention, Basalt still had a third Pokémon yet to appear. How could he fight this?
Although unhappy with Zhang Zheng's behavior, as the head coach and one of the club's responsible persons, Jiang Jun couldn't let Zhang Zheng lose too badly, as it could make Basalt look down on the club.
So he coughed, clapped his hands, walked out, and smiled, "Basalt, your strength really exceeded my expectations. From these two battles, I've roughly seen your level; being a substitute is a waste of your talent. How about this? There's a match the day after tomorrow. You take Zhang Zheng's place and play."
Hearing this, Zhang Zheng's expression changed drastically. Just as he was about to object, Jiang Jun glared at him.
Jiang Jun scolded, "Zhang Zheng, what's wrong with you these past few days? You're distracted; how can you play with such poor form?"
Zhang Zheng was stunned at first, but soon realized Jiang Jun was giving him an out, so he quickly said, "Sorry, Coach. Recently... something happened at home!"
"If something happened at home, deal with it quickly. Don't bring negative emotions from home to work, understand? You, go deal with it now. Don't come back until it's resolved."
"Understood!"
Just like that, a perfectly good sparring match ended abruptly.
"And you lot, what are you looking at? Get back to training!"
With a roar from Jiang Jun, all the players scattered like birds. It was clear that this head coach had significant authority in the club.
After everyone left, Jiang Jun put on a smiling face again and said, "Basalt, we're going to the Cloud Province for a match the day after tomorrow. I plan to send you out. Is that okay?"
"Rest assured, Coach, no problem!" Basalt puffed out his chest.
"That's good!"
After having staff arrange accommodation and training rooms for Basalt, Jiang Jun wiped the sweat from his forehead, looking at Basalt's retreating figure with emotion.
The higher-ups call this a substitute player? What were they thinking?
If possible, he wished he could have a dozen such substitutes! That way, the Saints Club wouldn't be hovering in the lower-middle tier of the Second Division League. He wouldn't dare say promotion, but becoming a dominant force in the Second Division would be no problem.
Jiang Jun had a premonition that the burden of making the Saints Club bigger and stronger and creating new glory might fall on Basalt's shoulders.
As a Second Division club, the Saints' training room specifications were very high, at least better than universities, with all necessary facilities. After checking in, Basalt began to lead his Pokémon to adapt to the environment and wait for his debut the day after tomorrow.
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