Chapter 673: The Giant Dragon and Ice

In nearly ten years of Champion League open tournaments, she had never won a single one.

Something's off.

Is the gap really that obvious?

Baimu recalled the combat power Boni's Pokémon had displayed earlier.

The gap in main battle Pokémon strength was an objective fact.

After all, the long-lived Dragon-type Pokémon at Shi Yuan Zhi's side had followed him for decades, possessing physiques tempered by years of accumulated training.

How many hits of Ice Beam they could take was hard to say, but it certainly wasn't like in the games where one shot meant down for the count.

Then again, the Ice type itself was quite peculiar.

When used as a coverage type to broaden offensive matchups, almost no other type could rival its advantages; but as a Pokémon's own typing, its sheer number of weaknesses — most of which belonged to top-tier offensive types — turned it into a debuff.

Looking back at Boni's battle with Hanabusa, the Abomasnow without Aurora Veil could only be reduced to a tool for setting up snow, unable to even use recovery moves.

If Walrein didn't have the Water type, plus its Thick Fat to cushion blows, it probably wouldn't have lasted long either.

Mega Froslass had sunk so low as to need Self-Destruct just to trade with Hanabusa.

The type advantage was there, yet the overall position was disadvantageous…

Baimu watched Boni quietly, looking forward to the rest of the match.

Not long after.

The referee announced the official start of the battle.

Boni and Shi Yuan Zhi each sent out their lead Pokémon.

On one side, a Froslass fluttering through the air like a ghost; on the other, the long, slender, emerald-green familiar Flygon — this guy was practically the workhorse of Shi Yuan Zhi's team.

You could always count on it being chosen to appear.

The two sides' opening commands were strikingly similar—

A clash of weather moves.

Hail and Sandstorm continuously crashed against each other, faintly showing a tendency to merge, then quickly scattering apart as if some mysterious force repelled them.

Before long, the two weather effects deadlocked near the center line of the field, neither able to suppress the other.

Clearly, neither trainer was satisfied with this.

So they gave orders in unison — Flygon cast Sand Tomb on the Sandstorm to intensify its power, while Froslass blew Icy Wind to shape the hail into a great snow vortex.

Two weather effects originally meant for residual damage instantly became aggressive.

This time.

The stalemate was broken.

Yet neither weather emerged victorious either — amid violent explosions, hail and Sandstorm both began to fade. The elemental energy the two Pokémon poured in couldn't make them coalesce into a true natural weather like a slow-forming Sand Tomb or hail.

They would only vanish before any reaction could occur.

Froslass timed it perfectly, opening the rare Ice-type god-tier move — Aurora Veil — just before the hail fully disappeared.

Then Boni chose to switch, while Shi Yuan Zhi kept the Sandstorm going.

The old champion's approach fit the saying perfectly — "It doesn't matter if a tactic is old, as long as it works."

One trick, and you eat well across the land.

Flygon's Sand Tomb did have its unique advantages — for instance, cutting Pokémon off from their trainers so they couldn't communicate normally.

Boni's second Pokémon: Walrein.

It seemed Aurora Veil had been prepared for it, but Baimu was curious how it would hit a Flygon that kept repositioning with Quick Attack afterward.

The mobility gap between the two sides was a bit large.

Sure enough.

The massive, terrifying Sand Tomb eventually built up, but its wind force was utterly insufficient against a heavyweight like Walrein, tipping the scales at a third of a ton.

Even if it charged straight into the sand, all the Sand Tomb could do was deal damage.

A hard-control effect like sweeping away a Cofagrigus was basically impossible.

Meanwhile, when Flygon used Quick Attack, Boni offered a rather ingenious answer—

【Mimic】.

The ponderous Walrein transformed into a streak of white light, chasing Flygon at an unreasonable speed, forcing the latter to fly high into the sky to evade.

"Roar!"

It looked up at its cowardly opponent and decided to let it experience the terrifying offensive power of the Ice type.

First, a fist-sized small ice ball.

Walrein condensed it into shape and, with a powerful swing of its tail, launched it skyward — the momentum it carried was enough to ignore the swirling Sand Tomb.

Flygon dodged swiftly, only to spot a basketball-sized second ice ball, and after that, a massive ice ball half the size of Walrein itself.

An Ice Ball — essentially a contact move — had been turned by Boni into something like a throwing technique.

This made Baimu, who had vaguely deduced Walrein's move from its shadow, think of Mi Ke Li and Adam, who had also raised Walrein.

A method passed down through the same lineage?

Hard to say.

The only thing certain was that Boni's Walrein was absurdly strong — an enormous ice ball at least three times Walrein's own volume was hoisted up by its nose, then struck by its tail to fly skyward at a parabolic angle.

What monstrous strength!

And that nose-hoisting motion — Baimu strongly suspected Walrein's snout had changed from a regular seal nose to a pig snout from being smashed by ice balls.

On the other hand.

Although the giant ice ball didn't fly all that high in the end, the countless shards of ice that burst out when it shattered midair successfully dispersed most of the Sand Tomb and gave Flygon a fair amount of trouble.

The spectators, finally getting a clear view of the situation on the field, all cried out in astonishment.

Queen Boni suppressed Shi Yuan Zhi?

As if it were that easy!

His signature move failed, so Vibrava swiftly changed tactics and began countering with Rock Slide, the massive boulders every bit the match of the ice spheres Walrein had just thrown out.

Not only that.

Stone Edge was likewise brought into Vibrava's repertoire; this hexagonal-stat monster finally shed its tactical disguise and, through sheer chain attacks, gave Walrein a fair amount of trouble.

Fortunately, with Aurora Veil shielding it and the heavily damage-reducing fat layer holding firm.

Walrein clawed back a round with its traditional rolling Ice Ball, the pure ice-attribute energy letting it smash through any flying rock or earth spike with ease.

Like an iron cue ball against biscuit obstacles and hollow plastic balls.

Of course.

Walrein wasn't purely on the defensive; while using Ice Ball it repeatedly charged Vibrava, but a ground unit trying to close in on a flying one in melee is terribly dependent on timing.

Several times in a row Vibrava flew off first, leaving Walrein lunging at empty air.

"No Haze?"

Baimu recalled that Vibrava's move pool seemed to include Haze, a move that could just so happen to dispel the Aurora Veil on Walrein's body.

With Haze, the two sides would never have stalled this long.

But very soon.

Vibrava's performance showed Baimu what it meant to fight just fine without Haze.

When repeated Rock-type offenses failed to land, it shifted styles again and began ranged energy output, unleashing Boomburst, Earth Power and Giga Drain in succession.

The effect was extremely pronounced.

Meanwhile, since Aurora Veil had a time limit and Sandstorm plus the earlier ice-rock exchange had eaten up too much time, once Vibrava began its ranged assault Aurora Veil was no longer holding up.

Queen Boni did have the idea of trading blows with Vibrava, but Walrein's speed ultimately became a drag.

After several rounds of offense.

Walrein was already showing signs of fatigue, its various counter moves nearly spent.

At the final moment Queen Boni chose to gamble on Sheer Cold.

Who would have thought Vibrava had long since flown far away; the freezing air of Sheer Cold didn't touch it in the slightest, at most leaving a few ice shards clinging to its wings.

Walrein went down.

Baimu, seeing this scene, couldn't help but realize, "Sandstorm and those two Rock-type moves were mainly to buy time?"

Shi Yuan Zhi couldn't have been unaware of what was most effective against Walrein; he simply chose Sandstorm, Rock Slide and Stone Edge—moves more likely to give Walrein openings—to make sure Aurora Veil would expire.

To ensure Queen Boni, chasing a chance to take down Vibrava, wouldn't find an opportunity to pull Walrein out.

Once Aurora Veil was gone.

Vibrava finally revealed its edge, an endless stream of moves leaving Queen Boni unable to trade, ultimately defeating this important strong foe, Walrein.

That's an open scheme!

Knowing his colleague's temperament, Shi Yuan Zhi was well aware that the cool-headed Queen Boni would surely take the bait, so he laid out a decoy.

Impressive!

The trainers' mental contest is clearly an important part of Pokémon battling as well.

Baimu silently commended him, and saw Queen Boni send out Froslass next.

Once again, the opening command was Hail.

This time Shi Yuan Zhi didn't follow; the amount of type energy is tied to energy level and external power, and cannot be gained through training.

Weather moves already drain energy heavily, and Vibrava had already stalemated Walrein for a long time—the remaining energy was surely running low.

Seeing Froslass vanish into the icy mist, appearing and disappearing like a ghost, Shi Yuan Zhi swiftly recalled Vibrava and sent out the levitating Kingdra.

The fourth ace, aside from Armaldo, Altaria and Vibrava!

Baimu watched Shi Yuan Zhi's Kingdra with keen interest; by conventional wisdom, the Swift Swim trait pairing with rain for brute-force output is Kingdra's traditional destiny.

But Shi Yuan Zhi was different.

His Kingdra had the Sniper ability, and its tactical style matched that trait—pursuing a one-hit critical knockout.

Froslass vanished through Snowscape?

Kingdra spewed out a great deal of black mist that mingled with the hail, and vanished itself.

A fine sniper certainly cannot let the opponent casually spot its position; and Froslass, having lost its target, quickly reappeared, preemptively using Aurora Veil to force Kingdra's hand.

Then it used Double Team to create countless afterimages weaving through the icy mist and black smoke.

The result: nothing.

The two Pokémon seemed to be playing hide-and-seek, each hiding from the other while trying to find the other's presence.

This rhythm continued until the black mist was scattered by the hail and the field gradually became clear.

But at this point.

The spectators were astonished to find that the field now held not just a swarm of Frolasses, but also a swarm of Kingdra—the two once again staged a clash of Double Team against Double Team.

Queen Boni couldn't hold back any longer.

Beneath her calm exterior burned an intensely hot passion, which kept her from truly facing every situation with the placidity of a block of ice.

Froslass was the first to use Blizzard.

Under the hail, multiple afterimages releasing a wide-area blizzard helped obscure the true body's position while wiping out many of the opponent's fakes—truly killing two birds with one stone.

Only Shi Yuan Zhi's insight was beyond what an ordinary trainer could match.

No matter how Baimu looked at it, the offense seemed seamless, yet Shi Yuan Zhi somehow pinpointed Blizzard's release point and had Kingdra fire off a Hydro Pump.

The azure water column pierced through the snowstorm, striking Froslass with pinpoint accuracy and sending it flying!

"Those eyes of his are way too sharp…"

He sighed endlessly; everyone said aging brought vision problems, but Shi Yuan Zhi showed no such signs—he effortlessly handled the elusive Snow Witch Queen.

The Stabbing Long Wang, having landed a hit, did not press the advantage, instead spewing another thick curtain of smoke to obscure vision.

Shoot and move?

You really are a sniper!

Baimu pondered how he himself would fight the Stabbing Long Wang, and found there was still a theoretical solution—he felt slightly reassured.

Inside the arena.

The Snow Witch Queen's aura visibly plummeted.

Did it hit a vital point?

As is well known, when an attack strikes a Pokémon's vital point, energy-based damage-reducing shields like Aurora Veil are pierced and rendered useless.

Choosing this one was problematic!

How can you send out a fragile Pokémon against a Hex Warrior? At least swap in something sturdy, like a Lapras.

He looked at Queen Boni, calmly directing the Snow Witch Queen's shadow clones, wondering what reason had led her to choose it.

The answer came quickly.

Countless shadow clones of the Snow Witch Queen, working in concert with the real one, unleashed another massive blizzard, while the Stabbing Long Wang hiding in the shadows fired another ambush water cannon.

But the water cannon pierced three fakes—and struck the final "Snow Witch Queen" dead on!

Substitute!

This move, compared to Protect, has the downside of draining HP, and unlike in the game, it doesn't guarantee blocking any attack regardless of power—its cost-to-benefit ratio is terrible.

Its occasional deceptive effect, however, is superior to Protect.

The real Snow Witch Queen spotted the Stabbing Long Wang's true form and glided forward like a ghost.

The Stabbing Long Wang fired another water cannon.

The Snow Witch Queen collapsed.

The Stabbing Long Wang collapsed.

Countless spectators stared in stunned silence at the strange black mist surging from the Snow Witch Queen, wrapping around the Stabbing Long Wang and dragging it down with her.

The battle between the Snow Witch Queen and the Stabbing Long Wang had always seemed eerie, mostly unfolding within fog; general spectators gathered far less information than battle experts like Baimu.

As a result, many spectators were utterly baffled by the outcome.

How did it come to this—mutual destruction?

"Another exchange…?"

Baimu felt he might have found why Queen Boni had never defeated Shi Yuan Zhi in public matches—how could an Ice King prefer "mutual annihilation" over a Ghost King?

At least with Fu Rong, the disruption specialist, Shi Yuan Zhi had never once considered a one-for-one tactic.

Inside the arena.

The familiar pair of ace Pokémon appeared.

Queen Boni and Shi Yuan Zhi simultaneously activated their Mega Evolutions; dazzling colored light thrilled spectators who had awaited this moment, while Baimu grew more curious about what Queen Boni would do next.

An exchange's prerequisite is having spare Pokémon left unplayed, trading away the opponent's key piece to secure victory—like the Lapras deployed against Hua Yue.

Yet now, besides Ice Guardian, she had no other Pokémon left—could she still risk an exchange?

No need to doubt.

Queen Boni was willing.

Or rather, Mega Flygon left her no choice.

As a holder of the same Skin-type ability, Mega Ice Guardian was one tier weaker than Mega Flygon, even though Ice type quadruply resisted Flying and Dragon.

Mega Flygon's flames burned fiercer than those of Mega Absol.

The cold current was instantly burned into hot wind.

Baimu, watching the sky ablaze with fire, realized the answer to his earlier doubt: why had he thought the flames' power excessive when he fought Mega Flygon before?

It had been deliberately trained—because of Mega Ice Guardian's influence!

He involuntarily turned his head toward Hua Yue.

During yesterday's review session, this one had said he deliberately enhanced the flame power of Mega Absol to one-shot Mega Ice Guardian.