Chapter 289

Originally, he only intended to let Salamence use Intimidate to disrupt Lance's Dragonite, then see if he could first knock off the multiple scales it used for defense.

He never expected his trump card to be taken out in a single hit, leaving the situation extremely unfavorable for his side.

However...

Fortunately, he had prepared a backup plan.

Drake quickly shook his head and took another Poké Ball from his pocket.

"Go, Clefable!"

A bipedal Pokémon with a pink, soft-looking body and three pairs of wings on its back appeared on the field.

The Fairy Pokémon, Clefable.

Xiang Qingyu was, of course, very familiar with this one.

In fact, it was one of the Pokémon that shared the title of "Pink Devil" with Chansey.

As everyone knows, pink is the color exclusive to tough guys; without real strength, one simply cannot pull off this flashy color scheme.

And Clefable, this little pink fairy suspected to have descended to this world from outer space on a meteorite, certainly should not be underestimated.

Possessing the noble Fairy type that surpasses the Dragon type, Clefable, as the boss of Mt. Moon, can both attack and defend, holding absolute dominance over Dragon-type Pokémon.

This was also a factor Drake considered when choosing to temporarily include it in his lineup.

Even after using Dragon Dance to boost its stats, Dragonite's attacks still couldn't pose any threat to it.

"Is that a Clefable with the Unaware ability?"

In the spectator stands not far away, Xiang Qingyu looked at this Clefable staring wide-eyed at Dragonite, and he quickly realized the truth.

Clefable has a Hidden Ability called Unaware, which allows it to ignore the opponent's stat changes, whether for offense or defense; it is an excellent defensive ability.

In front of it, the effect of Dragon Dance was nothing more than a boost to speed.

In any case, Clefable couldn't possibly be faster than Dragonite, so that point didn't really matter.

"However..."

Xiang Qingyu's eyes suddenly carried a hint of playfulness as he looked down at the determined-looking Elite Four member, Drake.

"With the moves Dragonite can learn, bringing out Clefable might not necessarily be a good thing..."

As of now, Lance's Dragonite had already revealed Encore, Dragon Dance, and Ice Punch, with room for one more move.

So, there was a high probability that it would be—

"Iron Head!" ×2

Xiang Qingyu and Lance below spoke at the same time.

【It happened again, it's Teacher Yu's cheat-like battle prediction ability!】

【Teacher Yu used Mimic!】

【Isn't it the Synchronize ability?】

Regarding this incredibly accurate predictive command from Xiang Qingyu, the audience had long since grown accustomed to it over these past few days.

Moreover, he didn't keep it a secret; the secrets to training one's predictive ability had all been mentioned in his livestreams.

In his own words, as long as you can memorize the Pokedex and play a few thousand ranked matches, you can pretty much reach an entry-level standard.

Yeah, that sounds really easy to do!

The audience's reaction was lukewarm, but on the other side, Clair, who was watching the match, was not so calm.

After glancing at Xiang Qingyu with a surprised look, a stormy sea of shock suddenly surged in her heart.

Even though her cousin was using a command strategy he had never shown before—one that completely broke convention—it seemed like all of Lance's commands were within his expectations.

He was even reacting faster than the Hoenn Elite Four member Drake, who was standing opposite Lance!

In other words—

Besides having decent tactical creativity, was his command ability almost on par with her cousin's?

No, it was more than that.

Although she really didn't want to admit it, but...

Lance's tactical changes today were indeed closely related to Xiang Qingyu, and to a certain extent, could even be said to have been learned from him.

Who exactly is this young Paldean Gym Leader?

On the other side, Dragonite, which had flown toward Clefable with thunderous momentum and launched a fierce assault, quickly hit its opponent.

A single Headbutt instantly sent Clefable flying, leaving it dazed and confused.

Although it struggled to get up, it was clear that it had taken a significant impact from the previous assault.

There is no absolutely perfect type in the Pokémon world.

Just as powerful Dragon-type Pokémon have no way to deal with the Fairy type, the Fairy type also has its own weaknesses.

Poison and Steel.

Although both of these types lean toward defense, they still have offensive means, and Dragonite just happens to be able to learn the quite powerful Iron Head.

Its speed is already exaggerated on its own, and with the boost from Dragon Dance, the speed of Iron Head is comparable to the Quick Attack move, and its lethality is even more astonishing.

Even though Clefable used Soft-Boiled in time, it was still taken out by the second Iron Head that followed.

With this, the situation completely collapsed.

"Lance is going to win 3-0."

Xiang Qingyu shook his head, silently declaring the end of this battle in advance, while standing up to prepare to applaud and cheer for the winner.

His judgment naturally had its basis.

Because the last Pokémon in Drake's hand had already been revealed at the start—

Flygon, which has a four-times weakness to Ice, had no chance of putting up a fight against Dragonite's Ice Punch assault.

The situation was just as he said; the last Flygon to enter the field did nothing. As soon as it came out, it saw a silly Dragonite that had already taken out two teammates and possessed terrifying momentum, smiling as it delivered an Ice Punch to its face.

And then, there was no then.

The score was a dismal 3-0; Lance crushed Drake, who was also an Elite Four member with extremely strong power, with the posture of a king.

This exciting and thrilling battle also sparked heated discussions among the audience.

【Good guy, as expected of Kanto's final face, the Dodo bird's strength is undeniable!】

【A single Dragonite swept all three; there are indeed gaps in strength even among Elite Four members...】

【To be honest, I really saw a bit of Teacher Yu's shadow in that Encore move, hahahaha!】

【However, none of Dragonite's four moves today were Dragon-type, and it didn't even use Flying-type moves; Dodo bird, you've changed!】

【That's a forced criticism; Dragon Dance is indeed a Dragon-type move...】

【For the sake of victory, I can even abandon my old partner (referring to the Flying type)!】

Even Clair, who was sitting next to Caitlin, looked somewhat moved.

She had been soundly defeated in the quarterfinals, ending her journey in this Dragon-type Masters Tournament.

Yet Lance was able to easily sweep through and advance to the finals.

Besides the gap in the strength of their Pokémon, a more important factor was...

Lance's tactical design was far better than his opponent's, accurately predicting the possible thoughts of Elite Four member Drake.

That was why he could end the battle without any effort, just like Champion Zhulan in the previous match.

"..."

Clair couldn't help but start reflecting: should she also learn from her cousin and expand her own battle thinking?

Her gaze inadvertently glanced at Xiang Qingyu on the other side.

If she could learn the thinking of this Gym Leader Xiang Qingyu, just like that guy...

She should also be able to become stronger, right?

Let's post a chapter first, I'm stuck-. -