Chapter 626: You Are Not Allowed to Play Pokémon! Chapter 311

This is his signature small habit, meaning he is about to get serious.

"But Rotom-Wash is very afraid of Roserade. It won't be one-shot, but if its HP is pressured down, the subsequent Sandstorm team deployment will be very troublesome."

"So, I can't be too eager to show my hand at the start; it's best to test the waters first."

"The safest choice... send out Skarmory to block for a bit."

After about half a minute, Xiang Qingyu's eyes gradually became firm.

He quickly locked in his lead—

Skarmory!

After listening to Xiang Qingyu's entire muttering, the viewers in the comments were stunned.

"??? My goodness, is Teacher Yu some kind of super-brain? He just babbled a bunch of stuff, and I didn't understand a word..."

"I know this one: first do this, then do that, and finally, Skarmory activates!"

"Is Teacher Yu's prediction ability getting more and more outrageous? Before, he just estimated who the opponent's lead Pokémon was to counter it. Now, before the game even starts, he has listed all the opponent's possibilities and immediately made countless counter-plans? Is this something a normal person can do!"

"Is it possible that Teacher Yu is usually just doing it for the show, and today he brought out his real skills because he ran into Zhulan?"

"I already said Teacher Yu is actually a Psychic user, specializing in Future Sight!"

"It's usually fine, but today's 1000% serious Teacher Yu is truly outrageous. He hasn't even entered the game yet and has already thought through how the start will develop. It's just outrageous..."

Last Sunday, Xiang Qingyu was still continuing his previous line of thought, explaining to them the principles of team rotation and the basic common sense of team building.

As a result, today he came up and gave them a good lesson in intensity...

Xiang Qingyu didn't have the energy to pay attention to the comments' complaints.

As he confirmed his lead, both sides were quickly ready, and the game screen in front of the screen quickly arrived at the Battle Castle.

Xiang Qingyu, wearing a red cloak with confident steps, faced Zhulan, who was walking towards him with a heroic bearing.

The scene of the two on the same screen made many viewers call it a "domestic violence match."

"Does Teacher Yu dare to win today? I remember there's always a rumor that he's actually a Shenao son-in-law and will return to Shenao to eat soft rice sooner or later?"

"Very likely. When Teacher Yu first started streaming, Zhulan appeared, and everyone has seen their relationship since... Wait, could it be that our Paldea treasure boy is going to be snatched away by the cabbage???"

"Whether he can win is one thing, but do you guys think this is a coincidence? Why do I always feel that Champion Zhulan is here specifically to snipe Teacher Yu..."

"Not a coincidence, it's an open conspiracy!"

After both sides stood firm on the field, with a burst of intense drumbeats, both sides threw out a Poké Ball at the same time.

The battle was on the verge of breaking out.

Red light flashed on both sides of the field. Xiang Qingyu's Skarmory, full of metallic luster with wings whipping up gusts of wind, took the lead.

And on Zhulan's side, just as Xiang Qingyu had predicted, it was the Lucario he was very familiar with.

Very conventional, but Xiang Qingyu had no good way to deal with it.

Excluding Excadrill, which needs weather to start, his Sandstorm team is generally slower.

Therefore, only Garchomp, which can hit Earthquake and also outspeeds Lucario, is relatively effective against it.

But Garchomp's weakness is too obvious and can be perfectly locked down by Togekiss, so it's impossible for him to lead with Garchomp to catch the matchup.

Skarmory has few weaknesses, and even if it's 2x effective, it's generally not fatal to it.

At least Lucario definitely can't do anything to it.

Under normal circumstances, when there is no threat from the opponent, Xiang Qingyu should immediately seize the opportunity to set up some hazards.

However...

"Lucario, Aura Sphere!"

"Skarmory, Body Press."

Just as Xiang Qingyu expected, Zhulan chose to attack head-on immediately at the start.

This matches the playstyle in his impression.

Regarding Zhulan's tactical style, Xiang Qingyu had already gained some understanding after watching the normal Dragon-type Master Tournament.

Replacing defense with extremely fierce attacks, the tight rhythm often leaves opponents unable to catch their breath. It is a very spectacular aggressive strategy.

He didn't have a speed advantage, so he could only try his best to defend and slowly look for opportunities to counterattack.

Choosing to set up hazards at this time is certainly fine, but facing a Lucario that is unlikely to rotate out first, Xiang Qingyu must apply appropriate pressure.

Therefore, he followed up immediately after Zhulan gave her command, making a counter-attack command.

Skarmory's Special Defense is indeed a shortcoming, but it's still a bit difficult for Lucario's power to one-shot it.

Instead, this Body Press, which has terrifying power and is also 2x effective against Lucario, is something Zhulan needs to weigh carefully whether she can take head-on.

After all, Lucario has almost no recovery means.

Even without Iron Defense reinforcement, with Skarmory's defensive ability, even if this Body Press can't one-shot the opponent, it can at least easily cause heavy damage.

Xiang Qingyu quickly smiled.

After both sides gave their commands, Lucario, who was faster, launched the attack first. After a brief charge, an Aura Sphere formed by pure energy locked onto the target and quickly attacked the aggressive Skarmory, blowing off many steel feathers.

Xiang Qingyu glanced at it, and then alarm bells rang in his heart, and his smile froze—

This damage, something is wrong!

His Skarmory is a very balanced shield configuration.

Under normal circumstances, the power of this Aura Sphere should at most just exceed half.

However, Skarmory's HP bar evaporated by about 2/3 after taking the attack, which was significantly higher than his expectations.

Judging from the damage, the item it is carrying is most likely Life Orb or Black Belt.

Although it is still two attacks to take away all its HP, the significance in actual combat is completely different...

The reason is simple: the item Xiang Qingyu gave this Skarmory is Sitrus Berry.

In the game, Sitrus Berry will automatically be used when the Pokémon's HP is over half, restoring 1/4 of its HP.

Therefore, half damage and 2/3 damage are actually the different results of holding on for two hits versus three hits; it's a world of difference.

Realizing something was wrong, Xiang Qingyu subconsciously glanced at the Lucario on the opposite side.

After one move, its HP had no loss.

Therefore, the possibility of carrying a Life Orb can be completely ruled out.

If it were a Life Orb, that would be fine; while lowering its own HP, it also means Skarmory's Body Press is more likely to kill in one hit.

But unfortunately, Lucario's item can basically be determined to be a Black Belt.

Thinking of this, Xiang Qingyu felt relieved instead.

The only thing to be thankful for is... if he had chosen to let Skarmory set up hazards at the start, he would definitely have lost big time now.

At least now there is still a chance to trade damage for damage, or even trade damage for a life.

And Skarmory, which Xiang Qingyu had high hopes for, accelerated forward after being attacked by Lucario, quickly using its body as a weapon, diving down from high altitude and pouncing on Lucario.

Xiang Qingyu took a deep breath and waited silently for the good news it would bring.

Type effectiveness plus Skarmory's maxed-out defense Body Press, the power should be enough to take away a Lucario that hasn't invested in durability.

Trading Skarmory's HP for a Pokémon, he should still be making a profit.

As long as he can seize the matchup opportunity and use Roost to recover, Skarmory can be revived at full health again.

Xiang Qingyu's idea was beautiful, but reality had a small problem...

After Skarmory's offensive ended, Lucario's HP did indeed drop from full to a very dangerous value in one go, just as he thought.

However, just as its HP was about to hit bottom, this explosive momentum stopped abruptly.

Estimating from the HP bar, Lucario should have about 10% of its HP left.

A very subtle range.

Seeing this, Xiang Qingyu subconsciously frowned.

This power isn't right, is it?

Even if he was unlucky and hit the minimum damage of Body Press, it shouldn't be this low.

Wait, could it be...

Zhulan's Lucario didn't consider speed at all from the beginning, but maxed out Special Attack and HP?

After Xiang Qingyu calculated for a second in his heart, he got a definite answer:

It really is!

Although this medium-speed dual-attacker Lucario is indeed a bit awkward, and even if speed is maxed out, it might not be faster than others, but generally, people would struggle a bit.

Didn't expect Zhulan to give up on this point directly and transfer the speed that wasn't needed to durability...

And what's even more outrageous is that she actually guessed it right!

Xiang Qingyu couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

"Is it this intense from the start? Didn't we agree to test the waters first? Why did Teacher Yu and Zhulan just explode?"

"If he had set up hazards just now, he would have really lost. Skarmory would have lost HP for nothing, while Lucario just needs to continue standing on the field to ignore the risk and continue attacking fiercely."

"Seeing the smile on Teacher Yu's face disappear, I'm relieved. It seems he's really going to be hit hard this time!"

"So Teacher Yu, you have today too?"

As Skarmory's offensive ended, it returned to its half of the field, shook its body, took out a Sitrus Berry from nowhere, and swallowed it without thinking.

The energy of the Sitrus Berry quickly converted into its HP, causing Skarmory's HP to rise rapidly, returning to a relatively healthy level.

But Xiang Qingyu knew very clearly—

Skarmory doesn't have the ability to withstand Lucario's second Aura Sphere, nor can it take the lead to harvest its remaining HP.

So, it must be switched out!

"Come back, Skarmory."

Xiang Qingyu made the command without thinking.

Honestly, his lineup is indeed a bit arrogant.

For a Sandstorm team, the most fatal Fighting type has no particularly good defensive pivot in his team, only Skarmory can shoulder the heavy responsibility.

But in fact, because he didn't expect the opponent to be Zhulan, and her main force was a Lucario focused on Special Attack, Skarmory's excellent physical defense didn't come into play at all, so the effect was just so-so.

And after Skarmory was forced to retreat, there weren't many choices that could stop Lucario.

But there happened to be such a Pokémon that could threaten it—

"Go, Scizor!"

"Lucario, use Aura Sphere again!"

Xiang Qingyu decisively sent Scizor onto the field.

As a Bug+Steel type, its durability is not bad, and it only has one fatal weakness, Fire, which happens to be Lucario's blind spot.

Therefore, even if Zhulan took advantage of his rotation timing to command Lucario to use Aura Sphere again, Xiang Qingyu was still calm.

Like Skarmory, Scizor has recovery means.

Before evolving, as a Scyther, it could master the recovery technique Roost, and because the Flying type was optimized away, there were no side effects.

Even if it took a hit, it could quickly recover its health.

And its Bullet Punch, boosted by the Technician ability, is too easy to use to harvest such low-HP Lucario.

Therefore, it seems he lost a lot just now and was forced to switch out Skarmory.

But in fact, whether it's Skarmory or Scizor, the lost HP can be replenished through Roost.

Instead, Lucario, whose HP line has been pulled infinitely low, is a bit dangerous.

As Scizor entered the field, the opponent's Lucario quickly charged up Aura Sphere again, easily causing nearly half of Scizor's HP in damage.

Seeing this, Xiang Qingyu couldn't help but smile.