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Everyone knew that Luther had once taught Hayata a harsh lesson because of Mai. Now, with Misaki immediately going for a full six-on-six lineup, it was hard not to read into the situation.
Luther glanced up at the commentator's booth, wondering if the commentator had been trained by Lucian.
Hyping the crowd while stirring up tension, why are you so good at this?!
"First move goes to Misaki. Trainers, prepare to release your Pokémon."
As the countdown ended, they both threw their Poké Balls at the same time.
"In the first round, Luther has sent out Kirlia, while Misaki's first Pokémon is Tyranitar!"
"At the main tournament stage, Luther has finally decided not to open with Marill, while Misaki continues her preliminary round strategy: when in doubt, use Tyranitar!"
Hakuya, who had arrived slightly late, had just entered the VIP seats when he saw Luther send out Kirlia.
"I remember Luther usually starting with Espurr or Jumpluff. Sending out Kirlia, does that mean he's giving up Espurr?" Bertha asked curiously.
"Maybe it's a new strategy from Luther," Hakuya said with a smile, raising his notebook.
Compared to the massive body of the Tyranitar, the Kirlia looked tiny, like it could be knocked out with a single hit.
But Misaki didn't choose that approach.
"Activate Ability - Sand Stream!"
Tyranitar swung its tail and raised its head. With a roar, fine grains of sand began to cover the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Kirlia quietly used Calm Mind.
Luther had anticipated that Tyranitar would try to seize control of the weather first, so he didn't interfere with the activation of Sand Stream.
His team wasn't as adept at competing for weather control as Tyranitar was. Wasting stamina on weather control would likely give Misaki an opportunity to defeat Kirlia and Tyranitar in one go.
As the sandstorm intensified, Misaki raised her Poké Ball towards Tyranitar.
"That's enough. Well done."
After triggering its Ability, Tyranitar was withdrawn immediately and without hesitation, and Dawn sent out her second Pokémon.
From her seat in the stands, Dawn took out her Pokédex.
"Cloyster, the Bivalve Pokémon. Once it shuts its shell, no amount of strength, even from a Machamp, can pry it open."
Looking at the smug face inside the shell, Luther froze for a moment.
She swapped Tyranitar for Cloyster, not a Pokémon that benefits from a sandstorm.
While its physical defense was terrifyingly high, without proper training, Cloyster's special defense would be paper-thin.
Following Luther's command, Kirlia used Thunderbolt directly on Cloyster within the sandstorm, while Misaki responded without hesitation, using Ice Beam.
The scene was like a sniper duel.
Cloyster took the boosted Thunderbolt from Calm Mind head-on. It was clearly effective, but far from crippling.
Kirlia was the same. Having used Calm Mind beforehand, it was confident enough to trade blows. Even after taking a hit, it struggled to breathe briefly before quickly recovering.
Seeing that neither Kirlia nor Cloyster was affected by the sandstorm, Luther realized which Ability Kirlia had copied.
"Immunity to sandstorms, hail, and powder moves... Overcoat?'
Luther understood now; this Cloyster was meant to shut down his Jumpluff. But was his Jumpluff really that threatening?
When the icy wind from Blizzard swept across the ground instead of blowing towards Kirlia, Hakuya suddenly stood up in shock.
He had never battled Misaki before, but the way she chained her actions together felt familiar.
"Not so fast! Kirlia, keep using Thunderbolt!"
The crackling arcs of electricity flashing through the air forced Misaki to abandon her plan of letting Blizzard engulf the entire battlefield. Instead, she turned to deal with Kirlia first.
Following Luther's instructions, Kirlia moved closer to Cloyster after a fierce clash between Ice Beam and Thunderbolt.
With half of the battlefield now covered in ice and snow, Luther finally understood Misaki's intentions.
She was seizing control of the battle's rhythm in her own aggressive way, just like Hakuya!
After giving up control of the weather, Luther threw herself into manipulating the battlefield itself. That was also the reason Tyranitar had been withdrawn.
At close range, Cloyster, now enveloped by Psychic, was already struggling. Although Misaki had boosted its special defense, Kirlia had stacked Calm Mind right from the start.
After forcing Kirlia back with Blizzard, Misaki glanced at Cloyster, whose body was trembling slightly, and made a decision.
Luther also noticed Cloyster's heavy stamina loss and decided to finish things off quickly.
"Close in once more. Use Psychic to throw Cloyster out, don't give it a chance to alter the field again."
Kirlia used its Psychic power to rapidly approach Cloyster. However, the Cloyster, which had seemed on the verge of collapse, suddenly revealed a sinister smile.
A large cluster of ice shards struck Kirlia in the face at lightning speed.
The attack was so fast and unexpected that even Luther couldn't see how Cloyster launched it.
Gritting its teeth after taking the hit, Kirlia angrily wrapped Cloyster in Psychic and lifted it into the air.
Having lost its balance, Cloyster was already being written off by the commentators. Yet Misaki snapped her fingers.
"Spikes!"
With its last bit of strength, Cloyster broke free of the Psychic restraint and invisible spikes sank into the ground.
Kirlia hurriedly hurled Cloyster away, fearing that it might have more tricks up its sleeve.
With a dull 'boom', the referee confirmed that Cloyster, caught in the sandstorm, had lost the ability to battle.
"So that's it? I was worried about Luther before the match, but it seems Misaki isn't that impressive after all."
Dawn and her Piplup sighed with relief and quickly started cheering for Luther.
Candice and Dakota, however, remained silent, their eyes fixed on Misaki.
Noticing their serious expressions, Mai asked quickly, "What's wrong?"
"The weather is draining a huge amount of stamina from Luther's lead Pokémon over half the battlefield, and now Spikes are guaranteeing that his next Pokémon will take damage while also forcing him to think about how to remove them."
After Candice finished speaking, Dakota continued:
"Cloyster has already overfulfilled its mission. Even though it's down, it's a net gain. It secured all the key early advantages Misaki needed."
"If Luther doesn't play exceptionally well next and regain the upper hand, Misaki will use the foundation that Cloyster set to control the entire battle."
Misaki's third Pokémon was Gastrodon, just as Luther had expected.
The ice-covered battlefield facilitated Gastrodon's movement, and, as a Water/Ground-type Pokémon, it likely had the Sand Force Ability, which boosts the power of Rock-, Steel-, and Ground-type moves under sandstorm conditions.
(End of Chapter)
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