"Ice Beam!"
This time, as if she had understood exactly what Lin Feng intended, Reika gave the same command.
Two crystal-clear beams of icy energy erupted from the Pokémon, carrying bone-chilling cold as they shot across the battlefield.
The attacks collided in midair.
Instantly, a towering wall of frost-covered ice rose from the frozen sea below, spreading outward where the two beams met.
The center of the ice wall visibly bulged toward Alolan Ninetales' side.
The result was obvious.
In this direct clash, Alolan Ninetales had come up slightly short.
When two Pokémon of the same type used the exact same move and collided head-on, it was often the best way to judge their mastery over that particular type of energy.
And from this exchange alone, Lin Feng immediately noticed something.
Alolan Ninetales' control over Ice-type energy was clearly inferior to Mr. Rime's.
That didn't surprise him.
After all, Mr. Rime had existed for over a decade and had experienced countless battles.
As for his own Alolan Ninetales...
The number of battles she had fought probably wasn't even one-tenth of her opponent's.
Yet something else caught his attention.
In terms of raw energy output, Alolan Ninetales was actually not far behind Mr. Rime at all.
Otherwise, the collision wouldn't merely have tilted toward her side.
She would have been completely overwhelmed.
The difference between their levels was nearly ten full levels.
Then a thought suddenly struck him.
"Wait... that's not right."
"Mr. Rime just finished a battle, and it's probably still suffering from the enormous energy consumption caused by copying Blaziken's Ability."
"That has to be it."
Meanwhile, Reika's eyes grew brighter as she watched the exchange.
This Alolan Ninetales had been born less than half a year ago.
Like Blaziken, her battle experience was limited.
"How strange..."
The sight only deepened Reika's curiosity.
Even renowned Pokémon breeders in Kanto could never raise Pokémon to this level without actual combat experience.
Having identified the gap between them, Lin Feng wasted no time.
"Alolan Ninetales!"
"Blizzard!"
Although Ice-type moves were resisted by Ice-types, Ice attacks remained Ninetales' greatest strength.
She wasn't particularly skilled with Psychic or Fairy-type techniques.
But Blizzard...
That was her specialty.
And more importantly, it had received the blessing of the Ice God.
After switching to Alolan Ninetales, Lin Feng no longer worried about Trick Room or other battlefield manipulations.
Ninetales gently stamped the ice beneath her paws.
The clear sky above vanished at astonishing speed as dense black clouds gathered overhead.
Howling winds erupted.
Snow began to fall.
Then the snowfall intensified into a raging blizzard.
The sudden weather change caused Liam, who was livestreaming from the air, to twitch visibly.
He immediately ordered Aegislash to retreat farther away.
At the same time, he couldn't stop himself from complaining internally.
Just seconds ago, the sky had been clear and blazing hot.
The sun had been beating down so fiercely that sweat poured from his body.
And now?
A full-scale blizzard.
The temperature had plummeted so dramatically that he felt like he'd been thrown into a freezer.
Yet once he moved farther away, a new problem appeared.
No matter how good his phone's resolution was, it couldn't cut through the swirling snowstorm.
The screen showed little more than a gray blur.
The livestream audience immediately exploded with complaints.
"Old Li, don't do this! Hold your position! If you fly that far away, how are we supposed to see anything?!"
"Damn it, fly closer! This is Alolan Ninetales' highlight moment!"
"Buy a Rotom Phone already! Stop using that old thing! You're a famous commentator now!"
Comment after comment flooded the screen.
Liam's internal complaints instantly transformed into outright frustration.
Fly closer?
Were they serious?!
The last time Serperior used Leaf Storm during the Horizon League, he had nearly been blown out of the sky.
And now this Blizzard...
Even from this distance, the temperature had already fallen below freezing.
He sighed helplessly.
"It's not that I don't want to get closer."
"The problem is that the wind and snow up there are insane. It's already below zero where I am."
"If I go any farther, I might actually freeze to death."
Before he could finish speaking, his screen exploded with gift animations once again.
One helicopter after another appeared.
The sheer number made his eyes spin.
"...I see."
"The gifts still aren't enough."
"Keep them coming, brothers!"
A comment immediately appeared.
"Old Li, if you fly closer right now, I'll send ten helicopters!"
Liam took a deep breath and looked down at Aegislash beneath him.
"I think..."
"We can still try, right?"
"Aegi..."
"Alright, Aegislash."
"King's Shield."
"Aegis..."
"What a massive Blizzard..."
Reika stared at the storm unfolding before her.
Snow poured down relentlessly.
Layer after layer accumulated across the frozen battlefield.
Unlike Ice Beam, Blizzard wasn't a single attack.
It was a continuous area-of-effect assault.
As long as the storm persisted, the freezing winds and endless snowfall would continuously damage the opposing Pokémon.
The previous Sunny Day had already shocked Reika.
Yet this Blizzard was no less impressive.
In fact, it shocked her even more.
She wasn't particularly familiar with high-level Sunny Day users.
But Blizzard?
She owned Pokémon capable of using the move herself.
And the storm before her had already reached a level comparable to her own strongest Blizzard users.
Perhaps even stronger.
"Mr. Rime?"
As snow swirled through the battlefield, Mr. Rime quickly discovered another problem.
The ice.
The once-smooth frozen surface had become buried beneath thick layers of snow.
Mr. Rime's elegant footwork depended entirely on its ice-blue feet.
That was how it glided effortlessly across frozen terrain.
But now the snow covered everything.
Its mobility had been significantly reduced.
Meanwhile, Alolan Ninetales had completely vanished into the blizzard.
Within this sea of white, her snow-white fur served as perfect camouflage.
She had become invisible.
"Don't panic, Mr. Rime."
"Use Psychic Terrain and locate her position."
Reika remained calm.
The floating ice field had been created by Mr. Rime itself.
If Psychic Terrain covered the battlefield, any significant pressure change on the ice could be detected through psychic perception.
Mr. Rime clearly thought the same.
Pink psychic energy spread outward, blanketing the frozen battlefield.
But the moment the terrain fully expanded...
Mr. Rime's expression froze.
Something was wrong.
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