Caitlin's father gave Ryosuke reassurance, but after returning to his representative area, Ryosuke still felt that something was off…
The Elite Four student challenge officially began with the host's announcement.
Aya sent out an Ekans, facing Bertha's student, a Hippowdon.
Kenny's Sunflora faced Flint's Monferno.
Karen still sent out her Houndoom, and Volkner's Luxray did not lose in momentum at all!
Tetsuya threw out Piloswine's Poké Ball, and Piloswine appeared on the field, shaking its body.
A Poké Ball floated out from Caitlin's arms, and a flash of white light passed. A Kirlia appeared. Caitlin and Kirlia bowed slightly toward the spectators at the same time, immediately drawing continuous exclamations from the audience. Many spectators had even come all the way from Sinnoh to support Caitlin, showing just how high Caitlin's popularity was.
Tetsuya gazed coldly, trying to see what kind of strength Caitlin currently possessed…
---◓---
The other three matches had already begun, but only the battlefield between Tetsuya and Caitlin still showed no major movement.
The temperature had already dropped more and more as Piloswine shook its body. Hail mixed with Powder Snow drifted down from the sky, quickly covering the entire field.
Caitlin did not take such Hail seriously at all!
A faint red glow had already appeared on Kirlia's body. When the Hail approached, it was all deflected.
This kind of phenomenon was something he had already anticipated. Even his Haunter using psychic forces could resist Hail for a while, not to mention Caitlin's "Psychic-type" Pokémon. As long as the psychic power was strong enough, it could completely form a barrier to protect itself.
"Piloswine, Icicle Spear."
Tetsuya could not gauge Caitlin's strength at the moment and could only proceed with probing.
Piloswine began to run, and immediately after, Icicle Spear shot out, all fired from different directions.
Tetsuya kept staring at Kirlia within the Hail and at the girl Caitlin in front of him whose face was as cold as Ice-types…
A full five Icicle Spear attacks all stopped just as they were about to reach Kirlia. Time seemed to pause for a second, and the Icicle Spear returned along their original paths, directly targeting Piloswine.
Using the opponent's method against them!
Being able to use Confusion to such a degree already meant reaching a very high level. Caitlin indeed made no sound at all. She had been using telepathy through psychic powers to communicate with Kirlia the entire time. In this way, Tetsuya could not perceive Kirlia's next attack pattern at all. While attacking, he also had to constantly guard against Kirlia's sudden strikes.
As an icicle fell, all the Icicle Spear attacks were blocked. This was also a method Tetsuya often used.
"Piloswine, keep running!"
Tetsuya still did not know where to start, but he could not pause for even a moment. Once a Psychic-type Pokémon locked him with its psychic power, it would be troublesome.
Relying on Piloswine's movement, the Snow Cloak Ability activated. Perhaps it could still disrupt Kirlia and then wait for an opportunity to attack…
Within the Hail, Piloswine's figure gradually became blurred. Kirlia looked left and right, and this idea of his had clearly taken effect.
However, as Caitlin's eyes emitted a faint blue light, Kirlia calmed down once again, extending both hands forward and began to lock Piloswine's position.
"Powder Snow, Icy Wind!"
Seeing this expression, Tetsuya naturally understood Kirlia's intention. If he still foolishly kept running and let Kirlia lock him now, then all his years of experience would have been for nothing.
Powder Snow and Icy Wind howled out, and the temperature dropped once again. Such moves were different from Icicle Spear. With this kind of long-range move, although the power might not necessarily be stronger than Icicle Spear, if one wanted to lock it with psychic abilities, it required even stronger psychic power, because the power had to spread over a larger area.
Kirlia had just managed to pinpoint Piloswine's position, but Tetsuya immediately had Piloswine launch an attack.
Kirlia had originally been preparing to attack, but instead Piloswine seized the initiative. This sudden reversal naturally caused some panic.
Caitlin's eyes became even bluer. It was obvious that she had not expected this battle to be so "difficult". She could only strengthen her psychic powers to cover the entire field, even providing a certain boost to Kirlia's capabilities.
A human using psychic powers to enhance a Psychic-types capabilities… although it compromised the fairness of the battle, had never been prohibited by the League. After all, such "geniuses" were extremely rare, and psychic power was something they had trained themselves. There was nothing inappropriate about applying it in battle.
Unconvinced…?
Jealous…?
That was only because you did not have such ability!
To put it bluntly, Mega Evolution that had gradually been developed more than ten years later also required the power of Mega Stones, and Z-Moves also required the power of the Z-Ring. Were these not also relying on "external" forces?
Many people were stuck in old ways, unable to adapt, and even resisted these emerging things. In the end, they would be eliminated!
Icy Wind was about to engulf Kirlia when the blue light in Caitlin's eyes suddenly burst forth, and Kirlia disappeared from the field.
'Teleport!'
Tetsuya quickly realized it. This kind of move was truly elusive. Disappearing into a dimensional space out of thin air, no sense of smell or perception could detect it, unless one had powerful psychic capacities. Clearly, Piloswine did not have that.
Right now, all Piloswine could do was constantly pay attention to the movements around it. This was also the most commonly used method, because the moment Kirlia emerged from the dimensional space, there would be movement. Only by calming down and sensing that instant could it respond to the next attack.
However, under Caitlin's psychic… "enhancement", Kirlia's psychic capacities and power had already exceeded Tetsuya's expectations. The moment Kirlia appeared, it used Psychic.
The powerful telekinetic force instantly invaded Piloswine's brain!
This kind of attack was the most lethal. Piloswine immediately felt splitting headaches and began to rampage on the field, running wildly all over the battlefield.
What a cheat!
Tetsuya gritted his teeth. If not for Caitlin's powers, how could he be so passive. Fortunately, he knew that only Caitlin and Sabrina had such ability. If more people possessed such psychic powers, the structure of this world would probably change.
Amid the intense pain, the cold energy within Piloswine was also being released in large quantities. Gradually, the Hail falling across the field began to turn into chunks of ice. Snowstorms raged, and Tetsuya and Caitlin could no longer see each other. The ground was already covered with snow and ice.
The use of Psychic required concentration. With such ice chunks striking Kirlia, along with the extreme cold, Kirlia soon could not endure it. Its Psychic was forced to stop, and it had no choice but to once again use psychic forces to resist the cold and the falling ice.
The opportunity had come!