Xia Huanao listened to the old men mumbling instructions and clicked his tongue. "Tsk, who can understand this stuff? Let alone us, even Arceus wouldn't understand it."
Arceus, hearing the muddled sounds and not understanding, continued to confront Xia Huanao and the others. Relying on its many learned skills, it unleashed a barrage of attacks on Xia Huanao's Pokémon, disregarding type matchups as Arceus had ample energy.
Fortunately, Xia Huanao's side had more people and plenty of supplies, making it possible to maintain their position. The two sides continued to face off, and Xia Huanao clicked his tongue again. "If only I had mind-reading, I could just know how to control Arceus directly from their minds, instead of this whole mess."
As he was speaking, he saw Arceus glow all over, its head tilted as it gathered a new skill. Xia Huanao and the others quickly prepared to defend. However, several minutes passed, and Arceus still hadn't launched its skill, only continuing to charge. Xia Huanao mentally asked the system, "System, what's going on?"
The system scanned Arceus a few times and then said, "Arceus is gathering Plates."
Xia Huanao countered, "What do you mean by gathering Plates? Does Arceus have something I don't know about?"
"Have you heard of the Legend Plate?"
Xia Huanao shook his head. "Legend Plate? What's that? Is it a Plate that can change Arceus to a Normal-type? Isn't that already in the sequence of the eighteen Plates? What's there to talk about?"
The system explained, "No, that's the Clear Plate. I'm talking about the Legend Plate. They are two different things, you can't confuse them."
"Alright, alright, we'll talk about this later. Tell me, what does this Legend Plate do first?"
Seeing the growing power of the skill Arceus was gathering, Xia Huanao grew anxious. The system sensed Xia Huanao's mood and quickly explained, "Adaptive type. This Plate allows Arceus to change its type according to the situation."
Xia Huanao heard this and said, "That doesn't seem to change anything. Arceus can already change its type at will."
The system pondered, "I also feel something is off, but Arceus must have a reason for doing this. It can't be just because eighteen Plates are heavier than one Plate. Could it be that..."
The system and Xia Huanao simultaneously thought of a rather far-fetched guess: could it be that Judgment also adapts its type! Then there would be no point in fighting. They had planned to use Shedinja to exploit a type advantage, but now, if Arceus launched Judgment and it appeared to be Normal-type, but then suddenly became Fire-type upon hitting, it would instantly knock out Shedinja. What could they do?
Seeing that Arceus had finished gathering the Legend Plate, Xia Huanao began to consider if he could create an adaptive-type skill to counter Arceus's Judgment.
If it was about multiple types, Xia Huanao did have that. A'Kong's ability was similar to Arceus's, allowing him to change his skills. However, when compared to Arceus, it was a bit inferior. He couldn't possibly have A'Kong go all out changing his types to resist Arceus's attacks.
Setting aside whether A'Kong's type-changing speed was as fast as Arceus's, even if A'Kong could keep up with Arceus's adaptive Judgment, his AR system wouldn't be able to handle it. So, they had to think of other solutions.
If, for example, there was a Mew here, it could transform and attack. Even if Mew's combat power was slightly lower than Arceus's, it was still stronger than them. Even without Mew, if there was a strong Ditto, it could barely cope with Arceus.
As he was thinking, Xia Huanao suddenly remembered that during last year's college entrance examination, Meng Liuying had a fairly strong Ditto.
"Sister Ying, where's your Ditto?"
Meng Liuying pulled a Poké Ball from her waist. "Ditto, transform into what? Arceus?"
"Yes, quickly!"
Meng Liuying released Ditto. "Ditto, transform..."
Before she could finish, it was as if Ditto had received some kind of shock, and the entire Pokémon became agitated. Although it did transform, what it became did not look like Arceus at all, but rather like one of the test subjects they had dealt with before.
Xia Huanao sighed, "Never mind, let's recall it. It seems too difficult for it to transform into Arceus."
If the problem couldn't be solved through Pokémon, then they had to find a breakthrough through skills. Just like Judgment and multi-type attacks, there were other moves that could have different types. For example, Tri Attack, which possessed...
No, wait. Tri Attack was a Normal-type move, but it could produce three different effects. In that case, only Hidden Power could be considered a multi-type move.
However, Hidden Power had a problem: its type was related to the Pokémon's IVs, so it would only have one type when used. Even if you had a bizarre ability to change IVs, it would be useless the moment it was launched.
Xia Huanao continued to rack his brain. The scene fell into a considerable silence. Finally, Xia Huanao found a way, just as Mr. Lu Xun said, "There are no roads in this world, but when many people walk, a road is made." Similarly, if such a skill didn't exist in this world, then they could find a way to create one.
Xia Huanao pondered. The skill with the most types he had encountered so far was the Frogadier's Shuriken series, which could encompass all four of Frogadier's skills. Since Frogadier could create four-type skills, they could continue to add more skills.
Xia Huanao took out his tablet and quickly edited, muttering as he typed, "Frogadier's types are Ice, Water, Dark, and Normal. There are fourteen types left. Flying and Dragon types are with Altaria, Grass and Fighting types are with Breloom, Rock and Fairy types are with Diancie, Bug and Ghost types are with Shedinja..."
After a series of arrangements, Xia Huanao frowned. There weren't enough types. In the end, Ground and Electric types were still missing. Although A'Kong's multi-type attack could cover one type, they were still one short.
After scratching his head for a long time, Xia Huanao looked back at Meng Liuying. "Sister Ying, can Ditto come out again?"
Meng Liuying nodded. "Although its condition isn't quite right, it should be fine."
Xia Huanao nodded. "In that case, let's give it a shot. Everyone, listen to me."
After briefly explaining his idea to everyone, Xia Huanao closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, he had merged with Frogadier.
"Frogadier, Water Shuriken!"
After replenishment, the energy that had been completely depleted by the Reverse Flow Torrent and Rainbow Light was fully restored. Hearing Xia Huanao's command, Frogadier removed the Shuriken cloak from its head and spun it casually in its hand.
According to Xia Huanao's calculations, although Water Shuriken could have multiple types, one Water Shuriken could not contain eighteen types. However, if eighteen Shurikens were used to carry eighteen types, then it could be attempted.
Xia Huanao and Frogadier spun the Water Shurikens in their hands, stacking the number of Shurikens upwards. After stacking eighteen Water Shurikens, the Water Shurikens in Frogadier's hands had grown to a considerable size.
Xia Huanao extended his hands and spun the Shurikens in the manner of a Tai Chi diagram, then shouted, "Now!"
Upon hearing Xia Huanao's command, everyone had their Pokémon launch attacks towards the Water Shuriken above Frogadier.
"Ditto, transform into Silvally and use Ground-type Multi-Attack!"
"Serperior, use Leaf Storm!"
"Delphox, Mystical Fire. A'Kong, convert your type from Ground to Electric and use Multi-Attack."
"Diancie, Dazzling Gleam, Diamond Storm."
"Magearna, Fleur Cannon!"
Various skills were launched from various Pokémon towards the Water Shuriken above Xia Huanao and Frogadier. The originally azure Water Shuriken was quickly rendered into a large palette. Xia Huanao felt the Water Shuriken above his head was about to collapse and quickly had Frogadier add a few more Water Shurikens.
Xia Huanao had calculated well, but he had overlooked that the energy carried by the eighteen type skills, when launched by different Pokémon, would be different. This situation would disrupt the balance of the multi-Shuriken. Even with Xia Huanao using the Tai Chi diagram technique to forcibly balance it, it would be difficult to sustain. Fortunately, he had prior experience in creating storage discs and was experienced in balancing elemental energies, which allowed him to balance by increasing the number of Shurikens.
The Water Shuriken above Xia Huanao's head grew larger and larger, and he and Frogadier felt increasingly strained. Finally, the eighteen types became perfectly integrated within the Shuriken. Xia Huanao managed a strained smile. "We gambled and won. We won on the first try. Arceus, take this. Rainbow Shuriken: Flash!"
Xia Huanao roared and flung the Shuriken above his head outwards, then collapsed backward with Frogadier from exhaustion. Shen Yu and Delphox each supported them.
Just as Xia Huanao was creating the Rainbow Shuriken, Arceus's Judgment was also nearing its completion. Judgment and Rainbow Shuriken, both trailing colorful tails and afterimages, flew towards each other and then collided with a roar.
Xia Huanao chuckled, "Shuriken, Flash."
The Rainbow Shuriken sliced through Arceus's Judgment and, amidst the expectant or terrified gazes of everyone, struck Arceus's head.