The battle began, and everyone expected Che Donghui to attack first. To their surprise, Shen Yu made the first move. The Ninetales Wagtail wagged its tail and charged towards Squirtle. Squirtle reacted quickly, using Withdraw to retract its entire body into its shell, evading the Ninetales Wagtail's attack.
Watching from the side, the crowd was confused. "What is this move? Ninetales Wagtail shouldn't have this kind of skill?"
Someone looked at Lu Bingming and asked, "Senior, what do you think?"
Lu Bingming glanced at the Pokédex and replied, "I propose a theory. This is likely a variant application of Flame Charge. Flame Charge covers the body with flames, but if the flames that would normally cover the body are instead absorbed internally, it should achieve the same effect. It also doesn't appear to be a fire-type move, so the damage to Squirtle would be increased."
The crowd nodded, understanding. "So that's how it is. As expected of the captain of the school team."
Tong Ruo glanced at Lu Bingming, then at the active Ninetales Wagtail on the field, and asked Chu Xiaodie, "Thinking with your master's mindset, what do you think this move is?"
Chu Xiaodie confidently declared, "I think it's U-turn."
The onlookers were bewildered. Firstly, Ninetales Wagtail's move list didn't include U-turn, or any bug-type moves for that matter. Secondly, even if there was some way for Ninetales Wagtail to forcibly learn U-turn, the Pokémon on the field should have changed.
Hearing Chu Xiaodie's confident statement, Lu Bingming couldn't help but ponder. This was an answer from Xia Huanao's perspective. As one of the few men who could conquer Lu Bingming with sheer absurdity, there had to be a unique trick involved.
While Lu Bingming was thinking, the battle continued. Squirtle was desperately trying to catch up to Ninetales Wagtail, but unfortunately, the speed difference between the two Pokémon was like night and day. No matter how hard Squirtle tried, it was always a step behind Ninetales Wagtail. In their few exchanges, Ninetales Wagtail was clearly toying with Squirtle.
As Ninetales Wagtail once again zipped past Squirtle from behind, Squirtle instinctively used Withdraw to defend itself, its movements so practiced it was almost pitiable. This time, however, Ninetales Wagtail tried something different. It stopped in front of Squirtle and delivered a direct punch to Squirtle's shell, knocking it to the ground. Then, it walked back towards Shen Yu.
Seeing this scene, Lu Bingming clapped his hands. "I see! It's Zoroark!"
Hearing Lu Bingming call out Zoroark's name, the students watching turned to their captain, hoping for an explanation. Lu Bingming nodded and explained, "Zoroark's ability is Illusion, allowing it to transform into the appearance of Ninetales Wagtail to attack. And with Zoroark's agility, it's difficult for Squirtle's moves to hit it, thus breaking the illusion. Furthermore, Zoroark can indeed learn U-turn."
Everyone nodded in understanding. So, it was Zoroark.
Ou Lingling raised her hand again. "Then why didn't U-turn switch out to another Pokémon?"
Lu Bingming was confident in his answer. "Because U-turn's effect is limited. If Shen Yu didn't have any Poké Balls, U-turn wouldn't be able to send Zoroark back into its Poké Ball."
Although Lu Bingming's explanation was logical, Teacher Tong Ruo pointed out a flaw. "If that's the case, then why did it transform into Ninetales Wagtail? Zoroark's Illusion ability can't be used on distant Poké Balls."
Lu Bingming was hit with a critical blow. It was a catch-22. To use Illusion, there had to be a battle-ready Ninetales Wagtail present. If there was a battle-ready Ninetales Wagtail, U-turn would be triggered. This couldn't be explained.
"You need to be logically consistent. It's troublesome when you can't explain halfway through," Tong Ruo said.
Lu Bingming, stuck in his reasoning, turned to Tong Ruo. "Then Teacher, what exactly happened just now?"
Tong Ruo sighed. "Xiaodie was half right. That was indeed Zoroark, but it wasn't Zoroark using U-turn. I can see she understands Shen Yu, but not Zoroark."
Chu Xiaodie nodded. She admitted she didn't understand Zoroark and had simply chosen a familiar move from Zoroark's move list.
"The move just now was likely Zoroark's Feint Attack. This move is more in line with Zoroark's training progress."
Despite Tong Ruo's explanation, none of the spectators believed her. They weren't complete novices; everyone knew Feint Attack couldn't miss.
Seeing their confusion, Tong Ruo continued to explain, "An excellent trainer can achieve many extraordinary effects with ordinary moves. Just like Xia Huanao's Shuriken Flash, which you've all probably seen, it's a move that maximizes the damage of Water Shuriken. Similarly, as long as the trainer wills it, a move that would normally hit can be made to miss."
While they were still explaining, the situation on the field hadn't changed. The knocked-over Squirtle was struggling to get back up, indicating Che Dong's lack of preparedness for such an unexpected turn of events. Shen Yu, seeing Squirtle on the ground, didn't press her advantage and simply watched.
Seeing that Squirtle might not be able to recover, Che Dong raised his hand to recall it. At that exact moment, Shen Yu pointed at Squirtle. Ninetales Wagtail flashed across the field and landed a punch on Squirtle's shell, flipping it over.
Squirtle's sudden turtle-roll caught Che Dong off guard. If Squirtle couldn't fight, recalling it would be a simple matter. But now that Squirtle had recovered, it could fight, and recalling it now could be risky. Of course, this depended on communication between trainer and Pokémon. However, based on the movements of Shen Yu and Ninetales Wagtail, they had no intention of letting Squirtle retreat, as Ninetales Wagtail was positioned precisely between Squirtle and Che Dong.
"No choice, Squirtle, use Bite!"
Squirtle, being very close to Ninetales Wagtail, lunged forward and bit down. Ninetales Wagtail was caught off guard and was indeed bitten by Squirtle. The illusion vanished, revealing it to be Zoroark.
From a purely type-matchup perspective, fighting Zoroark was a bit more difficult than fighting Ninetales Wagtail. But it didn't matter. With Zoroark bitten by Squirtle, there was a lot of room to maneuver.
"Squirtle, use Withdraw, then Rapid Spin!"
From this brief combo, it was evident that Che Dong had put some thought into it. Squirtle weighed 22.5 kilograms and was one meter tall. Using Withdraw would slam the bitten Zoroark down along with it. Given Zoroark's stats, a hit like that, followed by Rapid Spin, would essentially incapacitate Zoroark.
However, Shen Yu had her own plan for this situation. "Dark Pulse."
The advantage of Bite was that as long as it didn't let go, no one could escape. The disadvantage was that if it let go too late, it would have to endure whatever the opponent threw at it.
Fortunately, it was Squirtle, and after using Bite, it followed up with Withdraw, retracting its entire body into its shell. This offered significant resistance to damage. But the problem was that the openings in its shell were all vulnerable spots.
Dark Pulse flowed in through the gaps. Inside, Squirtle felt its world spinning. Bite was no longer effective, and while Rapid Spin was activated, it dealt no damage without hitting Zoroark. Instead, Zoroark used Dark Pulse to accelerate Squirtle's spin, almost launching Squirtle out of its shell.
The onlookers couldn't help but offer a few seconds of silent mourning for Che Dong's Squirtle. Even if they weren't familiar with Dark Pulse, they knew that Xia Huanao's Froakie used this move, and developed it very well, achieving significant effects with Tai Chi-like spinning. If Froakie could use it, how could Zoroark not? Even if it wasn't Froakie's Dark Pulse Tai Chi, it was more than enough for Squirtle.
Squirtle, spinning rapidly in a daze, quickly couldn't take it anymore. When it stopped, it was foaming at the mouth from inside its shell. It looked less like a Squirtle and more like a dying fish.
Shen Yu looked at Che Dong. She felt the battle was about to end, but Che Dong was persistent, shouting at Squirtle to get up.
Squirtle heard Che Dong's shouts and tried its best, but it was too difficult. It needed significant time to recover before daring to emerge from its shell. Shen Yu decided to seize this opportunity to end the battle.
"Zoroark, use Dark Pulse."
Zoroark quickly approached Squirtle, opened its mouth, and condensed a Dark Pulse, aiming it at the hole left in Squirtle's shell where its head was retracted.
A direct hit of Dark Pulse to the head completely extinguished Squirtle's desire to resist. The first battle thus concluded with Zoroark's victory.
Che Dong finally recalled Squirtle into its Poké Ball. On the other side, Shen Yu also recalled Zoroark. The second round of the match was about to begin. Beside them, Lu Bingming, watching, clicked his tongue. "While I don't know who Shen Yu's style resembles, Zoroark is definitely a devoted follower of Coach Xia."
"How so?"
"Did you notice the final move? Zoroark's Dark Pulse was originally aimed at Squirtle's tail, but it had to be changed to its head..."
The image of being critically hit from behind by Dark Pulse flashed in everyone's minds, sending a shiver down their spines. If Squirtle had taken such a blow, its future battling career might have been ruined. This kind of destructive style was undoubtedly that of a follower of Xia Huanao.