How Was This Old Man Still Not Out of Tricks?

The scene before her left Iono dumbfounded.

What kind of move was that?

Why were they both Bellibolt, yet his looked so completely different from hers?

In her eyes, although Bellibolt had fairly solid durability, its offensive options basically relied on Electric-type moves, and it did not have much of a Speed advantage either.

So most of the time, it served as a switch-in and a late-game option on her team. She had always thought Bellibolt was, at its core, a somewhat clumsy pure Electric-type Pokémon.

But in this old man's hands, it was one thing for Bellibolt to be immune to Ground-type attacks—how could it even change the opponent's type?

She could not help thinking of her own Bellibolt, with its perpetually vacant expression.

She had thought Bellibolt's potential ended there, but now it seemed that she simply had never brought out the potential it was supposed to have...

She suddenly shook her head.

No, when she went back this time, she absolutely had to find a way to give Bellibolt a serious overhaul!

She would start with this Soak thing!

The next time a challenger tried to cheese her with a Ground-type Pokémon, she would just splash them with a puddle of water!

At the thought of that scene, the corners of Iono's lips rose slightly.

That actually sounded kind of satisfying...

But now there was a problem.

How exactly had Bellibolt learned that move?

Meanwhile, Cynthia's stream chat was still filled with laughter.

[Hahahaha, I love that expression on the streamer's face. This is exactly what I came for!]

[This old man has way too many tricks... Soak, Air Balloon...]

[I don't even want to imagine how mad I would've gotten if I ran into this version of Wattson as a kid. I probably would've smashed my console lol.]

[The intel was wrong, guys. There's something off about this old geezer!]

Watching the flood of comments fly past, Cynthia frowned slightly.

Obviously, she could not keep fighting like this.

Bellibolt was immune to Ground-type attacks thanks to the Air Balloon, and it had turned Dugtrio into a Water-type. That meant Dugtrio would not only lose its Ground-type STAB, but would instead be weak to the opponent's Ground-type moves. Its advantage was completely gone.

Without any hesitation, Cynthia pressed the reload button and started over.

Fortunately, some helpful viewers had already begun offering advice.

[Streamer, don't panic. The Air Balloon item pops as soon as it gets hit by any other move once. It's not invincible.]

[That's right. It's usually used to avoid taking Earthquake. Some Pokémon weak to Ground carry it, but a team can only have one Air Balloon anyway. Once you deal with it, it's gone.]

At the same time, Iono looked thoughtfully at the comments.

There seemed to be a rule in the game that a team could only carry one of each item... so could she give every Pokémon an Air Balloon?

Never mind. That seemed a little too deranged.

It was only for dealing with Ground-types, after all. There was no need to go that far, right?

Meanwhile, having received the chat's advice, Cynthia began considering how to break through.

So, if she wanted to deal with Bellibolt now, she had to maneuver around it and pop its Air Balloon.

Leading with Dugtrio was definitely not an option. It would get splashed with water and turned into a Water-type, which would practically cripple it.

So she had to set something up first and maneuver carefully.

In that case, she would put up screens first.

Cynthia's eyes flickered as she quickly adjusted her lead Pokémon and sent out Dottler, her screen setter.

Then, the battle began again!

On Wattson's side, Bellibolt was sent out once more.

Cynthia immediately selected Light Screen. Electric-type Pokémon generally excelled at Special Attack, so putting up the special wall first was the best choice.

However, as the turn began, the opposing Bellibolt moved first.

Brilliant blue electricity lit up before its belly, and a thick bolt of current roared forth and struck Dottler.

[Bellibolt used Thunderbolt!]

Dottler's HP bar instantly dropped to nearly empty. Its highest stat was its durability, which showed just how powerful that attack had been.

In other words, any of her other Pokémon that could not resist Electricity would not be able to endure it either!

But it was fine. At least the screen had been set up now, and Thunderbolt's power would be halved afterward.

Yet just as Cynthia was thinking that, an effect of flickering electricity appeared over Dottler's body.

[Dottler was paralyzed!]

The electricity flashed again.

[Dottler is paralyzed! It can't move!]

Cynthia: ...?

The move already dealt that much damage, and it also had a chance to paralyze?

That was pretty true to reality...

Clearly, she would not be getting the screen up this time.

She took a deep breath and chose to reload again.

In the new challenge, she had prepared for the worst. Still, luck was on her side. Dottler endured one Thunderbolt and set up Reflect, then was taken out by Bellibolt's second Thunderbolt.

But the screen was up, so her goal had been achieved.

Next, Cynthia sent out Mightyena and used its Speed advantage to land a Crunch directly on Bellibolt!

[Bellibolt's Air Balloon popped!]

As the prompt appeared, Bellibolt's HP only fell by around a third.

And even with Reflect reducing the damage, Mightyena was still knocked down to half health by a retaliatory Thunderbolt from Bellibolt.

The second turn began. Another Crunch, and Mightyena went down.

Cynthia began to calculate. Although it was a two-for-zero trade, the Air Balloon was gone, Bellibolt was at low health, and there were still three turns of Reflect left. It had all been worth it.

She immediately sent out Dugtrio and used Magnitude.

The ground trembled, and the low-health Bellibolt fell beneath the shockwaves without suspense.

Watching Bellibolt collapse, Cynthia finally let out a breath of relief.

With the only Pokémon on the opponent's team capable of dealing with Dugtrio taken out, this should become much easier.

At the very least, the remaining Pokémon could not possibly be carrying Air Balloons too.

But in the next instant, Wattson appeared directly across from her.

[Not bad, young lady. But how about this...?!]

A flash of white light appeared, and an eel-like Pokémon with a long, slender body covered in spots emerged onto the field.

Its mouth was filled with sharp teeth, giving it a particularly ferocious appearance.

Iono recognized the Pokémon at a glance, and her eyes lit up.

It was Eelektross!

This Pokémon was rather rare. A Tynamo had to evolve into Eelektrik, then use a high-quality Thunder Stone to evolve further...

And its combat strength was quite impressive as well.

But the problem was...

Although it had "eel" in its name, this Pokémon was a pure Electric-type. It did not have Water as a secondary type. How was it supposed to fight Dugtrio?

What was this old man thinking?

...Could it be that he was finally out of tricks?