The imposing Greninja stood in the arena, putting enormous pressure on the upperclassman opposite it.
Ye Ling's opponent was a third-year student who specialized in Fighting-types. His Pokémon was a Hawlucha, which was also at mid elite class.
Hawlucha was a birdlike Pokémon with colorful feathers. Its face bore a blue-green, masklike pattern, while the top of its head was orange. The outer surfaces of its capelike wings were red, and a claw near each wingtip allowed them to spread out like human arms.
Hawlucha had no evolved form, but its overall base stats were fairly high—even a little higher than Weavile's. Its Attack and Speed were particularly good; it was just a little fragile.
Of course, Greninja wasn't exactly sturdy either. In that respect, the two were about even.
Ye Ling wasn't in the habit of yielding the first move. The moment her opponent's Hawlucha appeared, Greninja had already thrown a Water Shuriken.
"Holy crap, junior! Where's your sense of fair play?" the upperclassman yelped. Still, he didn't take it to heart, and Hawlucha dodged easily.
"Shadow Sneak!" Ye Ling had no intention of discussing fair play with him. When the first attack missed, the next followed immediately.
Although Hawlucha was flying, it still cast a shadow on the ground. Greninja caught that shadow and slipped up along it.
"Tsk, are all the girls in the new class this scary now? Hawlucha, Detect!" The upperclassman clearly had a lively personality. With a shout, he had Hawlucha evade the attack.
Detect was a Fighting-type move that could completely block an opponent's attack. In that respect, it was somewhat similar to Protect, though the two weren't quite the same.
By comparison, Protect was better suited to defending against energy attacks, while Detect was better for blocking physical attacks.
Unfortunately, only Fighting-type