Diancie's noble, beautiful appearance and reputation as a Legendary Pokémon instantly sent her popularity soaring.
Even Altaria, another popular Pokémon standing opposite her, could not hope to compete.
In terms of strength, however, Diancie fell far short. Late Stage Entry Class against Late Stage Elite Class—this time, she truly was fighting across an entire major class gap.
"Altaria, Sing!" the Pokémon Trainer from Donglin Pokémon University called first.
The string of defeats had already left her in a foul mood. This was her last Pokémon fit to battle, so there was no way she would hold anything back.
And Altaria certainly lived up to its strength. Its Natural Cure Ability let it shrug off most status conditions, while its Dragon- and Flying-type combination gave it tremendous offensive coverage.
Besides, Altaria also had the Fairy type. Otherwise, Xiao Ran would never have gone out of his way to raise a Swablu.
Unfortunately, his Swablu was only at Late Stage Normal Class. It could not compare to this fully grown Altaria at all.
"Diancie, Safeguard!" Xiao Ran called calmly.
Safeguard protected its user from all status conditions, so naturally, Sing's sleep-inducing effect would not affect her either.
Seeing Safeguard appear, the opposing Trainer knew her plan had failed. Still, it hardly mattered. A whole major class gap was not so easy to overcome.
"Altaria, use..." The senior student suddenly froze just as she was about to order Altaria to keep attacking.
She racked her brains, but simply could not think of a suitable move.
Most of Altaria's moves focused on various status effects: Sing, Growl, Mist...
Its remaining offensive moves were mainly Dragon-, Normal-, and Flying-type moves. But Dragon-type attacks were ineffective now, its only Flying-type move was Peck, and its Normal-type moves were mostly physical attacks like Fury Attack, which struck