Gym Leader Class Starmie were strong—extremely strong. Although they were Water-type Pokémon, their power came from the gems at their cores, allowing them to learn moves of almost every type.
They might not excel in every type, but that breadth of coverage was enough to handle any situation.
Besides, Starmie was fast, at least twice as fast as Ampharos. With its overall strength a cut above as well, she was confident she could win despite the type disadvantage.
"Starmie! Ice Beam!" Right from the start, the Pokémon Trainer from Ocean Pokémon University unleashed the Ice-type move Ice Beam, giving her opponent no chance.
"Damn, going that hard? Ampharos, dodge!" Faced with the incoming Ice Beam, Lai Mingyuan had no better option than to pin his hopes on the supposedly all-purpose command to dodge.
But his opponent had attacked in anger. Ampharos was slow to begin with, and although it reacted immediately, the Ice Beam still clipped its tail as it fled.
Frost spread instantly, creeping over its entire body bit by bit. In the end, Ampharos could not escape its fate of becoming an ice sculpture.
"That woman is ruthless!" a senior who was usually close to Lai Mingyuan remarked from the competitors' seats, feeling a chill run through his body.
The Gym Leader Class Starmie had taken out a fully healthy Elite Class Ampharos with a single move. Between Ampharos's double weakness to Ice-type attacks and Ice Beam's high damage, it had no chance to fight back.
"Hiss..." Lai Mingyuan felt his teeth ache. He had just used Ampharos to neatly dispatch his opponent's Lanturn, only for his own Ampharos to be neatly dispatched a moment later. The cycle of life and death...
Silently recalling Ampharos, Lai Mingyuan sent Raichu back out. *No need to bring someone else into