Milotic's strength far exceeded anything they had imagined. None of them could understand how an Elite Class Pokémon could inflict such enormous damage on a Gym Leader Class Feraligatr.
But whatever they thought, Jing Ru Yun's battle still had to continue. Aside from her purely aquatic Pokémon, she had only one Pokémon left that could take the field: a Mid Elite Class Starmie.
No matter what, I have to take this Milotic down with me first! Jing Ru Yun thought.
This was only the eighth matchup out of ten. The ninth and tenth challengers were still waiting. She had little hope of winning herself, but she at least had to ease the pressure on those coming after her.
With that thought, she made up her mind. Ignoring the biting wind, she ordered Starmie to use Rapid Spin and charge straight at Milotic.
"Blizzard!" Xiao Ran shouted.
Milotic showed no fear of the rapidly approaching Starmie. Although effects like Reflect had faded with time, it still had the boosts from Harden, Dragon Dance, and Coil. With Starmie's low attack power, its strikes would barely tickle.
Besides, Starmie was fast. Even with its superior strength, Milotic would have trouble catching it. Rather than chase it, using a wide-ranging move like Blizzard would let Milotic attack while slowing its opponent down.
Thud! Starmie's Rapid Spin struck Milotic, but left only a white mark before Starmie bounced away.
"Starmie, Surf!" When that strike failed, Jing Ru Yun ordered Starmie to use Surf next.
Yet the great surge of water swept past without producing the effect she had imagined.
Milotic was already an expert at handling water and had extremely strong resistance to Water-type attacks. With all its boosting moves on top of that, Surf could only deal a very limited amount of damage.
Moreover,