"You... I..." Elesa's eyes widened in fury, leaving her speechless. Cynthia was right-strength really was the greatest gap between them!
"Liu Yuan, Lusana, let me put it this way: Liu Qing never gives an unnecessary command in battle! Why did he use Night Slash to stop his opponent from approaching? His real intentions weren't what you saw on the surface. One was to make his opponent keep using Agility, and the other was to prevent a head-on charge, which would have hit with the greatest force. Absol's leap afterward might have seemed pointless, but that, too, was meant to disperse Megahorn's power and reduce the damage as much as possible. Those are the details you need to learn to notice!" Cynthia's explanation made all three of them, Elesa included, see the light.
"But Sawsbuck is so fast. Isn't it hard to deal with?" Liu Yuan asked after a moment's thought.
"I watched the Wallace Cup Pokémon Contest you entered in Sinnoh. Your first battle was against a speed-oriented Pokémon, wasn't it? Think about how you handled it!" Cynthia said with a smile.
"I... I think I disrupted its rhythm..." Liu Yuan said uncertainly. In truth, he had been rather muddled at the time and couldn't explain it clearly himself.
"Exactly. Now watch your older brother's battle closely!" Cynthia pointed toward the battlefield. "Put it together with what I just told you, and you should be able to see how he handles a speed-oriented Pokémon-and how his way of disrupting its rhythm differs from yours!"
"Absol did very well just now. Now it's time to strike back..." Liu Qing glanced at Absol, which had nearly reached the peak of its leap, and Sawsbuck, which was pursuing it closely, then shouted, "Absol, Night Slash!"
The instant Liu Qing's voice fell, Absol's eyes