"Onix is unable to battle! Ludicolo wins!"
As the referee announced the result, Tidis breathed a sigh of relief and raised both hands to cheer himself on.
"We won! Awesome! Thank you, Ludicolo!"
"Ludi~"
Amid the curtain of rain, Ludicolo's smile grew even brighter.
In the stands, Warren relaxed considerably after seeing Tidis win a round and called out with a happy smile,
"That's it, Tidis! Keep it up, Ludicolo~!"
Yong smiled faintly at the cheering boy across from him, then recalled Onix.
"You did well, Onix! Thanks for all your hard work."
Since Onix wasn't his own Pokémon, it couldn't benefit from his system talents. But it had worked hard. Not only had it overcome its fear of water, its physique and water resistance had improved significantly under Yong's training.
Unfortunately, it still struggled to withstand Grass-type attacks.
Even so, Yong was pleased with its performance.
After a moment's thought, Yong looked up at the falling rain with an unreadable expression, then turned back to the boy opposite him and said with a smile,
"A rain team setup? Ludicolo certainly makes a very suitable special attacker..."
Tidis paused, then replied somewhat sheepishly,
"You're too kind..."
Yong shook his head. What he had actually wanted to say was that this Ludicolo would be even better if its ability were Swift Swim...
With its speed boosted and its excellent offensive coverage of Water, Grass, Ice, and Fighting-type moves, Ludicolo would make an outstanding secondary attacker for a rain team.
Of course, that was assuming the opponent didn't seize control of the weather first.
For Pelipper, a common weather setter on rain teams, facing an opponent like Tyranitar meant almost no chance of getting its weather established...
Setting those thoughts aside, Yong took a Pokémon Ball from his belt.
A black shell