"..."
After watching Clair's entire performance in the contestants' lounge, Lance sighed.
Her rhythm had fallen apart completely. She deserved that loss.
Had she put so much pressure on herself that it seriously hurt her performance instead?
Lance had always understood his younger cousin's obsession.
But excessive pride wasn't necessarily a good thing. He had only learned that lesson himself after hitting a few walls at the Indigo Plateau.
In this battle, if Clair had learned to exploit Duraludon's sluggishness and followed Cynthia's example from the previous match by using moves like Thunder Wave, she could absolutely have maneuvered her way into an opening to counterattack.
But out of pride in her title as a "Dragon Tamer," Clair disdained such "underhanded tricks."
To a proud Dragon Master, only crushing an opponent with Dragon Pokémon counted as an honorable victory.
He had once thought exactly the same way.
If not for his repeated clashes with those three members of Kanto's Elite Four, he might still have held that belief.
"sigh..."
Lance sighed quietly. He had no real idea how to correct Clair's misguided thinking.
Still, once she suffered enough setbacks and defeats, she would understand sooner or later.
Besides overwhelming strength, making proper use of each Pokémon's unique traits was also a vital part of winning.
In that respect, perhaps she really should learn from that young Gym Leader, Qingyu.
Even if countless viewers called his approach "dirty tactics," that didn't change how powerful Qingyu's theories truly were. They might even overturn most people's current understanding of Pokémon battles.
Anyone who failed to keep up with the times would sooner or later be left behind by other Trainers.
With that thought, Lance soon stopped dwelling on Clair's defeat and strode toward the Battle Court with his head held high.
Next, he