[Iron Defense? Why not use Protect?]
[Baxcalibur's Icicle Spear hits ridiculously hard. Last year, Mr. Hassel's Baxcalibur used it to one-shot Rika's Torterra!]
[To be fair, isn't Torterra getting one-shot perfectly normal? It's four times weak to Ice, dude...]
Unlike Kommo-o, which could potentially run both physical and special attacks.
Baxcalibur had a fair number of energy-based attacks, but its fighting strength in that department was practically on the same level as Altaria's.
Even a Draco Meteor would fail to seriously wound the sturdily built Kommo-o.
That was why, as soon as Qingyu anticipated a possible matchup between these two pseudo-legendaries, he and Cynthia had quickly come up with the best solution-
Set up with Iron Defense right away!
The reasoning was simple: they were betting on the turns to come.
Protect could certainly prevent a devastating supereffective attack from landing at the start and keep Kommo-o's health at a safe level, but it would have almost no impact on the rest of the battle.
Iron Defense was different. As long as Kommo-o finished boosting before the attack landed, it would not only reduce the damage but also have a major impact on the battle ahead.
Of course, that was the theory. In practice, it still came down to both sides' reaction speeds.
With the opponent attacking first, whether the Fighting Dragon could react fast enough was another question.
Under Qingyu's watchful gaze, Baxcalibur quickly exhaled cold air, formed the first icicle in its hand, and hurled it at the motionless Kommo-o with all its might.
Only when the attack was about to hit did Kommo-o abruptly open its eyes, having kept them closed in meditation until then.
At the same time, the golden scales covering its body rapidly took on a metallic sheen, becoming as hard as iron.
Kommo-o