Five minutes later.
Over the course of the battle, aside from Scovillain briefly stealing the spotlight at the start with its absurd Eject Pack + Leaf Storm combo, Qingyu's Incineroar had dominated almost all the remaining screen time.
With flexible retreats and constant switching, Qingyu's relentless back-and-forth had left Mela completely disoriented.
If she kept following Qingyu's lead, immediately recalling and switching her Pokémon whenever their stats were lowered, she would clearly just be wasting time.
But if she didn't, neither Ceruledge nor Houndoom could mount much of an effective counterattack after their stats had been lowered.
In the end, by repeatedly switching and exploiting openings, Qingyu's Incineroar used Darkest Lariat and Cross Chop to finish off Mela's two Pokémon with two effortless blows.
[Oof-is Teacher Yu trying to crush her spirit as well as beat her? I feel like this challenger wouldn't be a match for him in a head-on fight either...]
[Because Teacher Yu's mainly assessing the Trainer's own skill rather than whether they win or lose, right? He often leaves openings on purpose, but people usually just don't notice them.]
[Now I finally understand why Sunshine Gym has so many bad reviews. So Teacher Yu's been doing this too!]
[Honestly, if I got tormented by all that constant switching and didn't leave the Gym a bad review afterward, I'd be this! (Thumbs down)]
"I lost."
Although the process had been agonizing, Mela, the challenger, accepted her defeat without fuss.
"Thank you for teaching me a lesson, Teacher Yu..."
Actually, Mela wasn't entirely sure what she had learned. All she knew was that Teacher Yu's two Pokémon were like ghosts, and their constant back-and-forth had quickly broken her side's morale first.
Of course, the bigger reason might have been her poor choice of typing for her lead Pokémon.