Mewtwo struck incredibly fast, but Mega Metagross reacted just as quickly.
Almost the instant Mewtwo conjured eerie blue flames between its hands, a transparent barrier appeared before Metagross, firmly blocking the disruptive attack.
Seeing this, Lucian breathed a sigh of relief.
He hadn't expected Mewtwo to have that trick up its sleeve, but considering it was Teacher Yu's Pokémon, the surprise somehow made perfect sense...
Fortunately, he was gradually getting used to it, so he could keep up with Qingyu's reactions.
"Metagross, get some distance first!"
With the immediate danger resolved, he should have continued pressuring Mewtwo. Instead, he chose not to pursue it again, immediately issuing a safer command and having Metagross retreat to a safe distance.
After Mewtwo used Will-O-Wisp, Lucian quickly realized it might know other Fire-type moves, too. If Teacher Yu caught him off guard with another dirty trick, Metagross would definitely be at a disadvantage.
Besides, Will-O-Wisp could be used repeatedly, while Protect could not.
In a close-range struggle, whether Metagross could dodge Mewtwo's surprise attacks would be entirely up to fate.
In the fast-paced 3v3 Single Battle format, having Metagross suffer a burn would be even more painful for him than having it faint outright...
That meant he actually needed to take a more cautious approach to offense.
"Metagross, use Substitute to throw off your opponent's judgment."
Once Metagross retreated to its own half of the field, Lucian's racing mind quickly found an answer.
In a real battle, Substitute was actually more valuable than Protect. It simply required more development from the Trainer.
Used properly, a substitute formed from pure energy could not only prevent the opponent from identifying the real body, but also block troublesome moves for Metagross when necessary.
And because it was a mass of energy, it could easily block all