"Breloom, huh..."
Okamoto muttered to himself.
The Gym's rules called for a one-on-one battle, so all he needed to consider was how to defeat this Pokémon.
Grass and Fighting type. Weak to Flying?
As a second-year student with plenty of battle experience, his mind immediately kicked into gear.
"Then I choose you!"
After a moment's thought, he quickly tossed out a Great Ball.
"Scy!"
A bright green Scyther with arms as sharp as blades made her dazzling entrance.
"Scyther?"
Qingyu's expression didn't change. In fact, he inwardly nodded in approval.
As he studied her, several lines of small text soon appeared before his eyes.
[Scyther (female)] [Type: Bug + Flying] [Ability: Steadfast]
Scyther was a dual Bug/Flying type, so neither of Breloom's same-type moves posed much of a threat to her.
On both offense and defense, she held an enormous advantage over Breloom.
He understood the basic battle principle of exploiting type advantages, and he'd earned the recognition of a proud Scyther who was clearly no pushover...
It seemed this slightly impatient Trainer did have some skill after all.
Not bad!
But that alone was still nowhere near enough to win a Gym battle.
"I almost forgot one more thing, Okamoto."
Before the battle officially began, Nemona, who was serving as the referee, suddenly raised her hand and drew Okamoto's attention.
Nemona jogged over to Okamoto and handed him a face mask.
"Please make sure you put this on before we begin!"
Okamoto didn't quite understand Nemona's solemn request. He merely chalked it up as another bizarre rule of this crappy Gym and gave a perfunctory nod.
Only after confirming that Qingyu and the challenger were both wearing masks did Nemona breathe a sigh of relief and raise her hand again.
"Then... let the battle begin!"
"Scyther, **Wing