After stealing the Life Orb Ludicolo had been hiding, Quagsire had largely fulfilled its mission. Unsurprisingly, the duck god finished it off.
Although it had dealt negligible damage, its value as a defensive pivot was undeniable.
Without the Life Orb boosting its damage, Ludicolo exerted far less pressure on Nessa's team as a whole, and it could do little against the Toxapex that switched in.
That was the true value of Thief.
After narrowly dodging the Toxic Toxapex spat out, Ludicolo fired off two consecutive Energy Balls.
However, Toxapex quickly healed all the damage with Recover.
The two sides settled into a lengthy war of attrition.
[Wouldn't Thunder Punch be better here? At least it's super effective.]
[So Toxapex is this tanky? Ludicolo's barely giving it a massage...]
[That's ridiculous!]
"Against Toxapex, Milo wouldn't dare use Thunder Punch. If Baneful Bunker blocked it, his Pokémon would get poisoned instead."
After glancing at the chat, Qingyu summed up Milo's predicament in a single sentence.
Baneful Bunker was one of Toxapex's defensive moves, posing an enormous threat to Pokémon that used contact attacks.
Nessa had clearly planned those two switches carefully. Or rather, the entire battle had been unfolding under her control.
Ever since Hurricane knocked out Bellossom at the start, Milo's only option had been to send in Ludicolo and use its speed in the rain to force a trade.
That was what made Quagsire's theft of the Life Orb such a brilliant stroke.
Toxapex and Ludicolo battled for what felt like eight hundred rounds. Finally, the rain ended, Ludicolo's speed plummeted, and Toxapex landed Toxic.
With Ludicolo badly poisoned, Milo could only order it to fight for its life, landing Thunder Punch after Thunder Punch on Toxapex.
In the end, however, all he achieved was a one-for-one trade.
Both sides