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Turning contact moves into non-contact moves was a distinctive feature of this world.
Crabominable's signature technique was also recorded in the intelligence reports. Because its power was high, if hit unexpectedly, the damage taken would be considerable.
Thinking this, Li Xiang saw the huge chunk of ice speeding towards Greninja smash directly into its body!
Bang!
The ice shattered under the great force!
Light and shadow twisted!
Greninja's body was exposed under the dark clouds, actually sent flying into the air by the impact!
But with the previous precedent, his opponent didn't dare assume the attack had been effective.
After all, the earlier High Jump Kick clearly hit Greninja, yet seemed to have caused little damage...
Considering the reasons, he could think of two possibilities in such a short time.
One was that Greninja blocked it with Protect.
But Protect could block not just attribute energy, but also impact force. So, it should be the second option.
– The Protean ability.
There might be other possibilities, but with such limited time, he couldn't think of more.
He could only make a bold assumption and carefully verify it.
Among all attributes, the Ice type was absolutely top-tier. As long as he confirmed Greninja's ability, then he could find a way to take it down!
"Icy Wind!"
Crabominable swung its four small claws, its ferocious mouth opening wide, blowing a freezing wind mixed with snow particles fiercely towards Greninja!
Bitingly cold!
Greninja, still in mid-air, was swept by the Icy Wind, its body surface instantly covered with a thin layer of ice and snow, looking like an ice sculpture!
Thud!
Greninja landed, kneeling on one knee with difficulty!
'It hit again!'
The opponent punched the air, feeling elated but also increasingly wary. Greninja hadn't actively launched an attack for a long time, hadn't even used Protect.
Was that reasonable?
Obviously not. How could Greninja, who was just slaughtering everything like a ghost, become a motionless target with no ability to fight back just because of some hail?
There was definitely a problem!
Those with similar thoughts weren't just Li Xiang's opponent, but also the students watching outside.
The matches Greninja participated in were definitely the least visually appealing, because whether it was showing off or having highlight moments, the audience couldn't see them; all they could see were moves appearing out of thin air.
And the opponent's Pokémon being led around by the nose.
From the start of the match until now, everyone had been watching without blinking, but they actually hadn't seen much at all.
They were just as confused as Li Xiang's opponent.
Even with the advantage of the spectator's perspective, very few could actually understand what was happening.
How did Hitmonlee end up clutching its chest and collapsing?
Didn't the High Jump Kick hit?
Protean? Also, what was up with its Camouflage? It lasted that long? Only ended now?
Just as everyone was extremely puzzled, staring intently at the field, afraid of missing any detail, suddenly, a brownish-red light flashed!
It was right beside Crabominable's feet!
Thud!
A dull sound!
Under his opponent's disbelieving gaze, Crabominable cried out in pain and fell to the ground!
'Low Sweep!?'
What was going on–
'Substitute!'
His peripheral vision caught the exposed fake Greninja in the distance, watching as its body dissipated like smoke in the wind.
"Protect!"
He shouted in shock and horror!
Crabominable raised its fists, about to do something, when a flowing stream of light appeared beside it, and a mass of blazing brown-red flame came crashing down from above!
Power-Up Punch!
Boom!
The yet-to-be-used Protect was directly interrupted!
The ground shook slightly!
"Crabominable!"
The opponent shouted, but couldn't rouse the Crabominable whose face was contorted in pain.
This guy had actually been knocked out by a single punch!
After all, it wasn't exactly a tanky Pokémon to begin with, and Greninja had secretly used Work Up. Taking this super-effective combo of Low Sweep and Power-Up Punch, it was 100% going down.
But going down was one thing.... the key point was when did it use Substitute, and when did it hide itself and get next to Crabominable in the field while hail was falling noisily.
"Did you see it clearly?"
"I fucking didn't!"
"Me neither!"
"Did you record it?"
"Recorded, recorded! Quick, replay it!"
A bunch of people, after realizing almost no one had seen what happened, hurriedly clamored to check the replay on the recorder.
Watching it live was confusing, but watching the sped-up recording made it very clear.
First, Crabominable landed, activated Hail on the spot.
Greninja was hit by hail, revealing its outline.
Ice Hammer attack followed.
The large ice chunk hit Greninja, a white light faintly glowing. During this, it used Substitute.
The fake Greninja was exposed, sent flying into the air by the force.
Crabominable used Icy Wind on the substitute. Meanwhile, the real Greninja, with Camouflage active, swaggered off to the side, then quietly took a wide detour and ran next to Crabominable.
During this process, the hail kept hitting it, faintly revealing its outline.
But no one noticed this guy.
'This... are we all blind?'
The students who watched the replay looked at each other, unable to believe they had all subconsciously ignored a Pokémon moving around so boldly.
But the facts spoke for themselves. If one person couldn't see it, it was their problem. If a hundred people couldn't see it, then it was Greninja's problem!
What was up with this guy?
They all looked towards the field.
And at this time, Li Xiang's opponent was also completely baffled, having no idea what had happened, and somewhat questioning his life.
In less than five minutes since the battle started, two of his Pokémon had gone down inexplicably.
He wasn't even clear on how they fell. He had clearly discovered the opponent and caught it multiple times.
Why was this the result?
The opponent kept thinking, but due to the time limit, he had to send out his next Pokémon. If he didn't send it out soon, he would be penalized for a violation.
The third one.
Was a relatively familiar opponent for Greninja.
A monkey with flames on its head, white and orange fur all over, and golden swirl patterns on its hands, knees, shoulders, and chest landed on the field.
– The Fire and Fighting-type Infernape.
"Taunt!"
The opponent shouted, his eyes fixed on the Greninja whose outline was revealed by the hail.
He had been fooled twice already and didn't want to be fooled a third time.
However, at this point, whether he wanted to or not was meaningless.
Greninja silently materialized in the air, letting the Infernape not far away snarl at it, and slightly raised its arm. Countless streams of water materialized out of thin air, rapidly converging towards its palm!
This was brazenly obvious!
The opponent was shocked, guessing that Li Xiang choosing this meant Greninja had already boosted itself enough to one-shot Infernape!
"Protect! Get close to it!"
"Ha!"
Infernape gritted its teeth, arms blocking in front of itself, swiftly dashing towards Greninja's location!
The only chance to turn things around now was to get close to Greninja and take it out with Thunder Punch. Otherwise, there was no possibility of winning!
Not far away, the time to gather water was very short. The moment Infernape started moving forward, Greninja punched the gathered water, smashing it all onto the ground!
The water seeped into the seemingly solid ground, then burst out from under Infernape's feet like an intermittent geyser!
Boom!
Splash splash splash!
Water overflowed, all blocked by Protect's green shield, returning to the ground, forming puddle after puddle!
Seizing this opportunity, Infernape had already gotten extremely close to Greninja!
"Thunder Punch!"
The opponent roared!
"Ha!"
Infernape screeched, clenched its right fist, like Zeus grasping a lightning bolt, mustering boiling electricity, and punched towards Greninja!
This punch was vicious and decisive, carrying the momentum of do or die!
However, as it threw the punch, Greninja, who seemed to have no fear of the electricity at all, raised its hand, opened its arms, as if actively welcoming Infernape's fist, and slightly lifted its head.
As if waiting for the storm to arrive!
At the same time, a surging tide rose high behind it, within the blink of an eye, turning into a terrifying tidal wave, bearing down from both in front of and behind Infernape!
Surf!
The Thunder Punch struck Greninja's body, the electricity paralyzing it, but the punch's force sent it flying into the water behind.
Infernape, fist extended, looked at the massive wave now terrifyingly close, a trace of disbelief and despair in its eyes.
It couldn't block a wave of this scale. Not to mention there was another wave from behind, both attacking together.
There was nowhere to escape!
So, it was deliberately lured close?
Rumble—!
The giant wave crashed down on Infernape, the water pressure slamming it fiercely into the ground like a fly!
As the wave receded, it dragged Infernape's body back in front of its trainer, face down, the flame on its head dim.
Without a doubt, that Surf directly washed it out.
"Beep—"
The referee, looking at the KO'd Infernape and the Greninja nearby looking somewhat unsatisfied and doing stretches, quickly blew the whistle, announcing the winner of this match.
Outside the field, there were no exclamations or applause.
The spectators looked at the calm Li Xiang and the black Greninja stretching and rubbing its muscles, only silence remained.
And unlimited wariness towards Li Xiang.
So far, he had already shown four exceptionally powerful Pokémon: the shiny Metagross, Riolu, Rotom, and Greninja.
And yet, Incineroar, widely known as his strongest Pokémon, had yet to truly show its strength.
Moreover, Li Xiang seemed to also have a particularly tanky Corviknight and a Doublade that was being slowly trained.
'So, this is what the nation's number one is like?'
Although everyone had some expectations of Li Xiang's strength, as a renowned reputation is usually well-deserved, few could have imagined it being this exaggerated.
After all, in their past experiences, the ones who could be called absolute geniuses, making them prostrate in admiration, were probably only Abigale, Zhao Jie, and Lu Shu from the school team, who joined the reserves in their second year and became regulars in their third.
But even the strength they showed in their first year was far less exaggerated than Li Xiang's!
Had he really only been training Pokémon for three years?
This question involuntarily surfaced in the minds of everyone present.