Chapter 402: The Blaze Team's Only Opening
The broadcast of the match between Starlight and Frost and the Blaze Team undoubtedly secured the highest single-match concurrent viewership of the recent league season!
The moment Sage Hwang said his first sentence, the live stream was already starting to lag.
Too many viewers!
And the chat was too enthusiastic!
All sorts of cheers, well-wishes for victory, and fans shouting "husband" and "wife" at the players… you name it…
The hype was completely maxed out!
Sage Hwang's partner even joked, "It really wasn't easy to get the commentary gig for this match."
Sage Hwang echoed, "Yeah, I had to wish all my colleagues at the office good health just to finally get the rights to commentate this one."
His partner was shocked. "Good grief, no wonder Director Mian and the others all had diarrhea and took a sick day today. I thought they had eaten something bad at a dinner party. So you were the source of it all!"
The chat was now a flood of shocked cat-head emojis, with a few "Sage is a god!" and "Boundless magic!" comments mixed in.
Afterward, Sage Hwang smiled and said he was just kidding.
As for the truth, outsiders would never know…
But there was at least one thing that both commentators had gotten right—
"Today's match is extremely, extremely crucial! This match will likely directly decide who takes home the crown for the regular season champion this year!"
"That's right! As things stand, these two teams are the strongest contenders for the top spot on the leaderboard. The other teams are all a step behind in terms of momentum."
The two commentators worked in tandem, and with just a few sentences, they had hyped up the pre-match atmosphere to its absolute peak!
Because hyping up this match was indeed easy!
This was the battle for the top spot! A match that naturally drew traffic and attention!
Any old-school competitive fan would definitely be watching.
The moment the players from both sides took the stage, they were immediately met with a stadium full of cheers!
The Starlight and Frost team had now reached a small peak in their team's history. They had never before been in a position to challenge for the number one spot in the league, not even in the regular season!
Listening to the commentators repeatedly mention the "battle for the top spot," Aaron, on the stage, felt a mix of emotions.
Some regret, some shock, and some pleasant surprise!
The encouragement Arthur had given him at the beginning of the season was now on the verge of becoming a reality!
It felt like a dream!
And with this dream-like feeling, Aaron took the stage for the first match!
He got lucky. He was up against a relatively weaker main player from the other side.
The Blaze Team's lineup last season had included one All-Star captain and a full three All-Star main players. It was incredibly stacked!
Of course, this was also related to the fact that they had saved the last shred of the Kubfu Alliance's honor in the Champions Cup two years ago. They had a natural advantage in a voting-based selection like the All-Stars.
Then, at the end of last year, one of their All-Star veterans had retired, and they had brought in the current Zhuge Feng.
Normally, with this replacement, they would still have three outstanding starting main players and a top-tier All-Star captain. It looked very reassuring.
But alas, fate had other plans. In the final stages of the transfer period, the Otter Team had poached one of their All-Star main players, Melody.
This had directly led to the Blaze Team being unable to negotiate with other big-name players at the end of the transfer window. Helpless, they could only promote one of their own substitute main players to be a starter in a pinch.
This was also the reason why the Blaze Team and the Otter Team had been constantly clashing since the Devon Cup preseason.
Now, this main player who had been temporarily promoted from a substitute had become the Blaze Team's only remaining opening.
It wasn't that her skills were bad, but that she had the same problem as the Tigris Team's Elara: her tactics were too one-dimensional.
This female player, named Roxanne, specialized in a sandstorm team!
Her usual starter is a Hippowdon, which uses its Sand Stream ability to kick up a sandstorm. Then, depending on the situation, she switches Pokémon. Her main ace is a Probopass with the Sand Force ability.
However, weather tactics are generally more suited for a doubles environment, as you can have one teammate dedicated to fighting for the weather.
Don't you see, even a powerhouse like the old legendary captain, the Ageless Wind King Leo, could have his ace Pokémon unable to use its ultimate move because the weather was stolen mid-match.
This is a common problem in singles. Once the weather is taken over, an ace that relies on the weather to be effective can easily be unable to perform at its peak.
Not to mention, in this match, Aaron didn't even need to fight for the weather. He used an even more shameless tactic: piggybacking on the weather!
He led directly with his ace Pokémon: Garchomp!
A sandstorm does not harm Rock, Ground, or Steel-type Pokémon, and Garchomp happens to have the Ground type!
Aaron's Garchomp's move list normally includes Sandstorm. He had even used it to deal with Juri's Abomasnow before.
He was not afraid of fighting in a sandstorm at all.
And for this match, Roxanne had still habitually chosen Hippowdon as her starter.
The sandstorm, as expected, began to blow. But Garchomp, bathed in the sandstorm, showed no discomfort at all. In fact, it seemed refreshed!
"Hippowdon, pounce and use Ice Fang!"
Roxanne was still trying to test the waters, to see if her Hippowdon could take on Aaron's ace.
But then—
"Hold its mouth open so it can't bite down! Use Dragon Pulse down its throat!"
Garchomp planted its tail on the ground, lowered its center of gravity, and tanked the opponent's charge. It used its arms to forcefully pry open the Hippowdon's massive jaws, and then, while sliding back, it gathered its power for a moment, then lowered its head and spat out a blast of cerulean draconic flame, straight into the Hippowdon's still-open mouth!
Although the Ground type has no weakness to Dragon, this one dragon breath straight down the Hippowdon's throat still dealt a stunning critical hit!
Straight to the stomach, super effective!
The Hippowdon was in so much pain that it immediately fell to the ground, rolling and convulsing.
Then, Aaron commanded again, "Advance! Grab the opponent by the neck and lift it up!"
Garchomp let out a furious roar, strode forward through the rolling yellow sand, came to the Hippowdon, and grabbed it by the neck. Then, its muscles bulged, and it dragged its opponent out of the sand flow and lifted it high above its head!
"Smash it down!"
At Aaron's command, Garchomp immediately flipped the Hippowdon in its hands and slammed it down hard!
"BOOM!"
A massive roar, sending sand and dust flying all over the arena!
Roxanne sighed silently.
She was forced to confirm a sad fact—her Hippowdon was still no match for the opponent's ace…
"Use Earthquake!"
She had her Hippowdon use one final Ground-type ultimate, then, without hesitation, she decisively recalled it.
Using a switch to avoid the long cooldown after an ultimate move—this was the limit of what she could do.
After that, she could only send out her counter-pick Pokémon—
An Ice/Ground-type Mamoswine
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