Chapter 670: She's Tilting
From a purely elemental standpoint, Delphox was at a severe disadvantage against Flygon. Ground moves were super-effective against Fire, while Flygon's Dragon typing provided a natural resistance to fire-based attacks.
To bridge this gap, Gwyneth had to rely on unconventional tactics—dipping into her bag of "witchcraft" to find a solution. Inflicting a Burn through status moves was her best bet to cripple Dragonfly's physical offensive power.
Arthur, however, had been expecting this. The moment Delphox made a move, he ordered Dragonfly to pull back. To be safe, he even burned a move slot on a basic Flying-type technique: Gust.
He didn't need the move to deal damage; he just needed the wind to blow away the drifting embers of the Will-O-Wisp. Dragonfly flapped her wings with focused precision, creating a localized gale that scattered every lick of ghostly flame before it could touch her.
But Gwyneth seized that momentary distraction.
"Witch, hit her again! Dazzling Gleam!"
This time, Arthur's command for Dragonfly to shut her eyes was a fraction of a second too late. The Fairy-type light seared through the air, dealing significantly more damage than the previous trade.
Gwyneth hadn't made it to the Top 4 of the Champions Cup by accident. While Dragonfly might have won the "acting" competition earlier, Gwyneth's raw command reflexes were nearly on par with Arthur's. At this level of professional play, no one was an easy out.
As the Dazzling Gleam connected, the sharpened wand Dragonfly had been mockingly twirling suddenly vanished from her claws.
In the blink of an eye, the branch was back in Delphox's hand.
Ability: Magician.
Upon landing a hit, the Pokémon can "magically" snatch an item from its opponent. Before Gwyneth had reached international fame, her Delphox had used this "sleight of hand" so effectively that she was infamously known as the "Farfetch'd Killer." Every time they fought, a poor Farfetch'd would lose its beloved leek...
Fortunately, Dragonfly wasn't holding a held item like a Life Orb or a Choice Band—and since neither Pokémon had Mega Evolved, Delphox had nothing to steal but her own discarded weapon. Still, it allowed her to reset her strategy.
"One more time! Will-O-Wisp!"
"Dragonfly, use Gust!"
Arthur stuck to his defensive play, but this time, Delphox added a twist. As she summoned the ghostly flames, she struck her recovered wand against the ground like a matchstick, coating the tip in concentrated fire. Then, she threw the wand with everything she had!
Drifting embers can be blown away by a breeze. A physical projectile launched by a master psychic? Not so much. To ensure the hit, Delphox even layered another Lucky Chant on top of the throw.
The wand sliced through the air like a heat-seeking boomerang, arcing around the Gust and striking Dragonfly squarely in the chest.
The Will-O-Wisp ignited.
Dragonfly let out a pained hiss as the blue flames clung to her scales. A wave of exhaustion washed over her. The Burn status was a physical attacker's worst nightmare—it didn't just hurt; it halved their physical strength.
With the Burn successfully applied, Delphox's confidence returned. She began to play more aggressively, closing the gap. She knew Flygon couldn't naturally learn Safeguard or Refresh. The only way to clear that Burn was Rest, and Delphox had Dream Eater ready and waiting. She wouldn't give her opponent a second to recover.
Delphox let a confident smirk play across her lips. I've got you on the ropes. How do you win with a Burned dragon?
But in that split second of overconfidence, she stepped a foot too close.
Dragonfly suddenly dove. Before Delphox could blink, the dragon's tail whipped around, coiling tightly around the Fox-Witch's waist like a scaly boa constrictor.
Gotcha!
Panic flared in Delphox's eyes. She looked up and saw that Dragonfly was no longer looking pained—she was wearing that same mocking, "I-fooled-you" grin from before.
"Lock her down! Sand Tomb!" Arthur's command was like a hammer blow.
Gwyneth's expression shifted instantly. She realized the reversal too late.
The ground beneath Delphox's feet liquified into a churning vortex of shifting sand, pulling her down. She tried to use her telekinesis to lift herself out, but Dragonfly was dead-weighting her, pinning her into the trap with her own body.
Even with the Burn weakening her, Dragonfly was strong enough to hold a struggling Delphox in place while the quicksand did the work.
Delphox realized the truth: she'd been baited. Again.
Arthur had let Dragonfly take the Burn on purpose. He used it as a lure to make Gwyneth play aggressively and step into the kill zone. Once the Sand Tomb swallowed Delphox's lower body, she lost her mobility. She couldn't jump, and she couldn't run.
A physical Earthquake might be weakened by the Burn, but Dragonfly had other tools.
"Finish it! Earth Power!"
Dragonfly didn't need physical strength for this. She tapped into the tectonic energy of the arena itself. Since Earth Power was a Special attack, the Burn's physical debuff meant nothing.
"Witch, maximum output! Dazzling Gleam!" Gwyneth shouted, her voice tinged with desperation.
She couldn't believe Arthur's audacity. Who sacrifices their ace's physical viability just to secure a trap? Even if Dragonfly won this round, her effectiveness for the rest of the match would be severely hampered.
But Arthur's head was clear. He knew that against a world-class Captain like Gwyneth, "sweeping" was a fantasy. You took your wins where you could get them. Besides, his team was already leading the overall score. He didn't need a miracle; he just needed a result.
"Delphox...!" (You cheating bug!)
The Witch was genuinely furious now. The sand was up to her waist, and the ground beneath her was beginning to glow with volcanic energy.
"Dragonfly, disengage! Earth Power, now!"
The subsequent explosion of jagged earth was exactly what Gwyneth had feared.
"Del-PHOX!!" (Fight me like a man, you coward!)
The master of illusions and mind games was now the one screaming for a "fair fight." The irony wasn't lost on Dragonfly, who found the situation hilarious.
She's tilting. Look at her go.
"Grawrr-graw~" (Oh, did I hurt the wittle fox's feelings? Poor baby.)
Dragonfly flashed one last, incredibly "salty" grin before closing her eyes to weather the final, desperate burst of Dazzling Gleam.
A moment later, the dust settled. The referee raised his flag.
"Delphox is unable to battle!"
Though Dragonfly was battered and seared by the final Fairy-type counterattack, Arthur had secured the win. It didn't matter if Dragonfly was too weakened to continue afterward; in a clash of aces, Arthur had taken the board.
He wasn't worried. He was ahead.
Gwyneth, on the other hand, was sweating. Her two greatest pillars were gone, and she still hadn't managed to break Arthur's momentum.
And now, it was time for Arthur to bring out the heavy hitter.
"Round two," Arthur said, clicking a luxury ball. "Lina, take the stage!"
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