Huge Thank You and Welcome to Our New Patron: 'kukaracha pokelais'!
--------------------
Although Protect temporarily blocked Wash Rotom's Will-O-Wisp, Aiden needed to quickly adjust his strategy to prevent the opponent's next Will-O-Wisp attack.
After all, Will-O-Wisp could be used consecutively, but Protect couldn't.
Betting on the opponent's move missing certainly wasn't Aiden's style either.
For this, Aiden's solution was very simple—
"Swampert, use Substitute!"
Having already completed Mega Evolution, its ability had changed from the meaningless Torrent to Swift Swim.
The current Swampert was like a blue flash in the rain—when going all out, its speed was almost fast enough to leave afterimages.
Soon, Swampert used part of its energy to create a Substitute that looked almost identical to itself, positioning it in front of its sturdy body.
Seeing this, Wallace couldn't help but click his tongue inwardly.
"Teacher Azure actually reacted this quickly?"
The fact that Rotom could use Will-O-Wisp was something he had discovered by chance while searching the Pokédex for rain team optimization strategies.
Generally speaking, no one would think that a Water-type Pokémon would suddenly use such a move.
But his little trick clearly hadn't fooled Aiden—after decisive commands, it was easily blocked by Protect.
He had even used Swampert's speed advantage to create a Substitute first, preventing himself from using Will-O-Wisp again to limit his main attacker.
The Substitute move had excellent defensive effects—it could block almost all abnormal statuses and most status-changing moves, and could take at least one attack in place of the user.
Although the drawback was that it consumed about 1/4 of the Pokémon's HP, it was clearly worth the cost.
Now, only by breaking through the Substitute could they threaten Swampert again.
So Wallace decisively chose to switch Pokémon.
He also had an "inner mirror match god" on his team, and its speed might not necessarily lose to Aiden's Mega Swampert!
"Go, Ludicolo!"
The honest-looking Ludicolo with a large rain basin on its head appeared, causing Aiden to raise an eyebrow immediately.
Ludicolo also had the Swift Swim ability, and more coincidentally, its speed was exactly equal to Mega Swampert's.
In other words, if their configurations were the same, they would act simultaneously.
Facing this duck-mouth god that could use Grass-type moves and had a great advantage in rain team mirror matches—even with Substitute to block one move—Aiden wasn't willing to clash head-on with it.
Because this thing could learn Encore, and Encore happened to be one of the moves that could bypass Substitute to affect the opponent.
Aiden might not worry as much about others, but for Wallace who had clearly "learned bad habits" and even pulled out Will-O-Wisp, Encore could only be considered basic knowledge.
If Mega Swampert got locked by Encore, he would still have to switch out anyway.
So it was better not to give him the opportunity from the start.
While Aiden was thinking, Wallace indeed preemptively made his command:
"Ludicolo, use Encore!"
"..."
Steven, sitting beside him, suddenly felt his heart tighten, subconsciously looking at Wallace who was still focused and serious about the battle, his expression instantly becoming complex.
Wait, brother?
How has your command style changed so much after not seeing you for a while?
It shouldn't be prepared for me, right...
But soon, Steven returned to normal.
It didn't seem like a big problem anyway—after all, he had also specially caught a Salazzle in Paldea, planning to give it to Wallace as a "greeting gift" to let him taste Paldea's fresh offerings...
Now it was a two-way exchange.
"As expected."
Aiden clicked his tongue inwardly, simultaneously making a switching command to recall Mega Swampert.
Since the main body left the battlefield, the remaining Substitute also quickly dissipated into energy.
"Next one, it's decided to be you, Kingdra!"
After Kingdra appeared, it immediately received an energy wave from Ludicolo.
However, because it hadn't used any moves upon entry, it wasn't affected by "Encore."
"The prerequisite for Encore to work is that the opponent's Pokémon has already used a move. If students react quickly enough, they can also do as Teacher Azure did—instantly recall during the opponent's action to achieve a safe switch."
Aiden quickly explained.
[Poggers although I can't understand the mind games between both sides anymore, it seems really impressive!]
[What nonsense—I only see both sides constantly switching Pokémon. Are they trying to gain positional advantages?]
[That's right—at the start both sides seemed quite conservative, apparently testing the opponent's tactics. But looking at Teacher Azure's switches, he should be starting to break through the opponent's defensive synergy?]
In singles battles, especially in game ranked matches, since both sides' Pokémon typings can't be too far apart, victory can only be achieved by suppressing the opponent's HP at minimal cost.
Therefore, switching was also a very important aspect of singles battles—the more skilled the trainer was at battling, the better they could seize opportunities to gain advantageous matchups.
Apparently Wallace thought the same way.
Kingdra had a guaranteed-hit Hurricane in rain, so it posed quite a threat to Ludicolo.
His only Swift Swim user couldn't be allowed to be broken through so easily—otherwise, he would become incredibly passive.
So Wallace also immediately chose to recall Ludicolo.
Seeing this, Aiden surprisingly also recalled the just-switched-in Kingdra, choosing to switch simultaneously.
The reason was simple—he had guessed that Wallace would switch back to Rotom for defensive purposes.
Or rather, he was deliberately inducing Wallace to make such a switch adjustment.
Kingdra's threat to Rotom was almost negligible, but it was extremely effective against one of his team cores, Ludicolo. Therefore, anyone who could read the situation would make the same choice.
And Aiden was just one step ahead of Wallace.
He had predicted Wallace's move, so he simultaneously chose to recall Kingdra, seizing the opportunity to switch in an iron ball that seemed completely out of place in rain weather.
Ferrothorn—the "eternal god of rain team mirror matches" in Aiden's words—finally got its chance to appear.
"Tch..."
Facing this Pokémon that theoretically shouldn't pose much of a threat, Wallace instead found himself in a difficult position.
Indeed, Ferrothorn's offensive capabilities were almost negligible—even with Grass-type as its STAB, which was super effective against Water-types, its combat power seemed mediocre at best. It couldn't possibly one-shot Rotom, right?
But the problem was—this thing was tough!
Given Aiden's style, this Ferrothorn was definitely maxed out in durability, an impenetrable wall that his side simply couldn't get through.
Forget about Rotom—even his entire team seemed to lack a Pokémon that could break through its steel body.
At this point, there was no choice but to grind slowly.
"Rotom, use Will-O-Wisp!"
Wallace decisively commanded.
Although the threat wasn't great, Ferrothorn's physical attack was decent and it could learn Grass-type's rare powerful move—Power Whip with 120 base power.
If not further restricted by burn status, getting hit would still hurt quite a bit.
Luckily, Ferrothorn almost had no speed to speak of—being absurdly slow, it couldn't even dodge attacks.
Therefore, after Wallace made his command, Aiden didn't make any counter-strategy, but immediately followed up with:
"Ferrothorn, use Leech Seed."
As Rotom sprayed a ball of ghost fire from its chest, Ferrothorn silently controlled the wildly growing vines on its body, scattering seeds full of life force into the air.
The sinister flames pierced through its body, quickly leaving some burn marks on its surface.
Clearly, it had fallen into a burn status—not only would it continuously lose HP, but its offensive capabilities would also drop significantly.
But Wallace's Rotom obviously wasn't faring well either.
Leech Seed's adhesion was very powerful—even Rotom, with its appliance body, quickly had parts of its surface eroded by the seeds.
The rich life energy absorbed was quickly channeled back to the main body, helping it rapidly recover the HP lost to burns.
Why was Ferrothorn the god of rain team mirror matches?
First, it only had two weaknesses—Fighting-type moves mostly required close contact, not only suffering from Iron Barbs recoil, but also not being too deadly to the durable Ferrothorn.
And its other fatal weakness, Fire-type, had greatly reduced power in the rain system, and its teammates were all excellent at countering Fire-types, basically eliminating this flaw.
Without weaknesses, an impenetrable defensive wall actually had offensive capabilities too.
With its STAB high-power Power Whip, and moves like Gyro Ball that turned speed disadvantages into advantages, as well as classic combo moves like Iron Head, its offensive capability couldn't be underestimated.
And this Pokémon had many strange tricks too!
Grass-types not knowing Leech Seed? That's ridiculous~
Besides that, Spikes, Stealth Rock, Knock Off, and Thunder Wave were also its specialties. Without move restrictions, Aiden had too many choices.
Of course, the most crucial point was...
Grass-Steel was extremely niche in the Pokémon world—such a versatile defensive wall had actually never been developed.
Although it was a bit ugly, its strength was undeniably high.
Even if there was a risk of being broken through, it could rely on its self-sacrificing Explosion to take down an opponent with it.
No matter how it was used, it wasn't a loss—it could be said to be the perfect defensive wall that perfectly matched his tactical arrangements.
"..."
Wallace fell silent.
He suddenly recalled the painful memory of being dominated by Salt Cure for an entire night—the current scene seemed just like back then.
After being attached by Leech Seed, Rotom standing on the field was just Ferrothorn's blood bag—the damage from Burn wasn't enough to offset what Leech Seed stole, while his own HP loss was real and couldn't be recovered.
So he decisively chose to switch again.
The current solution was only to send out Ludicolo again, relying on its super-effective Fighting-type high-power move Focus Blast to finish the opponent in one go.
However...
"Too naive!"
Aiden revealed an elegant smile, making the exact same switch as Wallace again.
Rain team mirror matches ultimately came down to proficiency.
Even if Wallace had Champion-level skills in actual battles, his experience in the battle game still lagged far behind his own.
So—
"Your next Pokémon is—Ludicolo!"
Just as Aiden spoke, Wallace indeed switched in the duck-mouth god as he had predicted.
This time, Aiden didn't choose Kingdra as the counter, but seized the moment when the rain was about to end, sending out the weather setter Pelipper again.
Pelipper's appearance caused the dispersing dark clouds to gather once more, and rain began falling heavily again.
At the same time, it hinted at one thing to Wallace.
"Judging by the timing, Aiden's Pelipper didn't choose to carry Damp Rock to extend the rain duration."
Wallace quickly realized this.
"Then, this Pelipper was very likely configured for offense."
"And my Ludicolo probably can't withstand Pelipper's full-power Hurricane..."
Wallace quickly realized the severity of the problem.
Aiden seemed to have continuously predicted his moves, constantly trying to force him to keep switching.
Every time Ludicolo was driven away and forced to switch to another Pokémon, Aiden would definitely send out his troublesome Ferrothorn again, continuously harassing and wearing down his HP.
Unconsciously, he seemed to have been completely grasped by Aiden at his weakest point.
Wallace was horrified inwardly, his mind rapidly searching for a solution.
If he didn't recall Ludicolo, Pelipper definitely wouldn't switch out either, but would look for opportunities to use Hurricane to take down his team core.
But if he did switch, Aiden would certainly make the same switch again, sending out that annoying Ferrothorn.
How could there be such an unorthodox Pokémon!
Wallace took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
Then, at this moment, his choice could only be one—
"I'll go all out with you!"
Wallace had already made his decision.
"Come back, Ludicolo."
"Go, Swampert!"
As Wallace made the switch, Aiden also smiled slightly, making his command unhurriedly:
"Pelipper, use U-turn."
When the opponent switched Pokémon, he chose a switching move that required some time.
While switching, he could also slightly chip away at the opponent's HP.
The Swampert that appeared got slapped by Pelipper's flapping wings, still looking confused but powerless against its opponent.
Seizing the gap while Pelipper was being recalled, Wallace quickly grabbed the opportunity, deeply grasping the necklace on his chest, shouting:
"Swampert, Mega evolve!"
That's right—Mega Swampert's speed was no less than Ludicolo's, and it could also learn quite a few Fighting-type moves. It might actually be able to one-shot this troublesome Ferrothorn.
Wallace's calculation was indeed good, but the Pokémon Aiden sent out wasn't the Ferrothorn he expected, but...
"Go, Scizor!"
Since he knew the opponent was going all out, why would Aiden let his team's "most tormenting to opponents" Pokémon sacrifice itself willingly?
"Too young, Wallace~"
Aiden's lips were now curled up high, revealing a very pleased expression.
Scizor had a very sturdy build and only one weakness—Fire-type.
No matter whether Wallace sent out Swampert or not, he could use Scizor as a pivot to probe the opponent's intentions.
Now, Wallace's last trump card had also been revealed.
"Scizor, use Swords Dance."
Facing the already Mega Evolved, instantly amplified Mega Swampert, Aiden casually gave his command.
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)