Chapter 22: Confusion
The referee blew the whistle, and the match began.
This time Arthur paused at the start, not rushing to give commands immediately, but first observing his opponent's actions.
He heard the student on the other side shout energetically, "Raticate, use Focus Energy!"
This was another player who relied on vocal commands.
Hearing this command, Arthur felt it was as he expected.
His pause was correct: using "Smokescreen" at the start of this match would have been a mistake.
"Focus Energy" is a common buff move. Although its move level isn't high, if you let the opponent stack it up, it can still tip the scales of the battle over time.
So, this time it was his turn to attack.
"Quick Attack."
His command was as calm and decisive as always.
Froakie immediately started upon hearing the command, and "whoosh," he turned into a bullet, speeding towards the Raticate in front.
This lunge was very fast, and the Raticate, who had just used Focus Energy for less than two seconds, was hit head-on by Froakie's headbutt.
Even though his Pokémon was hit, the opponent on the other side smiled triumphantly.
"Now, Double Edge!"
The opponent shouted the command again loudly.
The momentum was indeed like that of a shonen anime protagonist.
However, he obviously hadn't realized that the stage he was on wasn't a Japanese anime high school scene.
"Lick."
Arthur's command was still smooth and swift.
But this time, he undoubtedly chose a way of fighting that generated the most questions in the barrage.
As soon as he finished speaking, the live stream's barrage was filled with question marks.
Netizens weren't fast enough to type, so they could only send out question marks frantically. After a while, some began to complain.
"Lick on a Normal-type? Is the streamer out of his mind?"
"Came from the homepage, this is the top outdoor competitive streamer on the hourly rankings?"
"A Ghost-type move on a Normal-type Pokémon, lol, I can do this too."
In Pokémon types, Ghost-type and Normal-type are mutually ineffective.
Ghost-type moves deal heavily reduced damage to Normal-type Pokémon, and vice versa.
And the reality was indeed so—
On the field, Froakie, after landing from the "Quick Attack," immediately gathered energy again. He used his fastest speed, regardless of stamina consumption, and bounced up a second time, sticking out his tongue to use Lick.
But even though he tried so hard, most of the purple move glow on the tongue when the "Lick" move touched Raticate instantly dissipated.
In reality, the type matchups between Pokémon are mainly manifested in the mutual annihilation and dissolution of energy.
When a Ghost-type move hits a Normal-type Pokémon, the Ghost-type energy it contains will quickly be annihilated, and only a little bit of the move's original physical effect will remain.
In other words, Froakie's action was equivalent to simply licking Raticate once, smearing saliva all over his face.
This was obviously not a wise decision.
Just when the new viewers were all laughing at the streamer's noob moves, some of the old viewers who had watched yesterday remained calmly silent.
And soon, a few scattered comments appeared.
"Stop laughing, look at the opponent's expression."
At this time, the student named Eren on the other side was obviously not as optimistic as the netizens imagined.
At first, when he saw Froakie jump up to use "Lick," he also smiled. But soon, he couldn't laugh anymore.
Because his Raticate's special move "Double Edge" also failed to have the intended effect on the opponent.
Raticate's paws clenched and hammered hard at Froakie, but the energy gathered in the little paws dissipated like ice in the sun the moment it touched the opponent.
In the end, it just turned into a few gentle paw touches, which looked quite cute.
"What's going on?!"
Eren was confused.
And at this time, Arthur was obviously prepared. The opponent's distraction didn't stop him from seizing the opportunity to counterattack.
"Jump back, Bubble."
Froakie jumped back twice in a row.
First, to create distance, and second, to give himself some time to rest and catch his breath.
Then he opened his mouth, "Spit spit spit spit spit!"
A series of bubbles sprayed out of Froakie's mouth, densely raining down on Raticate.
The constantly exploding bubbles burned red marks on Raticate's body, corroding a lot of hair. Raticate squeaked in pain and kept urging his owner through the psychic link, asking him what to do.
Only then did Eren wake up from his confusion.
"Roll to dodge, and close the distance!"
He quickly gave the command, putting aside his confusion for now.
Arthur saw his intention, but didn't stop him. Instead, he calmly uttered a single word: "Stop."
Froakie stopped "Bubble," taking the opportunity to rest and wait for the opponent to come closer.
Raticate rolled twice, and instantly came in front of Froakie.
Eren gritted his teeth.
He refused to believe in this Talent.
"Double Edge!"
He shouted the same move again.
Double Edge is a Fighting-type move, and its effect is to convert the anger accumulated from the previous damage into energy and unleash it on the enemy!
Just like the name of the move, what I received before, I will return it to you twofold!
So this move is most suitable for using as a counterattack after taking damage.
No matter how you look at it, this was the most suitable time for Raticate to use this move.
Although Eren was completely confused about what happened just now, he did have the characteristic of a Japanese anime high school boy - stubbornness.
If it doesn't work once, try it twice!
Just go all out!
So Arthur was forced to re-educate him once: this is not a scene from a hot-blooded anime.
"Lick."
The same command, the same scene.
Raticate failed again.
The same scenario played out twice in a short time. Even a fool would have seen that something was wrong.
The barrage in Arthur's live stream once again exploded with question marks.
After the barrage of question marks, what followed was no longer mindless mockery.
Many people began to humbly seek advice: "Is there a barrage god who can tell me, what exactly is going on here?"
Some viewers who had watched the match yesterday took the opportunity to make fun of others: "Ah, I totally understand now (actually, I don't)~"
"Let me tell you, you have to do this, then this, and then this, and then you'll have this effect!"
At this time, the opponent was completely confused, while Arthur was still giving calm commands.
"Jump up, Pound, then jump back, Bubble."
Under Arthur's calm and precise command, Froakie attacked smoothly and won almost unscathed.
After the match ended, Eren still had a bewildered expression. When the event staff handed him the spray medicine and asked him to return the player's number, he was completely blank.
At this point, he no longer cared about the result of the match. He just wanted to know what those two consecutive situations on the field were.
And this was also the question that countless viewers in the live stream were eagerly waiting to be answered.
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