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Sho waited at the exit of the Competitor's Passage for Luther. Seeing Luther letting Azumarill spray water onto his neck to cool him down made him smile.
Luther noticed Sho, too, and walked over to greet him.
"Battling you makes me feel like I only made it to the Top 16 because of luck."
This self-deprecating remark caused Luther to wave his hand dismissively.
"That's not true. You and your Pokémon were excellent."
"Excellent? In what way?" Sho shot back.
That question took Luther by surprise. It had just been a casual compliment, but Sho was clearly staying to hear a real answer. Brushing him off now would feel wrong.
Luther sighed. "I just think your achievements today shouldn't be attributed to luck. Luck is vague and intangible; compared to your own strength, it's just one small piece of the puzzle that determines victory. And if you call it luck, it's unfair to the Pokémon that fought alongside you in this tournament."
Luther's words made Sho close his eyes.
After a moment of silence, a faint smile returned to his face.
"Thank you for correcting me. I understand now what I'm lacking. After leaving the Lily of the Valley Conference, I'll continue training. Next time, I'll aim for even greater honors."
Sho left, taking with him his Top 16 achievement and a renewed determination to grow stronger.
Meanwhile, Luther's journey continued. After parting ways with Sho, he ran with Mai and Candice towards the neighboring arena. On the way, they spotted Team Rocket. The trio called out to them, but Luther didn't stop.
He knew they wanted to show off their latest sales results, but he was in a hurry. He simply told them he would check later.
Even before they reached the stadium, they could hear the commentator's voice and the audience's cheers.
Luther and his group, holding high-tier VIP seats, rushed into the stands. Before they had time to sit down, the commentator's voice rang out again in shock:
"Dakota's Salamence and Aggron have both gone down! This match is progressing incredibly fast; it's intense! Conway and Dakota are not giving an inch. At this point, it's still impossible to tell who will come out on top!"
Luther looked up. On the electronic screen displaying player data, three of Dakota's Pokémon icons had dimmed, while Conway had lost four. Conway's fallen Pokémon were Aggron, Dusknoir, Shuckle and Heracross, as indicated by the dimmed icons.
Meanwhile, Slowking was lit up, indicating that it had already been sent into battle.
But when Luther saw Dakota's side, his eyes widened.
Mai and Candice also looked incredulous.
Dakota's three fallen Pokémon were Salamence, Froslass, and Darkrai.
Conway had really done it.
He had said he knew how to counter Darkrai. At the time, Luther thought it might be similar to how Conway dealt with his Marill, able to dominate one target, but unable to handle others.
But now it seemed that Conway had executed his plan perfectly, taking down not only Darkrai but also two of Dakota's other Pokémon.
The key question was how he had done it. Luther was filled with curiosity. Due to the delay on their journey here, he had missed the most exciting part, and there was no replay available. It was frustrating.
Conway sent out Slowking, while Dakota hesitated for a moment before releasing Metagross.
Slowking was a dual Psychic–Water type Pokémon, while Metagross was a Steel–Psychic type Pokémon. Neither had a type advantage over the other, so this was shaping up to be another head-on clash.
The moment Metagross entered the field, a glow spread across the arena. Lines of light formed the outline of a small 'room'.
Luther froze for a second; he had just realized something.
This setup... this scene... it felt familiar.
Eelektross, Vigoroth, Girafarig, Salamence, Metagross, Darkrai, and Froslass.
When comparing Dakota's revealed Pokémon with Conway's lineup, one thing stood out: Dakota's team was generally much faster.
This made Conway's strategy easy to understand and guess.
It was a Trick Room team.
An entire team built around low speed to maximize the speed reversal effect of Trick Room. With two or even three Pokémon carrying the Trick Room move, Conway could cycle the effect and put constant pressure on Dakota's ultra-fast Darkrai.
Since the preliminary rounds, Dakota's Darkrai had been fighting alone. Even with the seven-day break that Luther had helped to secure, it wasn't enough time for it to fully recover from accumulated fatigue.
What's more, Dakota was stubbornly refusing to switch Pokémon.
This made Conway's strategy extremely effective.
If you don't switch, once Trick Room is set up, any slow Pokémon that enters can use the speed advantage to force close-range pressure on Darkrai.
As long as you don't switch, it becomes an endless rotation battle. When Trick Room is about to expire, just set it up again!
Quickly scanning the match data available in the VIP section, Luther saw the moves used by Dusknoir, which confirmed his deduction further.
Dusknoir's very first move upon entering the field had been Trick Room. After withstanding Darkrai's Dark Pulse without taking any damage, it used the initial speed advantage to cast Mean Look, locking Darkrai in place so that Dakota couldn't switch out.
Then came Brick Break and Will-O-Wisp.
Three of its four moves were specifically designed to cripple Darkrai.
Dusknoir had only one mission: to unleash every possible move that could hinder Darkrai.
Despite being burdened with all those debilitating effects, Darkrai still relied on its overwhelming strength to take Dusknoir down. But that was exactly when Conway revealed his real killing strategy.
One after another, four Pokémon rotated in, wearing Darkrai down. Just before Trick Room was about to end, Slowking came in to refresh it.
And it worked.
No matter how strong Darkrai was, it had its limits. It wasn't a godlike being like Arceus, the Space-Time Trio or Giratina, who could casually destroy worlds.
Ultimately, Heracross's powerful horn knocked Darkrai off the field for the first time in the entire Lily of the Valley Conference. This also revealed Dakota's second Pokémon to the audience for the first time.
As Dakota had only used Darkrai in battles and never switched it out, many spectators and online viewers joked that his remaining five Pokémon might be Magikarp or Caterpie.
But Conway had clearly anticipated everything.
His Trick Room strategy wasn't just designed to counter Darkrai; it targeted Dakota's entire team.
Was this the same Conway who, in the anime, prompted Ash to perform his original theme song?
The Trick Room strategy that should have been used against Ash was now being used against Dakota. In a full six-on-six battle with plenty of room for error, it was no wonder Conway had been so confident in requesting this format.
(End of Chapter)