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Poisoned, afflicted with Paralysis, and slowed down...
Having been weakened across the board, Froslass was already furious. Flickering in and out of sight within the snowstorm, she glared at Jumpluff's face through gritted teeth.
"Blizzard."
Dakota wanted a quick victory. He knew exactly what Luther was trying to do, and he absolutely could not allow Luther to drag the battle out.
"Protect."
The smiles on both Luther and Jumpluff's faces were perfectly synchronized. If one had to describe them, they looked downright smug and irritating.
Jumpluff once again hid behind the barrier created by Protect, completely ignoring the Blizzard crashing against the shield while continuing to disgust Froslass with nonstop trash talk.
"Calm down."
This Blizzard covered a huge area, fitting Dakota's plan of using AOE attacks to guarantee damage and accuracy.
However, Froslass's stamina was also dropping rapidly. Using this level of firepower against a Jumpluff that was nearly out of the fight after taking a single Ice Fang simply wasn't worth the energy cost.
Froslass's mentality was beginning to collapse. Although she was still obeying Dakota's commands, she had forgotten all the emotional control training from everyday practice and was in an awful mood.
This was already the second time Dakota had told Froslass to control her emotions. But as a fellow female Pokémon, Jumpluff naturally knew exactly which words would hurt the most.
If Dakota could hear what Jumpluff was saying right now, he would probably develop some very subtle confusion regarding Luther's image.
After all, there was a saying:
Pokémon tend to resemble their trainers, one way or another.
An outstanding Pokémon Trainer naturally needed to know how to handle unexpected situations during battle, adapt on the fly, and keep the flow of the match under control.
Dakota had always believed his adaptability was top-tier. Yet in this battle against Luther, he felt an increasing sense of helplessness as the momentum slipped beyond his control.
Darkrai's forced move-switching had disrupted Dakota's original setup and strategy, but he had managed to recover using Scizor.
Metagross and Scizor together had eliminated two of Luther's ace Pokémon. In terms of overall team strength, he still held the advantage.
This was the accumulation of experience from starting his path as a Pokémon Trainer earlier than Luther, Ash, and Ettore. Maybe starting earlier didn't determine everything, but it also meant he wasn't someone who could be easily overturned.
Dakota had thought he had regained control of the battle.
But then Jumpluff appeared, throwing the battle back into chaos and forcefully reversing Luther's disadvantageous position once again.
Luther had never intended to clash head-on with Dakota the entire match. He understood his own weaknesses well. If he wanted to win, he needed to create uncertainty.
The more variables there were, the greater his chances of victory.
Those variables were the bizarre and unconventional tricks his Pokémon had learned over time.
And now, the forced move-switching had worked.
The trash talk disrupting the opponent's mentality had also worked.
A beam of light shone down on Froslass as Dakota voluntarily switched her out.
He had no choice but to switch.
Froslass had already started arguing directly with Jumpluff, and it looked like the two would keep bickering endlessly if left alone.
Dakota's fifth Pokémon was Vigoroth, one of his earliest partners alongside Girafarig.
"Vigoroth, the Wild Monkey Pokémon. It is constantly restless and always wants to cause chaos. It can't sit still for even a minute. If it stops moving, stress will build up inside its body."
Reading the Pokédex entry, Dawn let out a sigh of relief for Luther's Jumpluff. At the very least, the type matchup was more favorable now.
But Candice didn't think so.
Jumpluff no longer had much fighting capability left. There was no way it could repeat the same tactics it used against Froslass, and Vigoroth's battle habits meant it would almost never stop attacking. Jumpluff would only become even more passive.
When Luther saw Vigoroth enter the field, he hesitated internally.
He had been waiting for Eelektross, yet Dakota still hadn't sent it out. Could it be that Dakota hadn't even brought it to this match?
Whether or not to switch Pokémon had become a decision Luther needed to make immediately.
Jumpluff's cry gave Luther the answer.
Its eyes were filled with unwavering determination.
Luther nodded heavily toward Jumpluff.
Vigoroth, hyperactive to the extreme, kept shaking restlessly on the battlefield, completely unable to wait any longer for the fight to resume. The instant the battle restarted and Dakota gave the order…
"Fire Punch!"
…Vigoroth flashed in front of Jumpluff at astonishing speed.
"So fast!" Misaki had only just cried out in shock when Jumpluff was already sent flying like a ball of fire.
Jumpluff's vision blurred completely. Gritting its teeth, it barely managed to climb back to its feet before collapsing again.
"Jumpluff is unable to battle. Vigoroth wins."
Just as Luther was marveling at Vigoroth's terrifying offensive power and speed, the commentator suddenly stammered out in shock as well.
"Th-This is... Vigoroth has actually been poisoned!"
"When did Jumpluff even attack? The only contact between Vigoroth and Jumpluff was that instant when Fire Punch landed. Could a move really be used in such a tiny window of time?"
"Could it be that Luther and Jumpluff only pretended not to react? Was this all part of their plan, too?"
The commentator couldn't understand it.
Neither could the referee.
Vigoroth's symptoms were unmistakably those of having inhaled Poison Powder. They were professionals; there was no way they could have mistaken it.
Dakota's mind was starting to go numb.
If Froslass being poisoned earlier could still be explained by the cotton fluff lingering around Jumpluff, then how exactly had Vigoroth been poisoned during that brief exchange just now?
The moment Vigoroth landed the hit, it had instantly leapt backward to create distance, leaving Jumpluff practically no time to counterattack.
Unless...
Unless Jumpluff's release of Poison Powder had been concealed so perfectly that nobody could notice it at all.
As Luther released the recalled Jumpluff beside Mismagius so she could help take care of it, a gust of wind suddenly blew across the field.
The cold wind stirred up by the hail-covered battlefield happened to blow toward Dakota's side.
Luther froze for a moment, then burst into laughter.
This had actually been one of the very first techniques he trained Jumpluff to master.
When using the three powders, don't release everything at once, leave a tiny amount hidden within the cotton fluff so the next release can be much faster.
However, the accuracy of the powder moves was heavily dependent on wind direction and battle distance. If the wind blew against them, then aside from sticking directly to the opponent and throwing the powder point-blank, there would be basically no accuracy at all.
Today's weather had originally been hot and windless, making it unsuitable for long-range powder attacks.
But Froslass had needed hail to cover herself.
And the cold wind created by the hail had just so happened to become a tailwind for Jumpluff's position earlier.
Luck?
You could call it that.
But Jumpluff had fought bit by bit to create that chance to gamble on luck.
If she had fallen to Froslass earlier, then there would have been no opportunity to poison Vigoroth afterward. Dakota could have cleared the field at minimal cost and continued expanding Luther's disadvantage.
Luther crouched down and pulled Jumpluff tightly into his arms.
It was just like when he had first arrived in this world, back then, Jumpluff had also turned the tide against impossible odds, helping Luther reverse the situation despite facing a type disadvantage.
And now, standing on the stage of the Lily of the Valley Conference, she had once again accomplished the same miracle.
Rarely did Jumpluff struggle.
Nor did she kick Luther.
She merely turned her head aside, clicked her tongue, and revealed an expression that practically screamed:
"I worry myself sick taking care of you."
(End of Chapter)