When the Perish Song resounded, opponent Glacia's expression immediately became strange.
This move, though rare, was Lorelei's signature tactic. Any Ice-type trainer had more or less seen Lorelei's set of plays.
Using Lapras as the node, forcibly making the opponent rotate or desperately attack, thereby allowing herself to control the battle's tempo.
Originally she had thought this Perish Song would be like the previous group stage matches, waiting until both sides fought to their last breath with no ability to continue rotating before suddenly striking, forcibly ending the match through mechanics.
However, Lorelei chose to proactively use the move, actively placing the bitter choice before her.
Whether to use mechanics to let her Pokémon avoid the oppression brought by Perish Song, or to hard-press the countdown to destruction and continue attacking fiercely——
The answer actually wasn't hard to think of.
"Come back, Abomasnow."
On the commentator's seat, Aiden saw Glacia's Poké Ball motion and nodded.
"Indeed, this isn't the time to be stubborn. Although both sides have weather setters, if the initiative to set weather is lost, the disadvantage in a same-type internal battle is still considerable."
"Moreover, Abomasnow's Stone Edge is also the best strategy against Articuno, keeping it will still be very useful."
"But what good choice is there against Lapras? If I remember correctly, Elite Four Glacia's aces should be Walrein and Glalie?"
While Aiden was muttering, the answer was already revealed: "I choose you, Glalie!"
Hearing Glacia's voice, and seeing a Pokémon resembling a human face appear on the field after a red flash, Aiden couldn't help but begin thinking.
"Glalie is honestly a bit niche, but it does have a Mega Evolution form. Before this, Elite Four Glacia hadn't brought it out yet, so it should be her hidden trump card."
"After all, she's an Elite Four member from the Hoenn region—I really won't believe it if you say she doesn't know Mega Evolution!"
As soon as his words fell, Glacia indeed did as he said, lightly grasping her right hand while displaying her Key Stone ring on her finger.
"Here it comes, here it comes, it's indeed Mega Glalie!"
When the evolution radiance flashed, Aiden also immediately became excited.
Among the earliest discovered Mega Evolution Pokémon, Glalie was absolutely niche among niches.
But since this time the user was an Elite Four powerhouse, she definitely had her own unique special moves, which Aiden firmly believed.
However, what tactics could Glalie pull off? Could it be the legendary Refrigerate Explosion?
But this wasn't doubles, using a Mega slot to trade one-for-one with the opponent wasn't profitable, and in an Ice-type Masters Tournament where everyone resisted Ice-type moves, using this move would be a bit too…
Aiden couldn't help but feel some doubts, and thus subconsciously began looking forward to Elite Four Glacia's performance.
"We can only say, both sides have a big stage in this match. It's already the finals so no need to hide anything, bring out whatever hardcore moves you have early!"
The Mega Evolution light quickly dissipated. During the process, Lorelei didn't interfere, but chose to let Lapras use Ice Beam, completely freezing the light snow-covered, somewhat wet ground.
Because Lapras's body was heavy, moving on water or ice surfaces would instead be more advantageous, so Lorelei deliberately created a field suitable for its battle.
And soon, the first round of contest between both sides rapidly unfolded.
"Lapras, Confuse Ray!"
"Glalie, use Rollout to shake off its move!"
Hearing both their commands, Aiden blinked, looking somewhat surprised: "So Glalie can actually learn Rollout?"
"But its body is indeed very round, really suitable for this move—after all, even Miltank can curl up and roll——"
The Rollout move's effect is to forcibly attack the opponent continuously, and after stacking up, the speed becomes faster and faster, with power continuously strengthening as well.
Although not commonly seen, it was still a decent handling method.
Because once this move actually got running, its effect was somewhat similar to Rapid Spin, able to use body rotation to block some move effects.
And the icy field Lapras created just now made it so Glalie wouldn't be affected by much friction when rolling, its speed immediately reaching a level where almost only afterimages could be seen.
Under such circumstances, the Confuse Ray Lapras sent out to confuse the opponent naturally had difficulty hitting, and could only watch helplessly as the opponent circled around it, ready to attack at any moment.
"Now!"
Seizing the opportunity when Lapras's attention was attracted by the afterimages, Glacia immediately waved her hand and decisively spoke.
Glalie in the middle of rolling immediately changed direction, launching a fierce offensive at Lapras from behind.
However——her idea seemed to also be within Lorelei's prediction.
"Lapras, dodge the attack while singing the final song!"
Lorelei revealed a confident smile, her eyes full of confidence as she pushed her glasses frame.
Her on-the-spot reaction also made Aiden nod—
"Indeed, because the rolling process can't stop immediately, if Glacia is determined to fight to the death, once she fails to eliminate Lapras before Perish Song takes effect, it will quickly lose its fighting spirit, losing a Mega slot in vain."
"For Elite Four Glacia, such a result should be unacceptable——"
"??? Wait, she didn't choose to withdraw, but continued commanding Glalie to use Rollout, launching counterattacks at Lapras?"
Aiden clicked his tongue.
Although he couldn't quite understand why she, who had been very calm just now, would suddenly get hot-headed, perhaps this was also part of her plan?
Using Glalie to trade with Lapras—the benefit was that if it really came down to a 1v1 endgame, she would still have some chance of winning, but the drawback was that this Mega slot would most likely not survive——
Bang
In the following two minutes, Glalie relied on Rollout's high movement speed to attack repeatedly, quickly making Lapras cry out in pain repeatedly.
If it weren't for the hard shell on its back blocking most of the impact, perhaps its body would already have many wounds by now.
But Lapras's defense was indeed not for show. Even enduring super effective moves from the type it was weak to, it still stubbornly remained on the field, singing the final section of Perish Song.
Although Glalie's stamina was still healthy, time wasn't on its side—if it couldn't eliminate Lapras before the imminent Perish Song ended, and be withdrawn by its trainer, the best-case scenario would only be a one-for-one trade.
"Still continuing? This should be the time to rotate out, right?"
Aiden scratched his head somewhat confusedly.
If it were him, he would probably have already rotated other Pokémon up to repeatedly wear down Lapras by now.
After all, Perish Song's debuff was continuous, and one had to listen to the complete song for it to take effect; in between, one could completely reset the effect through rotation.
Lapras singing Perish Song would inevitably waste one opportunity to act, and the back-and-forth would cancel out with rotation.
However——perhaps this was the dignity of an Elite Four member.
Even with the battle situation unfavorable to her, Glacia still persisted in her tactics, completely trusting her Glalie to bring victory.
This way of thinking wasn't bad either.
Aiden didn't continue speaking. He had to admit he learned something from Elite Four Glacia.
But soon the Perish Song countdown fell, and Glalie, which had been rolling, visibly gradually stopped its movements, landing beside Lapras, its eyes full of exhaustion.
"Perish Song took effect, Mega Glalie equals losing combat capability, should rotate out——"
Just as Aiden was explaining, he heard Glacia's subsequently firm and decisive voice: "Glalie, it's time!"
"Use Explosion!!!"
???
Aiden froze, momentarily somewhat doubting whether he had heard wrong.
But watching Glalie suddenly "start up from its deathbed," barely floating up with its last sliver of fighting will, and pressing close to Lapras until its body began flashing——
Beep beep beep beep—Boom!
Glalie's body erupted with a burst of powerful energy, and then the scorching energy wave transformed into dazzling white light, completely engulfing the entire battle field.
The effect was no less than throwing a flashbang in the center of a crowd.
Not just Aiden, but even the audience furthest away subconsciously covered their eyes, trying to minimize the impact of the white light.
And when the light dissipated, on the shattered ice surface, both Lapras and Glalie returned to its original form were already lying on the ground, their eyes showing swirls.
Only then did Aiden finally confirm Glacia's idea.
"My goodness, a self-destruction tactic—so Glalie was aiming for a one-for-one trade from the start? Then wasn't Mega Evolution a bit redundant, without evolving the damage to Lapras might actually be higher——"
"Oh, also right, anyway there wasn't a second Mega slot, might as well use it to look cool, thinking about it this way, it's quite reasonable?"
While speaking, Aiden was already somewhat numb.
And he had just felt somewhat admiring of her a moment ago—turns out this one was also here to pull off flashy plays——
Give my emotion back!
[Teacher Azure, don't you think the opponent's thinking is remarkably consistent with yours, squeezing the last bit of value from Pokémon even before Perish Song takes effect—Galarian Weezing would shed tears seeing this!]
[Oh no, it feels like the world has already become Teacher Azure's shape, how much longer must we be ruled by Teacher Azure's dirty tactics——]
[Teacher Azure: Don't care whether it's dirty or not, just say if it's useful or not. At the Type Masters Tournament finals, they're all my students—you little cuties just slowly learn~]
[The way you put it, if I don't learn won't it just benefit others? Since someone has to be disgusted, why can't I be the one actively disgusting others? (smile)]
For most of the bullet comments, who won this finals wasn't important at all—as long as the battle was interesting enough.
And that decision just now that even shocked Teacher Azure had obviously made them feel they got their money's worth.
With both Pokémon falling together, the score came to 1:1, and the situation quickly became unpredictable again.
"The Pokémon both sides send out next will very likely determine the direction of this match."
Aiden quickly adjusted his mood, continuing to maintain his "professional commentator" persona.
"Given that both sides have revealed one weather setter each, Lorelei's last Pokémon is most likely Articuno, and the only hidden piece on the field is Elite Four Glacia's last Pokémon."
"Theoretically, Glacia should have a slight advantage, but prediction is sometimes like rock-paper-scissors—what move the opponent actually uses really depends on luck."
"So, both sides' final choices are——"
Aiden's words stopped halfway, focusing his attention on the contestants' stage.
After both hesitated for a moment, both took out a Poké Ball and threw it.
After two red flashes, on Lorelei's side Alolan Ninetales landed again, its fluffy tail swaying left and right in the air.
And on Glacia's side——
Her choice was Walrein—perhaps this was indeed her most trusted ace.
But unfortunately, when this kind of matchup appeared, Aiden already felt Glacia was done for in this game.
Because the era belonging to hail teams had already crossed a major hurdle after Alolan Ninetales's appearance, arriving at a new realm that other Pokémon couldn't reach.
Alolan Ninetales itself wasn't important, but its ability to deploy Aurora Veil that weakened move power was extremely important.
And Walrein, clearly didn't have long arms, and couldn't be a qualified karate practitioner.
In human terms: it doesn't know Brick Break.
As for Body Press, Alolan Ninetales wasn't weak to Fighting to begin with, though Iron Head's effect might be decent.
Then the problem came again—
Not to mention Alolan Ninetales had the double defense of snow weather and Aurora Veil, whether Iron Head's power could quickly eliminate it.
What if Lorelei reacted, set up Aurora Veil then ran away to switch to Articuno?
With double protection and abundant stamina, Articuno could probably handle two opponents at once without issue.
It's already over!
Facts indeed went as Aiden imagined in his mind.
"Lorelei's command is very decisive, I'll say it plainly—if sending out Alolan Ninetales without setting Aurora Veil, a hail team would already have no soul!"
"Contestant Glacia didn't rotate Abomasnow up to use Brick Break, but chose to use Iron Head to try eliminating this troublesome weather setter?"
"Can she do it?"
"Indeed, the damage is still far from enough—"
"Lorelei chose to rotate, and after entering, Articuno faces a colorful transparent barrier, together with the snowscape safeguarding its flight!"
"At this moment Articuno should be very moved—since the group stage, it hasn't fought such a free battle!"
From when Articuno entered, the situation had already completely tilted.
Because whether Abomasnow or Walrein, neither had any particularly good way to deal with it.
The four-times weakness to Rock was largely diluted in the snow weather system, allowing it to DPS with all its might, with consecutive Hurricanes achieving very good effects.
Even if hit it could recover stamina with Roost, waiting a moment before soaring through the skies again.
The Aurora Veil left by Alolan Ninetales also directly became the wall of despair in this battle.
In the end, the score settled at 3:1.
"Match over, a perfect victory for contestant Lorelei!"
"Let us congratulate this powerful Elite Four member from the Kanto region, once again lifting this championship trophy!!!"
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