After calming down somewhat, Mr. Morkel realized that if Blastoise simply charged blindly out of the Haze, Greninja would undoubtedly catch up and land another attack. He immediately added another command for Blastoise.
Rapid Spin was normally paired with Withdraw, granting both increased Defense and a boost in Speed. The combination of enhanced durability and acceleration made it perfectly suited for Blastoise's current predicament.
However, Mr. Morkel's greatest mistake was that he hadn't issued that command from the very beginning and had only thought to add it afterward.
Because Greninja's speed was far beyond anything he could imagine.
Bang!
"Blastoise!!"
Before Blastoise could retract its head and limbs into its shell after receiving the command, Greninja had already caught up and ruthlessly smacked it squarely across the face.
Having its head struck heavily once again, Blastoise immediately became dizzy, its vision swimming as stars danced before its eyes.
"Greninja, don't give it any chance to recover! Use Lick!"
Seeing Blastoise's attempted breakout interrupted, Ash showed no mercy whatsoever. Seizing the opportunity, he immediately issued another command.
"Greninja!"
Hidden within the Haze, Greninja responded immediately.
Having already closed the distance through Pursuit, Greninja didn't retreat in the slightest. The moment Ash's command was given, it reacted almost instantly.
The pink tongue wrapped around its neck like a scarf swiftly unraveled and extended outward before snapping through the air like a whip, mercilessly licking Blastoise right across its dazed face.
"Blastoise!!"
The instant Greninja's tongue made contact, the already disoriented Blastoise suddenly shuddered violently.
As a Ghost-type move, Lick carried a chance to inflict Paralysis upon its target.
This time, Blastoise's luck was exceptionally poor.
The moment it was struck by Lick, it immediately fell into the Paralysis condition.
Although Paralysis wasn't a form of hard crowd control, it was nevertheless one of the most effective rhythm breakers in battle. Its occasional activations could disrupt and interrupt the afflicted Pokémon's movements at critical moments, making it an incredibly irritating status condition to deal with.
And when facing an opponent who excelled at controlling the pace of battle and capitalizing upon the slightest opening, this seemingly insignificant status effect could become downright lethal.
Coincidentally, Ash was precisely that kind of Trainer.
His greatest specialty had always been his extraordinary control over a battle's tempo.
"Blastoise..."
"Blastoise...!!"
The thick Haze obscured Mr. Morkel's vision completely. Although he desperately hoped Greninja's Lick had somehow failed to connect, Blastoise's pained groan echoing from within the black mist instantly caused his expression to change dramatically.
Ever since the battle had begun, Blastoise had been forced entirely onto the defensive after its opening attack missed. Mr. Morkel understood that things couldn't continue like this.
Otherwise, Greninja would slowly but surely wear Blastoise down until it finally collapsed.
"Blastoise! Continue breaking through while using Icy Wind across the entire battlefield!"
Under mounting pressure, Mr. Morkel finally began directing Blastoise to launch a counterattack.
"So that's his plan? Ice-type moves aren't particularly effective against Water-types, so he's relying on the chance to Freeze and the wide-area coverage of Icy Wind."
"Very well, then we'll fight Ice with Ice."
Faced with his opponent's counterattack, Ash immediately devised his own response.
"Greninja, we'll use Icy Wind as well!"
With a wave of his hand, Ash swiftly issued his command.
"Greninja!"
Greninja responded without hesitation.
Its agile body immediately began maneuvering across the battlefield.
Although Icy Wind was considered a large-area attack, its area of effect spread outward in a fan-shaped pattern.
Moments earlier, Greninja had already used Pursuit and Lick to close the distance and move directly beside Blastoise.
In situations like this, retreating and attempting to widen the distance was actually the worst possible option when trying to avoid fan-shaped area attacks.
Advancing and sticking close to one's opponent was the correct answer.
To put it more accurately, once one entered close quarters combat and began circling around the opponent, as long as the barrel of the cannon couldn't properly track its target, the attack simply couldn't land.
Although a normal creature's instinct in such circumstances would be to retreat and escape, Greninja was one of Ash's carefully nurtured ace Pokémon.
No matter how perilous the situation became, it was capable of remaining calm and making the most rational decision possible.
"Blastoise! Hoooo—!"
Opening its mouth wide, Blastoise unleashed a bone-chilling blast of icy wind in pursuit of Greninja.
However, against the nimble and agile Greninja, the large and cumbersome Blastoise simply couldn't keep up.
Had Greninja chosen to retreat earlier, it would have been extremely difficult to evade Icy Wind's forty-five-degree cone of coverage. All Blastoise would have needed to do was slightly adjust its aim to catch Greninja within the attack.
But Greninja hadn't retreated.
Instead, it remained close to Blastoise's body, running circles around it.
As a result, Blastoise was no longer attempting to cover forty-five degrees of space—it was now desperately trying to track a target moving around its entire three-hundred-and-sixty-degree circumference.
Before Blastoise's Icy Wind could even fully spread outward, its area attack had essentially been reduced to a single-target attack, vastly increasing Greninja's available space for maneuvering.
Meanwhile, Blastoise's massive body had to continuously rotate in a complete circle just to keep Greninja within its sights—a task that was obviously far more difficult than simply aiming at a distant opponent.
Most importantly of all, Blastoise wasn't the only one attacking.
While running circles around its opponent and effortlessly evading the incoming attacks, Greninja was simultaneously using Icy Wind to retaliate.
Against the swift and agile Greninja, Blastoise's Icy Wind was extremely difficult to land.
Greninja, however, faced no such problem.
Leaving aside Blastoise's enormous size, even if it stood perfectly still and merely turned its head slightly, it would still be nothing more than a gigantic stationary target in Greninja's eyes.
Before long, Blastoise resembled a heavy battle tank desperately attempting to rotate its turret and lock onto a nimble target.
Unfortunately for it, not only did its cannon fail to strike Greninja, its own body was gradually frozen solid by Greninja's Icy Wind.
Eventually, its turret simply stopped moving altogether.
Furthermore, because everything was taking place within the Haze, although the audience could observe the battle through the stadium's infrared scanning system, Mr. Morkel—standing on the opposite side of the battlefield—had absolutely no idea what was happening inside.
Although Ash had also commanded Greninja to use Icy Wind, Mr. Morkel merely assumed that the two attacks had canceled one another out.
What he could never have imagined was that Greninja had completely avoided Blastoise's assault by sticking close and circling around its body like a phantom ninja.
Meanwhile, every bit of Greninja's own firepower had been poured mercilessly onto Blastoise without interruption.
And by the time it was all over...
Blastoise had already been frozen into nothing more than an enormous ice sculpture hidden within the black mist.