Yes.
Daisuke was a clever Trainer.
With so many years of battle experience behind him, he quickly understood what Denjiro and Milotic were planning.
Once Rain Dance was used a second time, the rain would immediately intensify into a far more terrifying downpour.
On one hand, this would greatly increase the power of Milotic's Water-type moves.
More importantly, visibility would be severely limited beneath such heavy rain.
Milotic possessed excellent night vision and motion perception.
Even through a dense curtain of rain, it could easily track Gardevoir's movements.
Gardevoir could not do the same.
Its eyesight was nowhere near as sharp.
There was another problem as well.
Moves such as Teleport and Psychic might leave no visible trail, but they still caused distortions in space.
Under the effects of the downpour, those distortions would be exposed by the shifting rainwater.
This effectively sealed away many of Gardevoir's techniques.
Daisuke's gaze turned cold.
He had to admit that the opponent standing across from him was extraordinarily difficult to deal with.
"Icy Wind!"
Daisuke shouted.
In the next instant, freezing air spread across the entire battlefield.
An astonishing chill rapidly filled the arena.
Denjiro was surprised when he felt the temperature plummet.
The cold generated through Gardevoir's psychic power swept wildly across the battlefield.
Even the spectator stands were affected.
The sheer amount of energy involved was astonishing.
The rain falling through the air began freezing into tiny ice crystals.
Gardevoir then used Psychic, taking control of a vast cloud of frozen particles.
"Coil!"
"Then use Aqua Ring!"
Denjiro issued his commands loudly.
It was obvious that he had completely committed himself to a defensive strategy.
That was understandable.
Milotic was famous for being an exceptionally durable Pokémon.
It possessed impressive defenses and stamina, along with excellent defensive and recovery moves.
Those advantages were precisely what gave Denjiro the confidence to wage a prolonged defensive battle.
Countless tiny ice particles shot toward Milotic.
With Safeguard active, Milotic appeared to be surrounded by a suit of invisible armor.
Against such numerous but individually weak attacks, the defensive boost from Coil prevented them from causing any meaningful damage.
Even so, neither Milotic nor Denjiro believed that Daisuke's attack would end there.
Their extensive battle experience told them that the true attack had yet to arrive.
The tiny ice particles were still causing some damage.
However, if things continued at this rate, the damage they caused would not even surpass the amount of stamina restored by Aqua Ring.
Rather than weakening, Milotic remained close to full strength.
What exactly was Daisuke trying to accomplish?
Had he decided to give up?
Denjiro could not understand.
To be honest, he was tempted to launch an attack.
However, his Milotic specialized almost entirely in defense.
Its offensive capabilities were considerably less impressive.
More importantly, Denjiro was worried that attacking might create an opening for his opponent.
The advantage was currently in his hands.
As long as he steadily secured this round, Denjiro believed he would most likely win the entire match.
While he was considering his options, Milotic suddenly released a low hiss.
The sound immediately pulled Denjiro's attention back to the battlefield.
His heart jolted.
What was happening?
He hurriedly focused his gaze on Milotic.
The moment he saw what was happening, he was stunned.
At first, the frozen particles had not been particularly powerful.
Safeguard and Coil had been sufficient to withstand almost all of them.
Combined with the healing provided by Aqua Ring, they posed virtually no threat.
However, Gardevoir had gradually begun enlarging the ice crystals.
The tiny particles were becoming enormous chunks of ice.
That changed everything.
Safeguard offered little protection against impacts of that size.
Milotic was also still being affected by Icy Wind.
As the temperature continued to fall, its movements became increasingly sluggish.
Milotic had remained almost completely motionless while maintaining its defensive stance.
Because its body had not been moving, it was already beginning to stiffen.
Denjiro immediately developed a headache.
It seemed that winning through defense alone would be considerably more difficult than he had expected.
Just as he changed his mind and prepared to begin attacking, Gardevoir struck first.
It continued using Icy Wind and Psychic.
Under the combined effects of those two moves, the tiny ice particles constantly fused together.
Eventually, they formed a long, razor-sharp spear.
The frozen spear plunged toward Milotic on the ground.
Milotic immediately twisted its body aside.
Although its body had become numb from the cold, it narrowly managed to avoid the attack.
How was that possible?
Daisuke's eyebrows twitched violently.
This had completely exceeded his expectations.
The temperature had been falling continuously.
Even his own hands and feet were beginning to refuse his commands.
After all, he had been drenched by the rain for a considerable amount of time while enduring the freezing environment.
If he was already suffering this badly, Milotic at the center of the downpour should have been affected even more severely.
Most importantly, Milotic was not a warm-blooded Pokémon.
Its cold-blooded body should have been even less tolerant of the freezing temperature.
Under normal circumstances, it should not have taken long for Milotic to become completely frozen.
Yet that was not what had happened.
Milotic could still move.
Its body had not even frozen to the ground.
Damn it!
The battle had completely refused to develop according to Daisuke's expectations.
"In that case!"
Seeing this, Daisuke hardened his resolve and decided to gamble everything on one final attack.
"One last push!"
Four frozen spears formed in the air.
They descended toward Milotic from four separate directions, blocking every possible escape route.
Daisuke intended to completely seal off Milotic's movement and inflict a devastating injury.
However, something unexpected happened.
A violent gale suddenly erupted across the battlefield.
The wind swept all four ice spears away.
"Twister?!"
"Damn it!"
Daisuke clenched his fists and cursed.
Even so, his follow-up attack was already prepared.
While Milotic's attention had been focused on the ice spears, Gardevoir had used Teleport to appear directly behind it.
Gardevoir held a small but razor-sharp ice blade in its hand.
It thrust the weapon straight toward Milotic.
However, something completely unexpected happened.
The instant Gardevoir attacked, Milotic suddenly turned around.
It unleashed Hyper Beam directly at Gardevoir.
At such close range, the attack was guaranteed to hit.
Gardevoir did not have enough time to react.
The terrifying blast of energy struck it instantly.
Gardevoir was hurled across the battlefield before crashing heavily onto the ground.
Its vision went dark.
It immediately lost consciousness and became unable to battle.
(End of Chapter)
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