Elves: Angler's Rainy Day Team

Chapter 917, Psychological Doll

The atmosphere inside the stadium was electric, with cheers and shouts of encouragement rising and falling.

The host's excited voice echoed throughout the arena via the loudspeaker: "Gyarados has finally found an effective way to limit Dragonite's speed, and with its excellent tactics and tenacious fighting spirit, it has won another brilliant victory!"

"Next, will Yu Hai send out an Elite Four-level Pokémon to fight this powerful Gyarados? Let's wait and see!"

Yu Hai remained calm. He gently raised his hand and used a Poké Ball to recall Dragonite: "Come back, Dragonite."

Dragonite's massive body transformed into a streak of red light and disappeared into the Poké Ball. He gripped the Poké Ball tightly in his hand, lowered his head slightly, and whispered a few words to Dragonite, gently comforting him: "Dragonite, you performed exceptionally well this time. Your opponent was a Champion-level Gyarados, so losing to it is not shameful."

With Dragonite eliminated, he now only has one Pokémon left to compete.

He slowly left the contestant's platform. Above the arena, a huge screen flickered with light, clearly displaying the competition information.

His gaze fell on the screen, and he sighed inwardly. He realized that he was now the complete opposite of Ye Yue from yesterday, and he was in a very unfavorable situation.

Yu Hai————Xiao Shun

Three Diglett [Eliminated] – Lucky Kappa [Eliminated]

Long-haired pig [eliminated] — Mantis [returned]

Dragonite [Eliminated] — Gyarados [Elite Four Level]

Looking at the battle information, he knew that three of his Pokémon had been eliminated, including the pseudo-legendary Dragonite.

On Xiao Shun's side, only one Ludicolo was eliminated. His team still has two strong Pokémon, Scizor and Gyarados. Judging from the current situation, it is indeed showing signs of losing.

The audience around the arena mostly focused their attention on Xiao Shun, and the cheers and shouts of encouragement were almost all directed at him.

It was clear that the audience was more inclined to support the stronger trainer, and Xiao Shun's voice was getting louder and louder, and the atmosphere at the scene was increasingly biased towards Xiao Shun.

Yu Hai seemed quite indifferent to all of this, casually drinking some water to replenish his energy. His original purpose in participating in this competition was to hone his Pokémon and let them grow in actual combat.

In his view, as long as the goal is achieved, the outcome of the competition is not that important.

However, now that only one Umbreon remains, facing Xiao Shun's five Pokémon, the outcome seems self-evident.

Without much thought, he knew he was likely to lose the match. He pondered his options, concluding that if he wanted to put up a fight, he might have to send out a Celestial-level psychic clay puppet.

However, once he uses this Pokémon, it means that the information that he has Claydol will be exposed, which is undoubtedly excellent intelligence for enemies who have always wanted to know about his Pokémon.

He subconsciously clenched his fist, feeling conflicted. He didn't want to easily reveal these Elite Four level Pokémon, as they were important trump cards in his future battles.

However, now that he has the Geo Regiment as his trump card, it seems that whether the Claydol continues to hide its power is no longer so significant.

"Dangdang——"

The crisp sound of the bell echoed throughout the stadium, its lingering notes resonating long afterward.

The ringing of the bell signaled the end of the halftime break, and the atmosphere in the stadium returned to a tense yet exciting one, with the audience's attention focused on the players' stands.

Yu Hai and Xiao Shun returned to the contestant's platform, but Xiao Shun raised his hand to the judges with a swift and decisive action.

"Referee, I want to recall Gyarados." Xiao Shun said, glancing at Yu Hai with a helpless smile on his face.

Gyarados had fought two battles in a row and been hit by Dragonite so many times. Even though Gyarados had the strength of an Elite Four member, it was starting to feel the strain. So he decided to switch out and let Gyarados rest.

The referee, dressed in a striking black referee uniform, listened attentively to Xiao Shun's words and nodded silently, indicating that he had received Xiao Shun's request.

The referee then turned to look at the big screen, where a draw was being held to determine the venues for the second half.

The cursor on the screen jumped rapidly, its blinking reflected in the referee's serious eyes. When the cursor stopped, the referee quickly waved his small flag and loudly announced the start of the match:
"Xiao Shun has chosen to recall Gyarados. The second half of the match has concluded, and the terrain is now Rock. Both players, please take your positions, release your Pokémon, and launch an attack. The match begins..."

"Go, Scizor..." Xiao Shun raised his hand and threw out a Poké Ball, shouting the Pokémon's name. Now that the Boar's ice spell was gone, it was Scizor's turn to shine.

"Go on, Umbreon." Yu Hai shook his head helplessly, sighing inwardly. He knew he would be in this situation. Umbreon versus Scizor, this match is going to be tough!

The host's enthusiastic voice rang out again: "Xiao Shun has chosen to recall his Gyarados and sent out his previously used Scizor to battle Yu Hai's Umbreon. Judging from the types of the two Pokémon, this is very disadvantageous for Yu Hai..."

"Umbreon, Taunt." Yu Hai gave the first command to Umbreon. He knew that Scizor was extremely fast and had to be restricted, otherwise Umbreon would have little chance of winning.

"Scizor, Quick Attack, Slash!" Xiao Shun breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Umbreon that had entered the field.

In his view, the situation in this battle was extremely favorable to him, so he immediately and decisively ordered Scizor to launch an attack.

"Sha." The Scizor stood in the rocky arena, feeling the direct sunlight from the sky. The warm sunlight shone on its hard red shell, finally warming its cold body.

Its eyes gleamed with excitement. With a powerful push of its legs, it launched itself forward, kicking up a cloud of dust, and charged towards Umbreon like a streak of red lightning.

"Umbreon, Dig!" Yu Hai shouted the command to Umbreon as the Scizor, which had transformed into a streak of red light, charged towards it.

The atmosphere in the arena was extremely tense at this moment. The audience held their breath and stared intently at the game.

Umbreon was indeed finding it a bit tricky to face such a fast opponent, and he realized this when he recalled his last battle against a wild Scyther.

The unique breeding methods of the Xinwu family produce Scizor that are comparable to, and even faster than, Scyther. "Rumble, rumble—"

In the battlefield, the sound of Scizor rapidly approaching and the sound of Umbreon quickly digging a hole and burrowing underground intertwined.

In the blink of an eye, as Scizor charged forward menacingly, Umbreon had already successfully dug a hole and hidden underground. Scizor suddenly lost its target and stood there looking around warily, raising its pincers.

The host's questioning voice rang out at just the right moment: "Umbreon has dug a hole to hide, so how will Scizor find Umbreon?"

"Yeah? How do we find Umbreon? We need to force Umbreon out from underground. It would be great if Scizor had Ground-type moves." Xiao Shun stood on the contestant platform, his brows furrowed, looking troubled.

However, he quickly calmed down, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he thought of a solution. He immediately shouted to Scizor, "Scizor, use the Ground Cannon!"

"Shh." Upon hearing the command, the Scizor raised its striking red pincers, and the surrounding air began to tremble slightly.

Immediately afterwards, white energy rapidly condensed at the tip of the pincers, and the light grew brighter and brighter, engulfing the surrounding shadows.

When the energy was fully charged, Scizor unleashed its power, sending a dazzling beam of light hurtling towards the ground.

With a deafening roar, a long, shocking gash was punched into the rocky ground, sending debris flying and dust billowing everywhere.

"Now's the time, Umbreon, come out and drag Scizor underground!" At this tense moment, Yu Hai also thought of a way to limit Scizor's speed.

In his view, if the Scizor could be dragged underground and lose its speed advantage, there might still be a chance to turn the tide of the battle.

"Bue-ee." Umbreon was hiding not far from Scizor's feet, so although Scizor's beam cannon was very powerful, it did not cause any shock or effect on it.

"Crash-"

Upon hearing Yu Hai's shout, Umbreon suddenly burst open the ground, accompanied by the sound of soil turning over, and Umbreon leaped out from the ground.

It opened its mouth and precisely bit Scizor's metal leg. Before Scizor could react, Umbreon forcefully dragged it to the ground.

"Scizor, unleash another Cannon!" Xiao Shun watched as Scizor was dragged underground, cupped his hands to his mouth, and shouted hoarsely towards the hole where Scizor had disappeared.

At this moment, he could only pray silently in his heart, hoping that Scizor could hear his voice and break free from Umbreon underground to escape.

"Umbreon, use Dark Pulse!" When Yu Hai saw that Xiao Shun had come up with such a way to break the deadlock, he secretly thought that things were not good. He could only make a quick decision and shouted loudly, hoping that Umbreon would be safe and sound in the underground battle.

"boom--"

A deafening roar, like a thunderclap, shook the entire arena. The once calm ground was impacted by a tremendous force, rising high before settling back down.

Clearly, an explosion occurred underground, causing the tunnel that Umbreon had dug to collapse instantly, leaving a huge crater on the ground.

A billowing cloud of dust instantly rose up, quickly obscuring everyone's vision. Scizor and Umbreon were both shrouded in the dust, and the audience in the arena gasped in amazement, making the tense atmosphere even more intense.

"Mantis, chirp!" Xiao Shun seized the opportunity and issued the command to the Mantis again without hesitation.

He knew that he couldn't use many of his moves in the narrow cave, but now he finally had a good opportunity and kept his eyes fixed on the cloud of smoke.

"Buzz buzz buzz, buzz buzz buzz..." Scizor couldn't pinpoint Umbreon's exact location amidst the smoke and dust, but upon hearing Xiao Shun's command, its short wings began to vibrate rapidly at an extremely high frequency.

A sharp, piercing buzzing sound instantly echoed through the arena, like countless mosquitoes swarming in one's ears, causing a sense of irritation. Along with this sound, the pervasive dust was quickly dispersed.

Yu Hai's gaze was fixed on the arena, and he soon spotted Umbreon with its head tucked in, its body trembling slightly as it tried its best to endure the overwhelming insect chirping.

Clearly, the piercing insect chirping was making Umbreon very uncomfortable; pain and struggle were evident in its eyes, and its claws nervously scratched marks on the ground.

"Scizor, a good opportunity, use the Phillips Scissors..." Xiao Shun saw the dust gradually dissipate and discovered the location of Umbreon. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, and he immediately shouted out a new command.

"Buzz buzz buzz..." Scizor maintained its insect chirping noise as it flew rapidly toward Umbreon like an arrow.

Its pincers were raised high, crossed in front of its chest, gleaming with a metallic sheen, and then it slashed fiercely at Umbreon with a cross-shaped attack. The speed was so fast that Umbreon had no time to react.

"Umbreon?" Yu Hai only had time to shout that before he watched helplessly as Umbreon was hit by the cross-shaped clipper, its body flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into the rocks at the edge of the crater.

A dull thud was heard, and Umbreon collapsed limply to the ground, its eyes closed, and it immediately lost consciousness.

"Umbreon is unable to battle. Please recall Umbreon and send out your next battle Pokémon..." The referee quickly blew his whistle, the sharp sound echoing throughout the arena.

He slowly lowered the small flag in his hand and solemnly announced the result of the battle...

"Another defeat! What's wrong with Yu Hai today? He seems to be in very poor form!" The host's voice was full of doubt and confusion, which was clearly heard by every viewer through the broadcast.

He continued, "With four Pokémon eliminated in a row, Yu Hai now only has two left. Faced with such a huge disadvantage, can Yu Hai turn the tide with his last two Pokémon? Let's wait and see!"

Inside the arena, murmurs rose and fell among the spectators. Some shook their heads and sighed, while others stared at Yu Hai with anticipation, their eyes filled with curiosity and speculation, wondering if the fast-paced breaststroke would even make an appearance.

"Come back, Umbreon." Yu Hai shook his head with a wry smile, a hint of helplessness in his expression. He gently reached out, placed the Poké Ball near his mouth, and softly comforted the Umbreon inside, "Umbreon, you've done your best. Get some rest!"

Then, he took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and slowly took out the last Poké Ball from his waist.

He gripped the Poké Ball tightly, his arm slightly raised. This was his last battle. He hurled the Poké Ball forcefully towards the battlefield, shouting, "Go, Claydol..."

(End of this chapter)