Chapter 19 - Pokemon Master Of Tactics: 19
Alex saw how easily Maria won and was impressed by Ekans' strength. This Ekans cannot be defeated in close combat. At least not from the rookies here.
Lisa says calmly "the winner is Maria. If someone else wants to try his luck"
Bruno brought Rattata back into the Pokeball and rushed towards Team Rocket Pokemon Center. Maria didn't go to the Pokemon Center. Ekans took no harm and only used three attacks, there is no need to go to the Pokemon Center.
The next person to challenge someone to fight was Lars. He challenged Bruno to a fight.
The fight was very boring. Rattata has no attack that can hit pokemon in the air. Only when he jumps does he have a chance to meet Zubat. but that also makes Rattata very predictable, whenever he jumped in the air he was greeted with Swift. Although Rattata is predictable, he hits Zubat a few times with Bite. That showed that this Rarrata was very strong. Unfortunately, Rattata's weakness was exploited by a Pokemon that wasn't much weaker.
At the end of the fight, the winner was Lars who secured the 3rd place.
Then a rookie tried to challenge Bruno to a fight with a Spearow. The rookie tried to use the same strategy as Lars. But his Spearow was much weaker than Bruno's Rattata and after being hit two times it passed out.
Alex who has seen enough said with confidence. "I challenge Maria to a fight"
Maria looked in Alex's direction and said "one mistake, you will lose 100 TR unnecessarily.
Alex said in a confident tone "we'll see"
both called their Pokémon and waited for Lisa's sign.
Lisa said excitedly "finally an interesting fight. OK, I'm counting down from three. 3 2 1 go"
Alex immediately shouted "Zubat use Swift on the ground"
Maria called at the same time "Ekans use Rock Slide"
When Zubat's Swift hit the ground, dust was spread all over the arena. Then stones of various sizes appeared over Zubat's head and fell down with great speed.
Alex knew that Zubat could only dodge this fast rock slide with luck. so he decided not to take any chances.
Alex shouted "Zubat use Protect and fly into the dust"
Zubat acted quickly. Alex roughly told Zubat how the fight was going to start, so he knew what to do. Zubat blocked the attack with Protect and flew into the dust.
Maria recognized what Alex wanted to do and quickly called out "Ekans quickly use again Rock Slide"
But Maria's command was too slow. Zubat was already in the dust and couldn't be seen.
This situation was a great advantage for Zubat, who sees with the help of sound waves. Zubat could see just as well in the dust as without it, and Ekan's vision was very limited. Although Ekans can see Pokemon with the help of vibrations. He can only if the Pokemon is on the ground.
Zubat who was in the dust used swift the whole time like Alex had told Zubat. This made the dust place bigger.
Maria quickly recognized that Alex wanted to cover the whole battlefield with dust. She has to do something quickly or she will lose.
"Ekans use Rock slide, where the dust is" Maria has no way to remove the dust and can not go to another battlefield. Maria has no choice but to hope that Ekans's Rock slide hit Zubat with luck.
the entire battlefield was quickly covered with dust. but Alex heard that his Zubat was hit by rock slide when Zubat used swifts on the ground. But he doesn't know how much damage Zubat suffered. But Alex has no choice but to continue with the plan. he can only hope that Zubat is not seriously injured.
Alex said seriously "Zubat plan 1"
Plan 1, as Alex calls it, is the hit and run tactic that he and Zubat practiced for a week. Simply put, Zubat uses Shadow Ball, then he flies to another position and uses Shadow Ball again.
This makes it difficult for his opponent to assess where Zubat is.
Maria was confused when she heard the command from Alex. She didn't know what Alex was up to, but it sure wasn't a good one.
Maria said out loud "Ekans try to roughly estimate where Zubat is and then use Rock Slide on that place"
Maria knew she was hoping for luck but she has no other options. What is positive is that she heard Zubat get hit by the Rocks. Maria knew how strong Ekans' rock slides are. Zubat must be pretty hurt now. She doesn't think that Zubat can take a rock slide a second time.