Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

Tetsuya scratched the back of his head, looking exasperated.

The Pokémon sent out by Sugiyama Kage is extremely difficult to deal with.

It is indeed quite familiar, after all, the Team Rocket trio from the anime in his previous life left a deep impression on Tetsuya.

The Pokémon that appeared before him was the Foolish Pokémon Wobbuffet.

However, despite being classified as a "Endurance Pokémon", Wobbuffet cannot learn Endurance or Perseverance.

This Pokémon, with its blue body and black tail, is one of only two known Pokémon that cannot actively use physical or special moves to cause damage.

Another one is the Alora region's boxing sea cucumber.

However, this does not mean that it is not strong. On the contrary, unlike the relatively useless Wobbuffet in the game, the powerful Wobbuffet is still very practical in reality, especially when it is used in a targeted manner in formal battles.

Although compared to Punch-o'-the-Sea, Wobbuffet is quite lacking in skill mastery.

Aside from the almost useless Leap, Wobbuffet can only learn seven moves: Charm, Encore, Amnesia, Double Up, Mirror Image, Guardian, and the most annoying move, Fate Share.

But this is enough.

Combined with Wobbuffet's naturally high stamina and decent physical and energy defense, these moves are enough to make any trainer or Pokémon who is its opponent never want to see it again after just one battle.

Its core skills are naturally Double Return, which returns double physical damage, and Mirror Reflect, which returns double energy damage. Wobbuffet's way of defeating enemies is "endurance".

After "enduring" the damage, the attacker will unreasonably return double the damage to the opponent, delivering a devastating blow to the enemy.

Unless you can KO Wobbuffet in one hit, it's highly likely that your opponent will fall down before it does—of course, it's also possible that you could KO it in one hit and then it would use Destiny Bond to take you down with it.

However, the difficulty of KOing Wobbuffet in one hit is extremely high.

Charm greatly reduces the opponent's physical attack ability, and instant amnesia greatly increases one's own energy defense ability. These two skills basically mean that it is unrealistic to cause fatal damage to Wobbuffet at the same level or even one level higher.

Not to mention putting Wobbuffet into negative statuses (poison, deadly poison, sleep, paralysis, burn, freeze, confusion, and drowsiness) and preventing it from using its moves smoothly—the move Secret Guard is specifically designed to counter such negative buff moves. As long as Secret Guard is active, Wobbuffet cannot be affected by negative statuses.

With the ability to make the opponent use the same move three times in a row, Wobbuffet becomes as difficult to deal with as a spiky turtle that bounces back when it appears in battle.

It's not that you can't win, but even if you could, you'd be frustrated and helpless.

Of course, the qualifier must be a powerful Wobbuffet, at least like Sugiyama Kage's Wobbuffet, which is a near-Elite Four member. Otherwise, it would be of little use, since being passively attacked is always the weaker party.

Moreover, only a Wobbuffet that has been raised for a long enough time can master the few skills it knows to a high degree.

Otherwise, the interval and speed of skill release would be enough for many Pokémon that are good at seizing opportunities to damage it without being reflected back.

Seeing that Wobbuffet seemed to have stepped on something with his shadow as soon as he appeared, Tetsuya quickly reached for his waist with his right hand and then helplessly put it down.

Wobbuffet's ability, Shadow Tag, allows it to control shadows to prevent Pokémon on the field from being recalled into Poké Balls or similar devices.

It's another trait that's designed to annoy people, and it's a perfect match for Wobbuffet. It can be roughly understood as a fight to the death.

If all else fails, I'll drag you down with me; in short, don't even think about running away.

"Let's give it a try," Tetsuya muttered. "Monarch Serpent, Super Drain."

This is the weakest skill in Serperior's skill list, and it also has the effect of restoring stamina, so even if you are hit by the rebound, the damage is negligible.

Of course, his purpose was not limited to that.

“so~na~si~”

As the green dot of light flew toward him, Weng leisurely saluted, his eyes glazing over, and streaks of white light flashed across his blue skin.

Immediately afterward, the moment the Super Absorb touched it, Wobbuffet's body flashed with an almost transparent light.

The next moment, green light spots entered its body and shot out again, only in double the number.

Serperior, enjoying the combined stamina recovery from Giga Drain and Grassy Terrain, was hit squarely by Wobbuffet's returned Giga Drain, but as Tetsuya had initially expected, the damage was minimal.

Tetsuya grinned; as expected, Ono's reaction was something he really didn't want to see.

"There really is telepathy," Tetsuya thought to himself as he watched Wobbuffet react without the trainer saying a word. Although he had already known this from the intelligence, he still let out a wail in his heart.

Telepathy is Wobbuffet's hidden ability.

It's not too surprising to have the strength of a near-Elite One while possessing both general and hidden abilities.

It's mainly used in battles, which makes Wobbuffet even more difficult to deal with.

As a Psychic-type Pokémon, Wobbuffet, with the help of its Telepathic ability, can not only achieve a near-psychic connection with its trainer, but also pinpoint the exact moment of an attack.

The latter is the key, which means it is very difficult for an opponent to seize the opportunity to make a stalemate. The reaction of superpowers and the reaction of the nervous system are not on the same level, and it can return all the damage received to the greatest extent.

Unlike some Wobbuffets that only retaliate after suffering some damage, this one doesn't.

This small difference is enough to determine the outcome.

This is troublesome. Looking at the scene of green dots flying all over the field, Tetsuya's headache is getting worse.

He didn't command Serperior to keep using Giga Drain; it was simply the effect of Wobbuffet using another move.

This is one of the reasons why he started with this low-power, low-cost skill.

Otherwise, if other skills were used to start the battle, Zhe also doubted whether the Serpent Lord would be "killed" by the counterattack first, or whether it would be "killed" by the exhaustion of using skills first.

In short, even with the help of the recovery effect, Tetsuya didn't think Serperior could compete with Wobbuffet in terms of stamina.

The green light gradually stopped, indicating that the opponent had given up on the idea of ​​repeatedly trying again.

Using skills always consumes resources, and using too many skills at once is not a good thing for Wobbuffet.

Even worse off is the Serpent Lord.

Including the initial super absorption, it used its skill a total of seven times.

The Monarch Serpent was already breathing slightly.

Because it cannot talk in its sleep, it cannot be used voluntarily. Otherwise, if it is used a few more times, the referee can intervene and directly judge Serperior as losing on the grounds of losing the will to fight.

It's worth noting that the only time you see a situation where the cost of using your own skills is more than the cost of taking damage is when facing a Pokémon like Wobbuffet.

No wonder he's a member of the same clan as Pikachu, the "Fruit God".

Tetsuya subconsciously licked his lips, which were a little dry from nervousness.

It's still not strong enough.

He thought to himself with a hint of regret.

It's not that there's no way, but rather that Serperior doesn't currently possess a full range of skills.

As expected, Wobbuffet's strength is very targeted; against Dark-type Pokémon with extremely poor synergy, it can be said to be completely useless.

The main reason is several Dark-type moves, such as Taunt, which forces the use of only damaging moves, and Taunt, which forces the use of the same move repeatedly.

These negative status effects are not among those that Mystic Guardians can be immune to.

This can directly render Wobbuffet useless.

Serperior failed to master these two skills it should have been able to learn; it was still too young, and there was only enough time for it to learn most of the Grass-type skills.

It is clear that Sugiyama Kage has done research and analysis.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have so readily sent Wobbuffet into the fray.

Once Serperior learns one of these two moves, the only advantage a near-Elite Rank Wobbuffet has over a regular Rank Pokémon might be its durability.

The victor is self-evident.

Unfortunately, there are no "ifs" or "once upon a time." The fact is that Serperior is almost helpless against the hedgehog-like Wobbuffet in front of it.

I haven't mastered the Poison-type Stomach Lord Serperior yet, otherwise I could remove its ability and switch to another Pokémon.

Tetsuya smacked his lips. It seemed that only the worst-case scenario remained.

Fortunately, he wasn't unprepared, he sighed silently.

Most of the main characters in Sugiyama Kage's team are Water or Ground type, and the Grass-type Serperior is extremely effective against them, so it was somewhat expected that they would be targeted like this.

However, the opponent's tactic of not allowing the Serpent Lord to maintain its condition even in a two-for-one exchange was truly too decisive.

Tetsuya even wondered if he had been too decisive in the first match against Donphan, and should have held back a bit, otherwise the opponent might have sent out their ace, Crocodile, to deal with Serperior.

"Monarch Serpent, Parasitic Seed."

Tetsuya adopted the tactic he least wanted to use—the strategy of attrition.

The Leech Seed move is also very effective against Wobbuffet.

On one hand, it is not a damaging move; its purpose is to put the Pokémon into a parasitic state, meaning that neither Double Strike nor Mirror Reflect is effective against it. This makes Wobbuffet only able to be worn down and unable to retaliate.

On the other hand, the parasitic state is not immune to the Mystic Guardian, so there's no need to worry about whether it will work.

The problem is that the damage caused by parasitic seeds is far too small.

This is unlike in games where Parasitic Seeds deal damage equal to a percentage of the opponent's maximum health each turn.

In reality, for a Pokémon to wear down its opponent with parasitic seeds, the effort required is no less than grinding an iron rod into a needle.

This is especially true for Pokémon like Wobbuffet, which has incredibly high HP.

Moreover, the opponent's Pokémon are not incapable of fighting back. The vines that spread from Leech Seed are not exactly fragile, but they are certainly not sturdy either, and they can be easily broken free.

But Tetsuya really couldn't think of any other way.

Let them grind it.

“so~nasi~”

As expected, the old man remained completely calm.

Just as the parasitic seed got close, it slapped the ground with its black tail and leaped into the air.

"Continue to parasitize the seeds."

Tetsuya remained expressionless.

Another problem with the Leech Seed move is its accuracy. While Wobbuffet doesn't attack on its own, it's not a stationary target either. It's not particularly fast, but Leech Seed is even slower.

Therefore, all skills are useful, even useless skills like jumping.

With the help of the Leap move, Wobbuffet bounced around the field, dodging Leech Seed.

In short, no matter how you look at it, using Leech Seed to disable Wobbuffet's ability to battle is a rather lengthy process.

Half a minute, one minute, five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes...

Time passed second by second.

The commentator had already used every word in his head that could describe how a Pokémon dodges, and also described how Serperior used Leech Seed.

However, the two Pokémon on the field continued their battle.

The audience members stood up in twos and threes, much like when they were supposed to use the restroom during a movie; they had to do something.

Otherwise, it would be too boring if one of them spits out seeds while the other jumps around and hides.

The staff behind the scenes of the league were extremely anxious. The ratings had plummeted, and it was hardly like the opening battle at all.

Sugiyama Kage pushed up his glasses for what felt like the hundredth time. This guy really didn't seem like a rookie trainer at all.

How could a normal rookie trainer possibly remain calm and resort to such an "extremely shameless" "cheap tactic" in such a high-profile setting?

This mentality of only pursuing victory and not the process should not be present in newly starting trainers.

Sugiyama Kage was quite helpless.

Twenty minutes, half an hour...

The referee unconsciously raised his watch to check the time. "If you two keep playing like this, today's game is over. We should be having a halftime break by now, okay?"

However, he had little room to intervene.

Both the trainers and the Pokémon on the field were fighting for victory, which was beyond his control.

Tetsuya was covered in sweat, and Serpent was panting heavily; the glasses frame on Sugiyama Kage's nose kept sliding down, and sure enough, the frequency of Oni leaps had become much slower than at the beginning.

The exhaustion from this battle is not only a torment for the two Pokémon on the field, but also for the trainers.

Tetsuya also needs to constantly adjust the angle at which Serperior uses Leech Seed, and find an opportunity to defeat the enemy in one strike. Sugiyama Kage needs to use telepathy to warn Wobbuffet to be wary of Leech Seeds shot from different angles, and also to be wary of the opponent's sudden attack. If all else fails, he will have to order the use of Destiny Bond.

It is very painful to maintain such intense mental and physical concentration for extended periods of time.

“sonasi~”

Suddenly, as expected, the black tail of the robin went limp, and it was unable to successfully perform the leap.

One after another, parasitic seeds crashed into its body.