Xia Huanao's statement was quite truthful, as grass-type Pokémon were at a disadvantage against Shedinja's unique ability. While flying, rock, ghost, fire, and dark types could counter Shedinja, grass-type Pokémon rarely carried moves of those types.
Take Forretress in Xia Huanao's team as an example. Although it had grass-type attacks, its fire-type moves were limited to Sunny Day. It had a few more rock-type moves, but only Rock Tomb, Stone Edge, and Rock Slide.
Other grass-type Pokémon had similar move pools. Only a dual-type Pokémon, whose secondary typing was a counter to Shedinja, could potentially defeat Shedinja directly.
However, based on the intelligence Xia Huanao had gathered in the past few days, his opponent did not have such a Pokémon.
Xia Huanao popped the last segment of an orange into his mouth and picked up another from the table. "These oranges taste really good. They must be from southern Jiangnan, so sweet."
Su Xiaojiu thoughtfully peeled an orange and handed it to Xia Huanao. "Then, does that mean you're guaranteed to win the next match?"
Xia Huanao pondered for a moment and then said, "Pretty much. They won't field a Pokémon with moves like Hail or Sandstorm, will they?"
...
As the saying goes, the heavens are unpredictable, and fortune is fickle. Whatever Xia Huanao feared, it always seemed to happen. He was truly the best example of a story unfolding through coincidences.
A day later, on the tournament grounds, Xia Huanao and Mu Zhishui fell into deep thought as they looked at the opponent's Ludicolo.
Ludicolo, also known as the Water Pokémon. A scarecrow Pokémon, with grass and dark typing, and the abilities of Sand Veil and Water Absorb. Its move pool included dark-type moves, and it also possessed Sandstorm.
This was as if fate had specifically created this Pokémon for Yassen to counter Xia Huanao's Shedinja. It had almost everything Shedinja disliked. However, this Pokémon had one flaw: it made no sense.
Xia Huanao couldn't understand why Yassen had Ludicolo. While Yassen did have grass-type Pokémon, it was due to the vast forest areas in the region. A high forest coverage was completely different from the conditions required for Ludicolo's appearance. How did they find a cactus in a rainforest? Even though Yassen's forest area had been significantly reduced due to recent development, it wouldn't have turned into a desert favored by Ludicolo.
Seeing Xia Huanao's distressed expression, a member of Yassen's team said, "We've studied you. After knowing you would participate in this tournament, we specifically captured a Ludicolo in the secret realm. What do you think? Surprised, aren't you?"
Although Xia Huanao knew this was an excuse, he had to admit that he felt rather upset.
The match began, and Yassen immediately intended to force Xia Huanao's Shedinja out of the battle. "Ludicolo, use Sandstorm!"
A fierce wind whipped up on the field, and gravel and sand relentlessly assaulted all the Pokémon present. The teammates from Minglong Country watched Shedinja nervously, while Xia Huanao eyed Ludicolo with interest.
After watching for a while, Xia Huanao shook his head. "Water Absorb. I thought it was Sand Veil. Why are you using Sandstorm with a Water Absorb Ludicolo? Don't you see it's not doing any harm to my Shedinja?"
Yassen's two trainers couldn't quite comprehend this phenomenon. They had heard that this weather could counter Shedinja.
Xia Huanao pushed up his non-prescription glasses. "See this thing on my head? It's called Dustproof Goggles, specifically designed to protect against moves like Hail and Sandstorm. You see, it didn't take me out, but you're the one taking a hit."
Xia Huanao calmly let Shedinja linger there, enduring the Sandstorm until it passed. Or rather, Yassen's side voluntarily ended the Sandstorm, as their two grass-type Pokémon couldn't withstand it either.
Seeing that Yassen was no longer using Sandstorm, Xia Huanao decided to counterattack. "Oh, Sandstorm is over, is it? Then I won't be polite. Shedinja, X-Scissor!"
Shedinja charged towards Ludicolo. Xia Huanao had glanced at the other Pokémon and saw no threat to his Shedinja. After all, they couldn't target Shedinja with both Pokémon; otherwise, if their gamble failed, it would be troublesome.
Seeing Shedinja launch an aggressive attack, Yassen was also surprised, as Ludicolo had dark-type moves.
"Ludicolo, use Counter!"
Although a direct hit would have defeated Shedinja, Ludicolo, true to its training, or perhaps *too* well-trained, only remembered to use Counter after taking a X-Scissor.
Ludicolo's punch landed on Shedinja, but Shedinja showed no reaction at all. Even the halo on its head flickered twice, almost mockingly.
Xia Huanao's smile was uncontrollable. "Shedinja, come back for now. It seems this fool is dazed. Let's watch the fun for a bit and deal with other things later."
Not only were Yassen's trainers stunned, but everyone around was bewildered. Could this be cheating? Why didn't the dark-type moves hurt?
Xia Huanao glanced at Mu Zhishui, who then smiled, as if a coordinated move had just been executed.
Xia Huanao beckoned to Yassen's trainers. "Didn't you check Gardevoir's move pool? Did you know Gardevoir has a move called Trick? I just used Trick to swap the Choice Band and the Dustproof Goggles."
With this explanation, it made sense. A Choice Band did have a chance to survive a hit, but it only had a ten percent success rate. Was he treating this like a lottery? Xia Huanao's explanation was partially correct; he had indeed had Mu Zhishui use Trick to swap an item, but it wasn't a Choice Band, it was a Focus Sash, commonly known as an " obi."
It was too difficult for Xia Huanao's luck to rely on a Choice Band. If Guo Shuang'er were here, she could indeed make opponents question their life choices with a Choice Band, as for her, a ten percent chance was no different from a hundred percent.
However, Xia Huanao's confident demeanor made Yassen's two trainers believe Xia Huanao was relying on the success rate of his Choice Band. But soon, Yassen's team seemed to find a way to break through. A whirlwind stirred up on the field as Ludicolo once again used Sandstorm.
Xia Huanao looked at them with a dumbfounded expression. "No, she just clapped her hands. Didn't you hear it? That was to swap back the Dustproof Goggles. Why don't you believe me? Do you really think I've been holding onto a Choice Band all along?"
This time, however, Yassen's side did not stop the Sandstorm and allowed Ludicolo to attack again.
"Ludicolo, use Counter!"
Ludicolo hesitated and then remained still. This surprised even Xia Huanao. The Counter move was trained too well; it wouldn't even initiate first. How could this work?
But if you don't initiate, I won't either. We'll stall here, as I can afford to wait.
Meng Tianya, watching the match from outside the arena, didn't know what to say. "Although this match isn't crucial for them to win, I didn't expect it to reach this point."
Xia Huanao continued to provoke Yassen's team. "Come on, I'm the only damage dealer on my side. If you take me down, you win."
Xia Huanao taunted further. "Let me tell you, Gardevoir has Trick, Protect, Draining Kiss, and Trace. Can you find a Pokémon on the field that can break Gardevoir's Trace?"
Trace itself wasn't deadly, but the real killer was if Trace swapped into Misty Terrain. Gardevoir's weaknesses were only poison, ghost, and steel...
Xia Huanao's verbal assault stunned everyone present, and some teams even started researching whether Xia Huanao's combination was viable. However, Yassen's player on the field was starting to have a mental breakdown. After all, if the battle continued as Xia Huanao described, the result would only be a draw, or they would lose. Once all PP was depleted, the only move left would be Struggle, and everyone knew what that entailed.
To prevent their mental state from being ruined for the upcoming matches, Yassen's captain voluntarily surrendered the match, recalling his two players. Seeing his dejected teammates, Yassen's captain sighed and said earnestly, "Don't be like this. It's not your fault, after all, the opponent..."
He originally wanted to say the opponent was too despicable, but on such an important occasion, he had to maintain some decorum, so he could only sigh.
Meanwhile, Xia Huanao recalled Shedinja. He had intended to shake hands with Yassen's players, but only saw Yassen's captain there. The other players had already left. Although losing to Minglong Country was expected, the last match was infuriating, and to prevent any physical altercation, they had left.
Xia Huanao still walked over to Yassen's captain and told him, "When you get back, please tell your player that the Wonder Guard ability cannot be copied by Trace, so he should just fight as he normally would."
Hearing Xia Huanao's words, even Yassen's captain couldn't help but twitch his lips. He then gritted out a "Alright" and left the arena without looking back. Xia Huanao shrugged and returned to Minglong Country's side.