The match began, but neither side rushed to attack, both unsure of the opponent's abilities. Wei Chiting's only certainty was that the opponent likely had a self-destruct move, though it would be useless against Gengar.
After a period of observation, Wei Chiting made the first move: "Gengar, use Confuse Ray."
Gengar's claws extended, and a ball of light, shimmering with various colors, slowly materialized on its purple digits. With a slight flick of Gengar's claw, the ball flew towards Graveler, circled it a few times, and then vanished.
Seeing Graveler affected, Wei Chiting pressed his advantage: "Gengar, use Shadow Ball!"
"Graveler, dodge this!"
Graveler curled its six limbs together, resembling a sulking emoji hugging itself. However, this emoji was rather restless.
Though not perfectly round when its limbs were curled, Graveler's rolling was not significantly hindered. Graveler thundered towards Gengar.
"Gengar, create distance and float upwards!"
Wei Chiting instinctively classified Graveler's action as the move Rollout, a Rock-type attack that grew stronger with successive hits. Perhaps it was unable to stop once it started rolling, becoming more excited with each collision.
To prevent Graveler from continuously increasing its power by rolling, Wei Chiting ordered Gengar to retreat temporarily. However, it turned out Graveler's movement wasn't a feigned dodge for a Rollout; once it started rolling, it truly couldn't stop, continuing to circle the arena.
Watching this scene, both trainers were at a loss. The student from Bei Mo University hadn't expected the confusion from Confuse Ray to result in such chaos, while Wei Chiting couldn't understand what Graveler was doing.
Finally, after the confusion from Confuse Ray wore off, Graveler stopped under its trainer's command. However, after rolling for so many circles, it was quite dazed, its eyes starting to spin.
"Gengar, another Shadow Ball, let's try!"
Gengar condensed another black sphere in front of itself and hurled it at Graveler. Although Graveler was no longer confused, it couldn't dodge the Shadow Ball in its stunned state. It was hit in the face by the Shadow Ball and fell to the ground.
The referee observed Graveler's condition. Theoretically, a single Shadow Ball from a Gengar in a tournament shouldn't instantly defeat a Graveler, but in this state, did Graveler still have the capacity to fight?
Graveler's willpower proved reliable. After a brief recovery on the ground, it got up and rejoined the battle.
"Graveler, charge and grab Gengar."
As Graveler charged, Gengar unleashed another Confuse Ray. This time, Graveler dodged, falling to the ground and avoiding the attack. It had to be said that being thick-skinned had its advantages.
Graveler, having dodged Confuse Ray, got up and continued towards Gengar. Wei Chiting skillfully directed Gengar to float upwards again. Graveler's average height was only about one meter, while Gengar could easily float several meters high. Even with a jump, it couldn't reach Gengar. Forget jumping; even stilts wouldn't help.
However, Graveler had its own ways of dealing with this.
"Graveler, use Rock Throw at the sky!"
Suddenly, Graveler produced a rock from somewhere and hurled it at the Gengar above. Gengar couldn't dodge in time and was hit, falling to the ground.
"Gengar!"
"Finish him, Graveler, use Magnitude!"
Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently. Gengar, having just been hit by Graveler's Rock Throw and brought to the ground, seemed unable to withstand Magnitude.
"This, this one's unlucky too. The power of Magnitude varies. The average expected Magnitude is around level seven, but it's debatable if this Magnitude is even level four. The probability of triggering a level four Magnitude is the same as a level ten."
After experiencing a level four Magnitude, Gengar, although its Levitate ability was broken, was not entirely out of the fight. Under Wei Chiting's command, it continued to attack Graveler.
"Gengar, use Confuse Ray."
Since Gengar was knocked down from the sky, it was very close to Graveler. There was no room to dodge this Confuse Ray, which hit Graveler directly. After being hit by Confuse Ray multiple times, a proper scene of confusion finally unfolded. Seeing Graveler hitting its own head with its four hands, Wei Chiting adopted the good old tactic of striking while the iron is hot: "Gengar, use Shadow Ball."
Seeing Graveler's condition worsening, the student from Bei Mo University no longer dared to gamble on the unpredictable Magnitude. If another level four Magnitude were to occur, they would be in tears...
After careful consideration, the student issued their last command in the singles match: "Graveler, use Stealth Rock!"
Stealth Rock, a tactic that had been used by Liu Ling to trap opponents in the previous match, was now about to be used against them.
The trainer defeated by Wei Chiting returned to his team: "Next, it's up to you."
The team member who took over from him stepped onto the battle stage. Wei Chiting pondered for a moment and decided not to recall Gengar and send it out again. After all, based on the previous matches and current information, the Bei Mo University team had no other Ground-type attacks. Therefore, even if Gengar's Levitate ability was broken, it shouldn't be a major issue. Conversely, recalling and releasing Gengar would erase the disadvantage caused by being knocked down, but taking a hit from Stealth Rock might be too much for Gengar.
He had also seen the second team member before; it was the player who used Forretress.
As soon as this player appeared, they used Spikes, and then Forretress spun towards Gengar. The intimidating aura suggested it was nothing short of a Rapid Spin.
"Spikes? Can this move be used in conjunction with Stealth Rock?" Wei Chiting had never seen such a coordinated tactic before. However, if he were to ask Xia Huanao, Xia Huanao would surely tell him that, based on professional experimentation, the rules of the world in Lingyao Star allowed for an unlimited stacking of status conditions on the field. This meant that if you wanted to, you could even stack Stealth Rock, Spikes, two layers of Toxic Spikes, and Sticky Web in a singles match, though how many would actually take effect was uncertain.
However, for the current Gengar on the field, this tactic was completely ineffective.
"Gengar, use Confuse Ray!"
Seeing Gengar's Confuse Ray, the opponent reacted quickly: "Forretress, use Rollout, Heavy Slam!"
Gengar's physique was no match for Forretress. Even at full HP, Gengar wouldn't necessarily withstand this move. Furthermore, confusion only caused errors in subsequent commands; it didn't affect commands that had already been issued.
As Forretress spun like a top and charged, Wei Chiting hastily ordered Gengar to dodge. However, if Gengar couldn't float, its speed wouldn't be that great. Fortunately, it narrowly brushed past Forretress at the last moment, allowing Wei Chiting to breathe a sigh of relief.
The confused Forretress was clearly more difficult to deal with than Graveler. As Gengar dodged its attack, Forretress began to control its movement, stopping just a few meters away from Gengar.
"Gengar, use Hypnosis!"
Forretress, which was about to attack Gengar again, was hit by Gengar's sudden change in strategy. It stopped its spinning and eventually fell asleep in front of Gengar.
"Gengar, use Dream Eater."
This technique was not the first time it had appeared in this tournament. Besides Chu Xiaodie, many schools had used similar tactics, though their methods of putting the opponent's Pokémon to sleep varied.
Seeing Forretress asleep, Wei Chiting seized the opportunity to attack. However, Forretress didn't give him much time and soon woke up. Although Wei Chiting wanted to use Hypnosis again to put Forretress to sleep, unfortunately, Forretress didn't give him the chance, and ultimately, Forretress used Heavy Slam to defeat Gengar.
Wei Chiting came down from the stage and looked at Lu Bingming and Chu Xiaodie: "How is it? Have you figured out any solutions?"
Lu Bingming shook his head: "No, I think our only option is a mutually destructive strategy, dragging the match into the final team battle. In the team battle, we might still have a chance."
Wei Chiting looked at Chu Xiaodie: "What about you, what do you think?"
Chu Xiaodie thought for a moment: "I also think we have to do that. It's too difficult to compete with an opponent like this."
Wei Chiting sighed: "So be it. Then, have you decided who to send out for the third match?"
Lu Bingming and Chu Xiaodie nodded, and both looked at Tu Zhuanghai: "If it's Wailord, it should be able to stall for time, at least until we can switch back the skills for Blissey."
Looking at Yan Chunyu, who was operating the learning machine, Wei Chiting nodded: "Alright, Tu Zhuanghai, it's up to you."
Tu Zhuanghai stood up and walked towards the battle area.
"This is bad. No matter what Pokémon comes out, it will be hit by Spikes and Stealth Rock as soon as it enters the field. Stealth Rock is manageable; it's an attribute. But Spikes are just unreasonable. Bei Mo University is truly a formidable opponent, skilled at learning and summarizing experience. It's just that they used fewer Spikes at the beginning. This isn't like Toxic Spikes. Two layers of Toxic Spikes inflict poison, but three layers of Spikes mean a quarter of your HP is gone from the start."