Raoul Contesta had seen many Trainers participate in Pokémon Contests. Coordinators, when facing powerful Trainers, would focus on several areas like dodging, countering, and appeal points, gradually weakening their opponents while avoiding direct confrontations.
But from Terrance, he witnessed a different approach.
Your move is fierce, so is mine.
As the smoke cleared, Castform had landed on the uneven ground, facing Tyranitar.
Terrance and Kyosuke exchanged glances. With 3 minutes and 51 seconds left, the battle continued!
As time went on, the battle would only become more intense.
"Castform has strong offensive power, but it's defense is its weak point," Kyosuke thought. Whether it was Hurricane, Thunder, or the Hydro Pump with its powerful impact, even Tyranitar couldn't afford to take a direct hit, lest it lose appeal points or worse, get affected.
But on the other hand, if Tyranitar managed to touch Castform, the latter would suffer severe injuries!
"Go, Tyranitar, Earthquake!!"
Tyranitar's heavy body pressed against the ground, causing the earth to resonate violently. The uneven ground trembled intensely, making Castform shake and nearly get buried by rocks.
Time ticked away. Tyranitar needed to be wary of Castform's moves, while Castform had to be even more cautious of Tyranitar's attacks. The back-and-forth heightened the tension.
Facing a Tyranitar that could cause widespread destruction with a single attack, Terrance felt helpless. Besides Hydro Pump, Castform seemed to have no effective way to dodge.
"This is Castform's weakness…" Terrance thought.
Castform's variations were too few, and the opponent was clearly no weakling.
Everyone watched as their appeal points fluctuated. For the moment, Terrance seemed to be in a disadvantageous situation.
However, the most important thing was the decisive move.
In the end, seizing the last opportunity to find the opponent's weakness and capitalize on the crucial moment will determine the outcome of this battle.
Bang!
At a certain moment, rocks were hurled from Tyranitar, blocking Castform's movement. Then, a terrifying face flew over, imprinting itself on Castform, making it shudder.
Seeing this, everyone was shocked, realizing things were not looking good.
"It's Scary Face!"
"Oh no, Castform is in danger."
Affected by Scary Face, Castform seemed to be stimulated by something and stood there blankly.
"Heh... it's harvest time." Kyosuke glanced at the time, which was approaching the end, and smiled faintly. Although Terrance had struggled for so long, Tyranitar was unbeatable.
"Give it the final blow, Stone Edge—"
Kyosuke swung his arm, exuding a fearless aura that matched Tyranitar's.
"Oh no, how will Contestant Terrance respond?!" Vivian, deeply engrossed in the fight, exclaimed, feeling nervous.
"It's over," Terrance thought.
He glanced at the time, then at the dissipating clouds, and smiled.
Facing Stone Edge, for the first time, he didn't have Castform dodge because it wasn't necessary anymore. For the first time in the entire contest, he was about to use his best move "Protect", which had been reserved until now.
Bang!
Everyone watched the stage tensely, but...following a shocking roar, most spectators' expressions changed.
They couldn't believe their eyes. In fact, they didn't want to believe that a single move could achieve this.
At this moment on the battlefield, one, two, three, dozens—countless Castforms filled the stage to the brim, creating a stunning spectacle.
"Double Team?"
Someone exclaimed. How was this possible? Such a quantity of Double Team—no Pokémon could pull this off... this surpassed the move's limits, something never heard of!
"Are there hundreds of them?" someone asked.
Even Tyranitar and Kyosuke were stunned by the sight before them. The move hadn't caused any damage, and the scene before them left them momentarily dazed.
It wasn't that their mental fortitude was weak, but this Double Team challenged their very perception.
"I call it…Multi Double Team," Terrance said. [*It's translation could also be Multiple Shadow Clone.]
"Boom!!"
Raindrops started falling again. Seeing this, Kyosuke's expression changed drastically, and he quickly ordered, "Earthquake!"
He wanted to find the real one, to locate the true Castform among the hundreds.
However, the Earthquake was still one step too slow. What happened next was beyond everyone's imagination—countless Castform simultaneously used their move as powerful Hydro Pumps sprayed in all directions, without any order or pattern, making them completely unpredictable!
"Why are they shooting in that direction?"
"No, some are heading towards Tyranitar too!"
In that instant, chaos reigned on the stage.
Tyranitar couldn't defend against the Hydro Pumps coming from all directions. Though some Double Teams vanished under the Earthquake, some still remained, and it was too late to think further.
A powerful Hydro Pump hit Tyranitar's chest. The chain of shocking events left everyone in disbelief. With Tyranitar crying out in pain and half kneeling on the ground, Kyosuke's appeal points dropped to zero, causing the entire arena to erupt in excitement.
"It's an illusion…" Nurse Joy said in astonishment.
Upon careful observation, She noticed that most Castform's actions and expressions were incredibly synchronized. Even with Double Team, it was impossible to replicate them so perfectly.
Moreover, the attack trajectories of some Hydro Pumps were perplexing. And the fact that some clones didn't disappear immediately under Earthquake attack was unthinkable for those familiar with Double Team. Any external force would typically make the clones vanish—this was common knowledge. Yet, Castform's clones remained intact.
This was no longer just Double Team.
"A mirage." Recalling Terrance's performance in the primary judging, someone suddenly understood.
A mirage, also known as a fata morgana, is a natural phenomenon caused by the refraction and total reflection of light. It's an optical illusion where the light reflected from objects is refracted by the atmosphere, creating a virtual image.
However...the conditions required for this mirage are far more stringent than those needed to form a rainbow!
The appearance of a mirage is closely related to geographic location, conditions, and specific weather characteristics at particular times. It requires extremely strong temperature anomalies. In fact, Tyranitar's destruction inadvertently helped Terrance in this final step. Amidst the intense battle and several intentionally missed Fire-type moves by Castform, some areas untouched by the rain became extremely hot.
With the intense heat below and the rain swirling above; after nearly 5 minutes of calculation by Castform, at the last moment, it finally completed this illusion, thanks to the rapid switching between Sunny Day and rain clouds.
Coupled with Castform's genuine Double Team, the angle of the sunlight from Sunny Day created by Castform was deliberately controlled to create an enhanced Double Team effect.
Terrance had devised three different strategies for Castform against Tyranitar. This was one of them—the safest but requiring the longest preparation.
"I've won." Looking at the incredulous Kyosuke, Terrance shook his head. This was still a Pokémon Contest; the abilities of Pokémon had to be utilized reasonably.
Kyosuke lost because of this. From the beginning, Terrance had been setting up for these final seconds, and at the last moment, he managed to turn the situation around.
"He won…" Raoul Contesta recalled the countless clones, and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Even now, some of the audience still didn't understand what had happened. Castform's control over the changes in Sunny Day was done entirely within the smoke, and the rapid change of Rainy Day was too fast for anyone to notice clearly…
"How many changes were hidden in this?" the judges speculated. Even they hadn't grasped the deeper meaning behind Terrance's commands to Castform at the start.
Chapter 232 Hundreds of Double Team!
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