Because Dante already told the story of his battle with Louis, Shinobu expected something like this to happen. And from her observation, Scyther's movement has now become more erratic, not as predictable as what Dante said.
Fortunately, her plan doesn't rely on Shelly being able to target a faster moving opponent.
"Shelly, use Yawn!"
Shelmet endured the pain from being hit and let out a huge yawn. Scyther, who was looking at him, instantly felt a little sleepy.
Yawn is a Normal-type status move which makes the opposing Pokemon drowsy. After a certain amount of time, the drowsy Pokemon will surely fall asleep.
"A futile effort! Scyther, finish this! Air Cutter!"
Scyther forcibly psyched himself up and released another set of wind blades. After releasing that move, he wasn't able to hold on and fell asleep on the floor.
"And Scyther has fallen asleep! However, those blade winds are now zooming towards Shelmet. Will Shelmet be able to take this attack and stage a comeback? Or is this possibly the end of this exhilarating match?!"
The wind blades finally arrived in front of Shelmet. It caused an explosion of dust due to also hitting the floor, making everyone outside unable to see whether Shelmet fainted or not.
Everyone was waiting for the smoke to subside, but only Shinobu smiled in relief after seeing Scyther fall asleep.
"It's our turn now, Shelly, use Recover!"
A response came from the smoke, and after it subsided, everyone saw Shelmet glowing with a green energy. Except for when she was hit for the first time, it looked like the second Air Cutter didn't cause any damage.
"Scyther's attack missed and Shelmet survived the attack! With Scyther now asleep, Shinobu has taken this opportunity to recover Shelmet's energy!"
"He didn't miss."
"Oh, uh did you say something, Miss Chasca?"
From the beginning of the competition until now, Chasca usually remained silent. Except during the introduction, the only time she spoke was when the commentator directly asked her something about the game. Even then, she usually just responds in just one or two sentences. Therefore, hearing her speak out on her own initiative really caught him off guard.
"I said Scyther didn't miss."
"Oh! But didn't Shelmet remain uninjured from the attack? From the earlier hit, we could see that Shelmet suffered huge damage from that move."
"That's because Shelmet used Protect. I guess it was a part of their tactic from the beginning."
And that was indeed the case.
After her battle with Pikachu, Shinobu began to think about how she would handle Pokemon that are faster than Shelly. Although the problem would be solved after Shelmet evolved, she had no time for that as the Rookie competition was about to begin.
Her first solution was constantly training Struggle Bug until Shelmet learned Bug Buzz. Being a move that has a wide area of attack, fast opponents won't be able to dodge even with their fast speed.
When she tried it against Dante and Pikachu however, Pikachu just suffered some slight damage from the attack and instantly beat Shelmet again.
Shinobu and Shelmet were not deterred. After going back that night, the duo tried to formulate another set of tactics. There, Shinobu focused on the move Yawn.
This move doesn't see much use in official competitions due to moves such as Spore, Sleep Powder, and Hypnosis being better in that it makes opponents instantly fall asleep.
However, Shinobu found a combination of moves that Shelmet possessed, which would allow her to use Yawn as a move that can reliably make the opposing Pokemon fall asleep.
Shelmet is one of the few Pokemon that can naturally learn Protect and Recover. After using Yawn, Shelmet will automatically use Protect to take on the opponent's attacks while waiting for them to fall asleep.
Because Protect uses an enormous amount of energy, Shelmet has to use Recover to regain the lost energy and at the same time heal any existing wounds. The duo were very excited after making this tactic, and proceeded to spar with Dante and Pikachu the next day.
Unfortunately for the two of them, the first step of their plan failed.
As mentioned earlier, in this world, status moves are affected by the Special Attack stat. The higher the Special Attack of the user, and then the lower the Special Defense of the target, the more likely the move is to succeed.
Shelmet has a racial limit of 40 Special Attack while Pikachu during that battle had a Special Defense of 53. Just like when Pikachu used Thunder Wave against Drowzee and Drowzee shrugged it off, Pikachu was able to endure the feeling of drowsiness caused by Yawn and finish off Shelmet before falling asleep.
Overtime, Pikachu's Special Defense kept increasing, making Shelmet's Yawn more and more ineffective. At that point, Shinobu had to temporarily give up. She vowed to take revenge when Shelly evolved and gained a faster speed than Pikachu.
The opponent in front of them now was not as perverted as Dante and Pikachu. Although Scyther has a high attack and fast speed, its defenses were just in the 30s. After being hit by Yawn, Scyther wasn't able to resist for too long and fell asleep.
After Shelmet recovered sufficiently, Shinobu commanded her to attack.
"Shelly, grab onto Scyther's wings and use Acid!"
Acid is a special attack Poison-type move with a base power of 40. It was the only move that Shelmet has currently learned which wasn't resisted by Scyther's Bug and Flying typing.
Shinobu asked Shelmet to grab onto Scyther in order to minimize the gap in their speed, while forcing Scyther to only use physical attacks when it inevitably woke up.
On the other side, Louis was constantly shouting in panic for Scyther to wake up.
Louis anxiously stared as Shelmet clamped onto Scyther's wings and then used Acid. From watching her previous battles, he already knew that this Shelmet is close to or has even already reached its racial limits.
Before evolution, Shelmet's highest stat is its Defense. And after further boost by the Acid Armor, his Scyther who has 50 Attack after Swords Dance, won't be able to cause much damage.
The truth was indeed the case. After being attacked, Scyther woke up in pain. Louis can only rely on Scyther's type advantage to gain a chance of victory. But with Shelmet clinging tightly to its wings, he wasn't even able to gain a direct hit!
And after one time when Scyther got rid of him, Shinobu instantly commanded Shelmet to use Yawn, Protect, and Recover again.
In the end, under the dull gaze of Louis, his Scyther fell down while covered in purple liquid. Shelmet on his back also looked worse for wear, with scratches on its shell and barely holding onto its consciousness.
'It shouldn't be like this…I have studied everything about Pokemon since I was a child! I know all the different strategies, movepools, abilities, everything about Pokemon battles. BUT WHY?! WHY DO I KEEP LOSING?!!'
In a corner of the stadium reserved for high-ranking people, an old man was intensely looking at the arena. Looking at the figure of the girl hugging the Shelmet in her arms, he smiled widely.
"Fortunately, I came today instead of tomorrow like those other old coots. I can have a head start in recruiting."
"In this competition, the stats between each Pokemon won't have as big a difference as in the higher stage. Therefore, the capabilities of each Trainer will be tested more."
"Knowledge, tactics, eyesight, adaptability, and the tacit understanding between them and their starters. All of this will be tested more intensely during this competition."
"It's a bit of a pity for Robert's son. From his reaction, I guess he doesn't have much experience regarding early Pokemon battles."
What Louis failed to notice was, all the knowledge he learned regarding Pokemon strategies were about mid and high-end battles.
He knew Accelgor's high speed, its various strategies using its Abilities and teammates, as well as the various gimmicks surrounding it. However, he has little knowledge about what Shelmet can do.
Except for knowing its moveset and racial limit, he learned little to nothing about Shelmet's use in battle. His parents doing this is also understandable. After all, a person's time is limited.
They would rather focus on Louis' learning more about what Pokemon he will face in the future than the temporary ones during his growth.
In this battle, what the two sides know is only some basic information about their opponent. And Shinobu, with a disadvantage in terms of stats and typing, was able to emerge victorious.
From her calm demeanor throughout the whole battle, her creation and flawless execution of such tactics, and the close bond she has with her Pokemon.
With the old man's extensive experience in training countless generations of Pokemon Trainers, he is sure that this girl can definitely grab a place among the top Trainers in the future.
A/N: Vote for Dante's next Pokemon and get early access to up to 30 chapters on my Patreon : patreon.com/Ked2002