novelhk Chapter 33 The Surefire Way to Win at Rock-Paper-Scissors
Chapter 33 The Surefire Way to Win at Rock-Paper-Scissors
As the evening sun set, the train sped along, but the battle zone in the first-class carriage remained completely undisturbed. The detective standing in the dueling arena felt only the impermanence of life.
Beside Hugo was Douzi, who was clutching a Poké Ball. The two had prepared their battle strategy before going on stage, but now, facing an opponent that was almost impossible to defeat, she began to tremble slightly.
Those who know her well know that this trembling does not stem from fear, but from excitement, an outward manifestation of her soaring fighting spirit.
Across the narrow playing field, directly opposite Douzi was a girl who looked like a high school student carrying a backpack.
The high school girl's face had an expression that screamed "I'm going to win," just like the boy before he entered the carriage.
The girl's confidence stems from her partner—the current Unova Elite Four member, the master of the Evil attribute, Cranberry.
The king, who had intruded into the low-level match, stood in a corner of the arena, smoothed his signature exaggerated dark blue hair, and grinned like a viper baring its fangs.
He spoke directly to Douzi, and unlike his aggressive appearance, Yueju's voice was slow and deliberate, possessing an elegant, aristocratic quality.
"Isn't this Miss Douzi, one of this year's league challenger candidates? To meet her under such a coincidence is like winning the lottery."
Toko's mood grew even heavier. He had thought this battle would turn into a surprise attack, but he hadn't expected that his opponent was also prepared.
However, the girl suddenly caught a glimpse of Hugo shaking his head slightly, and the detective making an OK sign with his hand behind his back.
Douzi suddenly felt an inexplicable surge of confidence, so he raised his head and responded to the King's greeting: "I am truly fortunate to be able to experience the strength of King Yueju in advance."
Seeing the challenger's composed attitude, the King smiled and said, "Very good, it seems like we'll have a great match today."
The high school girl next to Lan Tachibana wanted to chime in, but just then the stadium's loudspeaker blared—
"The match will begin ten seconds after the broadcast ends. Each player may use only one Pokémon at a time; switching Pokémon and using battle items are prohibited. A player who loses if both of their Pokémon are unable to battle will be eliminated. Next—"
A countdown began playing on a screen on one side of the wall, and the atmosphere in the arena gradually became tense. Of the four, only Hugo, lost in thought, turned his head to look at the numbers flashing on the wall.
"Game start!"
The countdown reached zero, and a deafening announcement signaled the start of the competition. The players threw their chosen Poké Balls into the arena.
Choosing a Pokémon to start is like rock-paper-scissors. In a typical doubles battle, if one side can choose a suitable and targeted opening strategy, they will gain a significant advantage in the early stages of the match. However, in this battle within the train carriage, each side can only choose one Pokémon to battle, making the opening choice even more crucial to victory or defeat.
Rock-paper-scissors is essentially a psychological game. Some people might think it's just a game of luck with no pattern, but Victor Hugo, as a detective, will tell you that's not the case at all.
Everyone has their preferred way of playing rock-paper-scissors. When someone starts playing rock-paper-scissors without any preparation, habit will guide them to choose rock and paper in a certain fixed order.
Conversely, when he is mentally prepared to throw a punch, his move will indeed briefly appear unpredictable; however, as the number of times he plays rock-paper-scissors increases, this unpredictable state will converge into habit at an extremely fast speed. Before the player realizes this again and changes his approach, he will become a prisoner of unconsciousness.
That's right, there's a sure-win strategy for rock-paper-scissors!
With enough information, whether you choose rock-paper-scissors or scissors actually depends on what kind of person you are.
Similarly, the outcome of this rock-paper-scissors game—which Pokémon the opponent would use—was already predicted in Hugo's mind.
"Heave-ho!" Douzi beside him let out a short shout. It was the sound people often made when they got a good hand in gambling. They couldn't help but shout out because of their joy, but they had to suppress their emotions because the battle was still going on. This small sound was the gambler's wild laughter when his trick succeeded.
The three Pokémon have entered the arena: the one with the Flame King standing upright with its arms crossed like a war god, the one with the Electrifying Flying Squirrel that floated in the air for a while before landing gracefully, and the one with a bright red headdress and a bandana-wearing thug under the command of the girl, Yueju.
—The beginning was exactly as the detective predicted.
So what about the detective's own Pokémon?
Rewind to the moment the countdown ended.
Just as everyone was throwing their Poké Balls into the arena, Detective Hugo, as if he were participating in a shot put competition at a sports meet, swung his Poké Ball high into the air and then smashed it straight down on the face of the Unova Elite Four with astonishing force.
Since it was a battle carriage much smaller than the actual battle arena, the opposing trainer's standing position was within Hugo's range when he threw Poké Balls.
At this moment, Lantana had already released Bandana. When she looked up, she saw a rapidly spinning Poké Ball getting closer and closer to her. So she subconsciously put her hand in front of her eyes.
A Poké Ball isn't a real shot put; as long as it doesn't hit your face, it'll only hurt for a while.
However, the Poké Ball opened automatically as soon as it reached Bulbasaur, and a lively little Chimchar jumped out and landed on the field in front of Bulbasaur.
"Oh no!" Blueberry, also a skilled gambler, instantly understood the opponent's intentions. "Headband thug, use 'Brick Break' to defeat this little fire monkey..."
However, no matter how much the Elite Four member and his Pokémon were in sync, Chimchar had already carried out the task Hugo had given him before the match began.
"High five surprise attack".
Without receiving any orders, the little fire monkey took the initiative and boldly slapped the bandana thug across the face, the crisp sound echoing throughout the entire carriage.
Like his Pokémon, Cranberry froze for a moment, as if it too had been hit by this intimidating move.
At the same time, a loud rumbling sound came from the direction of the high school girl.
"Electrifying flying squirrel!" the high school girl shouted. The object she was calling for was pinned under a huge rock blade and had already lost its ability to fight.
Douzi, who once complained about the awkward speed of Emboar, suddenly found that his Emboar had unleashed an astonishing speed, striking before the Flying-type Electrifying Squirrel could react.
The powerful Rock-type move is the "Stone Strike" used by the Emboar of the Fist.
The confined space was enough to offset the unstable hit rate of this move. The Fighting King could have chosen "Double-Edge Hammer" from the move pool to deal with Electivire, but there was still a tough battle with the Dark Elite Four to come, so he put his bet on the newly learned "Stone Edge".
The result was, of course, an instant kill!
The giant red boar, standing upright, was surrounded by surging flames. It was now completely unaffected by its physical strength, and its crimson pupils were also burning with fiery red flames. Its fighting spirit had reached an unprecedented level of excitement.
"Now, there's only one opponent left!"
Douzi was even more excited than the Flame King, whose head was blazing with fire. He looked down at the expressionless Yueju and planned to use all his skills to make this king experience the taste of being defeated in a ditch.
Meanwhile, the jujube, standing on the edge of a ditch and about to capsize, was currently observing the situation with the poker face commonly seen on gamblers, showing neither anger nor joy.
Although the bandana-wearing thug flinched and lost the initiative after being hit by the "High Five," it didn't suffer any real damage. It seems that the little Chimchar is just a novice with little training. It has already used the "High Five" that it can only use when it enters the battle, so it should be fine to leave it alone.
The real problem lies with the little girl's Emboar, the star trainer's main Pokémon, who is fully qualified to challenge the Elite Four. Furthermore, Bandana's Fighting/Genius typing puts it in a difficult position against the powerful Fighting moves of the Infernape.
It looks like we're headed for a tough battle.
Regardless of his inner thoughts, this former aristocrat and gambling king revealed an unprecedentedly radiant smile, his evil shark teeth interlocking as he laughed loudly.
"Haha, hahaha... There are dishonorable victories, and there are glorious defeats. What's interesting and annoying is that right and wrong aren't always so clear-cut, just like a tossed coin doesn't always land heads or tails... Sometimes, the coin might not even land..."
For those who frequently follow the Unova Pokémon League battles, there's one thing that's common knowledge—
Although the Dark-type Elite Four member, Cranberry, considers himself a gambler, his fighting style is always steady and cautious. He almost never uses desperate moves or moves that risk failure... This may be due to the Elite Four member's reserve, or it may be due to the gambler's nature of being outwardly crazy but inwardly cautious.
But this doesn't mean that he, as a gambling king, wouldn't dare to go all in.
Hugo heard the cold, commanding voice of Yueju: "Headband thug, use 'Flying Knee Kick' continuously until that Flame King or you are completely defeated!"