Chapter 61: Chapter 61 Tug-of-War_1
Fang Yuan was speechless and slightly lowered his cap.
Often when the protagonist made this gesture, victory was not far away.
But whether Fang Yuan was really the protagonist...
He couldn't say for himself.
"Begin!"
Two breaths later, the referee issued a directive, and the entire Oriental Pearl Stadium fell silent.
The audience stopped discussing and focused their attention on the field.
Fang Yuan's Eevee and Xu Jing's Casey appeared on opposite sides of the field at the same time.
The first to initiate the attack... was Casey.
As soon as Xu Jing's command was issued, one could distinctly feel a change in Casey's demeanor; even though it appeared to be squinting, the sharpness of Casey's spiritual power could not be concealed.
Psyshock!
"Psychic moves are just a weak force of thought, but Psyshock is a much more powerful psychic force. By using such a move to lock on Eevee from the get-go, it seems that Trainer Xu Jing wants to quickly determine the winner."
In the guests' seating area, many VIPs watched without blinking an eye.
Hum!
A blue psychic wave fluctuation enveloped Casey, and in the next second, a powerful Psychic Orb shot through the air towards its target.
"Psyshock?"
"Can your Casey lock on to Eevee?"
"Want to bet and see?"
Fang Yuan asked in quick succession.
Besides frowning, Xu Jing saw that Eevee had already started running at full speed, shrouded in a white glow, which was the sign of using Quick Attack to move.
Faced with Psyshock, Eevee wasn't about to sit and wait for doom.
As long as it ran fast enough, Casey would not be able to lock onto Eevee.
It was all a matter of tactical arrangement!
In mid-air, the powerful blue Psychic Orb followed Eevee under Casey's control.
However, Eevee's movements were exceptionally slick; its outstanding Coordination Ability was showcased once again as it sped around in complex patterns, forcing Casey to expend even more energy.
Dodge... dodge... and dodge again!
Eevee narrowly avoided Casey's attacks time after time, causing the audience and the VIPs to tense up as they watched.
While dodging... Eevee's path remained clear—it was headed straight for Casey.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
The wind howled around Eevee, whose speed didn't decrease at all until it reached Casey's side, its actions becoming unpredictable again as it looked for an opportunity to attack.
Swish!
But before Eevee could launch an attack, Casey, startled, teleported to the other side of the field, once again increasing the distance between the two Pokemon.
In that brief encounter, neither had managed to harm the other, but the energy they expended was considerable.
"This year's Little Phoenix King Cup is quite noteworthy. The tug-of-war between these two Pokemon wouldn't be criticized even in a larger-scale competition," said a representative from the Magic City Trainer Association with a smile.
"Indeed, what's more commendable is that, facing the out-of-league strength of Casey, this Eevee doesn't appear to have any weaknesses and performs quite outstandingly. If this continues, an upset might indeed be possible," another guest added optimistically.
"It's still difficult to discern the trend now. Fang Yuan's tactic is undoubtedly to wage a war of attrition, but facing such a strategy, my 'little sister' here may still have some cards up her sleeve," said Lu Hai with a laugh, looking at Xu Jing.
Her Casey still had a move that hadn't been shown yet.
This move could very well be the key to changing the course of battle.
Meanwhile.
"See, I told you Casey couldn't lock onto Eevee," Fang Yuan said with a smile.
But who knew.
Xu Jing just gave Fang Yuan a glance, unfazed; instead, she issued another command.
"Casey, meditate," she took a deep breath and told Casey to stop attacking.
The Meditative Moves, which can calm the mind and focus the spirit, were largely intended here to restore Casey's spiritual power.
Whether it's Psychics or Pokemon of the Psychic Type, meditation is the most effective way for them to recover spiritual power.
Meditation?
Fang Yuan's brow furrowed deeply.
This was out of his expectations.
He absolutely couldn't let Casey successfully meditate, otherwise Eevee would be in danger.
"Stop it," Fang Yuan quickly ordered.
The next moment, Eevee accelerated once more with a Quick Attack, ready to interrupt Casey's meditation.
Moving swiftly, Eevee drew near to Casey, with the distance between them narrowing, but suddenly Xu Jing changed her command.
"Now, use Psyshock!"
By luring Eevee to approach and then launching an attack, this was Xu Jing's tactic.
At close range, directly locking onto Eevee and releasing Psyshock not only made it more likely to hit, but Eevee would also find it hard to react quickly enough to dodge in such a short span of time.
From the beginning, Xu Jing had been setting a trap for Fang Yuan and Eevee, one they were forced to fall into nonetheless.
However, although Fang Yuan had not anticipated Casey would meditate, he was well-prepared for this close-range combat scenario.
The moment Fang Yuan had understood the duration of Casey's Psyshock, he had calculated the safe distance between Eevee and Casey and foreseen Xu Jing's tactics for close-range attacks.
Regrettably, there was almost no way to break it, only ways to reduce some of the damage.
But now, since he could prevent Casey's meditation and continue to deplete its energy, it wasn't a loss!
The next moment.
Eevee burst out with even greater speed, creating four afterimages around it.
However, this level of Shadow Clones did not seem to confuse Casey, a Pokemon of the psychic type.
Casey directly read the mental fluctuations of each figure, pinpointing Eevee's exact position, but this judgement had given Eevee time to react.
Sand Splash!
Eevee kicked up dust towards the oncoming Psyshock, and in the next moment, the powerful Psychic Orb immediately covered the sand, like a large hand pinching the dust to burst it open, followed by the sand rapidly swirling backward, rolling Eevee out, causing it to tumble across the ground a few times before standing firm again,
Being affected by its own Sand Splash was better than being hit by Psyshock.
At this point, some distance was put between the two.
As the distance was still close, Casey continued to press its advantage.
However, with just this slight increase in distance, Casey's Psyshock no longer posed a threat to Eevee.
At this range, Eevee was now certain to react and dodge.
The reason for its tumbling was to reach an appropriate distance, and this distance had been carefully measured by Fang Yuan multiple times.
The two sides continued to drain each other's energy.
Facing another rush from Eevee who had closed the gap, Casey was once again forced to Teleport away.
"Good!"
Seeing two New Trainers displaying such competition, a Professional Trainer guest exclaimed with approval.
From the start to the present, both contestants had been cautious and meticulous in their battle, not daring to be careless and taking their fight very seriously, looking nothing like newbies. This impressed the Professional Trainers, as the finalists looked like natural born Trainers.
"Actually, continuing like this isn't very advantageous for Xu Jing."
"Psychic Type Moves strike when the enemy least expects it. Persistent control has lost the element of surprise and poses little threat to Eevee. On top of that, it also drags Casey down."
"With Eevee's reaction speed, it can completely dodge while closing the distance for a sneak attack."
"So for Xu Jing, repeating the previous tactic is the best choice."
"Quietly concentrating psychic energy while using meditation as a front to lure Eevee into the trap and catch it off guard!"
"Even though Eevee has crudely thwarted it once before, trying it a second time might result in Eevee making a mistake."
As the crowd discussed, Xu Jing's Casey indeed began to meditate again, and Eevee charged forward once more.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone