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Chapter 243 Umbreon? Dirty Eevee!

Gazing at the black Eevee in front of him, which bore a striking resemblance to his own Sylveon, Qingyu's lips curled into a silent smile.

Umbreon, a Dark-type Eevee, is one of the eight known evolutions of Eevee. It corresponds to Espeon, a Psychic-type Eevee. It requires a very high friendship level between the trainer and Eevee to evolve after bathing in moonlight.

Because Eevee's genetic makeup is very unstable, they are easily influenced by their surrounding environment and can evolve into different forms.

There are generally two paths to this evolution: one is the early discovery of guiding Eevee's evolution through ores containing high concentrations of attribute energy; the other is increasing their affinity with their trainers, subtly allowing them to meet the conditions for evolution.

In a sense, intimacy is also a reflection of the family environment.

There are currently eight known Eevee evolutions, each corresponding to a different attribute.

Therefore, a considerable number of scientists believe that Eevee may actually have the potential to evolve into seventeen different forms, but the other forms have not yet been discovered.

That makes sense, but since Sylveon was discovered, research on other evolutionary forms has yielded little result for a long time.

In the game, Peony's team consists of six Eevee in different evolution forms. She is a pure Eevee box pusher, so it is not surprising that she would use Umbreon.

But why Umbreon in particular?

Qingyu's lips curved upwards even further, and before the battle began, she took the initiative to ask:
"Peony, why did you choose Umbreon as your starting champion?"

"Ok?"

Peony, who was nervously preparing for the start of the battle, seemed surprised by his question. After thinking for a moment, she quickly gave her answer:

"Because of intuition?"

"If I had to say... since we already know that Whimsicott has the Prankster ability and its main fighting style is to use status moves to disrupt, then using a Dark-type Pokémon as the lead is the best choice, right?"

"Furthermore, my Umbreon has learned Taunt, so Whimsicott can only fight itself head-on and is no threat to me at all."

"Even though Whimsicott's Moon Power is effective against Umbreon, it can't actually cause any effective damage."

After Mudan finished speaking, she pushed up her black-rimmed glasses.

"I'm not mistaken, am I, Teacher Yu?"

"Completely correct."

Qingyu smiled and nodded, silently sighing to herself:
No wonder he's destined to be a self-taught super hacker who hacks the entire alliance system; his brain works much better than other students'.

It's so much easier to fight against a genius like that, since you can figure out all the details without giving away any spoilers!
[Hiss—, this challenger seems to be a tough one. Even Teacher Yu agrees with her idea, so it must be the standard answer for this assessment, right?]

But everyone knows this stuff. The assessments over the past two weeks have already reached similar conclusions. We still need to see how things go in real-world practice.

[But don't you guys think... Teacher Yu's gaze towards her was a little sly? It felt like she was Teacher Yu's most satisfied challenger so far, even Kato, the first one to pass this week, didn't receive this treatment!]

【Could it be that?】

From an outsider's perspective, it's quite obvious that Qingyu is satisfied with this challenger.

However, we'll have to wait for the actual battle to know the outcome.

After a brief exchange between the two, Peony quickly returned to battle mode and decisively made the first move:

"Umbreon, Provoke!"

"Wind Fairy, power of the moon."

Because of their conversation, they were both almost fully aware of each other's thoughts.

Therefore, Peony did not hesitate to provoke the enemy and preemptively suppress the influence of the Wind Fairy.

Qingyu reacted quickly, using the power of the moon to launch a counterattack.

However, since this Whimsicott was not specifically trained to use moves for damage, its power is quite average even with type advantage.

It wasn't particularly fatal for the tough-skinned Umbreon.

In the game, all of Eevee's evolutionary forms have base stats composed of a series of identical numbers, with Umbreon having the best stat distribution.

All the high-stat points were allocated to durability, making it appear slender but actually full of power; the durability stat is ridiculously high.

In addition, its decent skill pool gives it a place in the competitive scene.

After withstanding the damage from the Moon Power, Umbreon immediately followed up with a series of high-quality finger hooks. The provocative stance quickly caused Whimsicott to lose its composure and be affected by the move.

Faced with provocations from other Pokémon, Qingyu might be able to take the initiative and forcefully interrupt the opponent.

However, Dark-type Pokémon are too perceptive, and the changing moves quickly executed through Prankster's Prank cannot escape their notice, so they are ineffective.

We have no choice but to take this on.

After Whimsicott was provoked and had all its transformation moves locked, Aoba's options were clearly limited.

At this point, the most sensible option would be to use a rapid turnaround to evacuate quickly.

However, considering the need to further assess Mudan's skill level, Qingyu ultimately did not give that instruction, but instead repeated the sentence again:
"Wind Fairy, the power of the moon!"

Qingyu roughly estimated that, given the combat power of his wind sprite, this second attack was still not fatal.

However, after taking two attacks, Umbreon's stamina will reach a dangerous level, and it may be instantly defeated.

At this point, the choice of which move to use is crucial. Since we're talking about Umbreon, there's one move you absolutely must know.

"Umbreon, Moonlight!"

As Qingyu expected, Mudan quickly gave instructions again.

Even without the advantage of the Mischievousness preemptive strike, Whimsicott's movement speed is already very fast. Before Umbreon could use its move, Whimsicott unleashed Moon Power again, hitting the same spot and causing Umbreon to groan in pain.

As he had anticipated, it wasn't fatal but was still somewhat dangerous, with the possibility of being finished off at any moment.

but……

The injured Umbreon quickly took out a yellow berry from its tail, took a bite, and a relaxed expression quickly appeared on its face.

Clearly, the item it's carrying is a berry, which is a perfectly normal combination for Umbreon.

Immediately afterward, Umbreon raised its head and looked at the moon, which had almost disappeared in the sunlight.

As the moon's favorite, it naturally has a special connection with the moon.

As the golden halo above Umbreon's head shone brightly, gentle moonlight energy descended from the sky, quickly restoring all the damage it had just suffered.

Moonlight, like Dawnlight, is a self-regenerating recovery skill, and it is affected by the weather, with significantly more health restored on sunny days.

It was through this move that Umbreon's solid build was able to be maximized, and it became "infamous".

As we all know, a single shield bearer is far from enough to annoy the opponent; one must have other special skills to stay in the game and make a difference.

These recovery-type moves are basically standard equipment for the defensive team.

If you can't break through your opponent's defenses directly, you'll be repeatedly kited by recovery-type moves, and in the end, you won't be able to kill them, leaving you with nothing but a helpless standoff...

That's the situation right now.

Thanks to the combined restorative effects of Berry and Moonbeam, Umbreon, which was on the verge of collapse, miraculously recovered its vitality and its stamina almost returned to its peak.

【What?! Is this still a gym challenge? What am I doing here...?】

[It feels like the opposing team is also following in Yu Laoshi's footsteps. They seize every opportunity to recover and maintain their position. Wasn't this the same strategy Yu Laoshi used when playing a defensive poison build?]

After watching these two battle, all I want to ask is, where is the sunshine in this Sunny Gym? It's so gloomy...

[Umbreon? Dirty Eevee!]

Peony's move shocked many viewers, but Qingyu didn't react at all, maintaining his mysterious smile.

He was right; Peony had a good understanding of Umbreon.

But Peony's counterattack that followed surprised Qingyu even more—

"Umbreon, roar louder!"

Seeing that Qingyu hadn't made a move yet, Mudan quickly and decisively gave instructions, calling out a move that the viewers in the live stream were very familiar with.

Roar loudly!

Although it was used by Umbreon, the most well-known user of this move is naturally the number one hatching moe in the universe, the tiger god from Alola!

Of course, Qingyu also used it quite a lot during her live streams.

Umbreon's own combat power is very limited, and Dark-type moves are generally ineffective against Whimsicott.

Therefore, this move clearly has another intention.

With a terrifying roar, Pokémon affected by this move will have their ability to use energy moves temporarily weakened.

That is, Special Attack -1.

Whimsicott's combat power is already quite average. If it is further affected by Roar, it can be basically confirmed that it poses no threat to Umbreon at all.

Next, with its almost unbeatable recovery ability, Peony can consolidate its advantage step by step through meditation, and finally raise a monster-like Umbreon.

Once it is strengthened, even the Great Electric Seagull will not be its match.

According to the rules of gym challenges, the gym leader cannot change their Pokémon on their own initiative. It is clear that Botan had figured out this flaw, which is why she made this choice.

The situation seems to have reached a point where there is no solution.

but……

Qingyu quickly smiled slightly, and after Umbreon unleashed its Roar, which frightened Whimsicott into hugging itself tightly, it swiftly launched a counterattack:
"Wind Fairy, turn back immediately!"

He actually used this move very few times during this week's gym challenge.

As for replacement moves, Qingyu can use them normally.

After the Wind Fairy launched a flying kick at its opponent, it was quickly retracted by Qingyu.

The giant petrel soon appeared, but this time it no longer had a tailwind to rely on, and its speed was obviously not as fast.

(End of this chapter)