Chapter 607 - 607: 607. reverse

Jacob ignored the doubts from the crowd and calmly kept his eyes on Gliscor.

He was waiting. Quietly waiting for victory to arrive.

Even though Indeedee had been poisoned, Jacob still felt sure he would win. He had more than one way to close out this match.

For example, he could use Lunar Blessing. Once that move was used, Indeedee would instantly cure its own poison and recover some HP.

But Jacob didn't want to do that. He didn't want to reveal that Indeedee knew Lunar Blessing.

That move belonged to Cresselia alone, and it was a trump card meant only for truly desperate battles. Unless the match was extremely important, Jacob wouldn't use it.

Besides, even without Lunar Blessing, he still had another path to victory.

He was ninety-nine percent certain he would win this match, unless Ashlie decided to switch Pokémon.

......…

"Indeedee, use Psychic again!"

Jacob's voice rang out once more. A surge of psychic energy formed into a giant fist and shot toward Gliscor.

Facing the attack, Ashlie stayed remarkably calm. Indeedee was poisoned, so she already held the advantage. All she needed to do was stretch the battle out: "Gliscor, use Protect!"

A glowing barrier appeared as Gliscor used Protect, blocking the incoming fist of energy.

Right after, Ashlie called out again: "Gliscor, use Clear Smog!"

A wave of Flying-type energy rushed toward Indeedee, sweeping away the Psychic Terrain beneath its feet.

With the terrain gone, Gliscor's advantage grew even larger.

"Ashlie's lead just keeps growing. Jacob made one bad choice, and now every choice after it looks wrong too. He's ruined a strong position — what a shame."

"The smartest move for Jacob right now would be to switch Pokémon. That way he'd still have a chance to set up Psychic Terrain again later."

"This match looks rough. Dragapult may be their only hope now."

Watching Gliscor use Clear Smog, Jacob didn't panic. He calmly gave his next order: "Indeedee, use Calm Mind again!"

That made three Calm Minds in a row.

Psychic energy swirled around Indeedee, raising its Special Attack and Special Defense even further.

"What is Jacob thinking?"

"Indeedee is poisoned, and it'll keep losing HP faster and faster. Now that Psychic Terrain is gone too, stalling like this only hurts him more."

"He must have some other plan."

"Could this be a Baton Pass strategy?"

......…

"A Baton Pass?!"

More and more people began to think so. If Jacob really was planning a Baton Pass, and Dragapult inherited three Calm Minds along with a Substitute, it could sweep the whole opposing team!

Ashlie considered the same possibility, so she quickly gave her order: "Gliscor, use Taunt!"

"Indeedee!" The instant Jacob heard that command, the corner of his mouth lifted. Since Gliscor was about to use Taunt, he couldn't afford to stall any longer.

Now was the moment to finish the match: "Indeedee, use Skill Swap!"

As Jacob spoke, energy burst around both Pokémon at once — psychic energy from Indeedee and dark energy from Gliscor collided in the middle.

Taunt struck Indeedee, sealing off all of its status moves. But Skill Swap also connected, and the two Pokémon's Abilities switched places!

"Skill Swap?!"

The instant Jacob called for that move, everyone froze in surprise. It was a fairly obscure move.

Unless a team included something like Slaking, Skill Swap almost never saw use.

But now...

Nobody had expected Jacob to use it here.

Jacob's mouth curved into a confident smile as he looked at Ashlie and said simply, "I've won."

Just like that?

What was he so sure of?

"Jacob..." The commentator was still frowning, trying to work out why Indeedee had used that move.

Skill Swap?

Indeedee's Psychic Surge had been traded for Gliscor's... Poison Heal!

Poison Heal!

Wait a second!

The commentator suddenly understood, jumping to his feet and shouting: "Incredible! What a brilliant play! Having Indeedee use Skill Swap was pure genius from Jacob!"

"Jacob truly is a genius — he actually found a way to use this move to flip the whole situation around!"

"Once Skill Swap takes effect, Indeedee's Psychic Surge Ability moves over to Gliscor and activates immediately, turning the field back into Psychic Terrain."

"At the same time, Gliscor's Poison Heal Ability moves over to Indeedee. Indeedee, which had been steadily losing HP from poison, will now steadily recover HP instead."

"This one move is nothing short of brilliant — it instantly turns the whole battle around. Just beautiful."

At that point, the other commentator chimed in as well: "And there's more to it. Remember, Gliscor was also poisoned from the very start, since it was holding a Toxic Orb. It had only been healing instead of losing HP because of Poison Heal. Now that Poison Heal is gone, it's going to start losing HP steadily."

"And here's the important part — Gliscor's poison counter never reset. It's been building since the moment Gliscor entered the battle. After all this time, the poison has grown severe, and its HP will now drain at a frightening rate."

"Three birds with one stone: Psychic Terrain is back, Indeedee starts healing from Poison Heal, and Gliscor starts losing HP fast."

"Beautiful. I haven't seen a play this sharp in a long time."

"Jacob's going to win this. One single move turned the tables and rewrote the whole match. This is thrilling!"

"This has to be the most exciting Gym Leader League match of the year!"

"Well, technically, today is the very first Hall Master G3 League match of the year."

......…

The commentary made everyone finally understand what had just happened with Skill Swap.

At that moment, everyone thought of the same phrase: "Tactical Master."

It had only taken one move to turn the entire battle around.

Everyone looked at Jacob, at his calm and confident expression, and realized that he might have been setting a trap for Ashlie from the very beginning.

Back when Jacob had Indeedee use Protect against Darkest Lariat instead of guarding against the poison, he must have already been planning this outcome.

Perhaps the plan had been in motion from that very moment.

While Gliscor used Roost to heal and Clear Smog to wipe the terrain, Jacob had stayed calm and hadn't ordered Indeedee to counter at all.

He had simply had Indeedee build up with Substitute and Calm Mind, quietly stacking its stats.

Because he knew that the moment he used Skill Swap, the match would be his to control completely.

If Ashlie hadn't ordered Gliscor to use Taunt, Jacob might have stalled even longer before making his move.

A Tactical Master indeed — a truly brilliant stroke!

......…