"Right back at you. Your Lucario far exceeded my expectations as well, Mr. Grey."
Geeta stood with her hands behind her back, her eyes narrowing slightly as she suddenly gave her command. "Glimmora, use Dazzling Gleam!"
"Glim!"
Glimmora's petals remained fully spread as Fairy-type energy poured into every single one of them, scattering outward in every direction without a single blind spot.
Seeing this, Lucario pressed together the bone clubs held in both hands, pouring a steady stream of aura into them until they became one massive bone club nearly twenty feet long.
Clang!
Lucario drove the bone club into the ground. The violent tremor it triggered froze the Dazzling Gleam in midair before it, stopping it from advancing even half a step.
"Lucar!"
A furious shout rang from its mouth. Lucario yanked the bone club out of the ground and brought it down in a heavy forward strike.
Boom!
Dazzling Gleam split in two. Cloaked in white light, Lucario instantly shot through that narrow gap, thrusting the bone club in its hand straight at Glimmora's main body.
"Glim..."
Glimmora let out a pained cry. It had clearly taken a critical hit from Lucario.
Seeing this, Grey ordered Lucario to use Bone Rush again. "Nice work! Lucario, keep up the pressure!"
"Lucar!"
Lucario put strength into both arms and pushed its Ground-type energy to the limit. As the bone club swung, it left afterimages in the air, beating Glimmora until its cries of pain came one after another, yet it still refused to lose the ability to battle.
Watching this, Grey almost started wondering whether type advantage even existed.
It had taken this many four-times-super-effective moves, and this Glimmora still had not gone down?
Fortunately, Geeta's Glimmora really had gained plenty of wounds. Even its breathing had grown much faster, making it obvious that it had taken considerable damage.
"Memento."
Seeing this, Geeta chose to let Glimmora make its final contribution.
"Glim!"
Glimmora's spread petals closed directly around Lucario, leaving it with no way to evade the strike from Memento.
In the next instant, a mass of Dark-type energy poured into Lucario's body, causing its momentum to wither.
After using Memento, Glimmora also lost the ability to battle. Its petals loosened, and it collapsed to the ground.
"Lucar..."
Lucario was not feeling well either. It could clearly sense that both of its attacking stats had dropped sharply.
Geeta had left Grey with a difficult problem.
Against the next Pokémon that would appear, should he switch out Lucario, whose physical and special attacks had both been drastically lowered, or should he keep it on the field and keep fighting?
This was a very serious question.
Lucario was naturally a mixed attacker. If one side was crippled, it could still use the other.
But the issue was that both of Lucario's attacking stats had now been sharply lowered. They definitely would not recover in a short time.
So, would Grey choose to have Lucario fight Geeta's next unknown Pokémon in poor condition, or would he send in a new partner and force it to eat Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes?
"I didn't expect Mr. Grey to actually take the first win! He really is an amazing Trainer!"
If Nemona had still carried some doubts before, then after seeing the first battle between Lucario and Glimmora, she now understood that Grey was truly strong.
There was a good chance he was even stronger than her!
"That's true, but Lucario is in terrible shape now. It can't safely retreat, and it can't safely keep fighting either. I wonder what Chairwoman Geeta's next Pokémon will be..."
Larry commented from the side.
Grey's battling style carried the lively vigor of a young person.
But within that vigor, Larry also sensed a bit of veteran maturity.
Could Grey be hiding something?
Thinking of this, Larry stared at Grey, only to see the other man look back at him and give him a thumbs-up.
Larry smiled at the sight.
It looked like Chairwoman Geeta might just end up taking a loss this time.
"Keep it up, Grey," Larry encouraged him in a low voice.
Nemona heard him from the side and could not help saying, "Mr. Larry, you have to cheer louder! Like this!"
"Mr. Grey, you can do it!"
Larry was speechless.
How about you guess why I'm not shouting?
The person battling Grey was his boss!
How could he possibly dare cheer loudly?
All he could say was that Nemona did not understand the adult world.
"Mr. Grey, this is my second Pokémon."
The Poké Ball landed on the ground, and an ostrich-like Pokémon appeared.
It resembled an Egyptian pharaoh queen in the form of an ostrich. White cloth-like feathers sat on top of its head, and the skin on its face was purple.
Terrifying psychic power was hidden within its colorful frills. Its large eyes stared at Lucario, and then it lightly nodded.
Pokémon: Espathra
Type: Psychic
Level: 73
Ability: Opportunist
Moves: Lumina Crash, Roost... others omitted.
An Espathra with Opportunist as its Ability!
This made Grey immediately give up on having Lucario use status moves like Swords Dance or Nasty Plot.
Damn it...
Was she obviously forcing him to switch?
Among the Pokémon he had with him, he really did not have any that could handle this many entry hazards.
He could not even pull together a single Rapid Spin user...
If it were Metagross, that would be fine.
But Metagross's level was too low.
It would probably get beaten down by Espathra like a helpless rookie.
This was really annoying.
A pure counterpick!
"Lucario, can you still keep fighting?"
Grey did have an idea, but it depended on whether Lucario was still willing to continue the battle.
"Lucar." No problem.
Lucario had not taken much damage. The main issue was that both of its offensive stats had been drastically reduced. Everything else was still manageable.
"Good. Then keep battling."
Grey took a deep breath and shouted directly, "Lucario, Metal Sound!"
Since raising his own stats would trigger Espathra's Opportunist and let it copy the boost, it would be better to lower Espathra's Special Defense directly. Rounding it out, the effect was basically the same.
"Lucar!"
Lucario wrapped both hands in Steel-type energy and rubbed them together. A grating metallic screech that made people's teeth ache suddenly rang out and pierced Espathra's eardrums, causing its whole body to glow with a blue stat-drop light as its Special Defense sharply fell.
"Espathra, Lumina Crash."
"Ka-ka!"
Enduring that awful Metal Sound, the frills across Espathra's body suddenly burst with light.
Brilliant Psychic-type energy gathered in front of it as countless points of light, then transformed into countless laser beams that shot forward.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The laser beams came in dense waves. Lucario knew how terrifying this move's power was and directly used Extreme Speed to dodge.
In an instant, the place where Lucario had just stood became riddled with pits.
Countless craters appeared. Espathra used its psychic power to search for Lucario's location, and at the same time, the direction of Lumina Crash shifted, surging in every direction.
"Lucar..."
Even while in Extreme Speed, Lucario still had no way to avoid such an all-encompassing attack.
At the critical moment, Grey's command arrived. "Calm your mind and use Detect!"
"Lucar!"
Lucario held its breath and focused. Its aura locked onto the incoming psychic lasers. After determining their attack routes, it dodged the move with the smallest possible movements.
"Nice work. Now use Dark Pulse directly!"
Swish!
Rings of dark waves interlocked with one another. Lucario pushed them forward, piercing through the countless incoming laser beams and striking Espathra in the neck.
Espathra was driven more than thirty feet backward by the impact of Dark Pulse. Lucario seized the chance to charge forward, condensing an irregular sphere in its hand before slamming it down.
A Ghost-type Shadow Ball!
Boom!
As Shadow Ball landed, Espathra's body once again flashed with a blue stat-drop light, and its Special Defense fell again.
Unexpectedly, Geeta revealed a faint smile at that moment. "Psychic."
In an instant, light burst from Espathra's eyes. The scattered remnants of psychic power around the area surged wildly, and under its control, they directly bound Lucario before slamming it into the ground.
Bang, bang, bang!
The sound of repeated impacts echoed through the field. Lucario was firmly controlled by Espathra's Psychic, unable to move.
"Lucario, come back for now."
Grey had no choice but to recall Lucario to avoid losing one of his forces for nothing.
Right now, the real problem had become how to deal with Espathra.
Ideally, he needed to knock it out in one hit...
Or find a way to handle Toxic Spikes.
Stealth Rock was not a major issue.
The problem was the Toxic Spikes scattered across the ground.
The badly poisoned condition would cause more and more damage as time passed. If Espathra stalled for time, the one to fall first might very well be his side.
Hiss...
He had it!
Grey suddenly thought of a countermeasure. However, this would be his first time putting it into practice, so he had no way to know whether it would work.
"It seems you already have a plan, Mr. Grey."
Geeta smiled faintly. Her tone was calm and even, as if she were describing the matter in the third person.
"It's only an idea. Whether it can actually work depends on whether this partner of mine can carry out the plan perfectly."
As he said this, Grey took out a Poké Ball and threw it high into the air. "Gallade! Misty Terrain!"
Misty Terrain: For a set amount of time, grounded Pokémon will not be afflicted by status conditions. The damage of Dragon-type moves is also halved.
"Gallade!"
Gallade entered the field in midair. The instant it appeared, the stones that had blended into the air emerged and rushed toward it all at once.
Boom!
An explosion of dust and smoke raged outward, and a touch of pink light shone especially brightly within it.
A thin layer of mist erupted across the ground. The training field seemed to be covered in a hazy filter, making it impossible for anyone to clearly see what was happening on the battlefield.
Misty Terrain had been successfully activated!
Geeta immediately seized the opening. "Lumina Crash."
"Ka-ka!"
The frills across Espathra's body once again shone with dazzling light, and countless psychic lasers shot out.
Gallade landed steadily, only for hundreds of lasers to flash in front of it and strike its body at the same time. Even the solid ground was carved with deep trenches because of it.
"Gallade..."
After taking that hit, Gallade was not feeling good.
Off the field, Nemona was so nervous that she clenched her fists. "Chairwoman Geeta deliberately let Gallade finish using Misty Terrain, then took advantage of the moment when it couldn't even use Teleport to have Espathra deal heavy damage!"
"More importantly, Lumina Crash's additional effect sharply lowers a Pokémon's Special Defense. Considering Gallade's Special Defense now, I'm afraid it won't be able to take too many more moves."
Larry added from beside her, his entire focus locked onto the battle before him, afraid that Grey really would end up being dragged away by Geeta as labor.
Grey, you have to win!
"Gallade, use Teleport to get close to Espathra!"
On the field, Grey did not lose his composure because of that Lumina Crash.
He calmly commanded Gallade to attack.
Gallade's body blurred. In Espathra's vision, Gallade had already disappeared.
"Use psychic power to sense where Gallade will land, then use Psyshock!"
Geeta was also an experienced Psychic-type Trainer, and she knew how to handle Teleport.
To fight psychic power, one had to use psychic power.
"Ka-ka!"
Espathra flicked its neck, and countless psychic projectiles appeared. Aiming at the spot where Gallade was about to emerge, it covered the area with full firepower.
Bang, bang, bang!
Amid the flying sand and stones, a bright dark blade swept out.
The projectiles condensed from Psyshock were cut apart by that flash of blade light. Gallade broke through the smoke, its elbow blade dragging out a long afterimage, and slashed directly into Espathra's neck.
A Dark-type Night Slash!
"Ka-ka..."
Espathra had been struck in a vital point, and its entire body swayed several times because of it.
It staggered, trying to counterattack.
But Gallade's second slash struck it like a blow to the head, cutting directly into its skull.
Swish, swish, swish!
Blade light and sword shadows flashed. Gallade's sharp slashes gave Espathra no chance to counterattack at all, continuously carving into its body with Night Slash.
In the blink of an eye, countless wounds appeared across Espathra's body, leaving only those large eyes filled with fierce light.
"Espathra, Dazzling Gleam!"
"Ka-ka!"
Espathra had been hiding this all along, saving it precisely for this one hit.
Gallade had just brought down another Night Slash when Espathra released Dazzling Gleam.
Under the cover of the powerful pink light, scorch marks appeared across Gallade's body, and it dropped to one knee.
Espathra, having used its final move, also collapsed to the ground and could no longer get up.
"Hah... finally took it down..."
Grey wiped the sweat from his forehead.
That Espathra had been far more troublesome than Glimmora.
And Geeta only had one Pokémon left...
Most likely, it was her Supreme Overlord Kingambit, right?
Its Ability, Supreme Overlord, could increase Kingambit's attack power...
And Geeta could still Terastallize.
Her Kingambit's Tera Type was Flying. In terms of type matchup, his Gallade would not have any advantage.
"Hah... Chairwoman Geeta, we're at the deciding match."
Grey exhaled and spoke to Geeta, who still stood perfectly straight on the opposite side of the field.
"Indeed."
Geeta nodded lightly. After recalling Espathra, she sent out her ace Pokémon.
It was a Pokémon that looked as if it were wearing a suit of armor.
Its eyes were sharp. Two black blade-like pieces resembling a mustache sat on its face, and a huge blade rested atop its head.
Around its waist hung what looked like a black-and-white belt, with two blades extending outward to the left and right. Its hair was so long that when it fell behind it, the Pokémon could sit on top of it.
Pokémon: Kingambit
Type: Dark, Steel
Level: 75
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Moves: Kowtow Cleave, Sucker Punch... others omitted.
"Mr. Grey, this is my ace Pokémon, Kingambit."
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