"Hmm?"
Upon seeing Milotic in this state, Moore's pupils constricted slightly, but he immediately understood, muttering to himself, "Flame Orb, is it..."
The thought flashed through his mind, and Moore immediately gave the order, "Blaziken, use Focus Energy first! Then, go test Milotic's capabilities!"
"Hacha!"
Blaziken nodded heavily at Moore, took a deep breath, and its aura began to condense.
During the Focus Energy process, the muscles in its legs seemed to swell a bit more, their lines becoming clearer and filled with explosive power.
Lionel seemed to turn a blind eye to this, calmly saying to Milotic, "Milotic, use the #2 tactic we practiced before."
"Milo~"
Milotic nodded gently.
The next moment, countless soft blue lights shimmered around its body.
Immediately after, streams of water wrapped around Milotic's body like ribbons, drifting gently, looking absolutely stunning.
This was the Aqua Ring move, which could continuously restore HP, offsetting the side effect of HP loss caused by the Flame Orb's burn.
Just as Aqua Ring formed, Blaziken's Focus Energy was completed.
A flash of light shone in its eyes, and its strong leg muscles stomped hard against the ground!
"Bang!"
The hard ground of the arena was actually indented into a shallow pit by its stomp!
Borrowing this powerful reaction force, Blaziken's figure resembled a streak of red lightning, breaking through the boundary between the rain curtain and the sunlight.
It charged rapidly toward Milotic.
In the sky, the rainy weather created by Milotic and the sunny weather maintained by Blaziken collided violently.
Between the collision of sun and rain, a chaotic area was formed.
At the same time, thick flames instantly ignited on Blaziken's claws, wrists, and legs, evaporating the remaining rainwater on the ground into white mist.
"Flamethrower!"
Moore's command followed closely behind.
Blaziken opened its mouth, and a scorching flame sprayed out first, whistling through the air as it bore down on Milotic!
Facing the oncoming flames, Milotic appeared exceptionally composed.
It simply waved its golden tail fin gently, and a violent wave radiated from its tail, instantly turning into a surging tide.
This was the Surf move!
"Splash!"
The flames sprayed by Blaziken were instantly engulfed and extinguished by the surging tide.
Not even a single spark was left!
But this was merely the prelude.
Just as the tide was about to submerge Blaziken's figure, the muscles in Blaziken's legs seemed to swell a bit more.
Relying on the momentum brought by its astonishing speed, it forcibly smashed through the giant wave and appeared instantly in front of Milotic!
"Fire Punch, Fire Kick!"
A fierce look flashed in Moore's eyes.
Blaziken's right fist was wrapped in raging flames, and with a scorching heat wave, it smashed fiercely toward Milotic!
At the same time, the flames on its feet also began to burn more intensely, intending to use a combo to break through Milotic's defense in one go!
Suddenly!
Just as Blaziken's Fire Punch hit Milotic, a thick black mist suddenly radiated from Milotic's body.
This was the Haze move!
As soon as Blaziken's fist touched this black mist, it felt as if all the strength in its body had been drained away instantly.
Its originally swift offensive suddenly stalled, and its entire state withered significantly.
At the same time, the red light on Milotic's scales also dissipated.
"Hacha?"
Blaziken let out a confused cry.
It could clearly feel that the speed advantage accumulated by the Speed Boost ability had vanished without a trace the moment it touched the Haze!
Its Fire Kick combo, which it had prepared, was forcibly interrupted by this influence.
And after Milotic received Blaziken's attack, it didn't seem to have taken much damage.
Milotic already had resistance to Fire-type moves, and since Fire Punch was a melee attack move, coupled with the Marvel Scale ability Milotic had triggered earlier, its defense was greatly increased.
Therefore, Blaziken's attack did not cause much impact on Milotic.
"Now is the time, Surf!"
Lionel seized the opportunity and immediately gave the order.
Milotic waved its tail fin again, and another giant wave surged up, forcing Blaziken back fiercely.
When the two Pokémon opened up the distance again, the weather above their heads appeared once more.
On Milotic's side, it was still pouring rain, while above Blaziken, a small patch of sunny weather was maintained.
The boundary between the two types of weather had become somewhat blurred due to the previous collision, yet they still stubbornly confronted each other.
Moore stared intently at Milotic, a look of realization appearing on his face, then he sighed softly, "Just as I thought... It seems my guess was correct; your Milotic really does know a move to clear stat changes."
[Haze: Raises a black mist that returns the stats of all Pokémon currently battling on the field to their original state.]
At this moment, the scales on Milotic's body glowed red again, and the scales emitted a special radiance.
The surrounding Aqua Ring ribbons entered Milotic's body one after another, replenishing its HP.
Seeing this, Moore's expression became heavy, and his voice turned serious, "Blaziken, do you remember our training? Rotate your body and use Swords Dance! Attack while rotating, and use the airflow to blow away Milotic's Haze! Don't let that Smokescreen touch you!"
"Hacha!"
Blaziken nodded again, the muscles in its legs began to swell once more, filled with unyielding fighting spirit.
The next second, Blaziken's body began to spin rapidly, like a red top.
As it spun, its aura continuously climbed; this was the Swords Dance move increasing its attack power!
And at this moment, a burst of white light suddenly shone around Milotic in the rain curtain.
After the light dissipated, two identical Milotic appeared on the field!
One was in front, elegantly waving its tail fin, seemingly trying to attract Blaziken's attention; the other was behind, floating quietly.
This was the Substitute move!
At the same time, the Aqua Ring around the Milotic in the back grew rapidly and surged violently, injecting gentle energy into its body and continuously restoring its HP.
"Damn it!"
Moore couldn't help but curse under his breath, a trace of helplessness appearing on his face for the first time.
Rain Dance, Aqua Ring, Haze, Substitute————
The tactical maneuvers of this little brat Lionel were almost identical to the tactics used by Wallace's Milotic when it battled me all those years ago!
The reason Moore had wanted to use a provocation tactic earlier to make Lionel use Tyrantrum to battle Blaziken was precisely because he was worried about this situation occurring.
To think he had actually guessed right.
At this moment, Blaziken's rotation speed was getting faster and faster, and the airflow around it was getting stronger and stronger.
Like a spinning fire top, it rushed fiercely toward the Milotic in front, carrying a whistling sound that tore through the air!
In the sky, the sunny weather and rainy weather collided and intersected violently once again.
It instantly turned into a chaotic area again, with the air filled with a large amount of white water vapor.
Under the impact of the airflow generated by Blaziken's high-speed rotation, the Haze released by Milotic was indeed blown away, unable to get close to Blaziken.
Blaziken was approaching Milotic step by step.