"Gastly, Clear smog!"
"Hariyama, use whirlwind to blow it all away."
Eric attempted to attack with Clear Smog, a move Hariyama couldn't easily block. But the Whirlwind swept the smog aside and pushed Gastly back.
'How do we approach this?' Eric thought.
An attrition tactic using Will‑O‑Wisp came to mind, but Whirlwind would render that ineffective. He could try to stall until Hariyama ran out of Whirlwind uses. From what Eric could tell, Hariyama had only Brine as a long‑range option, surely not a threat.
As Eric was thinking up a strategy, Leo didn't stay idle.
"Hariyama, focus blast!"
"What?"
Eric was confused for a moment. Gastly is immune to fighting moves. Surely Leo isn't that stupid.
Then Eric's expression changed. He shouted for Gastly to dodge immediately.
That Focus blast had a few streaks of Dark type energy mixed into it!
Gastly barely dodged the attack in time.
"Shocked aren't you? It's not complete, but this is my counter to pesky Ghost types!"
That Focus blast only had a few streaks of Dark type energy. Most of it was still a fighting type attack. But even so, this completely changed Eric's understanding of pokemon moves.
In the stands, many experienced trainers were equally stunned. Mixing two types of energy was no easy feat. Even if Leo's technique was far from perfected, the fact that a beginner trainer could even attempt it was astonishing.
Those familiar with the Armstrong family, however, were far less surprised.
This was the speciality that made the Armstrong family famous after all.
A unique training method that allowed fighting type Energy to be mixed with other energies.
Leo's Machoke could have done the same, but the amount of Dark energy he could add was weaker than using a pure Knock Off, so he hadn't bothered.
Eric put his thoughts in the back of his head and locked in. He can't afford to be distracted right now.
"Gastly, travel through the shadows!"
Gastly merged into the darkness and reappeared at Hariyama's side, firing twin Ghost Balls.
Hariyama blocked with Knock Off, but they were a feint.
The real attack was the Will‑O‑Wisp that followed.
Hariyama was hit and burned.
Burn not only damaged a Pokemon over time, it also reduced its attack. The way it does it is by using fire type energy to disrupt the channels through which energy flows inside a Pokemon. It doesn't affect special moves, as energy for those moves doesn't flow through the physical body.
Burn doesn't last too long, however. A pokemon's internal energy fights off this foreign energy and removes it. And Gastly, not being a Fire type, was even less effective at maintaining it.
"Gastly, hide again," Eric commanded.
"Tch. Don't think we'll lose to such an annoying tactic," Leo grumbled. Eric paid him no mind.
This was a battle of attrition. With Hariyama burned, Eric saw his opening.
"Gastly, Hex!"
Hex's damage doubled when the target was under a status condition. Even though the move wasn't yet at Intermediate rank, it was the strongest attack in Gastly's arsenal.
Hariyama blocked with Knock Off again, but took slightly more damage this time. Gastly fired Hex two more times, dodging every Focus Blast that came his way.
Then Hariyama managed to purge the burn. His health remained above ninety percent.
What followed was a frustrating exchange for Leo. Eric cycled through Will‑O‑Wisp (sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding), Hex, Ghost Balls, and Confuse Ray.
Hariyama was using 'chi' to predict Gastly's movements and hit him with Focus Blast, but Gastly still managed to dodge them.
This was the kind of battle that was the most frustrating to watch. It became a race of whether Hariyama would fall first, or will Gastly run out of energy?
The battle stretched on for twenty grueling minutes.
In the end, Gastly came out on top. But he was exhausted. He had run out of Ghost type energy and was struck thrice by Focust Blast. He was now very close to passing out.
"Hariyana can no longer battle, Gastly wins!" The referee declared, much to the audience's relief. This battle was too boring and miserable to watch. They were glad that it was over.
Leo looked anything but happy. This was probably the most frustrating battle of his life.
'I hate these damn Ghost types', was the only thought running through his head.
"Alright, finish this for me Hitmontop!"
Pokémon: Hitmontop
Gender: Male
Level: 25
Type: fighting
Ability: Technician
Held Item: None
Potential: Deep Green
Moves: Triple kick, Feint, Rapid spin, Fake out, quick attack, sucker punch, revenge, wide guard, mach punch, bullet punch, counter, mind reader
Eric chose to continue with Gastly, however he was not expecting him to win. Gastly couldn't use Ghost type moves anymore, and barely had any stamina left.
Hitmontop closed the distance with Quick Attack and struck with Bullet Punch. But just before losing consciousness, Gastly managed to land one last Will‑O‑Wisp, leaving Hitmontop burned.
Eric recalled Gastly and sent out Spearow.
Now it was Spearow and Poliwag against a weakened, burned Hitmontop. Even if the burn wouldn't last long, Eric was confident.
"Hitmontop, use quick attack!"
"Spearow, Aerial ace!"
Spearow dove in, but Hitmontop sidestepped.
"Mach punch!"
As Spearow passed by, Hitmontop landed a lightning‑fast punch. Spearow was knocked back but, thanks to her resistance to Fighting moves and Hitmontop's burn, she shook it off quickly.
"Aerial Ace again!"
This time Spearow managed to hit Hitmontop partially, causing him some damage.
"Hitmontop, triple kick!"
Hitmontop unleashed a kick laden with powerful Fighting‑type energy, clearly an intermediate‑level move.
Spearow had no time to gain altitude, so Eric ordered Steel Wing to block it.
The first kick shattered her Steel Wing.
The second struck with far more force, and knocked her sideways.
Before she could recover from the momentum, a spinning third kick sent her crashing to the ground.
"Spearow!" Eric shouted in concern.
The impact had kicked up a lot of dust, making her current condition uncertain.
Was it over for Spearow?