Slaking was one of Norman's signature Pokémon.
Even without Norman's reminder just now, Natsui knew it wouldn't be easy to deal with.
As a power-type Pokémon, engaging in close-quarters combat with it seemed unwise, but looking at his three available Pokémon…
After pondering for a while, Natsui first ruled out Tyranitar.
There was no helping it; although Tyranitar's Rock type gave it a certain advantage against the Normal-type Slaking, and both were power types that could seemingly go head-to-head in a hard clash, Tyranitar was simply too slow!
Fighting Slaking, it would definitely be kited to death. Even if it used Rock Tomb to try and seal Slaking's movements, as an ape-like Pokémon, climbing was obviously something Slaking excelled at, so it wouldn't achieve the desired effect.
Ultimately, between Dragonite and Scizor, Natsui hesitated slightly before choosing Scizor.
"I'll leave the next battle to you. Go, Scizor!"
Solely from a type perspective, Slaking's Normal-type moves couldn't deal effective damage to the Steel-type Scizor. Aside from that, although Slaking knew many Fighting-type skills, these moves still had little effect when hitting the Bug-type Scizor.
This allowed Scizor to occupy a certain advantage in the early stages.
Of course, the most important thing was its physical constitution.
Although its strength, speed, and stamina were not as good as Slaking's, its body, which was like a steel plate, gave Scizor strong resistance to hits. Its attack power was also excellent. Coupled with a pair of small wings, although there was still a risk of being kited by Slaking, at least there wasn't a lack of room to maneuver.
A blue light flashed, and Scizor appeared on the field, immediately walking to its position.
However, just as it wanted to get a good look at its opponent, it saw Slaking still lying there lazily, motionless, merely raising its eyes to glance at it!
That appearance seemed as if it didn't take Scizor seriously at all!
If it had been Combusken from just now, it probably would have gotten a bit angry by this point.
But Scizor remained calm. It simply assumed its stance on its own, seemingly not taking Slaking's disregard to heart.
Judging solely from this performance, its mentality was truly good, and it wouldn't let things get to its head. This was precisely one of the advantages of most Bug-type Pokémon.
Cold and ruthless.
"The third battle of the Petalburg Gym begins now!"
With the referee's command, Natsui's third battle officially commenced!
"Scizor, use X-Scissor!"
At the start, Natsui didn't rashly approach. Instead, he launched a probing attack from a mid-to-long distance.
Hearing his command, Scizor crossed its two pincers, one horizontal and one vertical, and swiped forward. Instantly, a cross-shaped blade of air shot out from its pincers, slashing toward Slaking at extreme speed!
"Block it."
Norman remained unmoved. Following his gentle order, in the next second, Slaking merely extended its two hands lazily and actually caught this X-Scissor with its bare hands!
Bang! Bang!
The air blade of the X-Scissor dissipated against Slaking's thick palms.
However, the full damage wasn't without effect; it still left two red and swollen marks on its hands!
It hurt a little.
The palms that had been trained to be like steel still felt a bit of pain.
This also indicated that the Pokémon in front of it was indeed extraordinary, forcing Slaking to stand up from the ground. With eyes half-open, it also entered a combat state.
From this single strike, Norman could see that this Scizor's strength was completely different from the Combusken and Metang just now!
It was the kind of strength sufficient to challenge the League and make a run for the Championship!
Thinking of this, he no longer just watched but also issued an attack command.
"Slaking, use Hammer Arm!"
Slaking's right fist emitted a dazzling light. It suddenly exerted force, ran across the half-court at extreme speed, then raised its fist high and smashed it fiercely toward Scizor!
Watching this aggressively approaching gorilla, Scizor was equally fearless, raising its two pincers to meet it.
Clang!
The fist the size of a clay pot collided with the two pincers.
Following a humming sound like metal clashing, Scizor couldn't help but retreat two steps, feeling its arms go slightly numb.
It had to be said, Slaking's strength was truly terrifying!
Just a single blow made Scizor somewhat unable to hold its ground.
But that was all.
High defense coupled with its own type advantage meant Scizor didn't take too much damage; it just panted heavily a couple of times.
Slaking began to beat its chest with thud thud thud sounds.
This was the precursor to its attack, and also a sign of getting serious.
"Slaking, use Earthquake!"
It was just the Ground-type move Earthquake.
Although it was another move configuration that didn't match the Pokémon's type, Natsui was already used to it. In fact, if this Slaking used other moves conventionally, he would actually be somewhat surprised!
Slaking jumped high and landed heavily on the ground, then began to stomp crazily.
Affected by this power, the entire battlefield began to shake along with it!
Standing in front of it, Scizor was the first to feel this power. However, Natsui wasn't panicked at all about this.
"Scizor, jump up and use Slash!"
The pair of small wings on Scizor's back played a role at this moment.
Because its body was too heavy, Scizor had actually lost the ability to fly. However, the wings were not completely useless; at least they helped with jumping and gliding. They allowed it to jump farther and could even act as a buffer when falling from a high altitude!
Amidst the violent shaking, Scizor leaped high.
Once in mid-air, utilizing the brief hang time, it raised its right arm high and slashed down fiercely at Slaking from above!
Having already witnessed its power, Slaking dared not be careless.
Seeing that Earthquake had no effect on Scizor, it could only stop the tremors and switch to a counterattack.
Those thick palms were raised high, blocking Scizor's strike. However, just as it swung its arm to fight back, it saw Scizor instantly split into several clones, making it impossible to distinguish the real one from the fake for a moment!
Looking at these clones, Norman also couldn't give any help; everything relied on Slaking's own intuition.
Looking at the shadow closest to it, Slaking swung a fist at it, but there was no sensation of collision as imagined. Instead, the fist passed right through it.
Just then, the sound of breaking wind came from behind. A pincer slashed straight toward its back.
But in the next second, without seeing Slaking turn around, its other hand quietly reached behind and steadily blocked Scizor's sneak attack!
Seeing this, Natsui could only secretly praise Slaking's strength.
It was indeed very strong.
Fighting until now, after battling for so long, neither Pokémon had gained the upper hand!
Moreover, compared to ordinary Slaking, Norman's Slaking could be said to be full of drive. It was only lazy for that brief moment before the match started!
He really didn't know how Norman raised it.
It seemed that to defeat it, he definitely had to use strength greater than its own.
After making up his mind, Natsui first pulled Scizor back to his own half of the field, then issued the command for Swords Dance.
However, just as Scizor was buffing its own 'status,' Norman suddenly laughed.
"Don't give it the chance! Slaking, use Hyper Beam!"
There was simply no time to react. As Slaking opened its mouth, an energy beam full of destructive power sprayed out instantly, shooting straight at Scizor.
Natsui hadn't expected that besides Earthquake, Slaking was also hiding this trump card.
At this moment, Scizor was only halfway through using Swords Dance. It was in an awkward phase and simply didn't have time to dodge. In a flash, it was hit by this Hyper Beam!
The massive energy instantly engulfed Scizor.
Seeing this scene, Natsui furrowed his brows tightly, but there was nothing he could do.
Fortunately, Scizor hadn't taken much damage in the battle just now. Unless something unexpected happened, it should still be able to survive this wave of attack.
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