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Brilliant blue electricity came crashing down from above, then rapidly spread outward through the lake water.
Crackle!
A sharp, piercing roar burst through the air. The entire stretch of water looked like a glowing blue blanket woven from dazzling electric currents, making it impossible to miss.
No matter how weak Magnemite was, it was still a Pokémon, and this was a powerful attack it had built up for some time. The terrifying force contained within it was not something ordinary humans could imagine.
As for Basculin, a pure Water-type Pokémon, with its current stamina, if it took that powerful Thunder Shock head-on, it would probably lose the ability to battle on the spot.
Thankfully, its strong, sturdy body saved its life.
The instant before the lightning struck, under the screaming alarm of danger that seemed ready to burst from its heart, Basculin relied on its physical instincts and squeezed out the last trace of stamina from its nearly empty body, forcing itself to surge forward a short distance.
That distance was not far.
But it was just enough to avoid the core area where the electric damage was strongest, allowing it to temporarily escape being defeated by Magnemite.
On the shore, Mason looked surprised.
He had not expected this Basculin, born and raised inside a marine park, to react so quickly. It had actually dodged Magnemite's Thunder Shock.
Along with that surprise, his desire to capture this Water-type Pokémon became even stronger.
At that moment, he had even begun thinking about how he would train this Basculin in the future.
"Should I develop it into a head-on power attacker, or build it as a fast strike assassin?"
Mason pondered silently.
Splash!
Suddenly, the loud sound of water bursting apart dragged him back from his fantasy.
"This."
On the lake surface ahead, Basculin seemed to have foreseen the fate waiting for it and began its final counterattack, squeezing out every last bit of strength in its body.
Its powerful tail swept fiercely behind it. As a whirlpool appeared in the lake, its deep-green body suddenly broke free from gravity's pull, tearing through the shimmering surface as it shot straight toward the sky above.
Faced with Basculin's sudden counterattack from the water below, Magnemite clearly failed to react in time.
It had only recently left the Nursery and had barely experienced any real battles. Under this unexpected attack from its opponent, it seemed completely at a loss.
As its Trainer, Mason had also missed the best chance to give a command because he had been distracted by his own thoughts.
"Dodge, now."
Mason shouted at his partner Pokémon, his voice full of panic and urgency.
But it was already too late.
Whoosh!
A violent howl produced by high-speed movement swept over the lake.
Basculin's powerful, streamlined body shone with a piercing white light. That was the last energy remaining inside it.
At that moment, it was like a small rocket shooting straight into the sky, carrying a fierce, unstoppable momentum as it charged toward Magnemite's position above.
Deadly!
Dangerous!
A suffocating pressure rushed forward, causing Magnemite's body to turn stiff in an instant. It could not even perform the most basic evasive movement.
Although Magnemite had both type advantage and field advantage, the raw difference in strength between the two was simply too great.
In terms of system level alone, there was a gap of more than five levels between them.
That was not even mentioning the huge difference in battle experience.
In that moment, Magnemite felt an instinctive premonition in its heart.
If it failed to dodge this attack, there would be only one ending waiting for it.
Defeat.
Whoosh!
A powerful headwind roared past from below.
At that moment, Magnemite could even clearly see Basculin's crimson pupils, burning with furious flame, as well as the gray-white fins swaying slightly as it leapt through the air.
Unable to stop itself, Magnemite closed its eye, preparing for the violent pain that was about to arrive.
One second.
Two seconds.
Time seemed both slow and fast.
But the expected pain never came.
Splash.
A crisp sound of something falling into the water rang out beneath it.
Filled with confusion, Magnemite discovered that Basculin had not hit it after all. Instead, under the pull of gravity, it had fallen back into the water.
"How. How did that happen?"
...
"Haa."
Mason let out a long breath of relief.
At that moment, the face of his game character was already covered in cold sweat.
"Thank goodness. Thank goodness."
Compared to Magnemite, which had closed its eye because Basculin had charged straight at it, Mason, as a Trainer player, had witnessed the entire sudden change from beginning to end.
He had also thought Magnemite would be crushed directly by Basculin's terrifying attack.
But unexpectedly, for some unknown reason, Basculin, which had been charging with such overwhelming momentum, had suddenly stopped in midair. It was as if it had been struck by some invisible attack. In an instant, it lost the ability to battle and dropped back into the water.
Now its eyes had rolled back, its gaze was vacant, and its powerless body floated quietly on the surface under the buoyancy of the lake.
What Mason did not know was that Basculin's condition had already been extremely poor after its repeated battles with Kael.
Dodging Magnemite's Thunder Shock just now had drained the last bit of stamina from its body.
With Basculin's powerful physique, it normally could have completely ignored the blue electric current spreading across the water's surface.
But in its current terrible state, that current pushed it into a condition similar to paralysis, making its movements extremely slow.
Under the combined effects of all these factors, Basculin ultimately failed to complete its potentially lethal final strike. Halfway through its charge, it completely lost consciousness and fainted.
Mason could tell Basculin was in poor condition.
For it to endure for so long and display such resilience in battle, he truly admired it from the bottom of his heart.
But admiration was admiration.
Recognizing how outstanding it was did not mean he would give up on capturing the Basculin in front of him.
From Mason's point of view, the better Basculin performed, the stronger he would become after capturing it.
Perhaps, to a certain extent, this Pokémon might even allow him to approach the strength of those professional players.
In his field of vision, Basculin no longer had any ability to resist. Naturally, he did not order Magnemite to keep attacking.
Instead, he took an empty Poké Ball from his system backpack and threw it toward Basculin.
Whoosh!
The red-and-white Poké Ball spun through the air. The moment it touched something, this peak piece of human technology from the Pokémon world would automatically open, drawing that innocent creature born of nature into the ball and turning it into a cage that bound its freedom.
But at that moment.
A sudden change occurred.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!