"Protect!"
That was right—Grey's call was Protect!
As long as the gap in strength wasn't too huge, it could block most moves—practically a broken, bug-level technique!
Gallade had just found its angle and was about to chop down hard—
Whoosh!
A layer of emerald-green energy formed instantly, locking into place around Breloom and sealing it off, completely isolating Gallade's fierce assault!
"Leech Seed!"
The moment Gallade got pushed back and fell into a brief recovery lag, Breloom canceled Protect and spat several Leech Seeds from beneath its cap!
With the distance this close, the seeds didn't even fly for three seconds before they latched onto Gallade.
Vines erupted from the seeds and wrapped around Gallade's limbs like they were alive.
A strange red light shimmered across the vines as they drained Gallade's energy. The badly poisoned toxin that had already gotten inside now began to flare up too—purple-black poison spread along its veins, turning Gallade's face dark.
Breloom, on the other hand, looked the complete opposite. The stolen energy circulated through its body, making its cap shine full and glossy.
It gave its body a light shake, every inch of muscle swelling with the life force it had ripped away.
As for Gallade—under the double torture of poison and constant draining, it dropped to one knee. The glow on its elbow blade dimmed like a candle in the wind…
[So this is what the streamer meant by "civilized"? If it were me, I'd pick "violent." At least you lose faster. This "civilized" style is pure suffering…]
[Terrifying. Just imagining fighting a Breloom like this makes my legs start shaking.]
[How do you even counter this Breloom? Leech Seed plus Toxic—don't you just become a punching bag?]
[Easy. Just Taunt. But if you don't have Taunt, yeah… it's gonna hurt.]
The chat was busy discussing how to deal with Grey's Breloom.
The "civilized" side was simple enough:
Use Taunt.
But…
Once Breloom entered "phase two"—the "violent" phase—there didn't seem to be any truly effective counter.
Because…
Breloom's offense was genuinely savage!
You could call it frail, sure—but you absolutely couldn't call its attack weak.
"Breloom, Drain Punch."
Seeing Gallade on the verge of collapsing, Grey decided to finish it.
Breloom strode in. Its red arm suddenly stretched out and smashed down onto Gallade, draining the last sliver of stamina from it.
After that, Breloom's own stamina recovered to a very healthy level.
"Breloom." (Comfortable. Perfect cleanup.)
Breloom patted its belly, thoroughly satisfied.
"…"
Breloom had Caitlin completely speechless.
This second battle…
For her, it was frustrating in a way that was hard to describe.
At first, Gallade's approach had worked. Even using Psychic to pin Breloom later had been fine.
But even with everything "fine"—
The fight still somehow turned into a losing situation.
Caitlin looked at Gallade, then at Breloom.
She genuinely couldn't find what had gone wrong.
"Gallade." (Breloom is just too strong. Power boosted temporarily with Psychic doesn't truly belong to that Gallade.)
Grey's Gallade spoke up from the side.
It had been watching for a long time, and with Psychic power of its own, it could clearly see the problem: Caitlin's Gallade had a fundamental weakness in raw base strength.
Sure, Caitlin forced it up to a level where it could contend with Breloom.
But her Gallade wasn't fully familiar with that strength.
And Breloom broke it.
In short—if Caitlin's Gallade could raise its baseline strength, then even if it still couldn't beat Breloom, forcing a mutual knockout wouldn't be a problem.
"So that's how it is…"
Caitlin understood what Grey's Gallade meant.
So it wasn't her fault—Breloom was just too strong.
After hearing that, Caitlin instantly felt better.
"My Breloom still has full stamina, so how about—"
"Switch! You have to switch!"
Caitlin's tone left no room for argument.
If she kept fighting Grey's Breloom, the Psychic power Sabrina had worked so hard to help her suppress would probably go out of control again.
She didn't want to experience that feeling ever again.
So to keep the Fighting Dojo from getting wrecked, Caitlin decided Grey needed to pull Breloom back as soon as possible.
Even at full stamina—Breloom had to come off the field!
"Alright. I'll listen to you."
Grey rubbed the back of his head, took out a Poké Ball, and recalled Breloom.
"Grey."
Just as Grey reached for the Poké Ball at his waist—Blaziken's—Caitlin suddenly stopped him.
"What is it?"
Grey paused and looked across the field, meeting Caitlin's eyes.
"I want to fight your ace. Can I?"
Since she was already here, and her next Pokémon was also her own ace, Caitlin genuinely wanted to battle Grey's ace.
Because Grey's ace looked like it had the same level as an Elite Four member's main.
If she could hold her own against it, that meant she was very close to the Elite Four.
"Which ace do you want?"
Grey's gaze flicked toward his little Riolu. If Caitlin wanted to fight that one…
"Annihilape."
Caitlin answered immediately.
She was afraid Grey would send Breloom back out again.
"Alright."
Grey gave up on his original thought and instead pulled the first Poké Ball on his belt.
"Annihilape—let's go!"
"Anni—!"
Annihilape's figure burst into existence in a flash of red light. It threw its head back and unleashed an earthshaking roar.
The roar carried the pent-up frustration of going too long without battle, exploding into visible soundwaves that even scattered the clouds above the arena.
Its fur lifted like ghostfire, making anyone who looked at it feel like they were about to be dragged into an ice pit.
[Pokémon: Annihilape]
[Level: 66]
Grey's Annihilape had already reached the level of a typical Elite Four member's main Pokémon.
There was a strong chance it would reach Champion-level before the Gym League's championship match.
Of course, that depended on Grey and Annihilape's real condition—if it slept better and managed to get in more of that "sleep-dream martial arts practice," it might reach that level even sooner.
[Let's gooo, monkey—charge!!]
[Anyone who knows: how strong is the streamer's Annihilape? It looks insane.]
[Elite Four main level in most regions. Pretty good.]
[He might even become Kanto's Champion someday.]
[Oh? Lance, you rate him that highly?]
[You don't?]
[A bit. Not about his strength, though. More like… he doesn't really want to be Champion.]
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.