Naqi was completely surprised by Blissey's outstanding attacking capability, but fortunately Swellow retreated quickly upon sensing danger.
She bit her lip slightly, "Angle down fifteen degrees! Destructive Beam, fire!"
"Ssssabah!"
From Swellow's mouth, a black and violet light converged, and then a massive and terrifying black-violet energy beam blasted towards Blissey, with such fearful power that it made the air tremble.
"Defend!"
Blissey stood steadily in place, unperturbed, a honeycomb-shaped round light shield standing in front.
Boom!!
The light shield trembled, on the verge of cracking, yet ultimately it held firm.
"Try again! Thirty-degree angle!" Naqi shouted.
Swellow flapped its wings and flew behind Blissey, tilting its head back with no sign of stiffness, launching another black-violet Destructive Beam at Blissey!
Rumble——!!
Continuous Destructive Beam!
The staff at the TV station gasped again, as this powerful move, as a top-level General Attribute technique, was not meant to be used continuously, often resulting in the Pokémon becoming stiff.
But in the hands of a powerful and skilled Trainer, stiffness can be mitigated through various means, and even continuous use becomes possible.
Naqi is one of those elites.
Baimu had anticipated this—just like in the animation where Ash Ketchum's Swellow was almost taken down by a shiny Swellow, he had prepared for it.
Using Defend was just to test the power of the Destructive Beam.
"Miniaturize!"
"Happy!"
Blissey instantly shrank from over a meter high to a mini version less than knee-high, narrowly dodging the black-violet energy beam that grazed overhead and landed behind.
Boom!!
Dust surged into the air!
Blissey disappeared within it.
After two consecutive Destructive Beams failed to take down or even approach Blissey, and now having lost sight of its position, Naqi bit her lower lip, aware of the dire situation, "Lightning Flash, charge in!"
"Ssssabah!"
Swellow suddenly turned into white light and dashed into the dust, attempting to locate the miniaturized Blissey.
Yet the latter had already made a move.
"Gravity!"
In an instant.
The familiar heavy gravity descended, immediately slamming Swellow from mid-air to the ground, causing it to struggle for a long time before it barely managed to get back up.
The staff couldn't help but sigh for Naqi.
"Gravity again!"
"This move really restrains Flying-type Pokémon!"
Shouta was equally worried for Naqi. After finally improving the situation, with Swellow even suppressing Milotic and Blissey, the tables turned again in an instant!
The dust cleared.
The miniaturized Blissey finally returned to its original size, and everyone realized it was less than two meters from Swellow.
"Wing Attack!"
"Severe Poison!"
Naqi and Baimu ordered one after the other, the former clearly intending to use Wing Attack to fend off Blissey's move and distance itself, unexpectedly the latter made such a move.
"Happy!"
Blissey spat some saliva at Swellow with a slightly embarrassed expression, and the latter frantically fanned its wings, struggling in place like a frenzy, but couldn't avoid being hit by Severe Poison.
"Ssss…abah…"
Swellow's beak soon started bubbling with large amounts of violet foam.
Naqi's heart sank slightly, realizing it was too late to change the course, she decided to go for one last gamble, "Destructive Beam!"
"Defend."
A black-violet energy beam spewed from Swellow's mouth, the dreadful energy causing the surrounding light to dim slightly, yet it couldn't shake the pale blue honeycomb light shield Blissey had set up at all.
Rumble rumble rumble——
Thunderous quakes continuously resonated from where the two confronted.
A moment later.
Swellow once again spewed its poisonous nest, its expression changing from its previous spirited look, and the entire bird became depressed, seemingly about to faint at any moment.
Even the speed of its move release was not like at the very start.
The key was seeing it like this, Blissey instead widened the distance even further, with no intention of approaching at all.
Naqi, who initially wanted to bait and use Brute Force, felt her teeth grinding——
This is watertight!
"Give it the final blow! Strong Mental Will!"
"Happy!"
Blissey's eyes shone slightly as an invisible Spiritual Shock surged forward like a wave, instantly toppling Swellow on the ground like a football!
Bang!
"Screech!"
Swellow let out a wail, rolling to a stop a few seconds later with spiral eyes.
Lai He swallowed hard, staring at Swellow for a long time without daring to speak. After a few seconds, he raised the flag and shouted, "S-Swellow is unable to battle! Blissey wins!"
No wonder he felt so unsettled inside; so far, Baimu hadn't had a single Pokémon fall or even get into danger, whereas Naqi already had three defeated in a row.
Of course, there have been Trainers who could crush their way through with overwhelming advantage before.
The key point was that all three Pokémon sent out so far were Naqi's most carefully nurtured mainstays!
Differently from those used to handle other challengers.
The TV crew couldn't help but whisper among themselves, realizing they originally intended to film Naqi's personal interview and the Gym Challenge content, but Baimu and his Pokémon seemed to get more screen time than Naqi!
It's starting to steal the spotlight a bit!
And the director, gripping the microphone in hand, didn't know how to edit this Gym Challenge for a moment.
If you say there's a back-and-forth with wins on both sides, it would definitely make for a good edit, but how do you edit a match like this? Should you use editing magic to change the fact that Naqi lost three Pokémon in a row while Baimu remained spirited?
But if you say it's not exciting, that's definitely nonsense.
A match where both Trainers exert themselves can hardly be dull.
For the moment, the director was very conflicted.
Inside the arena.
Naqi was equally unsettled; it had been a long while since she'd encountered such a formidable opponent like Baimu, leaving her at a loss for what to do, and she gained a deeper understanding of why other Gym Leaders held him in such high regard.
Is it going to be the final battle soon?
Taking a deep breath, she gradually steadied herself and smiled again.
"Baimu, what do you think of today's sky?"
"Uh, it's nice, sunny with fluffy clouds." Baimu wasn't sure why she asked this, but he still answered obediently.
Naqi smiled, "Yes, such a beautiful, clear sky continuously grants power to me, to my Flying-type Pokémon.
"Those who love the sky will be favored by it in return—are you ready to face the final battle?"
With those words, she threw the Pokeball forward!
Boom!
"Wooah!"
A towering, orange Pokémon with small wings landed.
Baimu couldn't hide his surprise, "Dragonite!"
That's right.
The Pokémon standing before him was indeed the Dragon- and Flying-type Dragonite, not the Altaria known as her ace in the games.
Was this an impromptu change?
No, this should've been planned for a long time.
Baimu never anticipated that Naqi actually possessed a Dragonite, a less common Dragon-type Pokémon—even though Overweight was the first-generation quasi-god, later generations in the animated world had those a bit more "abundantly."
However, Pokémon like Dragonite remained shrouded in mystery, with writers even creating Dragonite Island, a place akin to a Pokémon version of the Bermuda Triangle.
But considering we are in the Hoenn Region, why not Salamence?
He was somewhat puzzled and grew wary of the Dragonite before him. Although this creature was a meta trap in world tournaments, its combat power in the "regular tournaments" remained substantial.
"Light Wall!"
Blissey raised its small hand, forming a translucent glass barrier in front of it.
"Dragon Tail!"
Naqi gave her command without a moment's pause.
Right then.
Dragonite flapped its wings, lunged slightly into the air, and, realizing it couldn't fly, switched from leaping to long strides, reaching Blissey in no time.
The latter had intended to retreat, lengthening the distance, but its opponent's speed was faster than anticipated!
"Wooah!"
Dragonite roared like rolling thunder, swinging its stout tail wrapped in a glowing green light with a whooshing sound through the air.
Bang!
The long tail broke through the Light Wall, just about to strike Blissey's abdomen, only for it to deftly leap up and dodge.
"Ha, happy!"
Blissey, somewhat anxious, watched the surprised Dragonite, trembling while reaching out with its little hand to grab its tail, whose Dragon Attribute Energy was gradually dimming.
The Trainer's voice rang out. "Earth's Surface!"
And so.
Dragonite was tossed into the air!