'What the hell?'
The Azelf in the sky heard Natsuhiko's words and awkwardly repeated them.
Tilting its head and looking at the surprised Natsuhiko, it nodded in understanding, showing a look of realization.
'What the hell, it should be a phrase used when extremely surprised, right?'
Azelf was very happy to have learned a new word.
It could only move around Lake Verity and its surrounding alternate space, rarely leaving or finding it inconvenient to leave.
Yet, it was quite curious about the current human civilization, and learning their language from humans passing by or visiting Lake Verity had become one of Azelf's few hobbies.
So when it heard Natsuhiko accidentally blurt it out, Azelf instantly remembered the word.
And it happily spun in the air, repeatedly chanting...
'What the hell, what the hell, what the hell...'
Getting happier and more excited as it chanted.
...
...
Below.
Natsuhiko certainly couldn't have imagined that his uncontrolled expression, a profound phrase full of various meanings, had been picked up by Azelf.
If he knew, he would definitely lament...
Poor thing, doesn't even know "what the hell".
But now, his attention was clearly drawn by the Pokémon that appeared before him.
Nearly two meters tall, with a smooth pink body, the most noticeable feature was the crown on its head resembling a shell, with a ruby-like symbol of identity at its center, and an orange-and-white, umbrella-like structure around its neck. Meeting Natsuhiko's gaze were a pair of calm yet wise eyes.
'Slowking!?'
Indeed, the Pokémon that surprised Natsuhiko was none other than a Slowking.
A branched evolution of Slowpoke.
The entire Pokemon Realm still doesn't know how Slowpoke evolves into Slowking, only that the two must be related.
Wild Slowkings do exist, and some people have even seen them.
However, the conditions for a wild Slowpoke to evolve into Slowking are too harsh, requiring the incredibly rare King's Certificate, making them very scarce, to the point of being considered nearly extinct.
However, wild Slowkings do not need protection from the league because they are very clever.
Quite frankly, Slowking is absolutely one of the smartest Pokémon in the Pokemon Realm, sharing the beautiful reputation of "Hidden Dragon and Phoenix Chick" with Oranguru from the Alola Region.
Seeing Slowking walking towards them with its hands behind its back, looking calm and slightly smiling, Natsuhiko dared not take it lightly because of its seemingly kind demeanor.
In fact, due to his limited understanding of Slowking, Natsuhiko was unsure about the strength of this particular Slowking.
'Yadong—'
A gentle sound escaped from Slowking.
A transparent, slightly dark area rapidly expanded from it as the center.
Illusion Space!
Illusion Space: Creates a bizarre space where slow Pokémon can attack first during its duration.
Simply put, in this Illusion Space, Pokémon's speed is completely reversed; slow Pokémon become faster, and fast Pokémon are heavily restricted.
Natsuhiko was quite familiar with this technique.
Because when he used to play Pokémon battle games, he often used Space Teams, and the core of Space Teams was Illusion Space.
Slowking, a Pokémon whose speed doesn't grow quickly, created Illusion Space without warning, nullifying Beedrill and others' speed advantage, turning it into a disadvantage.
This is troublesome.
Natsuhiko's expression darkened.
Unfortunately, Yujira had not yet learned the Illusion Space technique, otherwise, they could also initiate Illusion Space to counter and offset the effect.
At the same time, given the psychic powers displayed by Slowking, Natsuhiko roughly estimated its strength.
Gym Leader Level!
Transcending the Elite Level!
The only consolation was that although this Slowking's strength was Gym Leader Level, it didn't give Natsuhiko the same feeling as Absol did back then, and was even inferior to the Nidoking rubbed against the ground by Absol at that time.
That means.
It probably just recently entered the Gym Leader Level and isn't that terrifying yet.
Natsuhiko's eyes flickered.
'It's not impossible.'
Then he looked at Beedrill and said in a deep voice: 'Beedrill, stop Tailwind and use Power Grid on yourself.'
It's been a long time since Power Grid was used because it was unnecessary; hardly any beings at the same level as Beedrill were stronger than it.
But unexpectedly, after such a long time, the first use of Power Grid was on itself.
Beedrill didn't hesitate and used the Power Grid technique on itself without a second thought.
Power Grid: Capture Pokémon with an electric grid, greatly reducing the opponent's speed.
Because Natsuhiko knew Space Teams well, he also knew how to deal with Illusion Space.
There aren't many ways.
The first, and best, is to use a preemptive method like 'Clap Attack' before the opponent releases Illusion Space, or use speed advantage to 'Taunt' and restrict the opponent.
But obviously, that wasn't applicable to Natsuhiko at this moment.
The second is to counter Illusion Space, where one's team also possesses a Pokémon adept in Illusion Space to counter.
Yujira can learn Illusion Space, but it hasn't yet.
The third, which is the least effective method: either bring slower Pokémon to counter, or simply reduce one's own speed.
Given Natsuhiko's current stance, he could only opt for this last approach.
Honedge is slow, but having a Senior Level Honedge as the main attacker against a Gym Leader Level Slowking was clearly a bit too much.
'Yujira, blanket Togetic with Psychic Arena, Togetic, use Secret Power on Beedrill.'
Under the Psychic Arena, Secret Power transforms into Telekinesis, with an additional effect of slowing down.
Natsuhiko was doing everything possible to reduce Beedrill's speed.
However, just as they were preparing, Slowking had already made its move.
Originally extremely slow, it now moved like a nimble heavyweight.
'Yadong.'
Its eyes shimmered, and the red ruby on its head shone brilliantly, unleashing Strong Mental Will.
It's said that Slowking gained its genius intellect from the toxins of a creature biting it, allowing it to freely manipulate spiritual power.
Natsuhiko's expression changed.
Beedrill's speed still wasn't slow enough.
At such times, the only option was to have a Pokémon withstand the damage.
But before Natsuhiko could speak, Yujira volunteered, stepping forward with its spoon to meet Slowking's Strong Mental Will.
'Yongji.'
It was the only one capable of withstanding such an attack.
Although Honedge had the Ghost Type's attribute suppression, its special defense was too poor, and its strength was severely limited.
Togetic's special defense was decent, but it didn't have attribute suppression, and it was also busy slowing down Beedrill, unable to assist.
Only Yujira could step up.
Psychic energy surged crazily from Yujira, creating substantial interference and blocking.
Bam!
But ultimately it was too rushed, and within Illusion Space, Yujira's speed was also suppressed.
Yujira was knocked back.
Yet, it gritted its teeth and stayed silent, not wanting to affect Beedrill.
Honedge executed a Shadow Assault, appearing behind Yujira to catch its retreat.
However, due to the powerful impact, they both crashed heavily to the ground.
Yujira's act of bearing the damage played out before Natsuhiko and Beedrill.
One human, one Pokémon.
Both felt a surge of uncontrollable rage from their hearts.
Even knowing this was the best choice, seeing a companion stand up to block harm, especially under such a power disparity, still ignited their anger.
Finally!
With Yujira's protection, Beedrill's speed had been dropped to its lowest.
Natsuhiko reined in his emotions and said in a deep voice: 'Beedrill!'
He didn't notice that at this moment, his eyes were tinged with a faint azure glow.
And Beedrill, for the first time, perceived its Leader's Aura.