As the dust settled, Houndoom would not fall because of such minor injuries. However, the areas hit on its body were already torn open with flesh exposed. The explosive power of Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb was still quite considerable.
'Something's not right…'
Tetsuya felt some doubt. Its body had already reached such a state, so why was Houndoom not poisoned?
Haunter's toxicity was already quite intense. If wounds were caused by explosions, any Pokémon that was not Poison- or Steel-type would inevitably show signs of poisoning.
However, Houndoom showed no signs of being poisoned at all!
'Hm? Could it be that this Houndoom had strong resistance to poison?'
For now, Tetsuya could only make such a guess.
Haunter belonged to the Special Attack type assassin. With high Speed and high Special Attack, as long as it controlled its rhythm, it would win easily.
Seeing that Houndoom could still stand up, Haunter's assault continued, still instantaneous Shadow Ball.
Houndoom was also trying to change its tactics. Simply dodging would only make Haunter's attacks more fierce.
Instead of retreating, Houndoom advanced, darting forward, and in an instant, it had split into seven or eight Houndoom!
Double Team.
However, trying to disturb Haunter was absolutely impossible. Even without using Double Team, Haunter's speed was already above all of his Pokémon.
Seeing that Double Team had taken effect, Haunter suddenly disappeared from sight.
Immediately after, many Haunter flew out of thin air.
Like layers of phantom shadows!
This "move" was learned from Matsuba's Mismagius. At that time, it was the one who fought with Mismagius. Unexpectedly, Haunter had not forgotten it.
Haunter temporarily hid in another dimension, used Double Team, and then launched disruption and attacks from the dimension, making the battle even more strange and unpredictable than normal use of Double Team.
Fake is fake!
This was very clear to a dog's nose. None of the Haunter illusions flying out were real.
Houndoom spat out a fireball, which immediately exploded, and flames scattered everywhere. Some of the Haunter illusions were directly pierced through and turned into nothingness.
The use of Inferno was indeed very versatile, and Double Team was also broken.
Although when using Inferno, two of Houndoom's clones disappeared, there were still six clones remaining.
The six clones all attacked in one direction at the same time. Houndoom's horns and the entire top of its head were wrapped in dark energy.
"Beat Up."
It seemed that Houndoom had already locked onto Haunter's position.
Tetsuya had also seen Houndoom use this move during training before, but this time it was used under the effect of Double Team, making the scene even more spectacular.
Haunter also revealed its form because of Houndoom's approach.
While retreating, it threw out Shadow Ball to resist Houndoom's attack.
Bang!
Houndoom's first clone crashed into a rock, which immediately shattered, and even the ground shook.
Even Tetsuya could not help but click his tongue.
That shouldn't be possible. Previously, when he tested Beat Up, it did not have much power at all, which caused him to overlook this move. What was the reason today that it could display such power?
Curiosity made Tetsuya focus even more on this spar.
The second Houndoom clone, the rock also shattered, but the vibration of the ground was not as strong.
The third
The fourth
The fi…
Until only Houndoom's real body remained, when using Beat Up, the rock only cracked and then a few pieces fell off.
The power actually became weaker each time.
The last time it used Beat Up just now was roughly the same as the power when he had tested the move himself.
Tetsuya pondered deeply, as if he had realized something, but it was a feeling he could not clearly explain.
The battle was still continuing…
Although Haunter had encountered a brief disadvantage, the overall situation of the battle was still under its control.
Although Houndoom could detect Haunter's position with its keen sense of smell, Haunter would not stay in the same place, but kept moving constantly. So every place had Haunter's scent left behind, and as for sound, how could a ghost drifting like Haunter produce any noise.
So the longer time dragged on, the harder it became for Houndoom to spot Haunter's position.
At this moment, two black phantom hands appeared on the ground again. Houndoom had already jumped away instinctively. This shock was no small matter.
A hand suddenly stretched out from deep within the ground. Anyone who saw it would panic.
This was precisely Haunter's "Hex."
Terrifying!
Under Haunter's airtight attacks, Houndoom finally had no room left to resist.
The difference in strength was immediately apparent.
This time Houndoom fought even more stifled. None of its moves were used smoothly, and it felt like it was being led by the nose by Haunter the entire time. The moment when it controlled the tempo was only that brief period…
---◓---
After this battle, Tetsuya had a further understanding of both Pokémon. In fact, the most important one was Haunter. After not seeing it for half a year, its strength had advanced further. Its psychic power was so strong that even he found it somewhat unbelievable.
Its speed and combat flexibility no longer required much command from Tetsuya, and now it had dominated Hex, which meant that the time required to reach the conditions for evolution had been shortened again.
The move combinations used by Haunter had all improved from before. Now it was only strengthening on the original base.
Tetsuya used Potion on Haunter and Houndoom.
After a short rest. Now he had discovered two remarkable aspects of Houndoom.
First was its resistance to poison. He had only been focusing on strengthening the Poison Gland in Houndoom's gums, hoping it could use poison in battle.
Today, he had not expected it to actually be kind of immune to Haunter's poison. This advantage was enough to delight Tetsuya.
However, today was only a one-time coincidence. It was unknown how many kind of Poison-type's poison Houndoom could be immune to.
If this Houndoom truly had such a "perk", would it not become the core of his Poison-type team?
The other was the peculiarity of Beat Up.
Tetsuya recalled the effect of Beat Up once again. All allies attack together. The more Pokémon accompanying it, the more hits the move would have, and the greater the power.
But just now, Houndoom had been fighting alone. There had been no so-called all-member attack.
'…Could it be?'
"Double Team!"
Tetsuya suddenly thought of this move.
With this doubt in mind, Tetsuya had Houndoom use Double Team and then use Beat Up.
As expected, the power was very strong at the beginning, and weakened as the clones decreased.
It seemed that this move's power was also affected by the number of clones.
At this moment, an idea surged into Tetsuya's mind…
To let Beedrill and Houndoom form a battle duo. Beedrill could create more than twenty clones with Double Team. Under such an effect, would the power of Beat Up not be overwhelming and unstoppable…?
'Tehehe…'
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