With Incineroar's Intimidate in play, the attacking power of both Pokémon on the field had dropped significantly. Unwilling to take any chances, Raihan immediately ordered Duraludon and Tyranitar to focus their fire on Sylveon.
However, the small white squirrel that everyone had ignored was the first to move.
Raihan froze for a moment.
"So it's actually that fast?"
He waved a hand dismissively and added,
"Whatever. What's the point of being fast? What kind of damage can it even do?"
Very quickly, Pachirisu showed Raihan exactly what it was good for.
Nuzzle!
A flash of electricity streaked across the field, and Duraludon was struck by Pachirisu's Nuzzle.
The damage itself was so weak it was almost negligible, but what made Raihan frown was the status effect that followed—
Duraludon was inflicted with [Paralysis], halving its Speed and giving it a chance to be unable to act.
Its massive steel body immediately became sluggish, looking even more unwieldy than before.
On the other side, Sylveon played it safe and slyly used Protect. Behind the transparent barrier, Rock Slide and Flash Cannon both struck nothing but air.
Well, not exactly nothing—Rock Slide was a spread move, so Pachirisu got clipped as well.
But with Tyranitar's Attack having been heavily reduced, it was no longer the desert tyrant it once was. The damage was… honestly kind of pitiful.
Raihan gritted his teeth.
You were trading blows with me head-on just a moment ago—now you're hiding behind Protect like a turtle?!
"Again! I don't believe it can Protect twice in a row!"
Once again, Pachirisu moved first.
And once again, its choice of move caught Raihan completely off guard.
The little squirrel waved its tiny hands and clapped twice—
and a golden glow wrapped itself around Sylveon.
Helping Hand?
What was the point of a move this obscure…
Wasn't it supposed to massively boost an ally's attack?
A bad feeling surged through Raihan's chest—but it was already too late.
Paralyzed Duraludon was now slower than Sylveon.
Before Flash Cannon could even land on Sylveon, the Fairy-type's Hyper Voice came roaring out once more.
Boosted by Pachirisu's Helping Hand, the already frightening damage of Hyper Voice skyrocketed to a terrifying level.
The HP bars of the two hulking monsters plummeted violently. It wasn't quite an instant HP-bar deletion, but it was uncomfortably close.
Duraludon, in particular, was in dire straits. Its physical bulk far exceeded its special defense, and taking two full Hyper Voices head-on left it truly on its last legs.
Tyranitar, oddly enough, fared better despite being weak to Fairy. Its Special Defense was higher, its HP pool deeper, and the sandstorm granted it a 1.5× boost to Special Defense—so its remaining health was still fairly decent.
The one piece of good news, at least, was that the infuriating Sylveon finally went down to the delayed Rock Slide and Flash Cannon.
If Duraludon had failed to fire off Flash Cannon again due to paralysis, Raihan might've actually called the police.
"Duraludon doesn't need to be preserved anymore, but Tyranitar still does."
Focused and decisive, Raihan made his judgment at once.
"Duraludon, use Heat Wave! Tyranitar, come back—Salamence, get ready to enter!"
On the other side of the field, Ethan Vale did exactly as expected, sending out Incineroar to replace the fallen Sylveon.
Incineroar returned. Intimidate once again washed over the field.
Salamence had barely hit the ground before it was inexplicably yelled at, and Raihan's already dark complexion turned several shades darker.
He really had never fought a match this irritating before.
Wasn't Pokémon battling supposed to be about fist-to-fist clashes, roaring beams, and explosive exchanges?
What was all this today?!
Intimidate.
Fake Out.
Parting Shot.
Nuzzle.
Helping Hand.
Could this get any more disgusting?
Ethan Vale, for his part, didn't care at all. He calmly had Pachirisu greet the freshly arrived Salamence with a Super Fang.
As for Duraludon's Heat Wave?
Oh, that was Heat Wave?
I thought it was just a light breeze.
Because of the way HP scaling worked in this game, Super Fang didn't deal a fixed half of the target's max HP like in the main games—it only took away a quarter.
Still, that was more than enough to make Salamence choke.
Meanwhile, Incineroar had only one thought.
Salamence, have you eaten?
No?
Then eat this—Fake Out!
Smack!
One slap later, Salamence was stunned again.
Raihan looked helplessly at the Duraludon being completely ignored.
It was obvious now—the opponent wasn't even treating his crippled Duraludon as a threat anymore, just leaving it on the field to take up space.
With no other choice, it was time to cut off a limb to survive.
"Salamence, Earthquake! Duraludon, Heat Wave!"
As the saying goes: Helping Hand–boosted Earthquake, six relatives disowned.
Even without Helping Hand, this Earthquake clearly treated Duraludon as expendable collateral.
But as good as Raihan's plan was, Ethan Vale wasn't about to let it succeed so easily.
A flash of Poké Ball light—
Pachirisu vanished from the field.
With a thunderous dragon roar, Garchomp took its place.
The Land Shark tanked the Earthquake with a full quarter of its HP.
In contrast, Incineroar and Duraludon were not so lucky.
Incineroar's HP dropped straight to one-third, while Duraludon collapsed on the spot.
Raihan immediately sent Tyranitar back onto the field.
His final Pokémon was Flygon.
As a "budget Garchomp," whether in power or durability, Flygon fell far short of its big brother.
Compared to that, letting the desert tyrant take the field again was clearly the safer choice.
Staring at the rampant land shark on the screen, Raihan fell into deep thought.
There was no doubt—
With Sylveon gone, all of the opponent's damage output now rested on Garchomp.
If it double-targets me with Draco Meteor and Crunch—
No. Impossible.
With how sly that kid was, this was absolutely a trap.
Garchomp was definitely waiting with Protect.
Draco Meteor was a move that could decide the entire match—it couldn't be thrown out casually.
Better to deal with that Incineroar that kept hopping in and out first.
With his mind made up, Raihan issued his command:
"Tyranitar, Earthquake! Salamence, Dragon Claw! Target—Incineroar!"
Because Salamence was a Flying-type, Tyranitar could use Earthquake freely without worrying about friendly fire.
These two powerful moves represented Raihan's resolve—
He was determined to cut Incineroar down here and now!
And that decisiveness paid off.
Caught between the fierce assault of two pseudo-legendaries, even the mighty Incineroar couldn't hold on.
Already in poor condition, it finally fell beneath Salamence's Dragon Claw.
Before collapsing, it burned up its last flicker of flame, crashing into Salamence with a final Flare Blitz, a tragic yet valiant end.
And beside its fallen body, Garchomp began to glow with brilliant golden light.
Raihan's vision went black.
Damn it!
Garchomp—you actually dared to set up Swords Dance right now?!
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