Chapter 323: How Is Dawn THIS Strong?!
"Pheromosa... an Ultra Beast, huh?"
Serena's expression turned solemn as she carefully studied this gorgeous, unfamiliar Pokémon across from her.
If she remembered right, this should be one of the newly-classified Ultra Beasts added to the Pokédex recently.
This was Serena's first time actually seeing an Ultra Beast in person, but as a brand-new Pokémon category, she'd read up on the news coverage and specifically gone looking for videos explaining them.
Worth noting — the video she'd found had been filmed by Kukui.
"That's right — Pheromosa's designation is UB02: Beauty. Better watch out, Serena, my Pheromosa is incredibly strong."
Platinum wore a composed, lovely smile, clearly quite fond of her Pheromosa.
"Meh-lo~"
Pheromosa struck a pose, one hand on its hip, radiantly haughty.
Serena considered for a moment, then pulled out her Pokédex and pointed it at Pheromosa.
Beep. Pheromosa, the Bug/Fighting-type, Lissome Pokémon. One of the Ultra Beasts. Perhaps believing everything in this world to be irredeemably filthy, it refuses to touch anything with its hands.
Typing checked out — Bug/Fighting, as she'd thought. She'd actually made a mental note of most of the Ultra Beasts' typings back then, though she'd been a little worried she might have misremembered.
Bug/Fighting meant a 4x weakness to Flying.
"Altaria! I'm counting on you!"
Serena decisively threw her first Poké Ball.
At a melodic cry, Altaria spread its cottony wings and hovered in front of Serena — the Dragon/Flying-type Altaria.
"Trying to exploit Pheromosa's Flying weakness — a bit too obvious a read, though."
Watching this unfold, Mammon let out a soft chuckle.
"Is that wrong?" Diantha, standing right beside him, blinked in surprise.
A 4x weakness was about as blatant a weak point as it got — practically wearing a sign that said "please exploit me with a Flying-type." So using a Flying-type Altaria against Pheromosa seemed like a completely sound call, didn't it?
"It's not wrong, exactly. How to put it..." Mammon chose his words carefully.
"As Kalos's own Champion, I'm sure you know this better than most, Miss Diantha — Pokémon battles are never decided purely by type matchups."
"Pheromosa is a high-speed, high-attack Ultra Beast. In practice, Altaria — or really, most Flying-types in general — aren't actually well-suited to fighting it at all."
Mammon explained.
True enough — on paper, Pheromosa is severely, quadruply weak to Flying-type moves. But real battles aren't that simple. Mammon himself owned a Shiny Pheromosa, so he understood its strengths and weaknesses inside and out.
Pheromosa's real edge was its absurd speed and agility, backed by overwhelming physical and special attack power. It was the textbook glass-cannon, ultra-high-speed offensive Pokémon.
A 4x weakness to Flying, sure — but with defenses as fragile as tissue paper, you didn't even need a Flying-type move to hurt Pheromosa badly. Even a standard 2x-effective Flamethrower at the same level would probably be enough to bring it down.
Honestly, even a neutral-damage move that actually connected would be a serious blow to Pheromosa. Because that's just what kind of glass cannon Pheromosa was.
And Altaria — going up against Pheromosa head-on?
Sure, Flying-type moves were super effective against it — land one hit, and it'd probably knock Pheromosa out cold. But the key word there was land.
And there was another critical factor: given Altaria's actual attack power, could it really go toe-to-toe with Pheromosa at all?
"Mr. Mammon, what you're describing is just the ideal-case scenario."
Diantha's brow furrowed slightly. She understood exactly what Mammon meant, of course.
But was he seriously suggesting Altaria wouldn't land a single hit on Pheromosa before the battle ended? That felt awfully optimistic on Mammon's part. Diantha remained skeptical.
"We'll see." Mammon replied with a smile.
Diantha said nothing further, turning her attention to the battlefield. As Kalos's Champion, her natural inclination was to root for Serena, of course. She didn't believe her own region's gifted young prodigy was going to lose to some Team Rocket executive.
The battle began.
Serena had Altaria strike first — with such a decisive type advantage, and Pheromosa's own Fighting and Bug-typing both being weak against it, why hold back?
Altaria led off with Hurricane — one of the most powerful special Flying-type attacks in the game.
A powerful gale swept forward.
"Blizzard!" Platinum, however, had Pheromosa meet it head-on.
Pheromosa's face twisted into a haughty, unmistakably malicious sneer, its right leg snapping out in a heavy kick, unleashing an even more violent blizzard of ice and snow.
The two attacks collided violently in midair, and — to Serena's utter shock — Pheromosa's Blizzard tore straight through Altaria's Hurricane, its remaining force surging on toward Altaria itself.
How is it this strong?!
"Altaria, dodge it!" Serena barked out the order in alarm.
Altaria flapped its wings, trying to dodge — but it was far too rushed, and there simply wasn't enough time.
The Blizzard swallowed Altaria whole, brutal cold and wind battering its body relentlessly.
Everyone kept saying Pheromosa was 4x weak to Flying — but as it turned out, Altaria was itself 4x weak to Ice!
THUD!
The Blizzard howled past, and Altaria, its whole body coated in frost, dropped limply out of the sky, slamming hard into the ground.
Shockingly, though, Altaria was still barely conscious. Still, the Blizzard's damage had been so severe that Altaria didn't even have the strength left to get back up — hanging on by a thread.
"Electroweb."
Platinum gave the next command.
Pheromosa raised a leg once more, and a golden net of crackling electricity shot out at blistering speed, landing squarely on Altaria.
Electric-type Electroweb.
Electricity crackled and bit into Altaria mercilessly, drawing a pained cry from it. As the Electroweb burst apart, Altaria's eyes rolled up into swirls, completely knocked out.
At the same moment, having taken down Altaria, a faint glow shimmered across Pheromosa's body — the Beast Boost ability activating, boosting Pheromosa's Speed even higher.
"Altaria is unable to battle. Pheromosa wins."
Mammon announced the result.
This... how is this even possible?
Diantha, watching from the sidelines, stared in shock. Serena herself, standing on the field, looked just as stunned, staring at her fainted Altaria, unable to compose herself for a long moment.
Knocked out that fast? Just two moves — and that was even against my own hand-picked type-advantage counter.
Still, this was Serena — after a moment's bitten lip, she managed to steady herself, recalling Altaria into its Poké Ball.
"That's an incredibly powerful attack."
Serena gathered her thoughts, looking across the field at Pheromosa standing there in haughty triumph.
No way around it — that exchange had gone by so fast, that was really all the intel she'd managed to gather. Sure, Altaria wasn't the most offensively powerful Pokémon out there, but it was her own carefully-trained ace, and its offensive stats were genuinely solid.
And yet her own Hurricane had been steamrolled that fast by the opponent's Blizzard, and Altaria had been reduced to a smoking wreck in a single follow-up hit. Which said everything about just how absurdly high Pheromosa's raw attack power really was.
Serena quickly steadied herself. This was the first time one of her aces had ever been so overwhelmingly crushed — but that was fine.
This was a full team battle. She still had plenty of chances left.
"Meowstic! Go!"
Serena sent out her second Pokémon.
A rather cool, aloof-looking, adorable female Meowstic — mostly white-furred, standing upright on two legs — landed in front of Serena. The purely Psychic-type Meowstic.
"Meowstic, Sucker Punch!"
Serena issued the command without hesitation.
A sly glint flashed in Meowstic's eyes as it charged at blinding speed toward Pheromosa.
Priority move — Sucker Punch!
"Quick Guard!" But Platinum wasn't caught unprepared.
Meowstic closed the distance in a flash, leaping up, its claw swiping down at Pheromosa.
But Pheromosa immediately raised its right arm, blocking the strike in front of its body.
THWACK!
Sucker Punch, blocked cleanly by Quick Guard!
Fighting-type Quick Guard — specifically designed to block priority moves.
Serena's brow furrowed tightly.
"Bug Buzz — no wait, Poison Jab!" Platinum immediately followed up.
Pheromosa's face twisted with malice, its left arm flaring with dark light as it stabbed viciously at Meowstic.
Dark-type Night Slash!
"Dodge it!"
Deep blue psychic energy flared in Meowstic's eyes as it used its psychic power to shift its own body sideways, narrowly dodging the incoming Night Slash.
But could it really escape that easily?
The instant its strike missed, Pheromosa pursued immediately, its gorgeous, slender body cutting through the air like a gale.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, it was already directly behind Meowstic.
"!!!"
That terrifyingly fast speed made Serena's pupils contract in shock.
Pheromosa's right arm, wreathed in dark energy, stabbed viciously into Meowstic's back, drawing a pained, low cry from it — pure agony.
Its whole body was sent hurtling downward like a cannonball, slamming hard into the ground.
Dark-type Night Slash dealt massive damage against Psychic-type Meowstic.
"Pounce!" Platinum gave Pheromosa no chance to breathe, pressing the advantage immediately.
Pheromosa lunged violently at Meowstic before it could even get back up.
Bug-type Pounce!
BOOM!
Another crashing impact rang out. Pheromosa leapt back a step, gracefully, haughtily brushing a hand through its gorgeous long hair, utterly unbothered.
Down in a small crater, Meowstic lay unconscious.
Against Pheromosa's super-effective Night Slash followed by Pounce, there was simply no way Meowstic's frame could have held up.
"Meowstic is unable to battle. Pheromosa wins."
Mammon announced the result once more.
Silently recalling Meowstic, Serena looked down at the Poké Ball in her hand, pressing her lips into a tight line.
Two losses in a row now — and both of them, essentially, without her Pokémon managing to put up any real fight at all.
How is this happening...
Serena looked over at Pheromosa and Platinum across the field. She was supposed to be genuinely strong herself.
Is my opponent just that much stronger? But Dawn was supposed to be the same age as her.
How can she possibly be this strong?
The girl simply couldn't wrap her head around it.
(End of chapter)
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