Chapter 44: The Victory Formula Is Already Written
As the ancient saying goes, never go easy on your opponent; find the right opportunity and hit them with everything you’ve got.
Taking advantage of the brief moment of exhaustion and stiffness after Rhyperior used Rock Blast, Li Wei began his counterattack.
“Riolu, Aura Sphere! Eevee, Water Gun.”
The Instructor’s Pokémon theoretically had double weakness to Fighting-type and quadruple weakness to Water, giving his two Pokémon a huge advantage in type attacks.
However, when he saw Rhyperior slowly raise its arms to block the attacks from the two Pokémon, Li Wei realized the severity of the situation.
“Eevee! Riolu, fall back!!”
Sure enough, right after the two Pokémon’s moves hit, Rhyperior shook off the water from its arms, let out an angry roar, and swung its fist fiercely toward the spot where Riolu had been moments before.
Without using any move, the mere wind from the swing of its fist shaved off half of the dirt mound where Riolu had stood.
The terrifying attack made even Li Wei, who was ten meters away from the mound, break out in a cold sweat.
If not for Rhyperior’s sluggish movements and its feet still not lifted, Li Wei would have suspected this was a horrifying existence that could use ultimate moves to become immune to stiffness.
Seeing that Riolu had sensed danger and dodged early, Rhyperior roared in great dissatisfaction but did not pursue.
From this, Li Wei got one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.
The good news was that even a controlled ‘Rock Blast’ would leave Rhyperior with stiffness lasting over 30 seconds.
The bad news was that all their previous attacks had been ineffective, not even amounting to a tickle; this Rhyperior’s defense far exceeded Li Wei’s imagination.
A head-on clash was absolutely unwinnable; even if all six of them and their seven Pokémon went at it together, it would probably just be delivering themselves on a platter.
Because of Dragonair’s overly spineless personality and the everyday unserious, utterly undignified Mime Jr., Li Wei had once held mistaken views about Professional Level Pokémon, but now with firsthand experience, he realized this absolute strength gap.
Riolu’s Aura Sphere not having much effect was within Li Wei’s expectations.
But he never expected Eevee’s Water Gun to also have no effect.
Was this already targeted special training against weaknesses? Or did this Pokémon’s supposed ‘Water weakness’ not actually exist as absolutely in reality as he imagined?
If he remembered correctly, ‘Surf’ and ‘Rain Dance’ were both in Rhyperior’s move pool.
Talent determines mastery, but having the talent to use them proves that Water-type doesn’t deal the massive restraining damage to it as said in game mechanics and League official tests.
‘Then, let’s try a different approach.’
In a flash, Li Wei made a judgment and decided to probe with a second offensive.
At this moment, Tu Xiaomi and the others’ Pokémon had escaped their predicament of being buried in dirt, and the recovered Mime Jr. quickly released ‘Refresh’ under Tian Bai’s command.
Though this move had almost no healing effect, the ‘healing’ power within it made the several disheveled Pokémon feel much better, and the pain from occasional minor abrasions on their bodies was correspondingly reduced a lot.
“Whimsicott, Razor Leaf!”
“Treecko, Leaf Storm!”
“Eevee, Imitation, Leaf Storm!”
“Riolu, coordinate with Eevee’s move and release Aura Sphere again!”
After the Water-type move strategy failed, Li Wei began another attempt.
He could play Type Advantage Master, but now was definitely not the time.
Having Eevee use ‘Thunderbolt’ on Rhyperior at this point—he’d have to be out of his mind.
Though in reality, as long as Electric-type moves had enough power, they could damage Ground + Rock-type Pokémon like this.
Ash Ketchum’s Pikachu wasn’t above hitting Onix with Grass moves either.
But.
What if this was a Rhyperior with Lightning Rod ability?
If so, commanding Eevee to fire a Thunderbolt would make him the undisputed team-wipe engine.
At this point, even Mo Jiu couldn’t have Morpeko engage in close combat with Hangry Mode due to too few Dark-type moves available after assessment.
As for having Morpeko Bite Rhyperior, Mo Jiu had no such ideas.
If she really did that, she’d probably have to get her Morpeko a yearly VIP at the dental hospital.
Regrowing teeth—even Mime Jr. and Chansey would take a long time to heal that.
After much thought, she gave up on joining the battle and chose to command Morpeko to observe from the rear edge, assisting Mime Jr. in blocking flying stone shards.
Even the on-site ‘Electric-type’ Trainer had this level of awareness and didn’t use Thunder Shock to rush to their death face-first; Li Wei was even less likely to do something as brain-dead as that in this situation.
A massive amount of Grass-type moves converged, Razor Leaf like blades carried by the gale stirred up by Aura Sphere, slashing toward Rhyperior.
After the moves hit and kicked up violent sand and dust, everyone couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy.
“Did it work?”
Tu Xiaomi turned her head and asked the group.
Before anyone could answer, with Rhyperior’s angry roar using sonic power to shake off the surrounding sand and dust, everyone saw Rhyperior’s current state clearly.
Standing in front of it was a huge, thick wall built of piled rocks.
The wall now had a few cracks, but Rhyperior behind it was unscathed.
At the critical moment just before the moves hit, Rhyperior recovered from its stiffness.
It stomped the ground hard, shaking up rocks with its immense force, then used its vast attribute power to stack the shaken stones into a wall, blocking all the damage for it.
“Ghost Face.”
Before the group could recover from the shock of ‘the attack failing again,’ the Instructor’s command once more left Li Wei puzzled.
Ghost Face?
Was that the move that scared Pokémon, greatly reducing the opponent’s speed?
Did this transformation-type move really work?
While Li Wei was wondering this, the Instructor’s Rhyperior gave him a textbook-perfect answer.
One punch shattered the wall that had sheltered it seconds ago; with arms swinging wide, the drill horn on its head suddenly began spinning, and Rhyperior opened its mouth wide toward the group of Pokémon, revealing sharp fangs in its mouth.
At the same time, it emitted a eerie cry unlike its previous high-pitched roar—lowered voice like a beast crawling in the abyss howling, deep, hoarse, and horrifying.
With this roar, a strange black gas emerged on Rhyperior’s body, and this black shadow slowly spread outward.
As abstract black mist surged from Rhyperior’s body, its already ferocious eyes turned blood-red under the shadow’s enhancement, its huge mouth and sharp teeth magnified countless times, and a ghostly face far more ferocious, based on Rhyperior’s ugly mug, condensed in the sky.
The shadow’s gathering took a full dozens of seconds; during this time, the arena felt as if baptized by Ghost-type Pokémon—eyes wide, feet chilled, the entire competition venue filled with oppressive and fearful atmosphere.
“Awooo!!!”
An intense roar; the black shadow opened its abyssal maw and charged at the Pokémon, its scarlet eyes making people shudder even under the clear sky.
As the shadow pierced their bodies and whooshed past their ears, Eevee couldn’t help but puff up its fur, and even the usually calm Riolu, fond of listening to Li Wei narrate haunted houses, crouched low and touched its arm.
These two ‘well-traveled’ Pokémon were like this, let alone these little ones normally pampered in the palm of hands, spoiled beyond ordinary rookies except in strength.
Morpeko was scared back to Full Belly Mode and pulled out something crazy-inducing from its unknown ‘dimensional pocket’ to gnaw on, as if only doing something could calm its fear.
Treecko’s mouth gaped open, the twig it always chewed dropping to the ground.
The remaining three cuties… directly huddled together in fright from the Ghost Face.
This combo made Li Wei, the ‘dirty tactics master,’ exclaim in admiration.
This Ghost Face was no longer just a simple move.
It had risen to the level of psychological tactics!!
Calling it a routine wouldn’t be off.
This chain of moves would be very useful even on the competition venue or in actual battles.
First display absolute strength gap, force the opponent into desperation, then unleash this ‘Ghost Face.’
The whole combo’s intimidation was no less than landing on Blue Star and being surrounded by a group of extremely angry Primeape right now.
As long as this move worked on either Trainer or Pokémon, it had terrifying effect.
Losing a Trainer in the arena who had God’s-eye view of the situation and assisted with commands meant in battle, they could only rely on the Pokémon’s own judgment.
Most Pokémon’s IQ and experience weren’t enough in the short term to make such excellent judgments.
Fighting 2v1 on instinct alone, defeat was just a matter of time.
And if this intimidation move worked on the Pokémon, no matter how genius the Trainer was, it was pointless.
Pokémon cowed meant the battle was over.
Unless this Pokémon was a freak who liked being scared…
Before Li Wei’s chain of imagination finished, Riolu in the arena suddenly moved at an unprecedented Agility.
…
Riolu had indeed been scared just now, but for some reason, in this extreme despair environment and absolute power suppression, its brain wasn’t filled with negative emotions.
It could clearly feel the hot restlessness from its blood surging inside, its mind extra calm, and even more clearly sense the flow of Aura around and the emotions surging on Rhyperior!
Thus, combining the knowledge from Li Wei’s little classroom over the past month, Riolu charged ahead before Li Wei could command.
Its petite body instantly reached behind Rhyperior; one Aura Sphere targeted straight at Rhyperior’s left leg.
“Riolu!!”
In a short few seconds, Riolu alternated hands and fired several consecutive Aura Spheres.
Facing such continuous attacks, even Rhyperior’s sturdy left leg inevitably lifted slightly off the ground.
This was the result Riolu wanted.
In an instant, massive Aura surged wildly toward Riolu.
Manipulating airflow around Rhyperior was difficult, but locking the target on its feet was no big deal for current Riolu.
Controlling the Aura, Riolu pulled Rhyperior’s entire body backward.
At this moment, like a toppling building, with the ground under Rhyperior’s feet already stomped to pieces cracking again, under Riolu’s deliberate control, it fell.
“Riolu!!!”
【Now!! Eevee sis, help me flip him out!!!】
“Bu Yi!”
Riolu’s cry snapped the fluffed-up Eevee back to attention.
The two Pokémon’s coordination, honed Tacit Understanding from volleyball matches, was flawless; Eevee opened her mouth, countless glowing particles gathering in it.
While Eevee charged, Riolu briefly held a ball-hugging charge, then unleashed pure Aura energy mixed with all the airflow it could control toward the fallen, not-yet-risen Rhyperior.
This was Riolu’s all-out strike.
Right after was Eevee’s charged Fairy Wind.
It was a gale with specks of fluorescence, utterly familiar to everyone present.
This was also Eevee’s all-out strike.
With no preparation, its huge body suddenly toppling and brain unable to keep up, Rhyperior—after once having both feet leave the ground—experienced the sensation of its body leaving the ground and flying again.
The powerful shockwave and gale—even for grounded it—required moves and strength to resist.
For current Rhyperior, only its tonnage could contend with this sudden attack.
But 300 kg weight was utterly useless now.
Under Aura control, Riolu that could slam even 200+ kg Onix without fail, now with Eevee’s help, couldn’t hurl out a downed, dazed Rhyperior?
In a mere ten seconds, Riolu had personally written the victory equation.
Sudden aggression, Tacit Understanding with Eevee forged from prolonged suppression and forced short-burst explosiveness, let it complete this unbelievable comeback feat in an instant.
Controlling Aura and the gale borrowed from Eevee, Riolu smoothly tossed Rhyperior out of the arena.
This time, it gave the Instructor no chance to react.
Faster speed than last time, stronger force; even to prevent the Instructor from speaking, it abandoned flashy slam for a plain ‘out-of-bounds attack.’
Everything for the win.
Clearly, it succeeded.
As Li Wei said, real men never look back at explosions, so Riolu didn’t turn around, confidently walking back to Li Wei, merit hidden deep.
At this moment, looking at triumphant Riolu and silly happy Eevee jumping to his head, Li Wei’s face wasn’t good, heart a mix of emotions.
And similarly.
The Instructor turned to see his Rhyperior, already flung a meter out of the arena and scratching its head as it stood, his face also not good, heart even more mixed.
Was there a problem with this script somewhere?
Timo’s Flop Diary
【July 17th, 951 votes, no extra chapter】
Ah… long time no card point, sorry everyone.
Old readers are probably used to it; newbies, just sorry.
orz
Actually, I wanted to update earlier.
But… actually… I only woke up at 8 PM.
After eating, my brain finally cleared, already past 10 PM.
Day by day, living in drunken stupor.
But the upside is, I have no clue how my scores have been this past week.
Hahahaha.
Living happily in ignorance.
Nothing much to say, just super sleepy, gonna sleep more, bye everyone~~~
【Oh right, why hasn’t my 30-day 3k update achievement been given??
I can accept failing investment promotion, but why no achievement???
Do you have a grudge against me or what! (#`O′)
Does being a flop mean I get nothing? (#`O′)
I’ve exceeded it by over a week already!!!
Give me back my investment money!!!!】
