Chapter 219: The Battle of Orange

Xiaosheng once told Qianli that All Baimu was a very powerful trainer.

Because of this piece of information, Qianli had raised the difficulty of his Gym Challenge just a little.

Now it seemed—

He had still underestimated All Baimu's ability.

The Pokémon he had prepared might be a bit too far apart in level from that Aggron, and when the level gap is too large, it's very hard to execute certain tactics—unless the opponent is willing to give openings.

Judging from the match just now, All Baimu was clearly not that foolish.

Realizing that Spinda could dodge moves, he quickly switched from smaller-area moves to larger-area ones, and after the enemy was weakened, delivered the final blow at the first opportunity.

Aggron's cooperation was also quite good.

Qianli's thoughts raced, but on the surface he unhurriedly recalled Spinda. "Good work, Spinda. My second Pokémon—Slakoth! I'm counting on you!"

Pop!

Bai Guang flickered.

A drowsy, brown-grey sloth lying prone on the ground appeared on the field.

"Dig!"

All Baimu had no intention of switching Pokémon at all. The instant Slakoth landed, he immediately issued the command and registered it with the Pokédex.

"Roar!"

Aggron's claws tore at the earth, and its massive body plunged underground in an instant, leaving behind only a dark, gaping hole.

Seeing this, Qianli shouted: "Use Water Pulse on the hole!"

"Nama~"

Slakoth wobbled to its feet, but its attack speed was not slow. A sky-blue water sphere quickly condensed in its palm and flew toward the hole Aggron had left behind.

The ground trembled slightly, as if something were moving beneath it.

Qianli watched the ground's situation, and the scenes before his eyes seemed to slow down countless times.

As an excellent trainer, even if his Pokémon's strength was inferior to his opponent's, the experience accumulated from long-term battles still allowed him to easily judge Aggron's underground trajectory.

Through certain subtle clues, he could even observe the moves the opposing Pokémon used—even without hearing the opponent's commands.

So where would Aggron emerge this time?

"Sand Tomb!"

Hm!?

Qianli suddenly looked up, and in the slowed time he saw the Water Pulse successfully slam into the hole Aggron had dug, exploding with a Peng sound. A large amount of water turned into waves and surged in, with a small portion splashing out and making a splashing sound.

At the same time, the trembling of the ground beneath Slakoth's feet intensified sharply, gradually cracking into spiderweb-like fissures!

"Get away from there!"

Boom!

In an instant the earth collapsed, the tough rock visibly turning into quicksand. The enormous sand pit caused Slakoth, which had failed to escape in time, to fall in and keep sinking!

"Roar!"

Aggron revealed itself at the lowest point of the Sand Tomb. The surrounding sand and gravel were noticeably darker in color than those at the outermost edge—it seemed the Water Pulse had indeed landed successfully.

"Rock Tomb!"

"Blizzard!"

All Baimu and Qianli issued commands simultaneously.

Aggron roared as it hurled the surrounding sand and gravel, instantly creating huge rocks that smashed toward Slakoth. The latter took a sharp breath and exhaled, and visible pure-white snowflakes surged toward the rocks along with a fierce storm!

Boom!

The enormous rocks crumbled, as if unable to withstand the Blizzard's fierce gusts and biting cold.

All Baimu's breath caught, and only when the rocks pressed it back down did his emotions steady. Once Slakoth was successfully hit by Rock Tomb, his expression also relaxed considerably.

"My Healing Game"

Peng!

The enormous rocks shattered, turning back into sand and gravel that flowed away.

Slakoth was buried up to half its body in the sand and gravel, on its back with dazed eyes.

"Roar!

Aggron let out a victorious roar.

"Slakoth is unable to battle, Aggron wins!" Jinji raised his flag and announced the result of the match at once.

Qianli recalled Slakoth and praised: "Using Sand Tomb to leave Slakoth nowhere to escape—that really is a commendable idea. Your Aggron is also raised very well. Strong rookie trainers like you are rare."

"You're too kind. Your Slakoth is also very impressive."

All Baimu said sincerely.

In that brief instant just now, Slakoth's Blizzard had actually suppressed Aggron's Rock Tomb!

An off-type move, and a Blizzard used by a base-form Pokémon at that…

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, how could All Baimu believe such a thing existed in this world? This Slakoth must have cheated on its Effort Values, pulling them straight up past a thousand.

Fortunately, Aggron was tough enough.

"Then, my next Pokémon—Vigoroth! I'm counting on you!"

Qianli threw the Poké Ball.

Across from him, All Baimu also recalled Aggron, which was in the giant sand pit, and switched to another Pokémon. "Good work, Aggron. Time to get to work!"

Pop pop!

The crisp sounds of two Poké Balls opening.

Bai Guang flashed.

A tuft of red hair dyed on top of its head, its expression wildly excited, as if a hyperactive ape that couldn't stop moving for a single instant had appeared on the field.

And what landed not far from it was a milky-white round stone.

"This is—"

Qianli was stunned for a moment, suddenly unable to process whether that thing was actually a Pokémon.

But as the Gym Leader of the Hoenn region, even if his breadth of knowledge wasn't vast, he at least recognized the vast majority of Pokémon, and quickly recalled its name.

"A Galarian Corsola… if I remember right, it's Ghost-type."

Recognition was recognition, but memories of battling it weren't many.

Qianli thought briefly, noticed All Baimu still hadn't launched an attack, and said: "Since you're not making a move over there, I'll move first on my end! Shadow Claw!"

"Yalu!"

The hyperactive ape barked once, lunging toward the Galarian Corsola at an extremely swift speed, dark-purple light coating its pitch-black claws as it swung down without mercy!

Whoosh!

The force and speed were so great that the air itself let out a violent howl.

But the instant Shadow Claw made contact with the Galarian Corsola, its hidden smoke-like tentacles suddenly shot out, blooming like fireworks, and very naturally seeped into the hyperactive ape's body.

Boom!

Shadow Claw landed, bursting open a cloud of smoke.

The hyperactive ape quickly retreated, gazing from afar at the Galarian Corsola nearby that still showed its stone form, its surface still smooth, showing not the slightest sign of damage from the move's hit.

"Yalu?"

The attack didn't work?

The hyperactive ape tried to raise its claws and go give it another strike, but its arms trembled for some unknown reason.

"This is… Absorb!"

Qianli saw at a glance the reason the hyperactive ape had become "weakened."

"Curse."

And having cut down the hyperactive ape's Attack to ensure it couldn't one-shot the Galarian Corsola, All Baimu began his operation.

A pair of red lights lit up on the front of the Galarian Corsola.

Eerie purple light overflowed from its body surface, then suddenly flew up, transforming into a wailing ghost shadow that pounced on the hyperactive ape.

"Dodge it quick!"

Qianli swung his hand sharply, and the hyperactive ape leapt to dodge, but didn't expect the ghost shadow to dive straight into its own shadow and vanish into it.

The next instant.

Its shadow took on the form of the ghost shadow and began tearing at itself.

"Yalu!"

The hyperactive ape showed a pained expression.