Chapter 321: Slow Beats Fast

In wild battles, even though attacking the trainer is prohibited.

Occasionally, the residual shockwaves of a move are so powerful that they end up affecting the opponent.

Baimu was currently in just such an environment — the path directly ahead was covered by a flow of uncooled, scorching lava, a sea of crimson red, and he couldn't even find a single foothold to step forward and observe more of the enemy's situation.

Staying away from the forest was indeed the right call.

With this kind of power, if you don't start a forest fire, who will?

However.

Fortunately, Mawile possessed decent electromagnetic levitation control, and combined with the dynamic vision it had developed in order to better master its moves and add flair, it hadn't been hit by a single lava ball so far.

At the same time, it had already arrived right in front of the Mega Camerupt.

The lava balls no longer fell from the smoky dark clouds in the sky — the sustained attack brought on by the second eruption had ended.

"How agile…"

Mawile's performance greatly surprised Captain Huoyan — when was Camerupt's Eruption ever this easy to dodge, let alone under the denser conditions created by two eruptions stacked together?

She hadn't expected that these consecutive big moves would either be dodged or broken through.

Affected by the Mega Camerupt, she couldn't help but grow a little impatient.

If the trainer was already like this, the Pokémon was even more so — being Fire-type, its temperament was never particularly good to begin with, and the massive Mega energy made it like a volcano on its back, constantly on the verge of exploding at the slightest provocation, and now it had run into an opponent as agile and troublesome as Mawile…

It could barely hold it in any longer.

"Moo!"

The Mega Camerupt threw back its head and roared, but just as it was about to do something, Captain Huoyan — who still kept a shred of composure within — recalled it with a Poké Ball.

Upon realizing that its Pokémon's moves were hard to land, she didn't foolishly keep the Mega Camerupt on the field, and chose to switch while Mawile hadn't launched an attack.

At this point the ground was covered in lava, and there was basically no foothold to speak of.

What Pokémon could Captain Huoyan use?

Without a doubt—

It was Crobat!

Poof!

A dazzling white light flickered, and Crobat — its body fairly rounded with two pairs of large and small wings, looking more like a rabbit plush than a bat — appeared mid-air.

"I've been waiting for you! Taunt!"

"Kyudon~"

At Baimu's command, Mawile shot a contemptuous glance at the freshly emerged Crobat, and a blood-red glow lit up on its body, producing a strange effect that made anyone who saw it instantly furious.

"Gurro!"

The caught-off-guard Crobat took the bait as expected — fury rose on its face, its wings flapped violently, and a blood-red light flashed across its body.

It had clearly entered the Taunt state.

Captain Huoyan was stunned for a moment, but didn't dare hesitate. "Heat Wave…!"

"Gurro!"

Crobat's two pairs of wings flapped violently, and a fiery-red wind transformed into a massive wave surging toward Mawile!

In an instant.

The entire sky was lit up a dazzling red, sparks mixed into the gale gave the Heat Wave a tangible, solid airflow — even though it wasn't a Flying-type move, with the boost from Crobat's two pairs of wings, the wind power still became utterly outrageous!

Baimu took one look and knew Mawile's Fairy Wind definitely couldn't hold it back.

With such a vast area, there was simply no room to dodge.

"Baton Pass!"

"Kyudon!"

Mawile, facing the scorching airflow, raised its right hand high, a hazy white light glowed, forming a terrifying pulling force.

A Poké Ball Baimu had long prepared opened automatically, while another Poké Ball fired a red beam, recalling the pained-looking Mawile from within the heat wave.

"Roar!"

The Aggron that replaced Mawile in its original position took the remaining Heat Wave head-on, yet not a trace of pain could be seen on its ferocious expression.

"Rock Tomb!"

"Dodge it…"

Baimu and Captain Huoyan's commands came one after the other, but because Crobat was far too swift, even though Aggron gathered rocks and hurled them over a step earlier, it still failed to hit the nimble Crobat.

The scattered rocks smashed into the mountainside not far away, shattering into countless fragments.

"Air Cutter…"

"Get to the ground! Sand Tomb!"

This time Captain Huoyan gave the order first, and Aggron, choosing to take the hit, charged without hesitation toward the lava-covered ground and slammed a claw into the earth!

Thud!

The gravel path that had been covered by lava reappeared, countless bits of rock were swept into the sky by the sandstorm tornado Aggron whipped up, and even the remaining lava was caught up in it, forming a shield that blocked the pale-white wind blades Crobat shot over!

"Expand it!"

Baimu continued to shout, and Aggron, positioned at the center of the sandstorm, suddenly pushed it outward in all directions.

Although as a Ground-type move, Sand Tomb couldn't deal damage to the Flying-type Crobat through type energy, this scalding lava and the genuinely blinding sand wouldn't turn to nothing just because of type matchups.

"Heat Wave…"

Captain Huoyan issued the command in time, but felt a bit frustrated in her heart — Crobat originally had other moves to disperse this sandstorm tornado, but due to Taunt's effect, it couldn't use them.

Should she switch the Mega Camerupt back in?

No.

There was still a chance.

Seeing the Quicksand Hell being suppressed by the heat wave, Captain Huoyan decided to let Crobat hold on a little longer—the Taunt status had a time limit, and as long as she used this speed that Aggron couldn't catch up with to seize back the initiative, everything would be easier to handle afterward.

While she was thinking, her gaze suddenly glanced toward the ground in front of her.

The gravel trembled and hopped slightly, and her feet could also feel a tremor—she had originally thought it was from the Quicksand Hell, but just now the tremor had slightly intensified.

"Watch the ground!"

She hurriedly called out to the Crobat in the air.

In her agitation, Captain Huoyan's sentence-fragmenting suddenly became normal.

But before Crobat could react, the Aggron that had been hiding underground by digging burst up through the surface, blasting countless bits of rock and dust into the air!

Crobat started in fright, and saw that between the Aggron's two horns, faint-blue electric current flickered—in the next instant, countless faint-blue rings of electricity, moving at a speed the naked eye could hardly distinguish, enveloped its body!

Its speed was certainly swift, but it still wasn't fast enough to dodge lightning that had already been released!

"Gulo!"

Its body pierced by the current and paralyzed, Crobat's two pairs of wings abruptly stopped flapping and it plunged straight down, landing right in Aggron's claws.

The latter didn't bother being polite with it either, directly flipping its body over and slamming Crobat, pinned against its head, into the ground still coated with magma!

A brilliant Bai Guang lit up from its head!

Thud!

The ground shattered, ignoring the bits of rock flying everywhere.

Captain Huoyan raised a hand to block the flying debris, and when she looked into the field, Aggron was holding the now-unconscious Crobat, giving her a taunting look.

"Gurou~"

A little annoyed.

Captain Huoyan silently returned Crobat to its Poké Ball, never having imagined that such a small mistake on her part, once seized by the opponent, could directly lead to Crobat's defeat.

"I'm going to... get a little serious..."

She took out the next Poké Ball, and looking at All Baimu and Aggron, a sharp gleam flashed in her eyes.