Chapter 323: Wall of Sighs

Want to switch?

Sorry, it's not that easy.

"Telekinesis!"

"Lucky!"

Hearing Baimu's command, Chansey instinctively poured out its psychic power. The intangible force locked onto Houndoom and swiftly lifted it off the ground into midair.

The red beam from the Poké Ball in Captain Huoyan's hand missed cleanly.

The sudden turn of events left her momentarily stunned.

"Standing still so obediently…" Baimu was also puzzled that Captain Huoyan recalled her Pokémon without stepping forward, remaining in place.

In truth, Chansey's Telekinesis this time was released a bit slowly because the distance to Houndoom was relatively far. Who would have thought that Captain Huoyan, even farther away, wouldn't move at all.

Any farther and the recall beam from the Poké Ball might not even have the range.

Got used to those kinds of battles where the trainer designates positions?

On the other hand.

The battle rules in mainstream regions don't prohibit trainers from interfering with an opponent's Pokémon recall — of course, the premise is affecting the opponent's Pokémon, not the trainer or the ball in their hand.

So Captain Huoyan, realizing the switch had failed, said nothing and simply issued a new command.

"Dark Pulse!"

She also realized her current position wasn't great for recalling Pokémon; she had to find a way to get closer.

In midair.

Houndoom struggled frantically, trying to break free of Chansey's psychic hold.

As a Dark-type Pokémon, when had it ever been treated like this? Psychic-type moves shouldn't work on it!

And upon receiving its trainer's command, it immediately fired a beam of overlapping black-purple rings at Chansey.

The unsettling Dark-type energy pierced through the air.

Whoosh!

"Meet it! Light Screen!"

Chansey, breaking into a run, instinctively raised its little hands and formed a translucent pane of glass before its body.

And when Dark Pulse passed through the glass, its power had already weakened to the point of being a mere tickle — no stronger than the stream from a toy water gun hitting its body.

Honestly, even without tanking it head-on with Light Screen, Chansey wouldn't have batted an eye.

Its extraordinary Special Defense and endurance have earned it the nickname "the Wall of Sighs for special attackers." But to avoid certain unnecessary situations, it's still better to defend when possible.

And with the continuous psychic grip gone, the still-suspended Houndoom had already heavy regained some freedom. The trouble was that, being a dog, it didn't have wings like Crobat that could move through the air.

With nothing under its feet to push off from, it could only watch helplessly as Chansey drew closer and closer.

Get me out!

Let me out!

Houndoom cast a phase of hopeful glances toward Captain Huoyan, and she didn't disappoint it. Running forward alongside the approaching Chansey, she raised the Poké Ball in her hand once more.

In an instant.

Baimu's voice reached Chansey's ears. "Toxic! Spit it over!"

"Lu-lucky!"

Chansey's cheeks flushed slightly pink as it spat a mouthful of purple liquid at Houndoom. Unable to dodge, the latter could only let the liquid touch its skin, quickly triggering the badly poisoned status.

At that moment, the red beam from the Poké Ball in Captain Huoyan's hand hit Houndoom perfectly, recalling it.

"Success!"

Baimu smiled. Chansey certainly felt embarrassed, but the success of the strategy still made it very happy.

To be honest.

Toxic, as a non-contact move, had always been used by it as a contact move — the reason being it hadn't found a good medium for ranged delivery.

Chansey had considered using a Lucky Punch to deliver it, but felt that was too wasteful — the Pokémon at home, big and small, didn't have enough to eat as it was.

In a rough conception, spitting was the simplest method.

It's just that for a naturally high-quality Chansey, doing so was genuinely a bit embarrassing.

Too wasteful and embarrassing.

It felt the latter was better — after all, only it would be embarrassed. Endure it a bit and maybe it'd get used to it?

—

Captain Huoyan, Poké Ball in hand, fell into a brief silence.

Houndoom had fallen into the badly poisoned status; returning to its Poké Ball wouldn't heal it.

It wasn't the 【Natural Cure】 ability, after all.

With its combat ability almost completely sealed off by Chansey, coming back out would only mean slowly having all its stamina worn away.

And at this point, Baimu's true caliber was already plain to see — the Pokémon's combat power, his own tactical and commanding ability had all been displayed to the utmost.

Brought before Chief Chiyansong, even he wouldn't have anything to say after hearing about it.

But she still wanted to finish this battle.

It wasn't that she couldn't afford to lose — she wanted to know just how far Baimu could continue to expand his advantage, and what kind of performance he could put on against a Mega Camerupt.

A narrow victory? A dominant win? Or perhaps… defeat?

From this point on, the battle was no longer because of the boss's orders — it was Captain Huoyan's own curiosity toward Baimu.

"Go…"

She threw the Poké Ball.

Boom!

"Moo!"

The Mega Camerupt saw the light of day once more and let out a threatening hiss at the Chansey not far away!

It had thought it could scare this seemingly soft and weak fellow, but the latter's expression didn't even flicker.

After all, could anything be more terrifying than those patients driven mad by the pain?

Chansey hadn't spent all that time at the Pokémon Center for nothing. Although it had rarely had the chance to step onto the field and battle others since setting out on its journey, it had actually grown quite a bit.

Its temperament had also grown stronger.

"Telekinesis!"

Chansey released its psychic power at the Mega Camerupt's location as usual, but the other side didn't even bother to struggle — it simply puffed up the volcano on its back and blasted a pillar of fire into the sky!

Boom!

The terrifying meteor shower of fire came crashing down once more.

Captain Huoyan knew the strengths and weaknesses of this kind of Pokémon very well. After Mega Evolution, its movement speed had not only failed to increase, but actually grown even slower.

That meant that without any other outside force influencing it, it was destined to be a stationary turret.

Therefore, a move like Telekinesis actually had less effect on Mega Camerupt than it did on Houndour — it just carried on as it pleased.

All Baimu probably hadn't understood Mega Camerupt, which was why he'd chosen this move.

"Dodge! If you can't dodge it, use Minimize!"

"Flamethrower…"

Captain Huoyan watched Chansey nimbly evade the lava balls falling from the sky, shrinking its body down to a certain size from time to time — looking even more exquisite than the Mawile flying about all over the place — and gained a new appreciation for just how troublesome All Baimu was.

Boom!

Mega Camerupt kept blasting pillars of fire into the sky. With its stamina full to bursting, the Flamethrower it unleashed unquestionably reached maximum power, combined with the seemingly inexhaustible energy brought by Mega Evolution.

The gravel path instantly grew scorching hot.

Chansey's margin for dodging was also gradually shrinking, growing narrower.

Fortunately, its task was especially simple —

Poison it!

"Smokescreen!"

Against the backdrop of fire raining from the sky, Mega Camerupt once again created a blazing-smoke protective barrier. Captain Huoyan didn't believe Chansey could possess a gale like Mawile's that would sweep the smoke away.

But what she hadn't expected was that Chansey didn't care about the blazing smoke at all, and charged straight in!

Only when a green glow lit up did she realize Chansey had used Protect.

At the same time.

What shocked her even more was that All Baimu, ignoring the lava balls crashing down everywhere, had rushed over from the side.

What was he trying to do!?