Chapter 410: Trick Space

"Magnezone is unable to battle! Mega Aggron wins!"

Walter's voice echoed across the field.

Yet the astonishment on Liza's face had still not faded, her gaze locked onto Mega Aggron and refusing to shift away.

"Just one hit and…"

Currently, Mega Stones and Key Stones had not yet been distributed to Gym Leaders on a per-capita basis, so for Liza this thing was a rare novelty — the kind she had encountered but not deeply.

She hadn't expected Mega Evolution's power to be this exaggerated!

For a moment.

Liza's feelings were quite complicated — both the thrill of encountering a strong opponent and the blankness of having her Pokémon taken out in a single blow, as if she were not the Gym Leader giving Baimu a test, but the latter.

And judging by the lineup she had decided on, that trend did indeed seem to be the case.

"Come back!"

Liza recalled Magnezone, then forced out a few laughs. "Gahahaha! Not bad! Looks like I'll have to get serious!"

She tossed a Poké Ball.

"Go! Electrode! Magnet Rise!"

Bang!

The gleaming white light transformed into a half-person-tall, enormous Poké Ball, white on top and red on the bottom, with two beady black eyes and a mouth stuffed full of pearly white teeth replacing the central release button.

"Malu!"

The instant Electrode landed, fine currents of electricity crackled around its body; as it rose into the air, those currents spread across the entire field, and in the blink of an eye the ground crumbled into countless stones of all sizes, forming a strange rocky terrain.

—What nerve! Daring to set up a field that favors Mega Aggron!

If Baimu hadn't been busy suppressing the chaotic thoughts in his head, he'd probably have started complaining by now.

However.

For some unknown reason, he was actually able to share the mental load brought on by Mega Aggron's excess energy. This situation had already become apparent during the first Mega Evolution, and now it had become a clear, tangible sensation.

Other trainers don't seem to have this, right?

The anime only ever depicted the process of Korrina's Lucario mastering Mega Evolution, and what ultimately played out was just Mega Lucario going berserk, while Korrina was perfectly fine.

When it came to his side, although Mega Aggron hadn't gone berserk, he himself was left dizzy and swollen-headed by the mental load, with nothing left in his brain but the word "battle" — not even enough surplus to complain.

This feeling of his brain being filled to the brim… honestly, the experience was terrible.

"Stone Edge!"

"Guou!"

Mega Aggron clenched both claws and roared at the sky; countless grains of sand and bits of rock flew up, condensing around it into two rings of sharp stones that, as they spun, launched toward Electrode like cannonballs!

Swoosh swoosh swoosh—

The sharp stones tore through the air, emitting a piercing shriek.

Liza hurriedly shouted: "Dodge! Roll and use Electro Ball!"

"Malu!"

Electrode nimbly twisted left and right; its spherical body allowed it to move at full speed in any direction, and by using Magnet Rise to manipulate electromagnetic force it could come to sudden stops and make mid-course turns without being hindered by inertia.

Most of the sharp stones Mega Aggron shot over were dodged by rolling left and right, and the few that were hard to evade had their power greatly reduced under the interference of Reflect, so when they hit Electrode they only made it frown slightly.

Although Magnezone had gone down extremely fast, it had still made some contribution for its teammate.

Once all the sharp stones had been dodged, Electrode immediately twisted its body and, tracing a figure-eight trajectory, transformed into a pinball that suddenly charged toward Mega Aggron.

This thing's speed was absurdly fast — even with Baimu's dynamic vision he almost failed to react, instinctively dodging to the side.

So the Mega Aggron in front of him also dodged to the side along with him.

Whoosh!

The extremely fast-rolling Electrode grazed its shoulder and flew past to the rear, slamming into a rock that had been lifted by Magnet Rise with a loud Peng, shattering it more than halfway, then bouncing back instantly like a billiard ball hitting the boundary!

At the same time, tiny lightning bolts abruptly crackled across its surface, and in the blink of an eye they enveloped its entire body, forming a ring of electric light — utterly terrifying!

Clearly this thing had never intended to attack Aggron head-on from the start; it had planned to use the rebound force to deliver a vicious blow to the latter's back!

And the Electro Ball it used was a move whose power increased the faster the user was compared to the opponent — perfect for dealing with a slow Pokémon like Mega Aggron.

But Baimu would not let it have its way, shouting: "Rock Tomb!"

"Guou!"

Mega Aggron stomped its right foot hard on the ground, and countless huge rocks burst from the earth at its feet, blocking Electrode's path. The latter hadn't expected the former to attack so quickly and crashed headlong into them.

Peng! Kuang!

Crackle—

Rocks exploded, lightning boomed and leapt like fireworks, choking dust rose into the air, and Electrode was sent flying backward by the rebound force, slamming into a half-shattered rock that redirected it, sending it bouncing off in another direction.

Although it had relied on the terrifying power of Electro Ball to smash through Rock Tomb and successfully hit Mega Aggron, the power remaining after blasting through the rocks was negligible even for a special move.

The damage dealt was probably extremely pitiful.

Sure enough.

When the dust cleared, not a trace of pain could be seen on Mega Aggron's face, and the carapace it had struck didn't even bear a single mark.

Seeing this, Electrode continued bouncing off to the side, not daring to attack rashly.

"What a hard Pokémon! This is trouble!"

Liza saw that even after having Electrode bring out its best moves, it still couldn't do anything to Mega Aggron, and couldn't help scratching at her hairline that was already creeping toward the back of her head.

Could it be she'd have to slowly whittle it down?

On the other side.

Baimu also frowned.

Electrode's speed was truly too fast — faster than any opponent he had faced before. Using the rocks lifted by Magnet Rise along with the surrounding walls, it bounced back and forth with no pattern whatsoever, front, back, left, right, making it really difficult for Mega Aggron to catch this thing.

Should he try spreading out and using a wide-area move?

No.

He had a better way.

"Come back!"

He decisively recalled his Mega Bossgodora into its Poké Ball before Naughty Thunder Bomb could launch its next round of attacks, and the instant Mega Bossgodora entered the ball, he felt his entire person become clear-headed.

The mental strain on his spirit was swept away in an instant—

The miraculous effect built into Poké Balls.

He didn't know the principle, just as he didn't know why he could share Mega Bossgodora's mental burden.

Baimu threw the ball at extreme speed, picking a dead-angle attack spot that Naughty Thunder Bomb would have a hard time hitting. Fortunately, in the anime Pokémon switching doesn't care where you recalled or where you send out, otherwise Porygon would inevitably have to take a hit from Naughty Thunder Bomb head-on.

But even though he picked a fast spot, breaking through to get there meant nothing to Naughty Thunder Bomb.

"What's the situation?"

Tie Tie Xuan was quite surprised he would choose to switch—clearly, given the situation, Mega Bossgodora had the upper hand—and what surprised him even more was the Pokémon Baimu had chosen.

"Porygon? Naughty Thunder Bomb, use Electro Ball!"

A bad premonition rising in his heart, Tie Tie Xuan shouted loudly.

"Malu!"

Naughty Thunder Bomb, which had been moving quickly across the field by bouncing, immediately adjusted its angle, forcibly bouncing out a trapezoid missing one side, and bathed in Lei Guang all over as it charged toward the Porygon that had landed behind a rock.

"Trick Room!"

Baimu's shout rang out.

Porygon watched the rapidly approaching Naughty Thunder Bomb as its body surface lit up with blue light; countless pale-blue and dark-blue squares rose from the white lines at the field's edge, forming a massive rectangular space in Tie Tie Xuan's astonished gaze before quickly vanishing.

Boom!

The rock in front was shattered by Naughty Thunder Bomb wrapped in an Electro Ball, but Porygon, with rubble raining down on it, didn't change its expression in the slightest.

"Dodge!"

"Pali!"

Porygon simply slid lightly to the side, and the speed it suddenly burst out with was astonishingly fast, narrowly grazing past Naughty Thunder Bomb by a hair's breadth.

Naughty Thunder Bomb flew straight toward the wall outside the field, and when it bounced back into the field it found its speed drastically reduced—whether its spin rate or the momentum of its bounce, both were as slow as a snail.

【Trick Room】, a miraculous move whose effect is to make faster Pokémon slower and slower Pokémon faster.

Tie Tie Xuan's eyes went wide. Although he had once considered using a Pokémon like Porygon as a smart central controller, he had never looked into the latter's move pool, so naturally he had no idea it could use such a strange move.

Naughty Thunder Bomb's speed slowing was unavoidable, and as the Gym Leader he had no way to switch, so he could only think of a way to stall until the space ended.

"Use Discharge!"

"Texture 2."

The two shouted orders in unison.

Lightning exploded and flashed across Naughty Thunder Bomb's body surface, and bright-yellow lightning serpents madly licked at everything around it, the range so vast it nearly covered half the field.

But Porygon, which had turned its blue components brown, ignored the powerful electric current. Having converted its own typing to Ground, as long as it didn't run into something like a Pikachu that could electrocute everything, it had no need to worry about taking damage.

"Nani!?"

Tie Tie Xuan was greatly shocked. "Isn't Porygon a Normal-type Pokémon?!"

Seeing him so astonished, Baimu couldn't help but feel astonished himself. "You don't know what kind of special ability Porygon has? Then I won't hold back—Ice Beam!"

"Pali!"

Porygon's antenna-like tail rose high, a flash of icy light gleamed, and several ice-blue lightning bolts shot forth, passing through the electric current Naughty Thunder Bomb released and landing on it.

The ice-blue light blazed brightly and a clacking-clacking sound rang out continuously, and Naughty Thunder Bomb was actually frozen into a giant ice ball that fell to the ground.

Clang!

With a crisp sound, Naughty Thunder Bomb blinked its pea-sized eyes within the ice crystal, involuntarily swaying back and forth on the spot.

In the anime, Ice Beam's freeze chance is extremely high, and Baimu, as a lucky child blessed by a Lucky Scale—an "European"—could often freeze his opponents smoothly.

Today was no exception.

Too many things exceeding expectations, Tie Tie Xuan shouted, "Naughty Thunder Bomb! Hurry and use Screech to break free!"

In the distance.

Baimu quickly took out a Poké Ball to recall Porygon and send out Mega Bossgodora. The mental burden once again pressed him until he could barely breathe, yet he still shouted out: "The final strike is yours! Ace! Stone Edge!"

"Gurou!"

Mega Bossgodora growled lowly, and its right claw slammed heavily into the ground.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Giant Shi Zhu of glowing blue burst from the earth, spreading at extreme speed toward Naughty Thunder Bomb, which was struggling to roll on one side while madly using sound waves to vibrate the ice crystal and crack it bit by bit.

And the instant the ice crystal shattered and Naughty Thunder Bomb gained its freedom, the giant rocks of Stone Edge had already arrived. With a tremendous rumble, they shot up from underground, pierced through a suddenly appearing multicolored barrier, and slammed into it!

Boom!

The giant rocks shattered into countless fragments in the explosion, dealing a second blow to the high-flying Naughty Thunder Bomb, causing it to involuntarily let out a pained cry.

"Malu!"

Tie Tie Xuan clenched both fists tightly and shouted skyward: "Hold on, Naughty Thunder Bomb!"

But clearly, under Mega Bossgodora's powerful attack, it could no longer hold on. Perhaps it was only one last kick away from fainting, needing only the reactive shock of hitting the ground to finish it off.

Therefore.

When Tie Tie Xuan noticed the direction Naughty Thunder Bomb had flown would bring it close to Mega Bossgodora, in that single second he made his decision: "Explosion!"

Naughty Thunder Bomb in midair unhesitatingly detonated the electricity within its body, its body surface lighting up with a terrifying Bai Guang that seemed capable of annihilating everything around it—

"I've been guarding against that move! Dig!"

Baimu opened his mouth and shouted, and the Mega Aggron rapidly dug into the ground with both claws.

The next instant.

Boom—!

Dazzling Bai Guang, wrapped in rolling shockwaves, blasted outward in every direction; the rocks held aloft by Magnet Lift all crumbled into dust and powder, filling every inch of visible space.

The air and ground shook violently as if about to disintegrate, and the deafening roar caused several incandescent lamps on the ceiling to suddenly dim.

The terrifying shockwave forced even Baimu, clad in his Lava Suit, to stagger back repeatedly.

Compared to Steelix's big explosion, the Electrode's big explosion was no weaker—only, constrained by the space, it couldn't rise into a towering mushroom cloud, so most of the smoke and dust swirled within the arena, completely obscuring the entire Gym battlefield.

Fortunately, the Gym had a large number of ventilation fans installed, apparently well accustomed to such situations; they quickly sucked away the all-encompassing smoke and dust, revealing an utterly flat floor—

Well.

If not for the hole dug out by the Mega Aggron, the whole thing would probably have looked more harmonious.

The Electrode landed outside the arena, its whole body emitting faint wisps of smoke, its ghastly-white teeth dazzlingly bright under the lamps that had just lit back up.

"Gjido."

The Mega Aggron seemed to sense that everything had settled, and burrowed up from underground.

"E-Electrode is unable to battle! Aggron wins! The Gym Leader still has two Pokémon remaining!" Watert stood up from behind the podium and announced loudly.

"Cough, cough, cough…"

Wattson coughed as he looked helplessly at the Electrode. That perfectly good hand had been played to tatters, and he couldn't help but blame himself. "Thank you for your hard work. You did great!"

He recalled it into its Poké Ball, then took out the remaining two Poké Balls, deeply conflicted.

He had previously reviewed Baimu's Gym Challenge data and deliberately chose four absolutely reliable Pokémon, but he hadn't expected the opponent's strength to grow so swiftly.

Now it seemed the strength of his remaining Pokémon wasn't enough.

Should he switch?

Wattson thought it over carefully, recalling that the ultimate purpose of a Gym Leader was to let challengers learn something new through battle.

A one-sided battle wouldn't teach anyone anything.

He made up his mind. Amid Watert's and Baimu's puzzlement, he walked to the wall and pressed a certain mechanism; the wall opened a small hatch, revealing six Poké Balls inside.

Wattson swapped them out as he explained to Baimu what he was doing. "Your strength far exceeded my expectations. I've decided to bring out even stronger Pokémon to battle you!"

A last-minute roster change?

Baimu was briefly stunned, then nodded noncommittally.