Chapter 976

"Today is the seventh day of the Assembly; welcome everyone to the competition site!"

The commentator wasn't Shiratori or Flop, but the voice sounded very professional.

He smiled and said: "Coming up is the first match of the third round of the preliminaries, a 3-on-3 singles match between All Baimu and Long Ren. Let's turn our eyes to the big screen."

On the big screen.

Four arenas were randomly selected by a roulette wheel, and under the gaze of countless eyes, it slowly settled.

"Water Field!"

Boom!

A low mechanical sound rang out, and a wide pool with several giant pillars standing in the middle rose into the venue.

As the water rippled, it reflected the clear blue sky.

It is said that before the start of the tournament, a planning staff member had a sudden whim to let a magma field replace the water or ice field, increasing the unique regionality exclusive to Oulei.

Unfortunately, the scene of magma hitting people was too hellish, causing this plan to fail to pass.

All Baimu looked at the gradually calm water surface, thinking to himself that it was finally changed to another field. When he looked up, his gaze happened to meet Long Ren's smile, which looked like a crescent moon.

The other party immediately waved his right arm excitedly.

He nodded slightly first, then suddenly remembered Mana's words before entering, and revealed a friendly smile.

If he didn't come with something ruthless, it would be a waste of the little girl's painstaking efforts!

The Porygon referee was in position.

"Please decide on your Pokémon."

Then.

Beep—

The whistle for the start of the match vibrated the air.

Both sides threw their Poké Balls forward without hesitation.

Bang bang!

Light flashed.

A gorgeous, shiny Milotic fell into the pool, splashing water that reflected rainbow colors in the sunlight.

Its stunningly beautiful posture caused countless audience members to gasp.

Lisia cheered loudly regardless of her image.

"Go~ Milotic~~!"

A little further away.

An orange, fat, and sturdy Dragonite mooed loudly, flapping its small wings that were quite disproportionate to its body size, hovering over the water.

As mentioned before, Long Ren's Pokémon were basically obtained from the Shadow Team.

This Dragonite was also the same.

And according to Dr. Kaminko's research results, even if Shadow Pokémon are successfully purified, their personalities will undergo subtle changes.

The most intuitive one is that Pokémon that were once gentle in personality become extremely aggressive.

This also made the male Dragonite, upon seeing Milotic, not be deceived by its beautiful appearance in the slightest, even though the species were completely compatible.

The desire to battle gradually intensified, and the high fighting spirit infected Long Ren in reverse!

"Rush over! Thunderbolt!"

"Oh!!"

Dragonite flapped its wings and approached Milotic quickly.

Electricity emerged from its two antennae, covering its whole body in an instant, and finally gathered into a bolt of lightning that flew through the air!

Zzzzz!!

The clear water surface was illuminated by the bright yellow glare.

In the blink of an eye, the thick lightning crossed half the field and drilled into the water, spreading out like a blooming flower.

Boom!

Water splashed up!

It's just a pity that Milotic had already dived to the bottom of the water to swim away, not giving the electricity any chance to hit it at all.

"Fast..."

Long Ren was a bit surprised.

The Milotic he knew usually stood there and took the hit when facing similar situations, then used Mirror Coat.

Dodging?

A specially changed tactic, huh.

He shouted: "Since that's the case, let's have an underwater battle! Dive into the water and use Dragon Dance!"

"Oh!"

Dragonite lowered its head quickly upon hearing the command.

But before it could drill in, the water surface in front of it suddenly vibrated violently.

The next moment.

Azure light waves mixed with swirling vortexes rushed straight at Dragonite's face in an instant!

"Extreme Speed to dodge!"

Long Ren reacted quickly.

Dragonite also reacted the moment it heard the command, and a faint white light covered its small wings.

It was a beat too slow in the end.

Or rather, the Water Spout came too fast!

Boom!

Amidst the deafening loud noise.

Dragon-type energy, carrying clear flowing water, gushed out of the pool, crashing into Dragonite's body.

In an instant.

The white light symbolizing the Normal type shattered, the colorful light film faintly visible on Dragonite's body also dimmed, and it itself was pushed high into the sky!

"Twister hit! The effect is excellent! Milotic broke through Multiscale!"

The commentator shouted.

The audience thus learned that Long Ren's Dragonite had the 【Multiscale】 ability, which can reduce damage received when at full health.

Because of this ability, Dragonite wouldn't fear Ice-type Pokémon in the slightest.

However, it's a pity.

Milotic used only one low-power Twister to easily break Dragonite's advantage.

Unexpectedly.

Long Ren's expression remained optimistic and confident; he looked up at the water spout breaking off high in the sky and shouted: "That's what makes it challenging! Dragon Dance!"

"Oh!"

The wet Dragonite shouted in response.

Although it was hit by Twister, it could be seen that its condition was still very good.

Dragon flames ignited.

Dragonite circled and danced high in the sky.

It seemed to be waiting for its stats to finish rising before continuing to enter the water.

Milotic, located at the bottom of the water, didn't stay idle either, silently coiling and waiting for Dragonite to come to its door.

And Long Ren was clearly an impatient person.

Only waiting for Dragonite to use Dragon Dance once, he couldn't wait to order: "Hurricane!"

Hurricane after Dragon Dance?

Many audience members expressed surprise at Long Ren's command.

The latter's confident expression made them feel even more suspicious.

"Oh!"

Dragonite didn't have that question.

It faithfully executed Long Ren's command, flapping its small wings quickly and circling in one direction.

In an instant.

A terrifying gray-white storm rolled up, and then quickly connected to the pool, making the flowing water rush straight into the sky just like before!

But there is no doubt.

The scale of Hurricane was far larger than the previous Water Spout!

"That's it! Find it! Pull it to a place where it can be seen!" Long Ren shouted excitedly.

Entering the water easily was undoubtedly a stupid act.

The enemy is in the dark and I am in the light, how to solve it?

Get the enemy out into the open too!

"Oh!"

Dragonite flew spirally around the huge storm.

It certainly hadn't boosted its Special Attack, but by relying on the speed boosted by Dragon Dance.

It was enough to make the speed of the storm move faster, and Milotic at the bottom of the water would surely have nowhere to hide—

That's certainly correct.

All Baimu also felt that Long Ren's judgment and decision-making were very brilliant.

However.

He didn't seem to have watched his Pokémon Contest?

If he had watched it, he definitely wouldn't think that a mere hurricane tornado would be some kind of problem for Milotic.

In fact, quite the opposite.

Dragonite personally built a stage for it that it was too familiar with!

"Waterfall!"

All Baimu pointed his finger high up.

And at the bottom of the pool, Milotic, which was gradually being drawn by the storm, had its eyes glow slightly, and instead of retreating, it took the initiative to rush in.

Dragon Gate Waterfall! The day of transformation!

Climb!

It suddenly turned into a bright blue light, and in the surprised eyes of countless people, it spiraled upward along the storm!

The commentator shouted: "Milotic rises with the wind! It's rushing toward Dragonite! Is this taking the initiative to clash!?"

"It's coming!"

Long Ren was excited; he had been waiting for the other party for a long time.

But then he felt something was wrong.

So fast!

Milotic's speed of approach was too fast!

"Thunder Punch!"

He decisively had Dragonite change moves, stopping the control of the storm.

Dragonite saw Milotic rushing up, its gentle face revealing a ferocity extremely inconsistent with it, and its arms wrapped in lightning swung out fiercely!

"Oh!"

"Milo!!"

Zzz—

Bang!!

Electricity and water collided, exploding a thick water mist in mid-air, which was soon blown away by the remaining storm.

The audience looked up at the sky and found that Milotic used its slender body to wrap around Dragonite, stopping it from flapping its wings, and dragged it down toward the water surface together.

Boom!

The fall of the two giants splashed a wide range of water.

Long Ren shouted: "Good chance! Thunder Wave!"

Although the process didn't develop as he imagined, the two Pokémon were finally close.

Regardless of whether the process was wrong or not, the result was right!

Underwater.

Dragonite's antennae sparked with electricity, about to be transmitted to Milotic, which was wrapping around it, when an unbearable itch suddenly came from its back.

Thunder Wave was forced to be interrupted.

It turned out that Milotic was using 【Tickle】 on Dragonite, its long antennae wiggling nimbly.

Blue light lit up.

Dragonite's Attack and Defense were miserably lowered.

"The move was interrupted! Dragonite is in a big crisis!"

Splash!

The scene underwater was reflected on the big screen through the underwater camera, and the audience widened their eyes.

Long Ren began to panic.

He shouted: "Break free! Use Thunderbolt!"

"Oh!!"

Dragonite struggled hard underwater, gradually breaking free from Milotic's restraint.

This was, after all, a powerful Pokémon with an Attack stat of over 130; even if multiple joints were locked, it could still break free with brute force.

The Attack drop from Tickle was nothing more than returning the boost from Dragon Dance.

Zzzzz!!

Thunderbolt was successfully released.

But it was Milotic seeing that it couldn't block Dragonite's power, taking the initiative to loosen the restraint and dodge the electric attack in advance.

The regained-freedom Dragonite decisively flapped its wings.

Boom!

The water surface exploded.

It returned to the sky again, looking at the pool with lingering fear, feeling for the first time that it had encountered such a difficult opponent.

Long Ren had the same feeling.

He took out a Poké Ball, "Return, Dragonite!"

The opponent in the water environment was too difficult to deal with; continuing to fight was just a waste of time.

The commentator said: "Long Ren suddenly switches? It looks like Milotic has really created a problem for him! So which Pokémon will he send out?"

In a flash.

Long Ren threw a new Poké Ball.

"I leave it to you! Lapras!"

"Woo~"

The cute creature once known as the transport Pokémon entered the field.

This is a Pokémon that was once on the verge of extinction, but has recently restored a large-scale population and is almost rampant in the Alola region.

"Freeze-Dry!"

Long Ren pointed to underwater.

Lapras quickly sank to the bottom, cold air overflowing from its mouth, forming a light blue light ball.

The flowing water around it froze at a speed visible to the naked eye and spread all the way to where Milotic was!

【Freeze-Dry】, an Ice-type special move.

This move has an excellent additional effect against Water-type Pokémon; Long Ren uses it to deal with Water-type Pokémon, and it works every time!

Especially in water battles!

It's just that Milotic seemed to have expected it, swimming toward the water surface at an extremely fast speed.

Then it suddenly leaped out of the water and jumped into mid-air.

Long Ren: "Eh?"

"Milotic left the pool! What is All Baimu doing!?"

The commentator's voice prompted everyone to look at All Baimu.

They saw him doing strange movements, like dancing or some kind of special prayer ritual.

Before everyone could discuss.

A stunning golden light lit up from his body, flying toward the falling Milotic under the manipulation of some kind of power.

Actually, it was also wrapped in golden light.

The next moment.

Terrifying cold air froze the water surface, creating an ice stage for Milotic to land on.

Long Ren widened his eyes and shouted: "Leave the water, Lapras!"

But Milotic had already completed the preparatory action.

Countless crystal snowflakes circled around it, and the sky-blue Ice-type energy turned into light waves, spraying toward the turbulent pool in its sudden breath!

Ice Z!

【Subzero Slammer】!

Rumble——!!

The terrifying cold air froze the entire pool in the blink of an eye, including Lapras, which was trying to leave the bottom of the water.

It didn't have Dragonite's wings, nor was it as swift as Dragonite.

It could only be frozen.

The commentator shouted: "An Ice-type Z-Move! All Baimu shows his special power again! Lapras is frozen!"

Hum!

The audience erupted instantly.

Although the Alola region doesn't reject outsiders from participating in the Island Challenge, in the eyes of the outside world, Z-Moves are still a very mysterious power.

And.

Z-Moves are also the big scenes they like very much!

How could they stay calm?

"Lapras!!"

Long Ren didn't know he had fallen into a big trap.

All Baimu was clearly letting Dragonite leave on purpose, just to trap his next Pokémon!

In this situation.

He couldn't even return it to the Poké Ball!

"Lapras! Use Earthquake to break the cold ice!"

Long Ren shouted loudly.

Who could have thought that an Ice-type Pokémon would one day be trapped in ice?

Earth-yellow light lit up from Lapras's body, the ice surface vibrated violently, and a large number of cracks began to appear.

Crack crack crack——Bang!

Amidst the violent loud noise, the pool... no, the ice pool shattered.

Lapras successfully gained more room to move, but the cold ice pressing on it also left it exhausted.

At the same time.

All Baimu switched Milotic out.

"Thank you for your hard work, for tossing and turning so long for this move."

He said softly, looked at the anxious Long Ren opposite, and threw a Poké Ball forward: "Class is in session! Please welcome Professor Aggron!"

Bang!

"Goo-roar!"

Aggron stood up slowly.

The bright silver armor radiated a halo-like brilliance in the direct sunlight and the reflection of the ice surface.

It looked at Lapras struggling at the bottom of the ice and decided to help the latter.

"Earthquake."

"Goo-roar!"

Aggron lifted its thick right leg and stomped the ground fiercely!

Thud!

Spider-web-like cracks exploded, and then its body sank slightly.

The visible shockwave shattered the solid cold ice and easily spread to in front of Lapras!

Rumble rumble——!!

"Woo!"

Lapras let out a wail, but it was a blessing in disguise; the large ice stones on its back turned into fragments, allowing it to leave the bottom of the ice.

Long Ren hurriedly took out a Poké Ball, preparing to switch out this poor Pokémon.

But how could Aggron give it this good opportunity.

It had waited too long.

Countless sand grains appeared out of thin air, condensing into several giant rocks half the size of a person around it.

"Goo——roar!"

With a muffled roar, the giant rocks broke through the air, the sound like that of a large-caliber cannonball!

Lapras, which had just crawled out of the bottom of the ice, couldn't see clearly around it before being hit by the giant rock, which was half its size, and flew out horizontally!

Boom!

The giant rock exploded.

Its huge body of nearly three hundred kilograms rose from the ground, flying even faster!