Chapter 72: Why must life's first Z‑move even be a Z‑move!

After Mega Evolution, Mega Gardevoir's skirt flared up, like a high-end dress supported by hoops,

Shiny Gardevoir differs from normal Gardevoir,

After Mega Evolution, the pure white skirt turned black, visually more striking, giving a noble and mysterious aura.

With the completion of Mega Evolution,

The Shiny Mega Gardevoir's stats also greatly increased, especially its base stats, which jumped to a total of 618!

Its Sp. Atk base stat likewise reached 165.

"Psychic!"

Violent Psychic surged forth; this time Hammer Dragon could no longer ignore it, its body slammed hard into the ground's rocks under Psychic control.

"Mental Force!"

A massive stream of Psychic flooded Hammer Dragon's mind, causing huge mental damage.

Compared to Hammer Dragon's exaggerated Attack, its mere 50 Sp. Def is utterly insufficient.

After one hit, Hammer Dragon lost all battle capacity.

Chuck stared at the scene, never expecting the outcome to be this.

Everyone on the sidelines exploded.

"Wow! So beautiful!"

"Just like a princess of a country, truly gorgeous and shocking!"

Yurie's eyes turned into hearts as she obsessively watched the Shiny Mega Gardevoir on the field.

Serena sincerely remarked,

Nana and Clemont were utterly shocked by the scene before them, left speechless.

After the initial shock, Chuck quickly released his second Pokémon,

a level 38 Moat Dragon!

"Return, Gardevoir! You're it, Rocket Sparrow!"

Chuck: "???"

Leaving aside whether the decision to press the attack after forgoing Mega Evolution is problematic, just consider whether using Rocket Sparrow against Moat Dragon is worth debating.

Can Rocket Sparrow's pitiful power even make Moat Dragon feel pain?

Indeed, the fact is roughly as Chuck thought,

facing a Moat Dragon with strong defense, having 168 and 138 dual resistances, and even 4x resistance to Flying,

even with the addition of Steel-type, which removed the Rock-type Moat Dragon's resistance to Fire,

a mere 1x output, plus Rocket Sparrow's pitiful dual attack, still makes it hard for Rocket Sparrow to break through its defenses.

However,

output lacking, we make up with status conditions,

Ash directly had Rocket Sparrow close in for a sneak attack on Moat Dragon, successfully inflicting a burn via Flame Body.

Facing Moat Dragon's counterattack,

Rocket Sparrow, relying on high-speed movement stacked with speed, continually displayed the excellent footwork honed during past leveling,

successfully draining Moat Dragon's stamina to the point where the burn exhausted it.

Although it took a bit longer, this victory wholly obtained through command and tactics was still a success.

It let Chuck genuinely praise, battles can still be like this, Ash truly has talent,

but for him being controlled, his heart truly feels some torment.

Beside, Serena and the others also showed an eye-opening astonished expression, seeing for the first time a Bird-type Pokémon outside Grass, Poison, and Bug being used like this.

During this process, Chuck sent out his final Pokémon, Oddjaw Dragon!

A Pokémon very like a Tyrannosaurus, Dragon/Rock type, level 39!

Before Ash had Rocket Sparrow leave the field, he had it use Rain Dance.

He recalled Rocket Sparrow and sent out the eager Croakhead Frog.

The continuous rain made the field start to become slick and muddy,

Compared to the Water-type Croakhead Frog that's like a fish in water, Oddjaw Dragon is noticeably somewhat restricted.

Fortunately, Oddjaw Dragon has Dragon-type resistance to water, neutralizing its Rock-type aversion to water, so it's not too bothered.

"Smokescreen! Sword Dance!"

Right off the bat Ash used a boosting tactic, but Chuck wouldn't just sit by and let Ash get stronger!

"Earthquake!"

"What?"

When Chuck said that, everyone present stared in shock.

"Don't be scared, don't be scared, the battle floor has shock absorbers installed, separate from the bedrock, so it won't be affected by the earthquake."

Hearing that, everyone breathed a sigh of relief,

Only Clemont stood stunned, still having this kind of maneuver?

Indeed, one still needs to go out and see the world; some experiences truly won't be considered if you just stay at home.

Whether it's Gym trainees or the establishment of shock absorbers dedicated to battle fields,

Meanwhile,

on the battle field, continuous earthquakes swept across, Croakhead Frog could only jump high, trying to delay as much as possible.

"Water Pulse!"

In midair, Croakhead Frog rubbed its hands together to form a condensed water ball,

However, the Water-type attack on the Dragon+Rock Strange Jaw Dragon had no counter effect, dealing only normal one-times damage.

Even with the damage boost from Rain Prayer, the blow to the Strange Jaw Dragon's head felt neither painful nor itchy, failing to interrupt its Earthquake release.

The good news is that the Croak-head Frog's body was falling directly onto the Strange Jaw Dragon's position, and before landing it still had one attack opportunity.

"Water Flow Splitting!"

Accompanied by azure water energy coiling around the Croak-head Frog's arm, the Croak-head Frog strained to stretch its body, bursting forth with all its strength.

Boom!

The violent force slammed the Strange Jaw Dragon's body into a stagger, its head plunging into the ground,

The damage was not great, but it forced the Earthquake to stop.

In the flash of lightning, the continuous micro-manipulation made Zhakelo's eyes light up; truly worthy of Ash.

"However, it's useless, there's no counter effect anymore,

"Even with rain boost, without Sword Dance's strengthening, the Croak-head Frog still couldn't move the Strange Jaw Dragon via Water Flow Splitting."

As for the Special Attack output skill Water Pulse,

Even with rain boost, 60x1.5 is only 90 power, Flamethrower-level,

It seems the Strange Jaw Dragon only has Explosion defense, its Special Defense only 59,

Don't forget, the Strange Jaw Dragon is not weak to Water, and its HP stat reaches as high as 82, plus a level advantage of 6.

The advantage still belongs to the Strange Jaw Dragon; even if seeking stability, Zhakelo can still let the Strange Jaw Dragon start a sandstorm,

Under sandstorm weather, the Rock-type Pokémon's Special Defense will increase to 1.5×, reaching 88.5!

However,

In Zhakelo's view, it's no longer needed,

"As long as we wait for the Earthquake to erupt again, victory will still be mine; I'm really going to take this round without mercy! Earthquake!"

Accompanied by Zhakelo's command being issued, the massive-range skill Earthquake swept across the field again.

"Jump up!"

The Croak-head Frog jumped with all its might, even directly leaping out of the dark smokescreen's range.

"I've been waiting for you, Strange Jaw Dragon enters the smokescreen, continue using Earthquake."

This time, Zhakelo's task is to prevent the previous failure, making Ash's Croak-head Frog unable to locate the Strange Jaw Dragon's position, and use your skills to counter you.

"Hiding……not a bad idea, but who said I'm using Water Pulse? Water doesn't counter Dragon-Rock, so how about Fighting?"

Facing Zhakelo's doubtful gaze,

Facing Chakelo's bewildered doubtful gaze,

At the same time, countless blue energies surged wildly, converging onto the airborne Croak-head Frog and infusing its body.

"Let's unleash our full-power strike! Ultimate Invincible Wave Missile!"

Accompanied by Ash's words falling,

In midair, the Croak-head Frog's fingertips quickly condensed a blue energy ball, rapidly expanding to a diameter of about five meters, as tall as two Strange Jaw Dragons!

In midair, the croak-headed frog's fingertips swiftly condensed a blue energy ball, which rapidly expanded, swelling to a diameter of about five meters— as tall as two monster-jawed dragons!