Chapter 542: Overwhelming Strength

A flash of white light passed.

The Pawmi stared intently at the Orthworm, as the enhanced abilities from the Ribombee's "Quiver Dance," transferred via "Baton Pass," were fully infused into its body over time.

In an instant, not only did the Pawmi's already superior physical strength increase, but its body also became lighter, while the activity level of the energy within it reached an unimaginable peak.

It felt that its condition was better than ever before!

In contrast, the Orthworm on the other side was now staring firmly at the Pawmi as if facing a great enemy, with an extremely intense fighting spirit flowing in Emperor Yan Di's eyes.

Several months ago, that electric rat, which had consecutively defeated the Scizor and itself, had left a deep impression on the Orthworm and became the goal it strove to train and catch up to.

And now, the time for revenge had arrived! Du Ruo thought the same, his state of mind consistent with that of the Orthworm.

His goal had been lowered as much as possible.

At the very least, he must break through the Pawmi! "Rain Dance!"

Carrying a slightly heavy heart, Du Ruo issued the command first.

"Raa-dom!"

The Orthworm roared toward the sky, and instantly, large patches of gray-white rain clouds swirled up above, shielding the afternoon sun and bringing a moist atmosphere.

The next moment.

A downpour fell accordingly; dense raindrops pattered onto the ground, forming small puddles in the blink of an eye.

"It's raining!!!"

"Aaaaaah, I just got my hair done!"

Panic-stricken voices reached their ears from all around, but Luo Mu, who had prepared early upon seeing Du Ruo about to appear, was not flustered in the slightest.

He took a folding umbrella from his chest pocket and opened it, acting with utmost elegance.

Over on Yazi's side, Brother Brother Qingmu also had an umbrella opened to block the rain.

As for Hassel, who was essentially a young master, he instead had empty hands and shamelessly squeezed under the umbrella Luo Mu had opened.

Unlike the chaos among the spectators, the rain did not dampen the fighting spirits of Hearing Hearing Nimo and Du Ruo; instead, it caused them to enter an even more focused state.

"Discharge!"

With the aid of the rain, roaring Lei Guang instantly filled everyone's field of vision; its tremendous power was such that even the attacks released by Pokémon under Kikuna's command after using Terastallization into Electric Type were slightly inferior in comparison.

Within the curtain of rain, chaotic lightning snakes twisted and danced, surging toward the Orthworm as if seeking people to devour.

Such momentum did not seem like something a Pokémon like the Pawmi, which excelled in close-quarters combat, should possess.

Beside Brother Brother Qingmu, who had closed his eyes and opened his mouth shouting "My eyes are going blind," Luo Mu, who had already put on sunglasses, curled the corner of his mouth slightly upward.

That's right, Quiver Dance followed by Baton Pass was just this simply and unadornedly powerful.

Facing such a strike, under the command of Du Ruo, whose facial expression changed slightly.

The Orthworm used its body as a weapon, unleashing the wide-ranging "Wide Guard" to sweep the surroundings, attempting to block the advance of "Discharge."

A moment later.

The intense light gradually faded, and Du Ruo, with a Solemn facial expression, looked at the Orthworm's alloy body, which now bore scorch marks, and could not help but click his tongue in amazement.

This power was simply ridiculous... If "Discharge" was like this, then what about the Pawmi's own specialty, physical attacks? Mostly unwilling to continue thinking about it, Du Ruo suppressed his thoughts and, for the sake of safety, said: "Iron Defense!"

Rainy weather was an advantageous condition for both the Orthworm and the Pawmi; now, all he had to do was quickly stack the defensive enhancement brought by the ability "Stamina" and delay things as much as possible.

By then, the dawn of victory would tilt in his favor! "Raa-dom!"

The Orthworm let out a low growl, its entire body covered in shining silver light.

In just the time of a blink, its body became even more impregnable.

On the Grape Academy side, Professor Professor Huangbo, an expert in Fighting-type Pokémon, showed a slight change in expression: "Even with the factor of type advantage, if we let the Orthworm continue to strengthen itself, fighting it will become troublesome!"

Professor Professor Huangbo knew very well the frustration of punching some particularly hard objects and being unable to even break through their defense.

Hearing Hearing Nimo, on the other hand, was unhurried; as if she had found some novel toy, she tried commanding the Pawmi to trade blows a few more times with the Orthworm, which was like a turret.

Only then did she begin commanding the Pawmi to unfold the battle style it excelled at.

"Mach Punch!"

Hearing Hearing Nimo's voice had just fallen when the Orthworm, having completed another "Iron Defense" enhancement plus the effect of "defense rising over time" brought by the "Stamina" ability, suddenly constricted its pupils.

The Pawmi, which had just been trading energy waves with it at the edge of the battlefield, shook its body as if teleporting, and in the blink of an eye surged forward to right in front of itself.

Whoosh! A strong wind sound swept up.

The fist emitting Bai Guang constantly enlarged in its vision; the light diffused by that terrifying fist speed looked like a ring of halos, while the Orthworm was like a visually impaired person with astigmatism.

The Pawmi's fist smashed solidly against the Orthworm's chest!

Boom! A muffled sound of fist meeting metal exploded.

The Orthworm's heavy body retreated several meters under the force of the impact before barely stabilizing its declining situation.

"..."

Looking at the obvious dent in the Orthworm's chest, Du Ruo fell into speechlessness for a moment.

This was the Orthworm's defense enhanced to nearly its limit; even with type advantage, how could a mere Mach Punch of ordinary power cause such tremendous destructive force?

Or could it be the "Iron Fist" ability?

What exactly was the situation with this Pawmi!? But Hearing Hearing Nimo would not give Du Ruo a chance to catch his breath; in her world, going all out during a battle was respect for one's opponent.

"Spark!"

The Pawmi was enveloped in golden electric currents, with countless violent lightning snakes dancing wildly, making it look less like it was using "Spark" and more like it was releasing "Wild Charge."

The shining Lei Guang pierced through the curtain of rain, like a dazzling lightning meteor, carrying tremendous power as it crashed ruthlessly toward the Orthworm.

The Orthworm had already transformed into its "Bridge Form" in advance; its usually curved body suddenly straightened, sacrificing mobility to stabilize its center of gravity, looking like a magnificent iron bridge.

In this form, the Orthworm's energy release efficiency and power were even more dominant, and coupled with the excellent defensive power brought by "Stamina," it could be called a terrifying cannon.

In an instant, as if a cannon had exploded, a thick silver beam of light pierced the air and blasted toward the Pawmi, which was now less than a step away from itself.

Yellow and silver light exploded; this close-range Cannon Flash, with no attenuation in power, barely managed to block the Pawmi.

But Du Ruo dared not relax in the slightest; squinting his eyes, he roared, "It's coming again, charge up quickly!"

"It's too late for that."

At that moment, Hearing Nimo's energetic voice rang out from the other side of the arena.

Du Ruo instantly froze in shock.

"This—"

On the Blueberry Academy side, Dai Ke stood up directly.

Having experienced countless battles, he could capture with his keen eyesight that afterimage which, at the instant of energy collision, like a streak of rushing thunder, had maneuvered with lightning speed to the side of the Iron Thorns' body.

"Close Combat!"

The moment Hearing Nimo's voice fell, the light from the clashing moves vanished completely. Thanks to this, Du Ruo finally saw the figure of Pawmot, as well as the series of afterimages it left along its trajectory.

The Iron Thorns, its movements becoming clumsy and heavy, had not detected Pawmot's presence at all and was still looking left and right in confusion.

"Protect!!!"

Du Ruo's hoarse shout, exerted with all his might, was still one step too slow.

Only the sound of several things cutting through the air was heard.

The next instant.

Boom boom boom boom—!!

Pawmot, fast as lightning, continuously unleashed heavy punches; dense explosive sounds rang out repeatedly on the Iron Thorns' body, and chain explosions brought by the energy erupted across the Iron Thorns' entire form.

"Crash—!"

The Iron Thorns let out a painful howl; its alloy body, like a steel bridge, bent and collapsed once more, crashing down onto Sun Plaza with a rumble like a skyscraper toppling, causing the ground to shake violently and splashing up countless droplets of water.

The power of this strike inflicted terrifying damage upon the Iron Thorns!

The surrounding crowd, aware of this fact, especially the citizens of Mesagoza, disregarded the pouring rain and cheered aloud one after another.

The depression accumulated from two consecutive losses scattered completely in this moment; the crushing level of strength made their blood boil with excitement.

On the Blueberry Academy side, even Tyme's expression was quite solemn, and the atmosphere immediately became delicate.

In just a few months, Hearing Nimo's improvement was simply too great... The Iron Thorns finally struggled to its feet with great effort; Du Ruo stared at the motionless Pawmot and Hearing Nimo, and as if realizing something, his previously carefree expression vanished, replaced by one of gritted teeth as he said, "Iron Thorns, gather all your power for an Electric Beam!"

He and the Iron Thorns had worked so hard just to fight a beautiful battle of revenge, yet now their opponent was holding back, waiting for the Iron Thorns to stand up.

What a joke! No matter what, he had to change that calm expression on Hearing Nimo's face!

The Iron Thorns shifted into its bridge form once more; ever since the rain began falling and the battle with Pawmot started, it had been continuously collecting static electricity at the tips of its limbs, and furthermore, when Pawmot released Electric-type moves, it had absorbed additional electrical power to store.

After all, it could not generate electrical energy within its own body.

And now was the time to pour out all the collected electrical energy without any hesitation!

Massive lightning gathered upon the bridge body; countless dancing lightning snakes emitted piercing sounds akin to a thousand birds chirping, gradually coalescing into a mass of high-energy plasma radiating terrifying power.

Due to the construction of the Iron Thorns' own alloy body, they were firmly constrained within the bridge structure, becoming a projectile it could fire at will.

However, the Iron Thorns itself, which was constraining this electrical energy, was bearing unimaginable pressure.

Seeing this scene, Hearing Nimo, who was famously known for being unable to read the room, instead praised the Iron Thorns.

"A very impressive indomitable will; you truly excite me!"

This statement left Du Ruo completely baffled; why did he feel that Hearing Nimo's way of thinking was different from his own?

But at this moment, Hearing Nimo's eyes held nothing but the Iron Thorns; she shouted excitedly, "We must let them witness our fighting spirit as well!"

"Pawmot, full-power Double Shock!"

Hearing this, Luo Mu, who was watching the battle, narrowed his eyes slightly and sighed with some emotion.

For Hearing Nimo and Pawmot to have grown to this extent and learn the exclusive move "Double Shock" was only to be expected.

This move ranked second among the techniques Luo Mu dreamed of teaching his Luxray.

Incidentally, third place was Volt Tackle; both moves had side effects, but compared to Volt Tackle, the side effect of Double Shock was more acceptable to Luo Mu, and there were ways to avoid it.

An Electric-type physical attack with 120 base power and STAB... wasn't that more comfortable than Wild Charge and Thunderous Kick? As for the only side effect, after obtaining the Tera Orb, it could be most properly resolved by having Luxray Terastallize into the Electric type.

The only regrettable thing was that "Double Shock," being Pawmot's exclusive move, was simply more suitable for Pawmot.

Luo Mu could only watch the struggle on the battlefield with regret.

At this moment, Pawmot seemed like an incredibly brilliant sphere of lightning, its fists containing terrifying electrical energy that made one's heart palpitate.

And in the next instant, violent Lei Guang tore through the curtain of rain and fiercely blasted toward the Iron Thorns.

Over on the Iron Thorns' side, the final charge-up was also complete; accompanied by a piercing shriek in the air, everyone's vision suddenly turned white as the terrifying plasma projectile transformed into a beam, tearing through the rain and air to collide violently with Pawmot's "Double Shock."

On the Iron Thorns' side, this was the strongest strike, releasing long-accumulated electrical energy regardless of the cost.

And on Pawmot's side... it was the ultimate strike, empowered by the "Iron Fist" Ability, at the cost of expending all its electrical energy, causing it to temporarily lose its "Electric type."

Coupled with the gap in strength, the outcome had been destined from the very beginning.

However, if calculated solely based on the aforementioned conditions, the Iron Thorns might have been able to hold on for a short while longer.

But just moments ago, Diejie Diejie Mengmeng had used "Baton Pass" to transfer all its enhanced status from "Quiver Dance" entirely to Pawmot.

And the impact of this action was a further expansion of the electrical energy within Pawmot's body.

Amidst the shocked expressions of everyone present.

Pawmot punched apart the electric beam before it, annihilating it along with the subsequent beams.

And the second punch landed directly upon the Iron Thorns, which was now unable to move and too late to release "Protect."

In an instant, thunderstorms roared; accompanied by the powerful punch, an ocean of Lei Ting completely submerged the Iron Thorns.

Before long, the Lei Guang gradually faded.

Clavell, suppressing his excited mood, announced, "Iron Thorns is unable to battle! Trainer Du Ruo, please send out your next Pokémon!"

This burst of Double Shock seemed to have completely crushed Du Ruo's spirit.

Even when he sent out his Baxcalibur next, his battling style no longer possessed the domineering aura it had at the start.

In no time, under the one-sided crushing blows of Pawmi, which could only rely on Fighting-type energy to punch due to the temporary power outage, the massive body of Haxorus crashed heavily to the ground.

"Haxorus has lost the ability to battle. Since all three Pokémon of Du Ruo from Blueberry Academy have lost the ability to battle, Hearing Nimo from Grape Academy wins this round of the exchange match!"

Immediately, cheers erupting like a mountain shouting and a sea surging rang out from the surroundings.

Compared to the previous two defeats, this 3-0 victory achieved by Hearing Nimo had completely restored their morale!

As for Du Ruo, it was as if all strength had been drained from him; his body swayed, and he nearly failed to stand firm.

At that moment, a broad shoulder propped him up.

Du Ruo looked back in a daze, and what met his eyes was Alder's smiling face.

Seeing this, Luo Mu smiled and shook his head.

Just like himself, when Du Ruo suffered such a blow, Alder would be there to guide him, and at the very least, there was still his grandfather, Drayden.

For most Pokémon Trainers, failure was nothing rare.

How to turn failure into motivation was the factor that determined whether a Trainer could continue moving forward.

Having experienced this crushing defeat, Du Ruo's "resistance to setbacks" would surely become stronger; as long as he successfully moved past this, his future would undoubtedly become even more powerful because of it.

In that case, when Du Ruo later encountered that genius girl Iris, who was of roughly the same "specification" as Hearing Nimo, he probably wouldn't have his mentality shattered, right?

Hee-hee.

(End of Chapter)