Chapter 86
Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, wishing everyone reunion and health.
There is one more update!
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"Zubat!" Huo La's pupils suddenly contracted, almost blurting out, "Use Supersonic to interfere! Take advantage of its dizziness to pull away!"
The falling Zubat responded instantly, its head suddenly emitting sharp and ear-piercing high-frequency ultrasonic waves.
At such a close distance, Growlithe was still biting its wings tightly, and the sound waves hit its eardrums like invisible heavy hammers; it paused violently in the air, its pupils unfocused, clearly falling into a brief dizziness, and its jaws loosened subconsciously.
"This is it!" Huo La gave a low shout.
Zubat seized this fleeting opportunity, flapping its wings with all its might, breaking free from the entanglement with the severe pain of being scorched by the flames, and stumbling to pull up again.
It was just that its wings had been scorched black by the Fire Fang, and every flap shook violently; it circled unsteadily in the air, clearly already in a state of serious injury.
Blue watched the Zubat gasping for breath in the air with his arms crossed, a look of realization appearing at the corner of his mouth, his tone carrying a bit of praise, but even more of an unquestionable oppression: "Good on-the-spot reaction, but the hard gap in speed cannot be made up by cleverness."
He raised his chin, his command clear and decisive, "Growlithe, prepare Flame Charge!"
Growlithe landed steadily on the sand, its four limbs kicking the ground, and raging flames instantly ignited around its body—different from the concentrated explosion of Fire Fang, this time the flames were like flowing magma, spreading and winding along its fur, and even the surrounding air was slightly distorted by the heat.
Huo La's fingers turned white, his knuckles turning blue from the effort.
This move not only had high damage of the Fire attribute, but could also improve speed by the inertia of charging; with Growlithe's already swift and fierce figure, this blow was almost impossible to avoid.
Once hit, Zubat would definitely be defeated directly and lose its combat capability.
"Can't take it hard!" Huo La's brain raced, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings of the venue.
"Zubat, listen to my command!" Huo La suddenly raised his voice, "Dive toward the sea immediately, quick!"
The injured Zubat, although a bit sluggish, immediately executed the order, dragging its injured wings and diving rapidly toward the sparkling sea.
Blue raised his eyebrows slightly: "Want to escape? Growlithe, chase it, launch Flame Charge!"
Growlithe rushed out, chasing Zubat like a meteor with flames all over its body; the two chased and fled, instantly rushing to the edge of the beach.
Just as Growlithe was about to catch up and its flaming fangs were about to bite Zubat's tail, Huo La's command sounded again: "This is it! Turn over and use Wing Attack to slap the sea!"
Zubat turned over instantly, its injured wings slapping the waves hard, "splash" splashing up a large spray of water.
The cold seawater splashed just right toward the galloping Growlithe—the flames dimmed instantly upon meeting the water, Growlithe's figure paused violently, the charging state of Flame Charge was forcibly interrupted, and the flames on its body dissipated for the most part.
"Good opportunity!" Huo La's eyes lit up, "Zubat, bypass to its back, use Poison Fang!"
Zubat took advantage of the cover of the water spray to nimbly bypass to the side and back of Growlithe, its sharp fangs gleaming with light purple venom, biting fiercely on Growlithe's hind leg.
"Woof!" Growlithe let out a painful cry, turning its head violently to counterattack, but Zubat had already flapped its wings and risen into the air, pulling away the distance.
And the part bitten by Poison Fang was slowly showing purple toxin traces, causing its movements to be slightly sluggish.
Blue looked at Growlithe, whose hind leg was poisoned, not only not displeased, but laughed out loud: "Interesting, knowing how to use the environment to restrain. However, the battle is not over yet. Growlithe, use Protect to steady your figure, and then use Flame Wheel!"
Growlithe immediately tightened its four limbs, and a layer of pale blue translucent protective barrier instantly supported around its body, wrapping its body like solidified air—the spread of the toxin was temporarily blocked, and the fighting spirit in its eyes did not diminish in the slightest.
The next second, the pale blue barrier dissipated, and raging flames ignited around Growlithe's body again, orange-red flames winding rapidly along its fur; it suddenly curled up its body, turning into a high-speed spinning fire wheel, rushing toward the Zubat in the air with a "whoosh" sound of breaking air.
This time, the trajectory of the fire wheel was no longer a straight-line pursuit, but spread out in a tricky arc, the heat wave of the flames almost covering the entire airspace below Zubat, and all possible evasion routes were firmly blocked.
Zubat was already seriously injured and weak; facing this attack with no dead ends, it could only flap its scorched wings in despair.
"Bang—!" A muffled sound exploded, and the fire wheel hit Zubat's body solidly; the violent impact caused it to let out a shrill hiss, and its body was smashed fiercely toward the ground like a kite with a broken string, falling heavily into the sand and raising a cloud of dust.
The smoke and dust dissipated, and Zubat lay motionless on the ground, its wings hanging weakly at its sides, completely losing its combat capability.
"Zubat!" Huo La called out subconsciously, walking up quickly, his fingertips hovering on the button of the Poké Ball for a moment, but finally pressed the recall button.
Red light flashed, wrapping and recovering Zubat's body.
He stood in place holding the Poké Ball, rubbing the texture of the sphere with a complex expression. This time, there was no deliberate holding back, no reservation of strength, and no room to stall for time by borrowing the environment—it was a true defeat, defeated under Growlithe's crushing speed and firepower, without even a trace of possibility of reversal.
Zubat had already tried its best, from breaking free from the Supersonic dizziness to diving to avoid the battle, every step executed his commands, but the gap in the level, aptitude, and training degree of the Pokémon between the two sides was ultimately an insurmountable chasm.
"The gap in strength is very obvious." Blue's voice came from the opposite side, carrying a bit of objective commentary, but without the slightest meaning of showing off, "Your tactical response is very flexible, but the state of Zubat after being seriously injured cannot support high-intensity battles."
Huo La looked up at Growlithe, who was lowering its head to lick the toxin on its hind leg, and nodded lightly.
He tucked Zubat's Poké Ball back into his pocket, and his fingertips touched another Poké Ball again.
"Indeed, there's nothing to say about losing." Huo La took a deep breath, pressed lightly on Zubat's Poké Ball with his fingertips, the regret and unwillingness in the depths of his eyes gradually fading, replaced by an increasingly scorching fighting spirit—defeat was never the end, but a mirror to see the gap.
He raised his hand violently, his voice resonant: "Next, it's your turn to play, Nidoqueen!"
Red light exploded suddenly, raising a cloud of fine sand when it landed, shrouding the center of the venue tightly.
As the sand and dust slowly settled, a sturdy figure stood tall—the thick limbs were like solid stone pillars, steadily supporting the sturdy body, and the back was covered with sharp poison thorns; it was precisely the "heavy tank" Nidoqueen responsible for frontal attack in Huo La's team.
As soon as it appeared, it raised its head toward Growlithe and let out a low and heavy roar.
This roar made the surrounding air seem to stagnate for a few points, and even the sand grains on the beach trembled slightly.
Blue raised his eyebrows, his fingertips rubbing the edge of the Poké Ball unconsciously, the interest in his eyes becoming increasingly intense: "Oh? It's actually a Ground and Poison dual-type Nidoqueen."
He paused, his tone carrying a bit of playful pointing, "Ground type... although there is some restraint, Growlithe's Fire-type moves will not show mercy."
Huo La didn't answer, just stared at the orange-yellow figure in the field, his brows slightly frowned.
He knew the disadvantage of attribute restraint better than anyone, but the key at the moment was never the attribute—Growlithe's speed, which was comparable to lightning, was the most fatal threat.
He must first strengthen Nidoqueen's defense to withstand the storm-like impact that followed, otherwise he would only repeat Zubat's mistakes.
End of Chapter
