...
"Cloyster, Shell Smash!"
Lorelei's voice rang out, and the battle officially began.
Shell Smash?
This move isn't very common.
A halo appeared around Cloyster's body, and then its speed increased.
"Aerodactyl, Stone Edge!"
Facing Cloyster's sudden speed boost, Lance was a bit surprised, but he didn't panic, calmly giving his command.
"Roar—!!"
Aerodactyl flapped its wings twice, and sharp stone cones formed at its side. Like heavy raindrops, they swept towards Cloyster. The stone cones covered a large area.
Even though Cloyster's speed had increased, it wasn't fast enough to avoid this barrage.
Cloyster winced in pain, though the cones hitting its thick shell eventually turned to dust.
Lorelei's expression shifted slightly at this sight, but her strategy didn't change.
"Cloyster, once again!"
A second "Shell Smash!"
"'Shell Smash,' I remember that's a move that greatly boosts physical attack, special attack, and speed by lowering defense and special defense?" Cynthia pondered aloud.
"That's right," Natsu nodded.
"Even though Cloyster's Ice typing resists Aerodactyl's Flying type, Aerodactyl's Rock type also resists Ice. Cloyster has a Water type advantage, but the truth is the advantage isn't huge. Using 'Shell Smash' twice has boosted all its stats, but the drop in physical defense is also an opportunity for Aerodactyl," Steven added.
The fact that Aerodactyl's "Stone Edge" hurt Cloyster just now was the best proof.
"Mhm. If Lance can seize the opening in that gap, that's indeed the moment that could directly determine victory, but if Aerodactyl fails to seize it..." Natsu just spoke his thoughts.
"What do you mean?"
As they talked, the battle between Lance and Lorelei reached a critical point. Cloyster using "Shell Smash" for the second time, Lance certainly wouldn't waste the opportunity.
"Aerodactyl, Rock Slide!"
After seeing the speed increase from "Shell Smash," Lance knew that if Cloyster used "Shell Smash" twice, Aerodactyl's speed would be at a disadvantage. So this blow was crucial.
A massive rock was created by Aerodactyl, wrapped in tremendous power, and hurled towards Cloyster to crush it.
In terms of battle experience, among the five of them, Natsu might be the only one who could rival Lance.
He had no problem judging the current timing.
Regardless of whether Cloyster's "Shell Smash" was successful or not, this "Rock Slide" would cause significant damage, unless Cloyster gave up half of its "Shell Smash."
Bang!
The giant rock shattered, turning into small rock fragments.
Crackle—
The emerald green energy shield Cloyster had wrapped around its body also shattered.
Protect!
Seeing this, Natsu clicked his tongue. "It's time for the switch."
Steven and Cynthia glanced at him. Before they could ask, the battle on the field heated up.
Seeing "Rock Slide" fail, Lance immediately ordered Aerodactyl to get closer to Cloyster, hoping to draw it into close combat and minimize Cloyster's speed advantage.
However.
Lorelei remembered what Natsu had told her: a Cloyster after several "Shell Smashes" should forget all its original battle methods. There were only two words to sum it up: hit and run, kite it!
Lorelei didn't understand "kiting," but she still knew about "hit and run." So she decided to have Cloyster retreat and commanded:
"Icicle Spear!"
Watching Cloyster quickly retreat, firing sharp "Icicle Spears" that struck Aerodactyl's body, Lorelei clenched her fists.
'Senior Natsu said, Cloyster after 'Shell Smash' is just a ruthless output machine. At this point, you have to let it loose. There are only two choices: 'Icicle Spear' or 'Rock Blast'.'
Lorelei's upbringing meant she wouldn't have much field experience.
But what she did best was transform what she learned into her own.
Natsu's strategy, she had almost grasped seven or eight points of its core.
"'Icicle Spear' came out five times. Is this the 'Skill Link' Ability?" Steven frowned, watching the match.
"It should be." Cynthia agreed, turning her head to look at the smiling Natsu beside her. "Is this the tactic Lorelei learned from you? 'Shell Smash' Cloyster with the 'Skill Link' Ability, plus 'Icicle Spear'?"
"Almost," Natsu shrugged.
"What's 'almost'?"
"I also told her to carry 'King's Rock' or 'Razor Fang,' but it seems she hasn't gotten one for Cloyster yet," Natsu explained.
Hearing this, Steven and Cynthia's expressions froze.
"'King's Rock' and 'Razor Fang'?" Every hit from the "Icicle Spear" move could trigger the effect of these two items, and a Cloyster with the "Skill Link" Ability must land five "Icicle Spears" every time it's used. In other words, as long as it's a person with normal luck, two uses of "Icicle Spear" would definitely make the opponent "Flinch."
This probability would catch up to the "Air Slash" released by a Togekiss with the "Serene Grace" Ability.
They also needed to factor in Cloyster's current speed and physical attack ability.
Not noticing their expressions, Natsu continued: "Actually, this tactic isn't too difficult. The hardest part is getting the Pokémon to learn the move. As far as I know, the 'Shell Smash' move has extremely high learning requirements for Shellder, and once it evolves into Cloyster, because its own shell becomes extremely hard, the difficulty factor of learning it is even harder. In other words, if you want to replicate Lorelei's Cloyster, you would at least have to train a Shellder to Gym Leader level. A Shellder that hasn't evolved isn't a strong Pokémon. Training it to Gym Leader level would definitely require a lot of resources and energy, and also ensuring it can learn the 'Shell Smash' move, which is still relatively difficult. Because of that, this tactic hasn't been used by many people to this day."
"Lance is in trouble," Steven regained his senses and said with a rather complicated expression.
"I'm afraid this isn't just a temporary problem," Cynthia added.
The two looked at each other, and Steven quickly understood what Cynthia meant.
Ice type not only restrained Flying type, but also Dragon type.
"So, I prefer to call a Cloyster executing this tactic a 'Gatling Gun'," Natsu concluded.
Gatling Gun.
For some reason, both of them felt that word was very fitting.
After a moment,
Steven lightly nudged Natsu's arm, and when his eyes met Natsu's, Steven whispered: "Natsu, we're good friends. If you have any dissatisfaction with me, please tell me directly."
Hearing this, Natsu was stunned.
Why say this so suddenly?
He blinked twice and suddenly understood. He lightly pressed his forehead. "I don't have any dissatisfaction with Lance. I told Lorelei this tactic purely because he bullied her and made her cry terribly last time Lance battled her."
"I understand," Steven nodded. But seeing his "I almost believe you" expression, Natsu just felt a slight headache.
He really wasn't targeting Lance.
Steven: I believed you until I found out you were a "Dodo."
"Cynthia, do you believe me?" Natsu looked a little hopefully at Cynthia on the other side.
"Hmm." Cynthia propped her head, appearing thoughtful and nodding, "Do you have any tactics you haven't taught me?"
Natsu: "..."
Forget it.
No one believes the truth.
He looked towards the field again. Originally, after Cloyster's setup, Aerodactyl shouldn't have lasted long, but Lance persevered due to Aerodactyl's strength and their unspoken understanding.
Even.
Lorelei's Cloyster was almost defeated.
Lorelei broke into a cold sweat.
This was thanks to the "Protect" move that Lance had used with Aerodactyl, seizing the gap between Cloyster's "Icicle Spear" attacks to launch a counterattack.
If Cloyster hadn't stood up with perseverance at the end, Natsu feared it would have truly been turned around.
So, Lorelei and Cloyster still had a long way to go.
The final result: Lorelei won by a narrow margin.
Watching Lorelei recall Cloyster, Lance opened his mouth, trying to say something, but found he didn't know how to say it.
As the first to face the "Gatling Gun," he naturally also knew the existence of this type of Pokémon, and what its biggest restraint object was.
If anyone else had this kind of Pokémon, he wouldn't worry at all.
But it's Lorelei.
Lorelei, without looking at him, ran towards Natsu and the other two with her Poké Ball.
Lance shook his head helplessly. But he quickly regained his confidence. It would be nice to have such an opponent in the same Alliance. At least this way, his future path wouldn't be too boring.
Natsu: Well, it's definitely not boring anymore.
"Senior Natsu, how was it?" Lorelei said with a 'please praise me' expression.
Natsu grinned, "Not bad, but there's a lot of room for improvement."
"Mmm." Lorelei didn't refute.
"My turn." Cynthia stood up and moved to where Lorelei had just stood.
Lance and Cynthia.
They were also old rivals.
They often battled each other.
Cynthia called out Spiritomb, and Lance called out Gyarados.
There was no attribute advantage or disadvantage between the two Pokémon.
And both of them stopped mid-fight.
It was clear that Lance's Gyarados couldn't defeat Cynthia's Spiritomb. And Cynthia's Spiritomb had the "Destiny Bond" move; as long as Gyarados couldn't knock it out in one hit, the worst result for Cynthia was a draw.
So the two ended in a draw, saving their Pokémon from their own mistakes.
After all, this was just a game, not a competition. There was no need to go to that level.
Lance also accepted this result. In a way, he even gained a slight advantage, because a draw was the worst outcome for Cynthia, not for him.
And then Steven.
Both could be considered to know each other's bottom lines and understand each other's Pokémon's characteristics and moves.
Steven called out Aggron. Lance called out Charizard.
Charizard was four times weaker to Rock type, From attributes alone, the weakness was too obvious. But Charizard also had its advantages, it was much faster than Aggron, more flexible, and had more room to maneuver.
Although Aggron had excellent physical defense, its special defense ability was normal, and Charizard had good special attack ability.
So both sides had their own advantages and their own possibilities and opportunities to win.
This battle was quite exciting.
Natsu, Cynthia, and Lorelei, who were watching the battle, all watched intently.
Both of them almost used their best skills.
From the start, Lance and Charizard were definitely at a disadvantage.
But as the fight continued, Charizard gradually was pressed.
The "Blaze" Ability ignited.
With the deepest bond between Lance and Charizard, Charizard, breaking through its "Blaze" Ability, finally defeated Steven's Aggron with "Blast Burn."
This result was somewhat unexpected.
But Steven was the first to accept this result.
Although the Lance's victory was very extreme, just like Lorelei's victory was very extreme, it was undeniable that Charizard, after the "Blaze" Ability was triggered, with its speed and flying advantage, was too much of a threat to Aggron.
Besides, if Steven and Lance were to battle again with the same Pokémon, perhaps Steven would win next time.
This kind of battle with no fixed outcome still depended on their own performance on the spot.
And because of the movements of the second two battles, many people who woke up a little later were attracted.
Many of them were amazed by the battle between Lance and Steven.
Although most of them were researchers, it didn't mean they didn't understand Pokémon battles at all; at least they understood the basics.
So far, Lance had competed against Lorelei, Cynthia, and Steven respectively, and had one win, one loss, and one draw.
Now it was Natsu's turn.
Natsu stood up and looked at Lance with strong fighting intent in his eyes.
His mouth couldn't help but twitch.
Aerodactyl, Gyarados, Charizard... Natsu truly had reason to believe that Lance was saving Dragonite for him. And the undisguised kind. This was truly a good brother.
"Come on, Senior Natsu!" Lorelei also cheered him on.
He walked to the position opposite Lance.
"Natsu," Lance shouted with a grin.
The previous battles, regardless of the outcome, didn't affect him much. But thinking about being able to battle Natsu made Lance excited. Because in Lance's view, Natsu was truly a very difficult person to deal with. Now that he could finally fight him, it was natural to show his strongest condition.
Seeing Lance's smile, Natsu silently sighed.
Are you kidding me?
Some of his playable Pokémon flashed through his mind. If Fairy type couldn't be used, it seemed only one was more suitable. But if Fairy type was used, Natsu looked at the researchers in white lab coats around him. He still shook his head. Not when the time comes. He couldn't maximize his advantage yet. And this was just a discussion, no need to announce the Fairy type.
Then there was only one Pokémon most suitable for battle.
He threw the Poké Ball.
It appeared.
It was Aegislash!
...
(End of this chapter)