Scizor used that brief opportunity to flee from Dragonite, desperately trying to put as much distance between them as possible.
Hidden within the murky water created by Sandstorm, Scizor quickly disappeared from Dragonite's sight.
At the same time, Alex gave telepathic instructions.
"Good. Keep swimming in that direction. Then turn left... now keep going straight..."
With Alex constantly guiding him, Scizor had little difficulty navigating through the muddy water while simultaneously preparing his next move.
Thanks to his powerful psychic abilities, Alex could clearly sense the positions of both Scizor and Dragonite.
As a result, he was able to direct Scizor around Dragonite's search path, allowing him to remain hidden despite the poor visibility.
Dragonite searched through the muddy water, swimming rapidly in an attempt to locate Scizor, but every time he approached one area, Scizor had already slipped away somewhere else.
Winona, unable to see what was happening beneath the water's surface, gradually became more uncertain.
After hesitating for a brief moment, she raised her voice and shouted, "Dragonite! Get out of the water!"
Dragonite heard his trainer's voice, but the surrounding water muffled the sound so heavily that he couldn't clearly distinguish her words.
Even so, trusting that his trainer wouldn't call out without reason, he immediately began swimming toward the surface.
The moment Dragonite's head emerged from the water, Winona quickly shouted, "Dragonite! Go to the center of the pool and use Earthquake!"
Hearing that command, Alex frowned. He had absolutely no idea how Earthquake behaved inside a large body of water.
Although Pupitar had mastered the move, Alex had never actually tested its interactions underwater.
For the first time in a long while, he felt genuinely annoyed with himself. It had been such an obvious experiment to conduct, yet he had overlooked it completely.
Now, all he could do was make an educated guess.
The fact that Winona had confidently chosen the move strongly suggested that it retained at least some effectiveness underwater.
Without wasting any more time, Alex immediately gave another telepathic command. "Scizor, swim to the right as quickly as possible and stay near the edge... but don't touch the wall."
Scizor was already relatively close to the pool's boundary.
Following Alex's directions precisely, he swam toward the right until he reached the edge before stopping roughly one meter away from it.
At almost the same moment, the move he had been preparing while swimming finally became ready.
Scizor immediately used Roost. His wounds rapidly closed, restoring him to roughly two-thirds of his maximum HP.
At the same time, he had enough HP that Flamethrower could no longer 1 hit him anymore.
Without wasting a second, Scizor immediately began preparing another move while listening to Alex's next instructions.
Dragonite finished preparing Earthquake and unleashed it without hesitation.
The entire pool suddenly trembled. Powerful shockwaves surged through the water in every direction, causing the muddy water to churn violently.
As the shockwave traveled farther away from Dragonite, however, Alex sensed that it gradually weakened.
It still reached Scizor. The vibrations struck his body. Yet the damage was almost nonexistent. One percent at most.
Feeling the impact through his psychic connection with Scizor, Alex immediately understood the underwater mechanics of Earthquake.
The move appeared to possess a much larger effective range underwater than it did on land.
However, beyond a certain distance, its destructive power dropped off dramatically, making the increased range far less valuable than it initially seemed.
Immediately after using Earthquake, Winona issued another command.
"Dragonite! Prepare another Earthquake! Swim toward Scizor and stop as soon as he's within normal range. Use it the instant it's ready!"
The moment Alex heard those words, he understood Winona's plan.
Her first Earthquake had never been intended to inflict meaningful damage. Its real purpose had been to locate Scizor.
Although Scizor had taken almost no damage, Dragonite—having mastered Earthquake—could still sense where the attack had connected.
The detection wasn't continuous, but it was more than enough to reveal Scizor's approximate location and direction of movement.
Scizor finished preparing his move. He used Swords Dance.
At the same time, he immediately swam away from the location where Dragonite's first Earthquake had struck.
Remaining close to the edge of the pool, Scizor tried to maximize the distance between himself and Dragonite.
Unfortunately, swimming wasn't Scizor's specialty. His underwater speed simply wasn't high enough.
Dragonite rapidly closed the gap. Before long, Dragonite unleashed another Earthquake.
This time, Scizor was much closer. The vibrations struck with nearly their normal force.
Scizor suffered significant damage, leaving him with less than 35 percent of his HP remaining.
More importantly, Dragonite now knew almost exactly where Scizor was.
No matter which direction Scizor woukd attempted to swim, Dragonite adjusted his own path to keep his opponent within striking distance.
Scizor completed his next move. He used Swords Dance once again. His already tremendous Attack rose to an even more frightening level.
Alex immediately abandoned his previous plan. Through their telepathic link, he calmly ordered, "We're changing strategies. Prepare..."
Scizor immediately began preparing his next move while continuing to swim alongside the edge of the pool.
Dragonite unleashed another Earthquake.
This time, however, the shockwave never reached Scizor. Instead, it struck the shimmering barrier surrounding him.
Scizor had activated Protect, completely blocking the attack.
Dragonite remained perfectly calm. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately began preparing yet another Earthquake, trusting Winona's strategy completely.
Scizor was also preparing a move, but he was moving towards Dragonite.
Thanks to their telepathic link, Scizor knew almost exactly where Dragonite was, so the Muddy Water posed no disadvantage to him.
The muddy water that blinded Dragonite had become almost meaningless to Scizor.
It didn't take long before the two Pokémon emerged only a few meters apart. Both completed their preparations at almost exactly the same moment.
Neither hesitated.
Scizor lunged forward and unleashed Metal Claw.
Boosted by STAB, Technician, and two consecutive uses of Swords Dance, the attack carried terrifying power.
Dragonite attempted to dodge at the last moment. He wasn't fast enough and The glowing steel claw struck him directly.
Dragonite suffered devastating damage, leaving him with less than one-quarter of his remaining HP.
At nearly the same instant, Dragonite's Earthquake erupted beneath Scizor. At such close range, the attack unleashed nearly its full destructive force.
Scizor was struck head-on. His body immediately went limp as he lost consciousness beneath the murky water.
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