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After using Minimize, the move's power remains unchanged.
Li Xiang watched as Rotom wobbled, rising from the ground, while the Alolan Muk used the recoil to put a significant distance between them again.
It was truly terrified of Discharge.
Area-of-effect moves were indeed terrifying and also countered Alolan Muk's Minimize and Acid Armor strategy.
Next, if Li Xiang were Abigail, he would definitely find a way to restrict Rotom's Discharge.
Either boost Special Defense to tank it or use Disable to seal Discharge.
A direct attack seemed unlikely. How could a semi-close-range unit like Alolan Muk, with very few long-range physical attacks, fight against a long-range attacker like Rotom?
"Electric Terrain!"
Li Xiang, still standing outside the field, shouted.
Hearing this, Rotom quickly opened the glass valve on its chest and dropped a golden electric sphere.
The sphere sank into the ground, blooming like a flower bud, releasing a continuous stream of electric light that spread outward. In just a few seconds, most of the field was illuminated by golden electricity.
[Electric Terrain]. This move boosts the power of Electric-type moves, prevents Ground-type Pokémon from falling asleep, and also extends the range of Rising Voltage.
After all, the power of Rising Voltage was closely related to the electric field.
"Stockpile."
In the distance, Alolan Muk indeed chose to boost itself. White light shone on its body, and white specks in the air were continuously drawn towards it, raising its Physical and Special Defense.
"Discharge along the ground!"
Li Xiang didn't want to give Alolan Muk this chance.
Rotom immediately dove towards the ground, moving along the surface, its body once again glowing with bright blue electricity.
A hemispherical field instantly appeared. Accompanied by Rotom's charge, it rapidly closed in on Alolan Muk!
"Swallow!"
Abigail's expression remained calm, not panicked, intending for it to tank this Discharge.
She seemed to have some special plan.
Alolan Muk absorbed the white light on its body, converting it into greenish specks that replenished the stamina it had consumed from using Acid Armor.
But Rotom had already rushed forward, successfully reaching its tiny body!
The electric current boiled!
Thunder roared!
Ears were filled with continuous explosions, vision completely occupied by blinding electric light. It was impossible to see the scene inside with the naked eye, and no one dared to look directly!
Attribute energy was finite. Moves like Discharge, with their large area of effect, consumed a lot of energy. The larger the area covered, the more energy consumed.
Li Xiang silently calculated the number of times Rotom had used Discharge since the battle started.
The result surprised him.
If it continued like this, after three or four more uses, Rotom's attribute energy would be depleted.
It was far too inefficient.
In the games, PP was at least fifteen.
But there was no choice. To hit this Alolan Muk, finding and evaporating the sludge in the sludge wave had cost too much.
Coupled with the inherent cost of moving while casting, a change in tactics was needed.
Perhaps using Electroweb to trap it, then follow up with Rising Voltage?
'...Should I switch?'
This thought flashed through Li Xiang's mind but was immediately rejected.
Alolan Muk knew Fire Punch, and Acid Armor plus Stockpile had greatly boosted its defense. With Corviknight limited to close combat, even though its Steel/Flying typing resisted Poison, it would still be easy to lose it.
Moreover, Alolan Muk's Attack stat wasn't low, as seen when it used Gunk Shot to lift the poisonous swamp from the ground earlier.
It used a move meant for attack like it was using Surf.
"Electroweb! It's above you diagonally! Catch it!"
He shouted. In the field, Rotom's Discharge had just ended, revealing the scorched ground.
Within it, a mass of black substance twitched continuously, hard to spot if not looked at carefully.
Rotom's output was definitely sufficient. Even with its Nasty Plot boost gone, the Electric Terrain boost and its excellent Special Attack had made Alolan Muk suffer.
Plus, the paralysis effect of electricity, even if it didn't cause full paralysis, would slow its movement for a short time.
Speaking of which, Li Xiang was always unlucky with status effects. Besides moves like Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, which had guaranteed effects, other moves rarely triggered status conditions.
No sign of bond luck at all.
"Poison Gas!"
Abigail's command came slightly later, but Alolan Muk's move execution was extremely fast. A mass of foul-smelling purple gas shot out, exploding above it and rapidly spreading in all directions!
Such a large scale and fast spread!
Li Xiang had never imagined Poison Gas could spread so quickly!
But then...
The Electroweb Rotom shot over made contact with the poisonous gas, emitting crisp sizzling and popping sounds!
The spiderweb of electricity easily tore through the gas but was quickly covered by it!
Yet the flickering lightning remained clearly visible within the field!
It definitely hit!
Li Xiang was sure but couldn't help frowning because Rotom was affected by the Poison Gas and became poisoned.
He would have liked to use Safeguard, but there hadn't been many opportunities.
Follow up with Rising Voltage for a combo, then levitate to the height limit and use Rest.
A mere Alolan Muk, even if it could use force to fly, how high could go?
'By the time it finds a way to fly up, Rotom's Rest will be over. Plus, it can use Sleep Talk or anything in between—'
'Not good!'
Suddenly… his sixth sense frantically twitched his nerves!
He couldn't help but shout:
"Fly up!"
Rotom didn't understand why but obediently complied.
And right where it had just ascended, where Alolan Muk was trapped, a spark appeared. The surrounding poison gas, like ignited natural gas, suddenly collapsed inward and then exploded with a roar!
Boom!
Like a small bomb detonating in the field!
The air shook incessantly, high-temperature air currents impacted outwards in all directions, flames roared towards the sky, aggressively invading every inch of the air!
The sky was filled with flames!
This was an exaggerated firepower that even the two Fire-type Pokémon earlier hadn't displayed. The entire field was affected!
Li Xiang crouched on the ground covering his ears as flames swept over and burned above him!
Poison Gas plus Fire Punch. Alolan Muk had Flash Fire and wasn't afraid of fire, taking only minimal damage. Not igniting it would have been a waste!
And the amount of gas Alolan Muk spewed was just ridiculous.
'Are you a Koffing or a Muk? Even Koffing might not spew as much as you!'
He gritted his teeth, extremely worried about Rotom's condition. With this level of firepower, even though Rotom resisted fire, it definitely wouldn't come out unscathed.
He could only hope it had escaped far enough earlier.
The explosion came and went quickly.
After all, Alolan Muk wasn't continuously releasing Poison Gas. Once the air and combustibles in the field burned out, it would naturally extinguish.
Li Xiang raised his head slightly, his nose filled with the smell of burning. Thick black and white smoke permeated the field, clearly not something that would dissipate quickly.
He silently pulled up the collar of his clothes to cover his mouth and nose.
Humans in this world had strong constitutions, but inhaling too much toxic gas would still cause dizziness and blurred vision.
Abigail and Alolan Muk had disappeared. Who knew where they were? The watching team members had already retreated dozens of meters away, watching from a distance.
So, where was Rotom?
"Rotom!"
He shouted, then heard a faint response from within the continuously rising black smoke.
Stepping into it, following the direction of the sound, Li Xiang found Rotom at the other edge of the field, covered in scorch marks and looking disheveled.
Its face showed exhaustion, and a purple glow on its surface indicated its stamina was nearly depleted from the explosion and poison.
It urgently needed replenishment.
'Damn, even with fire resistance, it ended up like this. Was it because Rotom had low HP, or was the explosion just that terrifying?'
Li Xiang couldn't tell immediately and didn't have much time to figure it out.
Rotom had few ways to replenish stamina, several with very stringent conditions.
The only one it could use was Rest, or switching out.
But after what just happened, how could Li Xiang dare send out Corviknight, who was weak to fire? That would be asking for trouble.
So…
"Fly up! Use Rest!"
Rotom, dragging its exhausted body, flew upwards, stopping at the edge of the allowed height, and quickly entered a sleep state, a faint green light glowing on it.
But at that very moment, from within the thick black smoke, a massive figure slowly emerged, like a small hill, transforming into a long tube-like structure, pointing straight up, and spewing a mass of purple sludge like a cannon!
This was fifty meters in the air! Did Alolan Muk's Gunk Shot really have that kind of effective range?
'I don't believe it!'
Li Xiang's eyes widened.
But facts spoke louder than words. The foul sludge shot straight into the sky, crossing nearly forty meters, and with a bang, exploded. Part of the sludge, propelled by the impact, flew even higher and successfully hit Rotom in the sky!
Sizzle!
A corrosive sizzling sound came from Rotom's body!
Even in its sleep, it showed a pained expression. Clearly, Gunk Shot's power was significant; it was about to collapse!
Effective range forty meters, with a ten-meter area of effect after explosion!
"Hold on! Use Sleep Talk!"
Li Xiang shouted, feeling slightly relieved only when he saw Rotom hadn't fallen.
He turned to look at the black smoke and saw the huge figure gradually shrinking back to its normal form.
Clearly, that ultra-long-range sniping couldn't be used anymore.
But Alolan Muk being able to shrink was one thing; what was with the enlarging?
'Could it use Recover? How is that possible!'
Alolan Muk knowing Recover? He'd never heard of such a thing!
'Could it be like before, using Sludge Wave as a base and Gunk Shot to propel the sludge?'
It wasn't impossible. The light from using moves was completely blocked by the black smoke...
Sludge Wave creates a lot of sludge, Gunk Shot propels it... combo and coordination of moves.
In the sky, Rotom's sleeping body reacted naturally, quickly forming a black-purple energy sphere that, as if it had eyes, was thrown down towards the Alolan Muk below!
Shadow Ball!
Below, after releasing that ultra-long-range attack, Alolan Muk seemed to have exhausted itself, moving extremely sluggishly, completely unable to dodge this move.
Unfortunately, Shadow Ball had a limited effective attack range, a maximum of thirty-some meters. Even with the acceleration from falling, its power continuously weakened as attribute energy dissipated.
By the time it hit Alolan Muk, its power was less than a third of the original.
'If only it had chosen Thunderbolt or Thunder! But it had to pick Shadow Ball!'
"Stockpile then Swallow!"
Abigail attempted to use Stockpile and Swallow to recover.
Li Xiang, seeing the white light on Alolan Muk and Rotom still not awake in the sky, took a deep breath and shouted, "Sleep Talk!"