Petilil pushed its Grassy Terrain to the limit and suddenly raised the Life Orb hanging around its neck.
Life energy began to flow out of the orb under Petilil's guidance, merging into the Grassy Terrain.
Immediately, the light emitted from the Grassy Terrain grew significantly stronger, infused with surging life energy. This energy flowed into the bodies of the fallen Gloom, rapidly healing their injuries and restoring their stamina!
"Glooo!"
One after another, the Gloom stood up again, their bodies radiating renewed vitality.
"W-what just happened?"
Seeing the previously defeated Gloom rise again, the knights of the Marina City Knights' Order widened their eyes in shock. They could sense it—something bad was unfolding on the field, something that could change the outcome of the battle!
"Bibarel, use Water Gun again!"
Paul's expression shifted. What he thought of now was to defeat the enemy in one decisive blow before all the Gloom could recover.
"Gloom, use Absorb!"
Once more, the Water Gun collided with a beam of green energy. In previous clashes, the green beams had always been swiftly overwhelmed by the rain-boosted Water Guns.
But this time, the green beam visibly absorbed more grass-type energy from the Grassy Terrain, greatly boosting the power of the Absorb attack.
Boom!
The two attacks clashed and then locked in a deadlock mid-air, ultimately canceling each other out. This time, they were evenly matched.
Though Water Gun had the benefit of Rainy Weather, Absorb was now supported by Grassy Terrain. The boosts from both weather and terrain canceled each other out, and Gloom's strength was now no weaker than Bibarel's!
"Petilil, well done!"
Seeing this, Aven's face lit up with excitement. He hadn't expected Petilil to comprehend Grassy Terrain at such a crucial moment! Grassy Terrain was notoriously difficult to learn, and he vaguely remembered that Petilil shouldn't even be able to learn it.
But now wasn't the time to question it. With the Grassy Terrain enhanced by the Life Orb, its effects rivaled that of the rain!
And since Grassy Terrain also had healing effects, the endurance of Gloom and Oddish had improved significantly.
Though they still couldn't defeat Bibarel in head-on combat, with moves like Ingrain, Absorb, and the terrain boost, they could absolutely outlast any opponent!
"Sutter, blow the horn. Have Torterra and the others retreat into the Grassy Terrain," Aven commanded the knight beside him. Their strongest members could still help in the battlefield, so he only had the apprentice trainers who could not help much to withdraw back into the village.
"Yes, Lord Aven!"
Sutter, now emboldened by the show of power, raised the horn and blew it loudly. The sound carried across the battlefield.
Hearing it, Torterra halted its movements. It unleashed a Leaf Storm that repelled a advanced-level Mightyena, then let out a deep roar to signal its group to retreat—just as Aven had instructed beforehand.
The battling Pokémon began to fall back toward Fruitvale Village.
A few Bibarel attempted to pursue them, but Torterra slammed the ground with Bulldoze, sending them flying and halting their advance.
Howl!
The same advanced-level Mightyena leaped forward again, forcing Torterra to engage it head-on. With a powerful Wood Hammer, it collided with the Mightyena in a fierce clash.
As the battered Pokémon retreated to the grassy area outside the village, they were immediately bathed in the soft green glow of Grassy Terrain. Under its healing light, their injuries began to recover rapidly, life energy flowing through their bodies to mend their wounds.
"Lil Lil! Lil!"
As more Pokémon entered the terrain, Petilil clearly began to struggle.
"Rhydon, use Rototiller on the field!"
"Growth fertilizer! Peter, have people bring over the growth fertilizer and all the healing potions!"
Aven shouted orders, doing everything he could to help Petilil maintain the Grassy Terrain.
…
"What's that?"
"Their wounds are healing rapidly!"
Seeing the effects of Grassy Terrain, the knights of Marina City began to frown.
"Bibarel! Have all the Bidoof attack—don't let those Pokémon make it to the grassy field!"
Paul issued sharp, calm commands. "You too—get your Pokémon into the fight!"
Hearing this, several knights nodded and released over a dozen Luxray, each crackling with electricity.
The lead Luxray was especially radiant, clearly a powerful advanced-level beast. The others were slightly weaker but still among the strongest of the intermediate-tier beasts, not far from advanced-level.
Despite the rainy weather, Luxray weren't particularly hindered. In fact, the rain helped improve the accuracy of their Electric-type attacks.
In Marina City, Bibarel was standard for every knight, but the elite among them had tamed other beasts too—Luxray being a favorite, especially effective in a territory dominated by Water-types. Their mastery of electricity was a huge advantage!
With a dozen powerful Luxray joining the battle, the knights had committed their entire force. This was the final showdown!
"Another advanced-level beast?"
Aven spotted the Luxray charging into the fray and narrowed his eyes.
"Rhydon, take your squad and intercept them. Make sure the others can retreat safely."
With a roar, Rhydon led a group of Rhyhorns charging into the rain.
Drip, drip, drip.
Rain poured over their rocky hides. Naturally averse to water, the Rock-types were uncomfortable—but seeing their comrades still fighting, they gritted their teeth and pressed on, letting the rain wash over them.
Zzzap zzzap zzzap!
The Luxray darted forward. As they approached, they paused briefly—then suddenly unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts toward the retreating Pokémon. The battlefield lit up with flickering light.
The Pokémon, terrified by the dazzling bolts, tried to dodge. But the lightning spread across the wet ground like crawling snakes, electrifying large swaths of Pokémon. Many collapsed, twitching, caught mid-retreat.
Though a few Bibarel were also struck, the Luxray pressed on, relentless like war machines.
Their second wave of electricity came just as swiftly, forcing the enemy Pokémon to brace for impact.
But—nothing happened.
Puzzled, they scanned the field, only to realize the lightning had all been diverted toward a clearing.
There, in the heart of the storm, stood the Rhydon and Rhyhorns, completely unharmed despite the onslaught of electricity.
"They're immune to electricity!"
"Luxray! Don't target the Rhyhorns —Electric attacks don't work on them!"
Looking at the Rhydon and Rhyhorns that appeared on the field, the Knights of Marina City began to give loud warnings.
The Marina City knights recognized the symbol of Aven's forces. They'd studied these Pokémon—they knew Rhyhorns were immune to Electric attacks.
Zzzap zzzap zzzap!
The Luxray nodded, changing targets.
But strangely, their lightning veered off-course again—arcing back toward the Rhyhorns!
"What's going on?!"
The knights were baffled.
"Hmph. Many of those Rhyhorns have the Lightning Rod ability."
Aven scoffed. That was exactly why he'd deployed them in the rain. Despite the Luxray's superior raw power, with type advantages and abilities, strength wasn't absolute.
A weaker Rhyhorns could easily outmatch a stronger Luxray by exploiting its immunity and redirecting its attacks.
"RHYYY!"
Bathed in lightning, Rhydon let out a furious roar and charged. With a powerful stomp, it raised a wall of earth behind the Luxray, cutting off their escape.
You're not going anywhere—time to have some fun!
Rhydon unleashed Rock Slide, pelting the Luxray with heavy stones. A wildly unbalanced battle began.
"Phew… looks like we've stabilized things."
Aven exhaled slowly, eyes scanning the battlefield.
Then he looked up at the sky. Black storm clouds still blanketed the heavens.
This rain wouldn't stop anytime soon. His heart grew heavy.
He glanced at the village. Water had already risen half a meter. If the rain continued, low-lying areas would flood. Even if they won the battle, Fruitvale Village could suffer devastating losses.
"Lass?"
Froslass hovered beside Aven, exhaling cold mist. She was asking whether to join the fight.
Though rainy weather wasn't ideal for her, it wasn't a big problem.
"No need—for now, In this situation, even if you take action, it won't be of much use."
Aven shook his head slightly. For a large-scale Pokémon war, the combat power of an advanced-level Warcraft cannot determine the outcome.
Unless you have abilities like Drizzle of the Pelipper, or field-shaping moves like Rototiller of the Rhydon and Grassy Terrain of the Petilil, they wouldn't tip the scales.
Of course, if Froslass unleashed her king-level power, that would be a different story. King-tier beasts were weapons of war in their own right.
"Plume~"
After a brief rest, Vileplume also used Grassy Terrain again.
This time, she wasn't doing it alone—she was assisting Petilil. Though she had only just learned the move, Petilil was deeply attuned to the flow of grass and life energy.
With Grassy Terrain, she began to draw out the energy imbued in the field.
Before the battle, Aven had already fertilized the grassy area. Under Grassy Terrain's influence, the fertilizer's stored energy was fully awakened, lightening Petilil's burden.
Grass energy was everywhere.
With each use, Petilil felt more in sync with nature—an intoxicating sensation.
The pure life energy from the Life Orb continued flowing, merging into Petilil's body, as if without end.
(End of Chapter)