Chapter 10: Butterfree is Also a Good Fighter
Leaving the "battlefield" to Butterfree and Machop, Rio shrank back and quickly hid to the side.
Having just listened to Machop explain the energy theories of the Pokémon world, a "great battle" was immediately available to watch. Rio naturally wouldn't miss such a good opportunity and watched the confrontation between Butterfree and Machop without blinking.
He subconsciously opened the [Pokédex] to look at the two Pokémon on the field.
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[Pokédex]
Encounter Progress: 18/25
Battle Progress: 0/10
[Real-time Analysis]
Pokémon: Normal - Butterfree (Female)
Level: lv18
Type: Bug + Flying
Ability: Compound Eyes (The accuracy of this Pokémon's moves is multiplied by 1.3)
Moves: Supersonic (lv1), Gust (lv1), Stun Spore (lv0), Psybeam (lv0)
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This furious Butterfree, whether in terms of level or moves, wasn't as strong as the Elite Machop. So, she very cleverly used the Flying-type move [Gust], which counters Fighting-types, as her opening move.
[Gust] truly lived up to being one of Butterfree's higher-level moves. Her snow-white wings moved in the air, following the flow of the wind. Pale cyan energy flowed along the black patterns on her wings, and in an instant, two similarly pale cyan gusts of wind were stirred up from the flat ground, blowing towards Machop.
"It's the same [Gust] move, but the effect when used by the two Pokémon is completely different. When Pidgey used it, it was shaped like a small tornado, but Butterfree's is this kind of gentle breeze," Rio pondered with confusion. "But this kind of gentle wind doesn't feel like it has much destructive power... Ah, what's this!"
Although the blowing breeze wasn't fierce, its speed was extremely fast. Under the sweep of this rapid breeze, the fallen leaves on the ground, which had been shaken down earlier, flew up piece by piece, surging forward in a mighty torrent.
Rio was greatly shaken.
"Is this a [Gust] version of [Razor Leaf]?!"
Butterfree undoubtedly possessed rich combat experience. Not only did she use a Flying-type move first, but she also cleverly utilized the scene full of fallen leaves. The edges of leaves were already relatively sharp; if their speed was sufficient, seemingly light leaves could inflict fatal damage.
"Swish swish swish—"
Machop's eyes stared intently at the mighty leaf storm roaring towards him, and a brownish-red light shone from his body.
"[Bullet Punch]!"
As his voice fell, his fists shot out as fast as bullets, the afterimages of his punches forming a barrier in front of him.
Unfortunately, no matter how densely the fist shadows moved, the light leaves, due to their small size, still easily passed through the fist shadow barrier formed by [Bullet Punch] and continued to cut towards Machop.
"You can't dodge this 'Leaf Storm' of mine!"
Just when Butterfree thought victory was in her grasp, Rio noticed the slight smile tugging at the corner of Machop's mouth.
"[Knock Off]!"
A soft cry came from Machop's mouth. Seeing that [Bullet Punch] couldn't completely block the flying leaves, Machop made a decisive move, changing his fists to palms and slamming them onto the ground. Since the ground was covered with various sands and stones, after Machop's rapid pats, the sand and stones were kicked up, forming a barrier in front, forcing the leaves rushing into the sand and stones to fall helplessly.
Using two moves at the same time!
Rio was once again greatly shaken, his two eyes, resembling those behind a black mask, widened.
Whether in games or anime, Pokémon battles were basically one move from you, one move from me. And that kind of multi-move combination usage would only appear in battles involving multiple Pokémon, used by different Pokémon.
But this battle before him, which shattered Rio's conventional thinking – whether it was Butterfree using the environment to execute a move she shouldn't know, or Machop, a single Pokémon, using a combination of moves – made Rio feel once again that this world was a bit more real.
As Rio was marveling, the battle on the field was not yet over.
After Machop broke Butterfree's move, he didn't give her much time to react. With a flash of his figure, he directly closed the distance.
As a Fighting-type Pokémon, close combat was his most proficient domain.
"Damn it, [Gust], [Stun Spore]."
Seeing Machop approaching, Butterfree somewhat frantically flapped her wings to retreat, and once again used [Gust] to stir up the wind. Yellow powder also shook from her wings during the flapping, mixing with the wind and blowing forward.
[Stun Spore]: Pokémon that come into contact with this powder have a chance of becoming paralyzed.
Paralysis was one of the more annoying status conditions. A paralyzed Pokémon would have yellow paralyzing currents flash across its body. This paralyzing current would numb the Pokémon's body, causing it to twitch uncontrollably, greatly affecting its ability to use moves in battle.
Facing the oncoming Stun Spore, Machop neither dodged nor evaded, allowing the yellow powder to land on him.
Unfortunately, the probabilistic event of becoming paralyzed still happened to Machop.
"Bzzzt—"
Yellow paralyzing currents flashed across Machop's body, and his rapidly advancing body paused due to the paralyzing convulsions.
Butterfree was overjoyed at this sight, her two antennae twitched: "[Psybeam]!"
A spiral of colorful light generated between her antennae. Just as the circular ray was about to shoot out, the paralyzed Machop erupted with even more vigorous Fighting energy. He pushed off with his legs, leaped into the air, and brought his right hand down on Butterfree like a blade.
"[Brick Break]!"
"Bang—"
The hand-blade struck Butterfree's head.
"Oww!" Taking Machop's powerful [Brick Break], Butterfree cried out in pain and, unable to maintain her flight, fell heavily to the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust.
Feeling that Machop's move was even stronger than before, Rio thought for a moment and understood the reason.
The reason was Machop's "Guts" ability.
This ability would increase a Pokémon's attack when it was afflicted with a non-fainting status condition. Machop had deliberately taken Butterfree's [Stun Spore] just now to gain the paralyzed status, then used an attack-boosted move to knock Butterfree to the ground in one hit.
Pokémon truly are natural-born fighting masters.
However, although Machop's [Brick Break] looked like it hit Butterfree quite hard, it didn't actually cause any substantial damage. After all, both Pokémon understood that this was just a spar, not a life-or-death battle. Both sides had actually held back during the fight.
Butterfree grunted a few times and then, pulling herself together, flew up again.
"Well, how many times does this make it that you've lost to me?" Machop said with a smile.
Butterfree's small face wrinkled, and she said with some dejection, "I thought about those two moves for so long, and you broke them just like that."
With that, Butterfree flew to the tree, rummaged for a bit, took out a cherry-like fruit, and handed it to Machop.
"This is a Cheri Berry. Eating it can cure paralysis. You, fellow, are usually so gentle, but once you start fighting, you're like a brute."
Rio, on the side, deeply empathized.
When Machop explained knowledge, he clearly appeared refined and gentle, but once he entered a combat state, his muscles instantly bulged, and he would just charge in recklessly with his iron fists.
After eating the Cheri Berry, the paralyzing currents on Machop's body finally subsided. He reverted to his appearance of a highly educated intellectual and said, "You saw it just now. Moves, simply put, are techniques that utilize our energy through various actions. Every Pokémon will have moves of its own species and type, and can also learn moves of other types, but there will be relative restrictions. For example, a Grass-type Pokémon may not necessarily be able to learn Fire-type moves, and Pokémon without wings cannot learn moves that require wings to perform."
"And you," Machop sized up Rio. "Although I don't know what kind of Pokémon species you are or what you're good at, you look like you should be more suited to learning agility-based moves. You probably aren't proficient in energy-based moves."
Riolu, as a species, possessed agile limbs and had good compatibility with punching and kicking skills. Moreover, since Riolu also had a tail, tail-related skills like "Iron Tail" were also on Riolu's move list.
"Pokémon can sense what moves they know. Come on, sense your moves, and then let me see if I can teach you how to use them."
"Finally, getting to the main point!"
Rio, having listened to a bellyful of theory, was already eager to try. Plus, he had already scanned his own move list earlier. He said without hesitation, "I know [Quick Attack] and [Detect]."
Machop frowned slightly, "Hmm, to be honest, I'm not very good with those two moves either. I can't really teach you anything."
"Huh?!" Rio was greatly disappointed.
"However, there's another guy over there who knows [Quick Attack]. You can ask him." Machop pointed towards the valley entrance. "But that fellow isn't easy to get along with. You'll need to be prepared..."