"Tri Attack."
The moment she recalled Milotic, Cynthia called out.
Immediately, three energy spheres quickly formed in front of Togekiss's head and wings. The three spheres connected, forming a triangle as they rapidly flew toward Ninetales.
"Boom!"
Ninetales reacted instantly. Its nine Flamethrower blasts split into three directions, striking the three energy spheres of the Tri Attack and detonating them in midair.
But just as the smoke from the explosion had yet to clear, several Air Slashes tore through the haze, attacking Ninetales from all directions.
"Extrasensory!"
Ninetales's psychic power quickly formed a series of light walls, forcefully blocking the numerous Air Slashes. But just then, the ground trembled slightly, and a rock instantly burst from the earth, sending Ninetales flying.
"Well done."
Seeing Ninetales get injured for the first time in battle, Ace looked at the lingering smoke around them, a hint of excitement in his eyes.
"Shadow Ball!"
As Cynthia gave the order, the smoke was instantly blown away. Togekiss was no longer on the field, and standing before Ninetales was a Spiritomb!
Spiritomb's gaseous body suddenly spread out like a thin mist. In an instant, countless small Shadow Balls flew toward Ninetales.
"Ember!"
Ninetales raised its tails, and a multitude of fire clusters shot out, colliding with the Shadow Balls.
The next moment, the Embers shattered, and the Shadow Balls continued their advance, overpowering the fire clusters and pressing down on Ninetales.
"Tsk, it looks like she's already figured out my Ninetales," Ace mused. He then looked at his Ninetales, which was now surrounded by a purple mist, and knew that it was too late to turn the tide.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."
The continuous Shadow Balls exploded on Ninetales. Ninetales cried out in pain, collapsed, and was no longer able to battle.
"Ninetales is unable to battle! Spiritomb wins..."
This time the referee didn't even have a chance to finish speaking. Ace picked up a Poké Ball from the ground and threw it. Garchomp flew out and used Dragon Rush, charging directly into the purple mist.
The purple mist quickly retracted, gathering above Spiritomb's keystone. At the same time, a shadowy figure shot out from its body and merged directly into Garchomp's.
Garchomp then sent Spiritomb flying. When Spiritomb landed, it was already panting and close to its limit.
"This is bad..."
Seeing that he hadn't knocked out Spiritomb in one hit, Ace thought things weren't looking good.
After all, he also had a Ghost-type Pokémon like Gengar, so Ace knew how troublesome Ghost-types could be when they were at low health!
As expected, a beam of light connected Spiritomb and Garchomp the next moment. Instantly, Spiritomb recovered, while Garchomp withered at a visible speed.
"Pain Split..."
Ace sighed. This Spiritomb was truly annoying.
"Earthquake."
Suffering from the combined damage of a curse and Pain Split, Garchomp's health dropped to less than a third as soon as it entered the battle!
But Garchomp was very determined. It stomped the ground, and the entire arena began to shake violently.
While it dealt damage to Spiritomb, Garchomp also collapsed.
"What is this..."
Ace frowned. With his sharp eyes, he saw that there was still a barely visible thin line connecting Spiritomb and Garchomp.
"Is it still Pain Split?"
Ace looked at Cynthia, but she didn't answer him.
"Garchomp is unable to..."
The next moment, Garchomp was recalled by Ace, and immediately after, Victreebel took its place on the field.
The Pain Split light beam came toward Victreebel once again, but having been fooled once was enough; to be fooled again would make Ace an idiot!
Victreebel instantly shot out an energy ball, which collided with the Pain Split beam and blocked it.
The next moment, a multitude of leaves shot toward Spiritomb.
"Hehe, taking out two is already enough," Cynthia said with a smile. "My final farewell gift!"
Razor Leaf instantly engulfed Spiritomb. Before Spiritomb could faint, a gray beam shot out.
With Victreebel's low mobility, dodging was nearly impossible. The gray light merged into Victreebel's body, instantly sealing a large part of its energy organs and weakening its attack power by more than half!
Ace clicked his tongue, looking at Cynthia, who was calmly recalling her Spiritomb. He genuinely felt that the current Cynthia was difficult to deal with.
"Return, Victreebel."
Ace also recalled his Victreebel. He conservatively estimated that it would take at least an hour to slowly wear off the effect of Spiritomb's last move. For the match, Victreebel was essentially useless.
"Let's get a little more serious."
Ace stretched his neck. Seeing Cynthia throw her Poké Ball first and Lucario charge toward him, Ace moved!
He kicked a Poké Ball on the ground, and Blastoise quickly shot out, using Skull Bash to ram fiercely into Lucario. Lucario crossed its arms in front of it and, relying on its Steel-type's excellent defense, took the full force of Blastoise's Skull Bash.
"Aura Sphere!"
After being pushed back half a meter, Lucario instantly gathered its aura, and an Aura Sphere shot directly toward Blastoise's shell.
"Hydro Pump!"
"Boom!"
As Ace's voice rang out, a powerful water jet instantly erupted from within Blastoise's shell, blocking the Aura Sphere.
At that moment, the two cannons on its shell also aimed at Lucario.
"None of this guy's Pokémon are normal!" Cynthia cursed. Lucario instantly made a leap and quickly moved away from its original position.
As Lucario jumped away, two Hydro Pumps fired, completely destroying the ground where Lucario had been standing. Lucario blocked the splashing fragments and then fired another Aura Sphere at Blastoise's shell.
"Thud!"
Blastoise's shell flipped over. After rolling twice on the ground, Blastoise got back on its feet, its head emerging from its shell, looking at Lucario.
"Bubble Beam!"
As Ace gave the order, a torrent of tri-colored bubbles shot out from its cannons and mouth.
Facing the sunlight, Cynthia suddenly realized that the bubbles mixed together and seemed to "vanish" in a magical way!
"This is... oh no!"
Seeing this, Cynthia instantly remembered the scenes of Ace training when they were together.
But she never expected that this move, which Ace had worked so hard to train, would be used on her!
Cynthia's reaction was a bit slow. The invisible bubbles quickly surrounded Lucario.
The next moment, Lucario was engulfed by the Bubble Beam!