Chapter 231: VS Advanced-Rank Venomoth
"Will both trainers please take your positions."
Seeing that both had taken their spots, the referee raised his hand to signal the start.
But just then, Mr. Logan waved his hand. "Please wait a moment."
After getting the referee's permission, he turned his gaze to Basalt and said in a loud voice, "Although battling you might seem like I'm bullying a junior, I have a habit of taking every battle seriously. So, don't expect me to go easy on you. To be fair, I can give you half an hour to let your Lileep recover its stamina."
"I'll take the recovery time, but half an hour is a bit much. Give me five minutes," Basalt said with a smile. He then gestured for Lileep to cancel the sandstorm. "Lileep, Photosynthesis."
At Basalt's command, the sandstorm that had been raging across the field quickly subsided.
At the same time, Lileep's petals opened wide towards the sun. A vivid green light began to pulse from its body.
Under the light, all the wounds on its body began to slowly fade, and before long, they had vanished without a trace.
"Nee-nee~"
Lileep wobbled its head, its energy fully restored.
"Isn't that recovery speed a little too fast?"
"Seriously, Photosynthesis can restore health, but it should at least take some time, right? Why is this Lileep's Photosynthesis so fast?"
"I know this one. My professor once told me that the higher a Pokémon's internal life energy, or the stronger its control over its type energy, the more the power of its moves will be enhanced. I think this Lileep probably has both, which is why it's so effective."
"Is this the power of the Rookie King? Terrifying. He's on a completely different level from us."
"For real. He's only been training it for a few months, and it's already stronger than our starters. That's scary."
...
Just as everyone thought the battle was about to begin now that Lileep had recovered, Mr. Logan spoke again. "Should we switch to a different field?"
"Since this is a fair battle, let's use a standard battlefield."
Basalt nodded, understanding Mr. Logan's unspoken meaning.
The soil of the current field, Area 5, had been completely turned to sand by Lileep. This had its pros and cons.
The pro was that it would be much easier for Lileep to kick up a sandstorm.
The con was that the loss of moisture and nutrients in the soil would hinder its Ingrain ability.
So, after a moment's thought, Basalt decided to change fields.
...
"Both trainers, take your positions. Battle, begin!"
Once the field was changed, the referee once again waved his flag.
Finally, the battle was officially underway.
"Lileep, Ancient Power!"
"Venomoth, Silver Wind!"
The moment the match started, Basalt and Mr. Logan gave their commands almost simultaneously.
Vmmm!
With a slight sway of its petals, the Rock-type energy inside Lileep gathered rapidly, instantly forming an amber-colored energy orb in front of its body that shot towards the airborne Venomoth.
But Venomoth was clearly no pushover. Basalt saw its wings flap rapidly, generating a whirlwind that shimmered with specks of light to meet Lileep's Ancient Power.
BOOM!
The two streams of energy collided in mid-air, resulting in a violent explosion.
In an instant, the entire field was shrouded in smoke. Dust and debris flew everywhere.
Flash! Flash! Flash!
A series of lights flashed across Lileep's body, and its aura began to climb steadily.
"Are you serious? It triggered again? Is this Basalt blessed by the RNG gods or something?"
All the spectators' eyes went wide.
Although Ancient Power could trigger an all-stat boost, everyone knew that the probability was extremely low.
But Basalt's Lileep had now used Ancient Power as its opening move in two consecutive battles and had gotten the all-stat boost both times.
This was something that could no longer be explained by probability.
After Lileep's stats were boosted, the expressions on Mr. Logan and Venomoth's faces turned grim.
This was because Silver Wind had the exact same effect as Ancient Power, with a small chance to boost all of the user's stats.
The problem was, Lileep's boost had activated, while nothing had happened to Venomoth. The situation was incredibly frustrating.
Clashing moves isn't scary; what's embarrassing is when the other guy gets the bonus effect and you don't. That was exactly the situation right now.
"Huh? Is that Venomoth's powder? When did...?"
Basalt's celebration didn't last long. He quickly noticed something was wrong.
Mixed in with the swirling smoke and wind, there seemed to be tiny, sparkling specks of green powder. They were extremely fine and inconspicuous; you wouldn't notice them if you weren't looking closely.
"It was in the Silver Wind!"
Basalt's eyes narrowed as he realized what had happened.
"He noticed? Not bad observation and reaction time."
Mr. Logan's lips curled up slightly.
His Venomoth's Ability was Shield Dust. Besides making it immune to the added effects of moves, its body also secreted a huge amount of powder.
So, even when it just flapped its wings normally, a lot of powder would fall off and get mixed into moves like Gust or Silver Wind. It was a nearly undetectable attack that was almost impossible to defend against.
He hadn't expected Basalt to spot it so quickly.
"Lileep, Brine!"
At Basalt's command, a huge sheet of gleaming blue liquid shot out from Lileep's mouth. It not only covered all the lingering smoke and dust but also continued on towards Venomoth.
From the very start of the battle, Lileep's roots had been deep underground, continuously absorbing and storing water for just such an occasion.
Unfortunately, the Brine attack couldn't break through Venomoth's defense.
A strange light suddenly shone from Venomoth's eyes. A mysterious power appeared, deflecting all of the Brine.
"A Psychic-type move? What a pain."
Basalt raised an eyebrow.
Although Venomoth was a Bug/Poison-type, it could learn a few Psychic-type moves, giving it very wide coverage.
Fortunately, Basalt hadn't expected to win with a single blow. Lileep was an artillery cannon. If one shot didn't hit, he'd just fire a few more. What was there to worry about?
"Bullet Seed!"
Basalt began a fierce assault.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
A stream of energy bullets shot out from Lileep's mouth, rapidly covering its opponent.
And compared to a normal Bullet Seed, Lileep's was on another level. There were far, far more bullets, like a torrential downpour being unleashed for free.
This was the advantage of having abundant life energy and strong recovery. There was no need to conserve energy. Just go all out.
At first, Venomoth was trying to counter with Psybeam.
But it quickly gave up.
In terms of endurance, it wasn't even in the same league as Lileep.
And so, Venomoth became a target in the sky, constantly flapping its wings to dodge.
Although its base Speed was a high 90 and it was very agile, under Lileep's continuous assault, it was a series of close calls. It was nearly shot down several times.
"He's pinning down a judge? Am I seeing things? Even if the judge's Pokémon is only Advanced-rank, this is still incredible."
"I'm convinced. Rookie King Basalt, I'm totally convinced."
Some in the crowd were shocked, while others were filled with admiration.
"Lileep, Rock Tomb!"
Watching the ever-faster Venomoth, Basalt frowned and unconsciously increased the intensity of his attack.
But unfortunately, it was too late.
A light suddenly glowed on Venomoth's wings, and its speed began to increase.
"It's the move Agility!"
In the crowd, someone recognized the move and cried out in shock.
The move Agility was a god-tier speed-boosting move.
In terms of difficulty to learn, it was on par with moves like Swords Dance and Dragon Dance.
They hadn't expected Mr. Logan's Venomoth to have mastered such a high-level move at only the Advanced-rank.
However, Basalt's sharp eyes noticed that Venomoth's speed hadn't quite doubled. It had only increased by about 60-70%. Clearly, its Agility wasn't fully mastered yet.
But even so, it still put a lot of pressure on Basalt.
As Venomoth flapped its wings, it began to weave left and right, rapidly closing the distance to Lileep.
Lileep, on the other hand, was attacking with all its might, but it couldn't land a single hit.
The opponent was just too fast.
At the same time, with the flapping of Venomoth's wings, powders of purple, green, and yellow were scattered, whistling through the air towards Lileep.
"There it is! Venomoth's Powder Trio!"
At the judges' table, someone cried out, their face full of excitement.
Although this Venomoth wasn't Mr. Logan's main, he had high hopes for it and had trained it with great care.
Once this Venomoth reached the Pro-level, with its Agility and Powder Trio combo, it would immediately earn a spot on Mr. Logan's main team. It was not to be underestimated.
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