"He blocked it!"
"It looks like the result has already been decided!"
Seeing Grovyle manage to withstand the torrent of energy unleashed by the move Magical Leaf, all the members of the Pokémon Island Adventure Club let out sighs of relief and smiles appeared on their faces.
"It was stopped after all?"
"Even so, Ethan Black did something incredible!"
On the other hand, the members of the Pokémon Nightstar Club did not look surprised to see this. In fact, they all seemed secretly relieved, though they couldn't say why.
"Phew, it still didn't work?"
"But having already defeated two is amazing. Now it's my turn to give it my all!"
Hailey Blake took a deep breath and pulled out Marshtomp's Poké Ball.
"He's blocked!"
"Then this battle is already over!"
The corner of Tyler Grant's mouth curved into a confident smile.
"Damn it!"
At this point in the battle, Ethan Black also clenched his teeth.
Cacnea's Ingrain was powerful, but it also had obvious flaws.
First, the growth of the roots takes time. In addition, due to the nature of Ingrain, Cacnea cannot move, leaving itself as an easy target.
Second, generating roots consumes energy. If it fails to trap the enemy during battle, the roots cannot grow quickly.
However, if there are enough opponents to provide energy, the growth becomes unstoppable.
Like now: after absorbing the energy of Shiftry and Rapidash, Cacnea's roots had grown so much they already covered the entire field!
Third, it is vulnerable to fire. Although it managed to defeat Rapidash, there had been a lot of water involved. If Rapidash had been stronger, the result would have been different.
Fourth, the roots are slow. Just like now, they could not catch a Grovyle so fast, who was using them instead as tools to build up Fury Cutter's power.
"It's over!"
"Grovyle, keep using Fury Cutter!"
With Tyler Grant's command, Grovyle began darting quickly across the field, releasing Bug-type energy with each consecutive strike, accumulating more and more power.
"Stop him!"
"Use Magical Leaf again!"
Ethan Black clenched his teeth. In this situation, Magical Leaf, with its tracking ability, was the only move that could still threaten Grovyle.
"If only the roots could follow the enemy automatically!"
Watching Grovyle slice through leaf after leaf, Ethan Black rubbed his forehead in frustration.
"Huh?"
"Wait... roots that can track!"
Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He looked at the roots on the field, then at the leaves chasing Grovyle... and an idea began to take shape in his mind.
"Cacnea, calm down and listen to me!"
"Remember clearly how you managed to fuse Absorb into your roots."
"Now try to find that same feeling and attempt to fuse Magical Leaf into the roots."
Hearing Ethan Black's quiet command, Cacnea was stunned for a moment, then nodded seriously and closed its eyes, focusing on recalling how it had fused Absorb into its roots before.
At the same time, Grass-type energy began to concentrate in its hands. Suddenly, a green light appeared and flowed into one of the roots it held.
In the next instant, that root began to shine intensely green, and, all of a sudden, several new leaves sprouted from it, like small shoots.
With each new leaf, the root grew livelier, then suddenly jolted upright and shot straight toward Grovyle.
Grovyle detected it immediately and, just as before, dodged the root with an agile movement, speeding away.
But just when everyone thought Grovyle had evaded it again—the root twisted in midair and changed direction, shooting toward him once more!
This time Grovyle couldn't react in time and was caught by the tracking root!
"It worked! He fused Magical Leaf into the roots, giving them tracking ability!"
Seeing Cacnea successfully capture Grovyle with that special root, a joyful expression appeared on Ethan Black's face.
"Grovyle, break free quickly! Use Leaf Blade!"
On the other side, Tyler Grant panicked at the sight of Grovyle bound by a root that twisted in impossible curves.
But before Grovyle could break free, the ground around him suddenly split open and countless more roots burst forth, wrapping him up completely like a mummy. He didn't have even a second to resist.
"Ha! He finally fell into the trap!"
"I cast the net for so long... and at last it's time to pull it in!"
Ethan Black showed a satisfied smile at the sight of the roots bursting out beneath Grovyle.
In reality, Cacnea had produced many more roots after absorbing the energy of two Pokémon, but Ethan Black had ordered not to use them... until now.
And at the critical moment, when Grovyle was captured, the roots exploded outward, leaving him no chance to escape.
"Absorb!"
With a new command, Cacnea activated Absorb, and Grovyle's body began trembling violently. The roots coiled around him thickened, a clear sign that his life energy was being drained rapidly.
"What...!"
"Grovyle has been defeated too!"
Everyone was stunned.
Everyone thought Grovyle had certain victory, but no one expected such a sudden defeat.
And that root that twisted in midair... not even Grovyle himself knew how it happened!
"So he fused Magical Leaf with the roots?"
But experienced trainers like Rachel Blake and Ryan Grant quickly grasped the secret behind that combined move, and their eyes narrowed.
It must be known that this kind of deep development of moves can only be achieved by a Pokémon Hunter—or someone of an even higher level.
After all, to modify an existing move requires a great foundation of knowledge and a very deep understanding of the Pokémon.
And Ethan Black, still only an intermediate-level trainer, already possessed that ability!
This left the two of them frankly astonished.
(End of chapter)