"First that white Zorua, and now this Pikachu. Something strange is going on with this group of Explorers."
Cofagrigus muttered while staring at the battlefield. He could barely accept the Zorua emerging unscathed after being attacked by Regieleki, but the Pikachu too?
He stared at said yellow rodent. Except for some dirt, presumably from hiding underground, there is no visible injury on his body.
There are only three possibilities he could think of that would explain this.
One, they have access to an upgraded version of Reviver Seed, one that recovers them to full health after getting knocked out.
Two, their defensive stats are as outrageous as their offensive stats.
And three, they possess the same slate as the Lord.
When the third thought flashed across his mind, Cofagrigus' breathing began to get rapid. Before the Lord went into seclusion, he had tasked himself and his other subordinates to look for some kind of Elemental Plate.
The Lord gave them a chance to familiarize themselves with the Dread Plate he currently owned- to facilitate a smoother investigation.
Cofagrigus still remembered the overwhelming amount of energy he felt when he held the small piece of item. It was just a pity he wasn't able to access the energy himself due to type incompatibility.
According to the Lord, that Plate grants Dark-type Pokemon access to inexhaustible energy, as well as a powerful healing factor. And there are 17 other such slates in the world- corresponding to the rest of the elemental types.
Ever since then, in addition to extracting Victini's power, finding a copy of the Elemental Plates had been Cofagrigus' other goal.
But more than 3,000 years passed, and his efforts on that front bore no result. He suspected they may have already been snatched away by the other Legendaries. However, the scene in front made Cofagrigus reconsider this line of thinking.
"Indeed. It would also explain how such normal Pokemon obtained power equal to Legendaries. But the problem remains. If they really possess those slates, then this fight..."
Cofagrigus clicked his tongue in annoyance. He stared at the ongoing battle. So much time had passed, but none of the opponents had yet to fall. Instead, they even gained the opportunity to buff themselves.
"Aurora Veil and…some kind of barrier?"
HIs eyebrows furrowed. Aurora Veil is rather straightforward. It's an Ice-type move that provides protection to the whole team. Pokemon who are under it receive reduced damage from both physical and special attacks, with the duration and potency depending upon the Special Attack of the Pokemon who cast it.
This move is powerful, but it also has stringent requirements. First of all, it can only be used during hail or snow. And secondly, only a few Pokemon are capable of learning it. From what he knew, less than 10 species of Pokemon in the world can use this move.
However, the other strange armor is what he is more concerned about. It's the first time he saw something like it. Was it another defensive armor? Or does it have other effects he must be wary about?
…
"I really hope you can become more proficient with these moves quickly, Pikachu. We look like Japanese AV actors."
Dante said with a chuckle. He glanced at Eevee and the others, and the corner of his lips tilted upwards.
"Hey! I only had less than a month to train for this! It's already great that I can cover the whole body."
Pikachu argued back. The moves he used to give everyone in the team a blocky sort of armor are Reflect and Light Screen. Reflect creates a wall of light that reduces the impact of physical attacks, while Light Screen does the same for special attacks.
Most Pokemon can only create a stationary wall of light after they first learned this move. But with further proficiency, they can allow that wall of light to move. And at mastery, even turn it into something like an armor.
Pikachu himself has only reached the point where he can allow the screens to move along with a target. However, doing it like that only provides protection against attacks from a single direction.
So he brute forced it with his super high special attack. And although the protection the screen provided decreased, it resulted in being able to cover all parts of the body.
As for why Dante was chuckling at this move, because of brute-forcing it, the armors Pikachu made looked like mosaics- similar to the censors used in adult films.
"Dad, what does AV mean?"
"Err, it stands for Animal Videos, little Eevee."
"Hmm…"
Eevee stared suspiciously at Dante's face. Her intuition was telling her that her Dad lied just now.
"Anyways! Although the armor looks a little sloppy, it will do the job. So next, it's time for our counter-attack!"
Dante said with a loud voice. He turned away from Eevee's gaze and looked at the rest of the team.
"Mawile, Ursaring!"
"Heehee, I can finally stop this boring task."
Mawile exhaled a sigh of relief. She threw the last group of Stealth Rock she made into the air. Then, her eyes narrowed at Regieleki hovering in the distance who once again dodged Ursaring's sonic attack.
"Hey, you stupid golem! Do you only know how to run!?"
Mawile shouted, an invisible emotional energy being emitted from her body.
"Yeah! Stupid, yellow-looking…thing. Come and face me like a man!"
The same phenomena happened to Ursaring. Hovering in the distance, Regieleki was calculating the best course of action to break through the rock barriers. Then, it heard Mawile and Ursaring's provocation.
Normally, the robotic Pokemon would have parsed through the words and only retain the useful information which is useful for battle. But this time, it felt something twinge inside itself.
Especially when its multiple eyes scanned the two Pokemon, this feeling increasingly grew. Then, it noticed the Mega Mawile had walked away from the group, right outside the coverage of the Stealth Rocks.
Regieleki didn't waste this opportunity. It blitzed through the air, arriving in front of Mawile in less than a second. Then, before the cream-colored Pokemon could react, it hit her with a full-powered Extreme Speed.
"What was that? Did you just tickle me?"
Mawile said as she took a single step back. At the same time, her jaws swung through the air towards the Regieleki in front, the wind whistling from the force of her attack.
Normally, Regieleki's course of action would be to quickly distance itself after attacking once, minimizing the possibility of an accident happening. But when it saw Mawile's 'slow' attack, along with the feeling of irritation rising within itself at her provocation, it decided to swiftly take care of her, right here, right now.
Mawile's attack tore the air before her. Then, she staggered as an attack hit her from behind. She was just about to turn around, when another attack hit her from the side.
Regieleki flashed all around Mawile. From an outsider's perspective, it was as if its body had multiplied several times. With its speed, before the afterimage even disappeared, it had already left multiple copies more.
From nearby, Dante grimaced. He just remembered. This guy kept using Rapid Spin to break the Stealth Rock since earlier.
Rapid Spin, in addition to being able to clear away hazards on the battlefield, also boosts the user's speed by 10%. With how many times Regieleki used it, its speed has most likely been increased by more than 50%.
It was fortunate that Mawile had been the one whose Taunt had worked. If it was Ursaring, even with the Aurora Veil and Reflect, he probably would have suffered a lot from the constant attacks.
On the other hand, Mawile, being a Steel-type, only suffers half the damage from Normal-type moves. In addition, her Mega Evolution also increased her defenses by 20 each. When paired with the armor around her body, Regieleki's attacks just caused her more nuisance than harm.
And now, it's time for her efforts to bore fruit.
Regieleki had just attacked Mawile from the side once again, when its body suddenly stiffened. It fell from the air, its eyes constantly flashing in bewilderment at what was happening.
"Hehe, you may be a Legendary Pokemon, but you're still not as smart as my Dante."
Mawile said and put down the hand covering her head. She grimaced as she stepped forward. Although a single attack from Regieleki didn't cause her much damage, the incalculable number that hit her had accumulated to a certain extent.
Now, as for why Regieleki is lying on the ground? That's because of her only Exclusive Item: the Deceit Mask.
As a Pokemon with no evolution except for Mega, Mawile had the unfortunate luck to only be assigned a single, three-star Exclusive Item. And said item is even only situationally useful.
The Deceit Mask has a probability of sealing the enemies' movement when the user is hit. But with Mawile's high attack, most opponents won't even have a chance to get close before getting knocked out.
Therefore, this was the first time that the item's effect was triggered. Seeing the twitching Regieleki at her feet, Mawile beamed, and used her two jaws to clamp the Lightning Golem and hold it in front of her. Then, she clenched her fist.
"This is revenge for hurting my Dan!"
"BZZZT!!!"
"And this is revenge for hitting me!"
"BZZzzzt..."
Mawile hummed in satisfaction when she saw Regieleki turn limp. She skipped to Dante's side, a beaming smile plastered all over her face. Even the injuries all over her body didn't hurt anymore.
"Hey! Where's the revenge for him hitting me!?"
Just as she was about to arrive in front of Dante, Pikachu stepped forward and blocked her path. Mawile resisted the urge to knock him away with one of her jaws. Instead, she just threw the unconscious Regieleki to him.
"Here. Go take revenge on your own. You're already such a strong Pokemon and you still want a girl to take revenge for you?"
Mawile harrumphed and left the dumbfounded Pikachu. Then, when she arrived in front of Dante, her expression twisted in pain.
"Owwee! Ouch ouch ouch! It hurts~"
Dante deadpanned at Mawile's obvious fake performance. He had already used an Oran Berry from the Team Menu to heal all her injuries. However, remembering her earlier performance, he decided to humor her.
"Are you alright? You did a great job, taking down Regieleki all by yourself.
"Ehehe, well, I'll feel even better if you kiss me."
"Don't push your luck."
Mawile pouted, then asked for the next best thing.
"Then how about a date? Like the ones you, Sister Shinobu, and Sister Focalors take every weekend? Just the two of us."
"I-"
Dante paused when he saw Mawile's puppy dog eyes. Darn, she must have learned it from Ninetales. As Dante was struggling to answer, his eyes suddenly narrowed and he glanced to the side.
"Fine. I'll take you out on a date. But just once, alright?"
"Yes!!!"
Mawile was still celebrating her victory, when Dante's body before her broke into fragments. It shattered- similarly to how his Illusions disappeared when he dismissed them.
A/N: I still stand by what I said that there will be no Pokephilia in this story. However, with Mawile's personality, it would be out of character for her to pass up this rare opportunity to ask Dante out on a date.
Anyways, the next chapter or two should be the end of this arc. There, we'll get a reveal on the identity of the Lord Cofagrigus was talking about. Though for those that played PMD EoS, I think his identity should be obvious by now.
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