"Nido!" Nidoking let out a furious roar. "A lowly insect is nothing worth mentioning!"
It took one step forward, and the battlefield, already reduced to ruins, instantly shook violently as debris flew everywhere.
"As expected of a battle-legend-tier Pokémon. That is terrifying."
"I can't even imagine how Gym Leader Grey's Annihilape is supposed to deal with a battle-legend-tier Pokémon like that."
"Hard to say. What do you think the result of this battle will be?"
The spectators outside the field were all talking at once, analyzing the difference between Grey's Annihilape and Giovanni's Nidoking.
The gap in strength between the two sides was a little too wide.
Champion-level ace against battle-legend tier. Anyone with eyes could tell that the battle leaned in Giovanni's favor.
After all, this was the ace Pokémon Giovanni had openly raised, the top trainer in Kanto beneath Blue and Red, or at least one of the top two.
"Nidoking, stop wasting words with it. Earth Power!"
[Earth Power: The user makes the ground under the target erupt with power. This may also lower the target's Special Defense.]
"Nido!"
Nidoking stomped forward heavily, and the ground beneath Annihilape shattered with a crack.
Scorching magma surged and churned within the fissures, on the verge of erupting.
"Phantom Force!"
Grey's command was calm. Ghost-type energy burst from Annihilape's body, and it slipped into its own shadow in an instant, entering another world.
Nidoking's Earth Power missed on the spot, unable to hit Annihilape.
If Annihilape had hidden underground, Nidoking would still have been able to search for its location with ease.
But Phantom Force was different.
Phantom Force meant entering another world.
Earth Power had no way of affecting a Pokémon in the middle of Phantom Force.
As the move missed, Giovanni remained completely composed, not the slightest bit moved.
"Phantom Force can let it dodge, but if it does not attack, it has no effect at all. It can only make it a coward hiding its head and tail."
Those sharp words came from Giovanni's mouth.
Many spectators sucked in a breath.
It seemed Giovanni really was right.
Dodging an opponent's moves could indeed disrupt some Pokémon's offensive rhythm in the short term.
But once the pattern was discovered, it would only make the user look like a timid coward.
"Heh, Gym Leader Giovanni, you are not the only one who can create an advantage by using hidden time."
Grey raised his hand, and the crisp sound of a finger snap rang out.
Snap!
The space behind Nidoking suddenly twisted. Before Giovanni could give an order, Nidoking was already carrying a cold gleam as it smashed toward Annihilape.
Ice-type Ice Punch!
"Brick Break!"
Facing Nidoking's incoming Ice Punch, Annihilape gathered Fighting-type energy around both arms and met it head-on with a fierce Brick Break.
The two forces collided violently, erupting into a blinding flash of energy.
Under the impact, Annihilape was shaken back half a step. The ground beneath its feet shattered at once, crumbling into dust.
Giovanni's pupils contracted slightly, and a flicker of disbelief flashed across his face.
After taking Nidoking's Ice Punch head-on, Annihilape had only retreated half a step. That completely exceeded his calculations regarding the difference in strength between the two sides.
"The boost from Aura is actually that terrifying. And during the process of using Phantom Force just now, it probably used Bulk Up twice…"
Giovanni could roughly see Annihilape's condition.
Using Bulk Up twice would make its body swell by a noticeable amount.
Add in the support given by Aura, and the fact that it only retreated half a step after clashing directly with a battle-legend-tier Nidoking suddenly seemed reasonable.
"Phew… As expected of Gym Leader Giovanni. That last move used up most of my Aura. If the next attack is the exact same move, then with Annihilape's current condition, it probably won't be able to fully withstand it."
Grey looked as if he had gone limp from exhaustion. His entire face was pale, and he even deliberately breathed out a turbid breath, making himself look like some kind of patient.
"Not bad acting."
Giovanni gave Grey that evaluation in his heart.
Then, without changing his expression at all, Giovanni said, "Blizzard!"
Bulk Up could raise physical defense. Rather than continue using Ice Punch, it was better to test the situation with Blizzard.
"Nido!"
Nidoking suddenly spread both arms, and a bone-chilling glow burst from the horn on its head.
A biting blizzard formed in an instant, carrying ice crystals and snow powder as it howled toward Annihilape.
"Use Phantom Force again."
Grey used the same trick again.
This time, Giovanni let out a cold laugh.
"Gym Leader Grey, you do not think repeating the same trick will make me fall for it a second time, do you? That is impossible."
"We won't know until we try."
Grey did not care in the slightest.
Time passed second by second, and Giovanni was also calculating how many times Annihilape could stack Bulk Up.
"Wait… Is that Curse?!"
Giovanni had thought Annihilape would obediently stack Bulk Up.
But the result was that it had used Curse?!
As for how Giovanni knew…
"Nido…"
A nail filled with ghostly energy sank into Nidoking's head out of nowhere. One glance was enough to know it was Annihilape's handiwork.
"Gym Leader Giovanni, I already told you that my tactics are ever-changing. If you think I will obediently repeat the same trick, then you are very, very wrong."
Grey stretched out one finger, shook it forward, and sighed softly.
Giovanni was silent.
Playing dirty while acting this proud?
Giovanni really wanted to say that, but it would damage his dignity and make him seem out of character, so he did not.
However, Giovanni always had the feeling that certain people were gossiping about him behind his back.
Forget it. It was not a big problem.
Right now, he still had to pay attention to the situation at hand.
"Only knowing how to dodge and hide. Gym Leader Grey, in terms of petty tricks, you have indeed done well. I, Giovanni, admit defeat in that area."
Giovanni first cupped his fist, then continued, "Nidoking, Sludge Wave!"
"Nido!"
Nidoking opened its huge mouth and spat out a surging purple wave of poison.
The sticky Sludge Wave rapidly spread across the entire battlefield, forming a deadly swamp.
If Annihilape left its Phantom Force state now, it would definitely be swallowed whole by this toxic tide.
"Tsk, tsk. I did not expect Gym Leader Giovanni to think that far ahead. That really is impressive."
Grey raised a thumb, the corners of his mouth still lifted. "But has Gym Leader Giovanni considered one problem? Annihilape can freely choose where it appears when using Phantom Force."
If another Pokémon used Phantom Force, perhaps it really would be drowned by Nidoking's Sludge Wave the moment it appeared.
But Grey's side was different.
Grey could use Aura to communicate and make contact with Annihilape, explaining the situation in advance.
The main point was to catch the opponent off guard.
The moment those words came out, Giovanni's expression once again turned solemn.
Grey's words were a mix of truth and lies. When they seemed believable, they could not be trusted, and when they seemed impossible to trust, they might actually be true.
But as for when they could be trusted and when they could not, Giovanni had no idea.
In this regard, Grey was far too sneaky.
"Annihilape, Rage Fist!"
In the very next second, Annihilape suddenly appeared directly above Nidoking.
Violent Ghost-type energy, wrapped in fury, rapidly condensed into a heavy shadowy fist that came crashing down toward Nidoking's head with overwhelming force.
At that critical instant, the horn on Nidoking's head lit up with cyan light and forcibly met the incoming Rage Fist from above.
The two forces collided violently, making the already overburdened Indigo Plateau ruins nearly crumble into nothing.
"Being able to reach this point with a Champion-level Pokémon is already very impressive. However, once a Pokémon reaches the battle-legend tier, its own qualities undergo an all-around improvement."
Giovanni's expression changed slightly, but very quickly, it turned into a smile. "Gym Leader Grey, I think you should understand this better than I do, right? After all, you are a trainer recognized by legends."
"That's right. Gym Leader Giovanni, you should be careful. Next, I am going to use a very powerful finishing move."
Grey raised his index finger, looking somewhat unruly.
"Gym Leader Grey, bluffing is not exactly a good habit. You do not think I don't know Annihilape is secretly building up Rage Fist again, do you? Even if you use Aura to conceal the aura of its Ghost-type energy, do not forget that I possess the Viridian Force. I have an acute instinct for the presence of energy."
Giovanni seemed to have seen through Grey's idea, revealing the truth in a single sentence.
"Or are you trying to use some tactic you have already used before?"
"Mm, that is indeed the case. But Gym Leader Giovanni, have you forgotten? The tactics I specialize in are not limited to just that!"
Defeating the strong with the weak was one of Grey's tactics.
Even if he had been fighting a lot of one-sided sweeps recently, defeating the strong with the weak was absolutely a tactic he had engraved in his heart.
It was definitely not something he would forget.
"Heh. I will say the same thing as before, then. Let me see it for myself."
"Nidoking! Show Gym Leader Grey what the secret art of the earth looks like!"
At Giovanni's order, Nidoking stomped down hard.
The entire battlefield immediately shook violently. Scorching magma erupted from the cracks, and in the blink of an eye, almost the entire field had turned into a churning sea of lava.
This was the terrifying full-field Earth Power!
Giovanni knew Annihilape could use Counter, so he did not let Nidoking use Earthquake. Instead, he used the special attack Earth Power.
Even if Annihilape used Protect to block this move, or used Phantom Force to avoid it, once those two moves faded, Giovanni would have ways to respond.
"Looks like there is no dodging this one."
Gazing at the killing move that covered the entire ground, Grey sighed softly.
"Anni!" Annihilape shouted. "Boss, looks like they poured all their power into this one strike!"
Not too much time had passed, but Curse's effect had indeed affected Nidoking.
However, if they wanted to completely defeat Nidoking with that alone, it was practically impossible.
Were they going to stop here?
"Encore."
"What? Impossible. Earth Power has already been released. Using Encore at this timing will definitely fail!"
Giovanni knew Encore's effect. His Persian had previously been tricked by Annihilape's Encore, and afterward, he had specifically looked up the exact effects of Encore. He had confirmed that if Encore took effect while a move was already being used, there was a high chance it would be nullified, meaning it would have no effect at all.
Under these circumstances, Gym Leader Grey still wanted to place his hopes on that move?
Had he reached the end of his rope?
"Is that so?"
Grey asked in return.
Annihilape suddenly clapped, and somehow forced Earth Power back down.
Nidoking stared blankly.
Nidoking was stunned.
[No way, dude. This is seriously cheating, right?]
[What do you mean Gym Leader Giovanni finally charged up a big move, only for someone else to choke it back down?]
[It directly erased a full-field Earth Power?]
[Can some kind soul tell us what the principle behind this is? I genuinely do not understand!]
Many spectators had no idea why Encore had been able to take effect, but the situation before them was exactly that.
Nidoking stopped outputting Ground-type energy. The horn on its head erupted with dazzling cyan light, and it thrust straight toward Annihilape with a sharp Megahorn.
But Annihilape crossed both arms and steadily blocked it, sparks bursting from the point where the horn struck.
"Counter!"
A blazing red light suddenly erupted around Annihilape. Its heavy fist, wrapped in surging Fighting-type energy, slammed viciously into Nidoking.
Where the wind from the punch passed, even the air seemed unable to endure the pressure and trembled.
Boom!
Annihilape's heavy punch struck Nidoking squarely in the chest. Along with a dull impact, Nidoking staggered back several steps, its heavy panting clearly audible throughout the field.
Very soon, the nail from earlier appeared once again. Nidoking's aura became faint, and its stamina reached a dangerous state.
In other words, it had fallen below one-third.
[Guys, I really cannot understand this situation anymore!]
[Why is Gym Leader Grey taking the advantage one moment and Gym Leader Giovanni taking it the next? I bet everything on Grey. Can you stop making my emotions swing up and down like this?]
[It's stable, it's stable! I feel like Gym Leader Grey has a very high chance of winning!]
Seeing that Annihilape still had a lot of stamina remaining while Nidoking's stamina was on the verge of its limit, everyone felt that Grey would win.
"Gym Leader Giovanni, I think you should be about to use the Viridian Force to heal Nidoking's injuries, right?"
Grey knew the effects of the Viridian Force.
It could restore a Pokémon's stamina.
And just now, Giovanni had not used the Viridian Force's healing effect at all. Nidoking was now more or less in the red, so it was about time for Giovanni to use it.
"Mm, I can use it, but I do not want to anymore."
After Giovanni finished speaking, he took out an Ultra Ball on his own initiative and recalled Nidoking.
Grey stared.
No, wait. Do you know that if you surrender right now, people are going to say you rigged the match?
Grey could not understand Giovanni's move at all.
The one who had said he would fight with all his strength earlier was Giovanni, but now the one stopping halfway was also Giovanni. What exactly did he take Grey for, some Kanto local he could mess with?
"There is no meaning in continuing to fight like this. Besides, even if I defeat your Annihilape, do you not still have Reshiram?"
Giovanni recalled Nidoking without the slightest hesitation.
After doing all of this, Giovanni left.
Grey scratched his head, always feeling that Giovanni had his own intention for doing this.
...
...
After voluntarily ending the battle, Giovanni arrived at the hotel.
Suddenly, a phone call came in.
Giovanni looked at the caller's name, and the corners of his mouth lifted.
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