As soon as Cloyster appeared, the crowd became somewhat excited. They had all heard the stories of Lorelei and Lance. The current scene was quite interesting. Shino's expression shifted slightly upon seeing Cloyster; the data she received indicated that Cloyster was among Konan's most frequently used Pokémon.
When she released Dragonair, she knew she would inevitably face Cloyster, so she had prepared herself. She believed her Dragonair would not lose to a Cloyster.
In the Indigo Academy seating area, the youth next to Asen frowned and said, "Shino is being a bit impulsive. There's no need to act like this just to prove a point."
"She is being impulsive," Asen added. "Dragonair will lose."
His perception was keen, and he had already noticed that Cloyster's level had reached the Elite rank. The chances of Dragonair losing were quite high. The youth beside him sighed, unsure of what else to say.
The match continued. On the battlefield, a large mass of dark clouds appeared in the sky, looking gloomy and oppressive. It even began to rain, with droplets pitter-pattering onto Cloyster's body.
Rainwater began to gather around Cloyster's form. Konan's lips curled into a slight upward smile; she knew what Shino's goal was. Shino wanted to gather rain across the entire field to trigger a Thunder attack and increase the move's power.
However, her plan was destined to fail. Someone who hadn't raised a Cloyster wouldn't know just how high its physical defense becomes when it withdraws into its shell. Coupled with the level advantage, Dragonair's attacks wouldn't be able to cause significant damage.
"Battle begin!"
"Dragonair, use Thunder!"
Flying in the sky, Dragonair narrowed its eyes and swung its tail.
Fuuu~
Boom!
A thick bolt of yellow lightning crashed down from the dark clouds.
"Cloyster, withdraw into your shell to defend."
Hearing its master's command, Cloyster didn't hesitate for a second and immediately withdrew into its shell. The lightning struck Cloyster's outer casing.
Crackling
Once the electricity dissipated, the shell looked much the same as before, but a closer look revealed some tiny scars on the surface. The shell opened, and the round face inside emerged once again.
"Cloyster, use Icy Wind!"
In the current rainy weather, Cloyster gave a gentle blow, sending a powerful gust of wind toward Dragonair. As the wind passed, the raindrops in the air instantly turned into ice, falling to the ground and shattering. The Icy Wind blew very quickly, and Dragonair was soon hit.
Next, Konan ordered Cloyster to use Spike Cannon. Countless raindrops in the air formed into ice needles and shot toward Dragonair. Shino wasn't willing to sit idly by and immediately had Dragonair use Dragon Dance.
Dragonair flew and swirled in the sky, constantly gathering a rotating gale around its body. The surrounding wind shredded the nearby ice needles. However, there were too many ice needles to destroy them all, and many struck Dragonair's body.
Dragonair took continuous damage, but Shino didn't look annoyed.
"Dragonair, use Dragon Rage!"
Dragonair soared into the sky, frantically mobilizing the energy within its body. Dragon Rage was a variable move; the more anger in one's heart, the higher its power. Having been attacked by Cloyster this whole time, it was now its turn to counterattack.
After Dragonair finished charging, its eyes glowed with red light as it dove from the high altitude. Several layers of red energy fluctuations rippled around its body. Its aura erupted, the energy fluctuations were violent, and the surrounding rain and storms raged.
"Cloyster, use Aurora Beam!"
Cloyster watched the Dragonair charging toward it. The horn on its head emitted a rainbow-colored light, firing out to intercept Dragonair's attack. Unfortunately, the Aurora Beam couldn't stop the furious Dragonair at all; it charged straight through the beam.
"Cloyster, withdraw into your shell!"
Seeing that the beam couldn't stop Dragonair, Konan immediately changed her mind and had Cloyster withdraw into its shell to block the hit. Under the gaze of the crowd, Dragonair crashed into Cloyster.
Bang!
With a loud explosion, Dragonair failed to break Cloyster's shell and instead took recoil damage itself. Only Eichi, from below, saw a small crack appear where Dragonair had struck.
Despite the failure, Shino didn't give up and continued to launch attacks. Konan, however, was as steady as an old hound—if an attack could be blocked, it was blocked; if it couldn't, Cloyster just withdrew into its shell. She wanted to see just what the opponent could do to her.
After several rounds of attacks, Shino finally had to admit that her only way to win was to break Cloyster's shell with a super-powered attack. However, the injuries on Dragonair's body were no longer optimistic. If it didn't defeat Cloyster soon, she would likely be the one to lose.
Watching from below, Eichi couldn't help but marvel. Pseudo-legendaries were indeed strong; to be this powerful before even reaching their final stage was impressive. Several moves Dragonair used could be considered finishers. Fortunately, it was facing something with super-high defense like Cloyster. If it had been any other Pokémon, they would have been defeated many times over.
The situation was now becoming clear. Dragonair couldn't break Cloyster's defense, and while it suffered continuous hits, it was reaching its limit. Of course, Cloyster wasn't having an easy time either; anyone paying close attention could see various small cracks appearing on its body.
A minute later, Shino decided to put everything on the line to settle the match in one move. Dragonair exerted its full power to unleash Hyper Beam, while Cloyster formed all the raindrops in the air into ice needles and then condensed them into a massive ice spear.
This match was truly the most exciting one of the competition so far. Everyone watched the field without blinking, desperate to know the outcome.
The energy fluctuations were intense as a bright yellow pillar of energy erupted from Dragonair's mouth. It collided with the massive ice spear. In the very center, one could see the impact of the energy pillar directly annihilating the tip of the ice pillar.
However, the energy pillar was also being continuously neutralized. From the outside, the ice pillar was being shattered bit by bit as the Hyper Beam pushed forward. Finally, Konan knew the ice spear wouldn't hold and had Cloyster withdraw into its shell.
The Hyper Beam passed completely through the ice spear and slammed into Cloyster. The surrounding rocky ground shattered and was destroyed under the shockwave of the impact. Finally, Dragonair's energy was exhausted, and it stopped. A deep crater centered on Cloyster appeared in its surroundings.
The entire arena fell silent. Shino nervously watched Cloyster's shell.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Cloyster's shell suddenly snapped open, and a rainbow-colored light shot out from its tip.
Aurora Beam!
It was so fast that everyone was caught off guard. Shino's eyes widened and her mouth hung open, about to warn Dragonair. But it was already too late.