Chapter 304: The Debut!! Arbok!
After recalling Gyarados to its ball, Kenji reached for another sphere on his belt.
"Facing a Mega Meganium is a worthy stage for your debut," Kenji muttered.
He pressed the release button, and a streak of red light shot onto the field.
"I choose you!! Arbok!!"
"CHAAA!!!! —"
The light faded, revealing a creature that made the entire stadium gasp.
A massive cobra, its body covered in pitch-black scales that shimmered with a metallic, dangerous luster, uncoiled itself. This was the first time Arbok had appeared in a major broadcasted tournament. It had missed the National League while perfecting its Serpent Patterns at Mt. Dreadmist, and in the earlier rounds of the current qualifiers, Kenji hadn't found an opponent worth its time.
But finally, against Wang Xian and his Mega Meganium, the "Shadow of the Forest" had arrived.
The crowd erupted in confusion and awe.
"Holy crap!? What is that thing? It's so cool! I've never seen that Pokémon before!"
"Is it a new species? Is it a regional form?"
"Didn't you hear Kenji? He called it an Arbok!!!"
In the stands, the debate was fierce.
"No way. There's no Arbok that looks like that!"
"Yeah, Arbok are purple! That thing is black as night!"
"Are you guys blind? It's clearly a Shiny Pokémon. They have different colors."
"Explain the head then! Look at those two protrusions on its hood—they look like dragon horns! Arbok doesn't have those..."
"Wait... if you look closely, the face on the hood is different too... it looks more... demonic."
Regardless of the species debate, no one could deny that Arbok looked spectacular. Its sheer "cool factor" instantly won over a segment of the audience, who began cheering for the black snake.
Across the field, Wang Xian adjusted his glasses, his eyes narrow and calculating as he studied Arbok.
Beyond curiosity, his primary emotion was caution.
Mega Evolution had granted his Meganium immense power, but the addition of the Fairy type was a double-edged sword. While it provided new strengths, it turned Meganium's previous double weakness to Poison into a quadruple weakness.
Against a Poison specialist like Arbok, he couldn't afford a single mistake.
Kenji had chosen Arbok for this exact reason. The 4x Poison advantage was his primary win condition.
Furthermore, there was the "Information Gap." Wang Xian assumed Arbok was a pure Poison type. He had no way of knowing that through its evolution and training, this Arbok had gained the Dragon type. In Wang Xian's mind, his Grass and Fairy moves would be resisted by Poison; he didn't realize that the Dragon sub-type would neutralize some of those resistances while adding its own.
"Arbok!! Speed Mode! Poison Fang!!"
"CHAAA!!! —"
Arbok's black form blurred. The pattern on its hood shifted instantly into the Speed Pattern. With a burst of velocity that seemed to defy its serpentine anatomy, it lunged toward Mega Meganium.
"Mega Meganium!! Zone it out!! Use Earth Power!"
"Megannn!! —"
Mega Meganium stomped its heavy feet. A surge of deep brown energy was injected into the arena floor.
In the next heartbeat, the ground began to rumble.
BANG!!! —
Without warning, a jagged, razor-sharp stone spike erupted from the earth exactly where Arbok was about to strike. The spike was infused with heavy Ground-type energy.
BAM BAM BAM!!! —
A forest of stone spikes burst from the ground in rapid succession, creating a lethal obstacle course designed to keep Arbok from closing the distance.
But Arbok was in its Speed Pattern. It moved like a ribbon of black ink, twisting, coiling, and vaulting over the spikes with fluid, predatory grace. It didn't slow down; it simply wove through the destruction, closing in on its prey.
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