Chapter 305: Arbok vs. Mega Meganium!
Wang Xian had relied on his Mega Meganium to claw his way into the Top 400 of the last Huaxia League Conference. Its strength was anything but ordinary. Its execution of Earth Power was blindingly fast, and every stone spike materialized with pinpoint accuracy, cutting off Arbok's path of advancement.
But even so, Arbok was like a streak of black lightning. It slithered with impossible grace, weaving through the erupting geysers of stone while maintaining a relentless charge toward its target.
The distance between the two Pokémon shrank by the second.
"Mega Meganium!! Dazzling Gleam!!"
"Mega-NIUM!!!! —"
Just as Arbok was about to bridge the gap and ignore the final barrage of stone spikes, Wang Xian gave the order. The four layered flowers around Mega Meganium's neck suddenly erupted with a blinding, prismatic light.
Dazzling Gleam!!
A tidal wave of Fairy-type energy exploded outward, a radiant dome of destruction meant to catch anything in its radius. Arbok was effectively cornered; the stone spikes from the Earth Power acted as walls, trapping it in the blast zone.
"Protect!!"
A translucent emerald shield materialized in front of Arbok.
The Dazzling Gleam slammed into the barrier, detonating with a roar. The shield held, though it groaned under the pressure.
However, the light didn't fade.
"Now!! Apex Solar Cannon!!!"
As Wang Xian's voice boomed across the arena, the four flowers on Mega Meganium's neck, which had just finished the Fairy-type blast, began to glow with an even more intense white light. In a display of masterful technique, the flowers began to suck in the lingering particles of the Dazzling Gleam as a secondary fuel source.
This was Wang Xian's signature trick. By following Dazzling Gleam immediately with a Solar Beam variant, he could bypass the charge time and amplify the damage using the leftover ambient energy.
Apex Solar Cannon—essentially a Super Solar Beam—carried several times the destructive force of the standard move.
The four flowers on its neck surged with solar energy. As the light from the surrounding environment was drawn into the blooms, the intensity reached a fever pitch. The aura radiating from Mega Meganium became suffocatingly heavy.
"Arbok!! Meet it head-on!! Use Poison Jab!!!"
"CHAAA!!!! —"
Facing a move of such apocalyptic proportions, Kenji didn't look panicked at all. Instead, he leaned into the aggression, ordering his partner to close the final few meters.
Arbok let out a low, predatory growl. There was no fear in its eyes, only a cold, mechanical focus as it lunged at the gathering light.
SWISH SWISH SWISH!!! —
Arbok's speed was off the charts.
Because Mega Meganium was locked into the final stage of its "Cannon" charge, it couldn't fire off any more defensive moves or stone spikes to slow the snake down.
Arbok reached the dinosaur in a heartbeat.
In that split second, the pattern on Arbok's hood shifted yet again. Its jaws unhinged, its fangs dripping with a liquid so toxic it turned a deep, bruised purple.
Toxic Pattern!!!!
This was a specialized pattern Arbok rarely used. Its effect was simple: it provided a massive, focused multiplier to the damage of Poison-type moves.
Against a Fairy/Grass-type like Mega Meganium, Arbok's Poison Jab was already hitting for quadruple damage. With the Toxic Pattern boost, the power was absolute. Its fangs sank deep into Mega Meganium's shoulder just as the solar charge hit its limit.
"SUPER SOLAR CANNON!! FIRE!!"
BOOM!!!! —
"MEGA!!!! —"
With a roar of agony and desperation, Mega Meganium unleashed the stored energy. The four flowers on its neck detonated simultaneously, releasing a pillar of pure, white solar fire at point-blank range.
It sounded like a tactical missile had gone off inside the stadium.
A blinding, incinerating light engulfed the center of the arena. The sheer brilliance of the blast forced every spectator in the stands to shield their eyes.
Kenji and Wang Xian both raised their arms against the glare.
Wang Xian knew the power of his partner better than anyone. Even against a Champion-level opponent, a point-blank Apex Solar Cannon was a game-ender. Even with a Poison-type's resistance to Grass, the raw kinetic and thermal force should have been more than enough to delete Arbok from the field.
Kenji, however, remained as calm as a frozen lake.
A few seconds passed. Finally, the blinding white light began to fade.
The scorched air in the arena shimmered with heat. As the smoke cleared, a hundred thousand people leaned forward, desperate to see who was left standing.
Wang Xian looked toward the center of the crater, a confident smirk tugging at his lips.
But then, his expression froze.
In the center of the battlefield, Meganium lay prone on the scorched earth, its eyes closed. It was motionless. More importantly, it was no longer in its Mega form—it had reverted back to its base state the moment its consciousness failed.
Standing over it was Arbok.
Its pitch-black scales gleamed under the sun, looking polished and untouched. Its deep vertical pupils were cold and unblinking. Its long body was coiled tightly, its hood held high, displaying a pattern that looked remarkably like a dragon's skull.
Strewn across the ground around it were hundreds of shed black scales.
Disguise! Activated!!
"How... how is this possible?" Wang Xian's voice shook. He stared in absolute disbelief.
He couldn't understand how Arbok had tanked a point-blank ultimate move and come out without a single scratch.
No one could have guessed that Kenji's Arbok possessed a dual-ability set.
Wang Xian had seen the Dazzling Gleam followed by the Solar Cannon. It was a legendary combo. Kenji had prepared for it.
That was why he had used Protect against the first hit—to save Arbok's "Disguise" layer for the real threat.
Even so, a Disguise (or Paint Skin) layer only negates one hit. A move like Apex Solar Cannon should have pierced right through it.
But Arbok didn't just have Disguise. It also had Multiscale.
The layering of these two abilities, combined with Arbok's high defensive stats and the resistance provided by its Poison typing, allowed it to absorb the "Godly Punishment" of the sun.
In contrast, Mega Meganium had reached its limit. Tanking a 4x super-effective Poison Jab from a 4-Star Arbok in its Toxic Pattern was simply more than its biology could handle. The moment it fired its cannon, its health bar had already hit zero.
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