Even though Gengar completed his Mega Evolution, the core of Cain's strategy was still Slowking.
Slowking floated in the air. The eyes are the window to the soul, and with just a glance into Slowking's, one could see that he had fully unleashed his psychic power.
He was mainly using it to reinforce Drapion, Weavile, and Florges.
They weren't as agile as Honchkrow and Altaria, but with the support of Slowking's psychic power, they were able to dodge many unnecessary attacks during battle.
It was a shame that Aggron and Pupitar weren't at the same level yet.
If Aggron could be positioned at the front, even if enemy Pokémon broke through his defense, they'd certainly pay a heavy price.
Gengar dove underground, heading straight for Brannis. Attacking where the enemy is forced to defend was always the best strategy.
Drapion, Weavile, and Honchkrow worked together to pin down three of the enemy Pokémon that had previously been surrounding Moltres.
Florges and Mismagius remained close to Cain, launching ranged attacks to cover him. Altaria became locked in an aerial duel with another enemy Flying-type Pokémon.
"Gengar, use Scary Face! Then Shadow Ball!" Cain ordered.
"Kekeke!"
Mega Gengar slid through the ground almost imperceptibly to most Pokémon. However, Rox's Banette (his last emergency defense) managed to detect him thanks to its affinity with Ghost-type energy.
"Banette, Shadow Sneak!" Rox shouted.
Ghost-type Pokémon have an advantage over each other. And when they clash, the outcome is usually fast.
Mega Gengar's Shadow Ball struck Banette violently, though Banette managed to land a blow on Gengar's shadow in return.
The difference was that Gengar took minimal damage, while Banette was left gravely injured.
"Gengar, copy Honchkrow's ability!" Cain commanded.
Normally, Gengar would copy Drapion's ability to boost his brute force, but in this case, since Banette wasn't much of a threat, it was better to increase his Moxie stacks and make upcoming battles easier.
Gengar's eyes glowed black, and he absorbed Honchkrow's ability.
"Fire another Shadow Ball!"
"Banette, use Shadow Ball too!" Rox responded, even though he knew he was at a disadvantage.
But Banette wasn't a special attack specialist. Compared to the devastating special power of Mega Gengar, facing him with Shadow Ball was a disastrous decision.
Meanwhile, Brannis was starting to get frustrated. He wasn't a psychic like Cain, so he couldn't use telepathic communication to give precise commands.
This made his battle orders slow and clumsy.
Against Moltres alone, he could manage. But with the appearance of more enemies, everything became more chaotic.
Sometimes he had the right strategy in mind, but by the time he gave the order, it was already too late.
That was the advantage of being a psychic trainer.
Even though Brannis's Pokémon were stronger than Cain's, in a short battle, Cain had full confidence he wouldn't fall behind... and would slowly gain the upper hand.
But if the battle dragged on, things would change.
Cain's psychic power wasn't infinite, and Gengar's Mega Evolution had a time limit. Plus, the enemies were slowly adapting to his fighting style.
Brannis realized that even though his Pokémon were more powerful, he couldn't easily gain the upper hand.
He changed his strategy and ordered all his Pokémon to focus on defense while his strongest, Ampharos, engaged Moltres directly.
If they defeated Moltres first, Ampharos could then join the rest and crush Cain's team.
His Charizard, though powerful, had used Belly Drum earlier and hadn't yet recovered from the strain. On top of that, Cain's Slowking was still floating and focusing on Charizard, preventing it from fighting freely.
Brannis wanted to buy time, defeat Moltres first, and then deal with Cain.
But Cain also seemed to be stalling. Except for Gengar, who fought fiercely, the rest of his Pokémon were simply holding their ground, slowly wearing down the enemy.
Boom!
Gengar and Banette's dark spheres collided.
As expected, Banette's faded, and Gengar launched two new, even more condensed Shadow Balls.
So far, no other Pokémon had shown such mastery of the move Shadow Ball.
Both spheres didn't fly in a straight line—they curved, hitting Banette from both sides.
Banette, barely Elite-level, didn't stand a chance. Mega Gengar, on the other hand, was in peak condition.
Boom!
Boom!
Kaboom!
Banette was knocked out. This made Rox and Brannis even more vulnerable.
Without defenders, Brannis had to call Charizard over to protect him from a possible Gengar attack.
But Gengar didn't stop there. After defeating Banette, a light shone over his body, adding another Moxie layer.
Then, he dove underground again. With Banette gone, no one could trace him.
As long as Gengar didn't reappear, Charizard had to stay guarding his trainer.
Brannis understood how critical the situation was. He sped up the Ampharos fight, even trading blows if needed—all to finish off Moltres and get out of the bind.
KIEEEEEE!
Ten minutes.
Moltres held on for ten more minutes, but in the end, due to the type disadvantage, it fell under Ampharos's powerful electric discharge.
This time, it really fell. It couldn't get back up.
But taking down Moltres so quickly also came at a cost to Ampharos, who ended up heavily injured.
Brannis had focused so much on Ampharos's fight that he neglected his other Pokémon. Two of them were defeated by Cain's coordinated tactics, with Mega Gengar finishing them off and stacking two more Moxie layers.
Three stacks total!
Both sides' teams separated again, staring each other down from a distance.
Despite defeating two enemy Pokémon, Cain's were also quite injured.
The most critical thing now was that Ampharos was free after defeating Moltres, and Charizard had recovered much of his energy after ten minutes of rest.
Ampharos and Charizard—two Elite Four–level Pokémon. Plus the three Brannis still had left.
Cain, on the other hand, had only a group of injured Pokémon... and a Mega Gengar with three Moxie stacks.
(End of chapter)