Elma withdrew Mega Kangaskhan.
The two sides returned to the initial state at the start of the second half.
The Pokeball flew up.
Bang bang!
A flash of white light passed by.
"Milo~"
The altered-color Milotic landed on the grass, swinging its brilliantly golden tail, looking at the opponent in the distance — Smeargle.
Both Pokémon were not in optimal condition, one had endured two consecutive Electric Attribute attacks from Heliolisk, and the other nearly fell before a Mud Bomb due to its Defend being shattered by a True Qi Bullet.
They shared something in common — they used Self-Rebirth but didn't fully recover.
Baimu squinted his eyes.
Elma actually chose to send out Smeargle? He felt some regret that the altered-color Milotic didn't know Taunt, otherwise, no matter how many transformation techniques Smeargle had, it wouldn't be able to use them.
Of course, even without Taunt, you can fight — you just need to guard against techniques like Shared Fate.
The previous battle with Gengar had already proven Smeargle's weaknesses.
He waved and said, "Charge forward with hot water!"
"Milo!"
The altered-color Milotic bowed its head, swimming forward like a long snake, though not as swift as on the icy surface, it was not slow.
"With the Wind! Hide in the grass!"
Elma didn't know what technique the altered-color Milotic would use, but he was sure it would, under Baimu's instructions, actively attack. To counter it, the only option was to evade opportunistically and carefully establish a sufficient advantage to combat.
"Woof!"
Smeargle waved its tail brush, forming an imperceptible and gentle breeze under its brush that made its steps extraordinarily light.
It leaped into the grass not far away.
Unlike the icy surface that was difficult to move on, the grassland, as tall as half a person, was particularly friendly to this small Pokémon. As long as it found a dense spot, it was easy to lose the opponent's sight.
Milotic's sight suddenly lost Smeargle's presence.
It stopped in front of the dense grass, not observing too long before spewing out scalding water from its mouth, flattening a large area of weeds in an instant.
Smeargle quickly darted through it, like a blurred white shadow.
"Woo—"
Milotic adjusted the direction of the scalding water and continued to spray fiercely but only ended up scalding half-person tall areas of weeds without catching even the opponent's tail.
It was really too fast, truly deserving of the name of a dog.
The commentator exclaimed, "What a fast speed Smeargle has! Milotic's hot water is hard to hit! The grass field and With the Wind have given it a quite obvious boost!"
Baimu was also surprised, not expecting the restriction the ice field posed on Elma was so significant.
If Smeargle had demonstrated this maneuverability earlier against Gengar, it probably wouldn't have been forced out so easily, at least making it hard for a move like True Qi Bullet, which has high power but a slight windup time before execution, to hit.
He watched Smeargle diving into another patch of grass, neither anxious nor hurried.
"Sweep with Tornado!"
"Milo!"
With a soft chirp, Milotic's fan-shaped tail fin clicked and turned into a propeller, spinning at high speed, indigo winds swirling up from the long tail!
Elma frowned at the sight, solemnly saying, "Use Light Wall!"
Hiding in the weeds, Smeargle did not hesitate, sketching a square shape in the air with its brush. A pane of glass radiating colored light quickly formed.
The next moment.
Milotic suddenly swung its long tail, causing the tornado to sweep across like a whip, uprooting all the grass in its wake, as if a lawnmower passed through!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Countless grass clippings flew into the air, and the securely hidden Smeargle quickly retreated, yet the attack range of the tornado was larger than it had imagined.
Unless it jumped down directly from the high platform where the battle was taking place, it was impossible to evade the tornado.
And after a brief hesitation, Smeargle was too late if it wished to jump.
Whoosh!
The tornado roared towards it, and despite the Light Wall weakening the Dragon Attribute energy's erosion, the fierce wind still blew this less than sixty-kilogram Pokémon into the air!
"Woof!"
Smeargle barked in panic.
It was completely exposed in Milotic's line of sight!
Elma thought this wasn't good and shouted urgently, "Prepare to use Defend!"
Baimu squinted, "Leap up!"
The mighty tornado halted.
Milotic coiled up, like a spring compressed to the extreme, and as Smeargle began to fall, it charged over!
Swish!
It was like a giant python pouncing on its enemy, soaring high towards Smeargle!
The audience gasped in surprise, then saw a honeycomb-like spherical light shield completely enveloping Smeargle, but surprisingly Milotic didn't attack; instead, it revolved around it in a ouroboros style, its head and tail connected.
Both fell to the ground subsequently.
Thud~
Dust rose.
The commentator was a bit stunned, "Milotic intends to trap Smeargle! It faked out Smeargle's Defend!"
Baimu shouted, "Tight Binding."
"Run!"
Elma's voice was urgent.
Smeargle leapt up from Milotic's tightening coils, attempting to dash into the nearby grass, but a pair of light blue hair-like fins snagged its legs.
Smeargle stumbled and fell, instinctively turning its head and meeting Milotic's enchanting gaze, finding itself unable to look away.
Then it was bound by Milotic.
Being a Pokémon based on the water snake and having learned the joint-locking and constriction techniques with Adam, it was pure fantasy for Smeargle to rely on sheer strength to escape.
Trapped in the center of the snake-like body, it felt its bones almost shattering, and breathing became extremely difficult.
Fortunately, it always clutched its brush, and some sketched techniques didn't require much movement to execute.
"Instant Movement!"
Smeargle painstakingly adjusted its brush —
"Itching."