Hoo—
A stream of air rose around Beedrill, its crimson eyes tightly fixed on the approaching halo.
Amidst the shadows, a figure appeared.
"So it really is."
Upon seeing the Pokémon's appearance, Natsuhiko blurted out.
Like a Western-style wall lamp, with a black lampshade and lamp holder, a round glass-like face, in which a tuft of eerie blue-purple flame burned. Next to the flame were two small yellow dots.
"Lampent..."
A Ghost and Fire Type Pokémon, the evolved form of Litwick, can sense the existence of human or Pokémon souls, drawing in the breath of those near death. Furthermore, it can lure humans and Pokémon to the Spirit Realm, absorbing their Life Energy.
Lampent can enhance its flames by absorbing the souls or Life Energy of the deceased.
It can't be said that this Pokémon is evil because drawing souls and Life Energy is nearly instinctive for them.
Even their Trainer finds it hard to avoid this problem.
So, most Trainers tend to reject Lampent and its kind, even though they possess decent combat abilities.
Because as long as one is close to them, spending prolonged time together, even if not intended, they will naturally absorb the Life Energy and even souls of nearby creatures.
But logically...
"Lampent is a registered Pokémon in the Unova Region, and to date, there hasn't been word of its appearance in other regions. The distance between the Kanto Region and Unova is quite far... It's impossible for natural migration..."
Actually, the Pokémon Natsuhiko initially thought of was Lampent or its evolved form, Chandelure.
Because those shriveled Rattata and Raticate looked like they were drained of Life Energy by such a Pokémon, retaining their form.
But considering that such a Pokémon could hardly appear in the Kanto Region, he didn't think much about it.
Yet now, a Lampent has appeared before him.
His first encounter with this kind of Pokémon, unable to gauge its strength.
Only knowing that the Ghost and Fire Type attribute combination places Beedrill at a significant Attribute disadvantage.
"Beedrill."
Natsuhiko called out.
"Buzz!"
Beedrill swiftly appeared in front of him.
Lampent did not immediately launch an attack; its small yellow eyes were fixed on Natsuhiko, the eerie blue flames in its lampshade swaying and flickering, causing the shadows on the walls of the sewage to shake as well.
Beedrill softly rubbed its glowing Double Needle, the golden patterns on its back flickering.
The next second.
It seemed that the two Pokémon moved with significant Momentum.
Buzz—
Beedrill's wings slightly trembled, accompanied by a low hum and golden arcs, its figure flashed repeatedly, dashing towards Lampent.
Meanwhile, the flame in Lampent's middle suddenly swelled, a thumb-sized small orb glowing with Mysterious Light rapidly floated toward Beedrill.
"Mysterious Light."
Natsuhiko's brows furrowed, timely reminding Beedrill.
Beedrill's figure momentarily blurred, multiple identical shadows encircled it.
Poof.
The Mysterious Light touched one of them but instantly dissipated like a bubble.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Beedrill's speed surged, swiftly closing the gap, unleashing a Cross Cut with emerald green attack downward.
Bang!
Lampent was knocked back a distance.
But when Beedrill wanted to seize the victory, its figure momentarily stiffened.
Moreover, small crimson flames emerged from its body.
"Buzz!"
Beedrill, in pain, couldn't help but cry out.
Burn status!
"Does it have the Flame Body trait?"
Flame Body: Has a certain probability to inflict a Burn status on Pokémon touching the body of those with this trait.
Of course, this trait has another effect outside of battle, which is halving the hatching time of Pokémon Eggs.
Beedrill's moves and combat techniques mostly belong to close-combat attacks, encountering such trait Pokémon is not friendly to Beedrill.
And Fire Energy inflicts more damage on Insect-type Beedrill.
If it were a normal one-on-one battle, even though Beedrill had hit Lampent, the situation would not have been favorable for it.
Unfortunately.
Natsuhiko wasn't planning to let Beedrill face it alone.
"Togepi, Healing Bell Sound."
"Togepii."
Togepi shook its body, amid the crisp sound of the Soothing Bell, merged sound waves flowed into Beedrill, swiftly extinguishing the burning flames on its body.
Seeing the sparks on Beedrill go out.
Lampent's yellow eyes flickered, its eerie blue flame swelled again, several swaying same-colored Ghost Fire flew out, plunging toward Beedrill, covering its movement range.
"Mysterious Guardian."
Then, upon receiving the command, Togepi twitched its small mouth, releasing a gleaming white light, which rapidly condensed around Beedrill's body into a thin barrier.
During the existence of Mysterious Guardian, it can protect Pokémon from abnormal status, confusion, and sleep status for a certain time.
Lampent's Ghost Fire happened to be blocked and resisted by the Mysterious Guardian.
Beedrill's red multifaceted eyes flickered, readjusting its stance, it launched another attack, folding its body to make it harder to be captured by the opponent.
On one of the Long Needles, earth-yellow light emerged, threads of Ground Energy intertwined.
Lampent quickly reacted, trembling as its body gradually shrank.
Trying to evade Beedrill's attack by using the minimize technique.
However, at the moment Beedrill's Direct Charge Drill struck out, in Lampent's eyes, it saw seven or eight almost identical shadows of attack, covering its minimized range entirely.
Lampent had never seen such an attack before, feeling somewhat panic-stricken, unsure which direction to dodge.
Ultimately, at the moment the tip of the Long Needle wrapped in substantial Ground Energy contacted its body, those shadows dissipated in an instant.
Bang—
As if catapulted, Lampent's body restored to its original size, suddenly flying backward.
Ground-type Techniques have an attribute advantage over it.
Natsuhiko deliberately increased Beedrill's range of attack, not just relying on the mastered Ground-type Direct Charge Drill, or the still learning Dark-type Smack Down, to avoid situations where there are no countermeasures when facing Pokémon with attribute suppression.
Moreover.
The good fortune this time is that the Direct Charge Drill hit Lampent's weak point, triggering Beedrill's Sniper trait.
Attribute control and massive damage directly caused Lampent to lose its combat capability when blasted against the wall.
Natsuhiko's eyes flashed.
The Pokeball was thrown.
Hit precisely.
Though this kind of Pokémon unconsciously causes harm to Trainers themselves, it is after all a Pokémon from the Unova Region and its numbers are not many, in the Kanto Region it can be sold as a rare Pokémon.
Thus, this Lampent seems to have Senior Level strength, worth quite some amount.
But the next moment, Natsuhiko's pupils suddenly shrank.
As the Pokeball struck Lampent in mid-air following a trajectory, the Pokeball did not open, rather it was bounced aside.
This Lampent.
Is not a Wild Pokémon!