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"Eddie! Are you out of options? I'm taking the victory in this battle!"
Although Blaine was a Researcher, he was also an Elite-level trainer. No one would believe he didn't have a strong desire to win.
In this Gym battle, Blaine had already lost three matches in a row. He hadn't said anything about it, and Eddie hadn't mocked him, but deep down, losing three consecutive battles weighed heavily on him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have chosen Houndoom—a Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution—as his fourth fighter.
Mega Tyranitar had battled Magmortar earlier. Although it seemed energetic now and looked like it could take on ten more opponents, it had been hit by Magmortar's final Hyper Beam. While it couldn't be called severely injured, roughly one-third of its HP had been depleted.
"As long as this Inferno hits Mega Tyranitar, it'll take massive damage! Even if you manage to weaken Inferno's power somehow, your Mega Tyranitar will inevitably be burned! A burned Mega Tyranitar won't be able to defeat Mega Houndoom!"
Blaine had fought intensely up to this point, and Eddie had awakened his competitive spirit as a trainer. Despite being a Researcher, he even roared with passion.
As he finished speaking, dozens of flame pillars formed by Inferno directly surrounded and engulfed Mega Tyranitar.
As the dozens of flame pillars swallowed Mega Tyranitar, they began merging together to form a massive pillar of fire that shot toward the sky.
They had to be thankful that Blaine's Gym had a skylight. It seemed that when he'd built this Gym, he'd already anticipated that his attacks would have such dramatic effects.
But back to the matter at hand. From what could be seen, this Inferno had seemingly hit Mega Tyranitar perfectly.
When the attack struck Mega Tyranitar, neither Eddie nor his Pokémon made any visible move, as if they'd simply given up.
"...No. Eddie wouldn't give up. Even if he couldn't avoid it, he'd try his best to reduce the damage."
Blaine realized something was wrong. In his experience with Eddie, the young trainer had never given up like this. Even when he couldn't dodge an attack, he should have tried his hardest to minimize the damage. Doing nothing wasn't his style at all.
"No! He definitely did something! I just didn't notice it."
"Mega Houndoom! Fall back—quickly retreat and see what's happening!"
Blaine knew that if he did nothing now, he'd definitely fall into another one of Eddie's traps.
He'd been caught off guard several times already. This time, he finally became alert and retreated before the situation became completely clear.
In fact, his decision was correct, because at that moment, he saw Eddie smiling brightly.
"Blaine, this time you noticed something was off and retreated immediately."
Eddie's lips curved into a wicked smile, wearing an expression of absolute confidence.
"Unfortunately, retreating now won't help you!"
"Mega Tyranitar! Attack Mega Houndoom!"
Mega Houndoom had already retreated quite far, but pulling back further was useless—because Mega Tyranitar wasn't on the ground anymore. It was underground!
"ROAAAR!"
Beneath Mega Houndoom's feet, the ground suddenly cracked open, and Mega Tyranitar burst from below, striking Mega Houndoom with tremendous force.
Although Mega Tyranitar was no longer a Ground-type Pokémon after Mega Evolution, Ground-type moves still dealt double damage to Fire-type Pokémon, so Mega Houndoom took a devastating hit.
"Hoowwwl!"
As Mega Houndoom cried out in pain, it was knocked back several meters by Mega Tyranitar's attack.
"That's Dig! How is that possible?!"
Blaine was shocked. He immediately looked back toward the spot where Inferno had supposedly hit Mega Tyranitar.
But there was no tunnel entrance there. Instead, there was one several meters behind that location.
"It retreated before Inferno hit and dodged it, then used Dig?!"
"No! Inferno completely surrounded Mega Tyranitar. Even if it retreated, the attack would have followed. In other words, Mega Tyranitar retreated after being 'hit'!"
Blaine thought it through and analyzed the entire sequence of events.
"But how was Mega Tyranitar able to retreat after being hit? And it doesn't look injured at all. Eddie, what did you do?"
Although he'd analyzed the process, Blaine still couldn't figure out how Eddie had made Mega Tyranitar retreat while under attack, and why it clearly hadn't taken any damage at all.
"It's simple. I had Mega Tyranitar use Protect."
"Protect?! Your Tyranitar knows that move?! How long have you been training it?"
Blaine felt more shocked today than he had been watching the battle between Legendary Pokémon yesterday. Eddie's training abilities were truly extraordinary.
However, despite his surprise, Blaine continued listening to Eddie's explanation.
"Protect completely shielded Mega Tyranitar. After the attack hit the barrier, it took a few steps backward. Then, when your vision was blocked by the fire pillar, it used Dig to approach Mega Houndoom underground."
"Although you seemed to notice something was wrong, Blaine, as long as you didn't know Mega Tyranitar was underground, there was no way you could defend against its attack. Even retreating further was useless!"
Having said that, Eddie waved his hand, ready to press his advantage and give Mega Tyranitar its next command.
"Mega Tyranitar, use Stone Edge to finish this!"
"ROAAR!"
Mega Tyranitar roared once more, channeling energy into the ground again. Thousands of sharp stone spikes erupted across the battlefield.
This time, Mega Tyranitar could see exactly where its opponent was and controlled the sharp stones to attack Mega Houndoom directly.
"Tch! Am I really going to lose four matches in a row? No—I have to take down Mega Tyranitar in this battle!"
"Mega Houndoom! Don't dodge the attack—charge straight ahead and use Foul Play!"
Blaine didn't try to evade the attack this time. Instead, he ordered Mega Houndoom to rush directly toward Mega Tyranitar, attempting a mutual knockout strategy!