Chapter 256: No Comparison, No Pain
Nidoking dove from the air. Hatterene saw it coming but had nowhere to dodge.
Its speed was far too slow, and now that the Trick Room was active again, it had locked down its enemy but also trapped itself.
For a moment, all Hatterene could do was sway its slender body, like a piece of seaweed drifting in the wind.
Nidoking paid it no mind. After landing, it closed the distance and wrapped its arms around Hatterene, then plunged deep into its opponent's body… with its horn.
A burst of poison energy erupted. In an instant, the spot where Hatterene was struck turned a dark, sickly purple.
But then, a halo of light flashed, and the purple faded significantly.
Hatterene's ability: Healer. It could periodically and automatically cure itself and its nearby allies of status conditions.
The poison status was cured.
But the damage from the blow was very real!
Most importantly, Nidoking had successfully gotten up close to Hatterene!
From now on, as long as Trick Room remained active, the two were destined to be locked in a close-quarters struggle. Neither could escape.
After pulling out its horn, Nidoking continued to hold Hatterene, pulling it in even tighter as its arms squeezed with immense force.
It unleashed a deadly embrace!
Normally, under the effect of its Rivalry ability, Nidoking would have gone easy on the female Hatterene.
But luckily, there was a male Torkoal not far away on the field.
Whenever Nidoking's resolve softened, it would just glance over at Torkoal and immediately find new motivation.
Then, with a surge of strength in its arms, it let out a grunt: "Urgh!"
As its muscles tensed, the Hatterene in its grasp suddenly went limp and lifeless…
The scene was, for some reason, filled with a philosophical aura.
Meanwhile, following Arthur's command, Lapras turned its attention to suppressing Torkoal with continuous Water Guns.
To be precise, what she was shooting now looked less like a Water Gun and more like a series of water arrows.
The volume of water was small, but the firing speed was incredibly fast, even capable of piercing thin wooden planks, like bolts from a powerful crossbow!
Most importantly, the frequency of these water arrows was extremely high—one per second!
Torkoal, still in the long cooldown period after using a major move, was completely overwhelmed. All it could do was retract its head into its shell, not daring to show its face.
Even with Drought weakening the power of Water-type moves, being repeatedly shot in vital spots like the eyes and nose was still very painful.
From the players' bench, the opposing trainer yelled desperately.
"Torkoal, don't be scared, fight back! If you can't use a move, hit back with steam!"
Torkoal was a large Pokémon. Even without access to its moves, it wasn't completely helpless. The high-temperature steam it could spew was still capable of inflicting significant damage.
But here, the weakness of a lesser team was exposed—
For a moment, the trainer couldn't get his Torkoal to obey.
The man stood on the sidelines, his face flushed red with a mixture of anxiety and anger.
He was anxious because he was completely out of options.
He was angry because, as a veteran, his performance was worse than that of a mere rookie on the other side.
Just a moment ago, with a single command from Arthur, Little Lapras had immediately carried Nidoking—who was heavier than her—and then charged headfirst into a Fire Blast without so much as a whimper.
As the saying goes: comparing people can be deadly, and comparing products gets them thrown out.
When you didn't have a direct comparison, it wasn't so obvious. But now, with the two side-by-side, the difference was starkly clear.
His main Pokémon, which he had battled with for years as a veteran, was performing worse than a rookie's third Pokémon.
How humiliating!
But Torkoal had already retreated into its shell and given up. It was unresponsive to his verbal commands and telepathic pleas. What could he do? He was feeling pretty hopeless himself!
Meanwhile, the intimate struggle between Nidoking and Hatterene entered its second round.
"Use Psyshock to push him away!"
"Hold on tight, keep using Poison Jab!"
Hatterene tried to use the powerful shockwave created by Psyshock to blast Nidoking away.
But Asher was prepared. He had Nidoking hold on for dear life, like a clingy admirer.
However, this admirer had it all, once again thrusting a part of itself deep into Hatterene's body—its horn, that is.
And it furiously injected its essence—its poison energy, that is.
Both sides were efficiently damaging each other.
The Psychic-type Psyshock was super-effective against Nidoking, and in turn, the Poison-type Poison Jab was super-effective against Hatterene.
In this situation, both of their conditions were deteriorating rapidly. The introduction of even a small external variable could be the last straw that broke the camel's back.
And as it happened, Arthur loved giving people straws.
"Lapras, Brine!"
After completely suppressing Torkoal into a turtling coward with Water Gun, Little Lapras seized an opportunity, suddenly turning her head to switch targets.
She spat a mouthful of saltwater directly onto the wound on Hatterene's body, the one Nidoking's horn had been repeatedly entering and exiting.
Brine, a Water-type move: attack the enemy with energy-infused saltwater. If sprayed on an enemy's wound, it causes excruciating pain and damage!
This move was literally rubbing salt in the wound!
The moment the brine hit, Hatterene's cry shot up by dozens of decibels, its pitch rising by at least three octaves.
Hatterene's trainer immediately glared at his teammate.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
It's one thing if you don't help while I'm getting beaten up, but you can't even keep a rookie's brand-new Pokémon in check?!
Are you trying to throw the match?!
Torkoal's trainer could only offer a bitter smile.
In this matchup, his Torkoal was the one acting like a rookie, while the opposing Lapras looked like a god of war!
This whole script felt wrong, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Ganged up on two-on-one, Hatterene was on the verge of collapsing. At this moment, its trainer remembered to try and save it.
"Quick, use Life Dew!"
At the same time, Torkoal finally came back online, using Fire Spin to trap Little Lapras in a vortex of fire, preventing her from interfering any further.
However, Arthur was ready.
"Lapras, use Bulldoze!"
"Nidoking, give it the final Poison Jab!"
Both Pokémon acted at once!
Lapras raised its flippers and slammed them down hard. A circular shockwave, ignoring the fiery vortex, spread out across the ground without needing to aim.
It was an area-of-effect attack, unfazed by the vortex's confinement!
The two moves hit one after the other. Even with Life Dew providing a small heal, Hatterene couldn't hold on.
It collapsed before it even had a chance to use Protect.
Although the shockwave from Bulldoze had also hit its own teammate, Nidoking, it was still worth it.
Arthur's side had taken the first Pokémon!
Shortly after, Torkoal, perhaps realizing the dire situation, stopped slacking off. It fought back with a desperate burst of power and managed to take out the heavily injured Nidoking.
But soon after, the duration of Trick Room ran out.
And this time, there was no Hatterene to extend the field for Torkoal.
"Time to glide, Lapras!"
With a command from Arthur, Little Lapras sang out with joy, her entire body radiating happiness.
Without the restriction of the field, the girl as free as the wind was back!
At this point, the commentator had completely switched sides.
"What a great play by Lapras!"
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