Chapter 160: Sceptile vs. Golem
"Well then, allow me to go first. Golem, use Stealth Rock!"
Before Gavin's words had even faded, his Golem had already raised its claws, forming a cluster of transparent, sharp rocks in mid-air.
Their rapport is high. Much higher than Jace and his Charizard, Will thought, pursing his lips. To be blunt, in all his years in the Pokémon world, Gavin was the one who most resembled a true, future-era Trainer.
[Dig].
Will dove into the ground and vanished.
"?.. A Sceptile that knows Dig?"
Gavin was stunned. What kind of Sceptile burrows into the ground? It was common knowledge that Sceptile loved to run in open spaces or leap around in complex terrain. And most of them had proud, aloof personalities, disdaining the use of dirty tricks. A sneaky move like Dig was not something a Sceptile would normally learn. Gavin had been to the Hoenn region and had fought powerful Sceptile before, but this was the first time he had ever seen one use this move.
"However... Earthquake."
Gavin didn't hesitate for long. As the captain of the Mining Corps, even in a simple training match, he would go all out. Dazing off during a battle was not something he did.
"GOLEM!"
With a mighty roar, the Golem stomped the ground. A shockwave ripped through the training field, and many of the onlookers who weren't steady on their feet were knocked to the ground. But they didn't care about that; they were all looking at the figure that had been blasted out of the earth.
Will was thrown from the ground, did a flip in the air, and landed, wiping the dust from his face.
"Whew. Not bad," he grinned. The Golem's level wasn't low, around Lv. 63, about eight levels higher than his own. A Ground-type move's damage was halved against a Grass-type, so the effect wasn't too terrible.
As for what he was doing underground? He was setting up, of course. His Dragon Dance and Swords Dance were now fully stacked. His physical attack strength was at its peak.
"Stone Edge!"
Seeing Will standing still, Gavin decisively pressed the attack. In the sky, seven or eight sharp, yellowish-gray rocks formed and shot towards him.
[Leaf Storm].
Will whipped his tail, and a storm of leaves, wrapped in a visible green energy, converged into a tornado that swept forward, shredding the incoming Stone Edge and Stealth Rocks.
[Rock Tomb].
He stomped the ground, and five to six-meter-high stone pillars erupted from the earth, smashing the remaining invisible rocks and forming a field of obstacles.
"Rock Tomb? Why use it like that?"
"The ideas of wild Pokémon are different from ours. Just watch."
"I'm just curious why his rocks are so big. Isn't that a bit much?"
"Come to think of it, he's huge himself. That Sceptile is strange."
Will's use of Rock Tomb caused a stir among the crowd. Most didn't understand the strategy. But Will couldn't explain. Most Pokémon only use enough energy to get the desired effect. But he had to pour in much more energy to make these pillars taller and sturdier, enough to withstand his repeated stomps.
"Is that... to aid his movement?"
Gavin saw it at a glance. He immediately understood Will's intention. "A brilliant idea!" If you had never fought a Sceptile in a forest, you would never think of this. But Gavin had. He knew the difference in its combat power in a forest was like night and day.
The next moment, his judgment was confirmed. One after another, fast-moving Sceptile clones burst from behind the giant rocks.
[Double Team]. [Agility].
With the combination of these two skills, a dozen Sceptile began to weave and leap between the rocks on the field, rapidly closing in on the Golem. The Golem's eyes darted left and right. It was already difficult to track just one of them, let alone pick out the real one from so many.
In a situation like this, it all came down to the trainer's quick thinking.
"Golem! Gyro Ball! Let's use those rocks too!"
"GOLEM!"
Without a word, the Golem tucked in its head and limbs and turned into a high-speed spinning ball, crashing into the stone pillars. BOOM! The powerful Steel-type physical move shattered a pillar on impact, then ricocheted to the next. One by one, the pillars were destroyed, and one by one, the clones were dispersed. The scene that had made the scalps of so many trainers tingle had been dismantled with ease!
The trainers standing near Gavin were thrilled, feeling they had learned something.
But then, just as the Golem was rolling through a certain spot...
BOOM!
The ground suddenly exploded.
[Focus Blast].
A giant Sceptile burst from the earth, a golden, high-speed rotating energy ball in its hands, and slammed it upwards into the Golem's abdomen.
"GOLEM!!"
The Golem was blasted into the air, roaring in pain. The double damage from the Fighting-type move, combined with it being a special attack that matched Sceptile's stats, was super effective.
But Will's real killer move wasn't that.
[Extreme Speed].
He stared at the airborne Golem, kicked off the ground, and shot upwards in a streak of light. The Golem was in mid-air, almost completely unable to fight back. This was the best moment to intercept!
[Focus Energy].
[Leaf Blade].
The leaves on Will's arms suddenly extended, becoming two sharp blades glowing with green light.
SLASH!
One of the blades cut across the Golem's head. Its eyes rolled back, and it was on the verge of fainting. But its willpower was strong. It gritted its teeth and held on.
"Whoa!"
Now it was Will's turn to be surprised. A 4x super-effective hit, boosted by three Dragon Dances, three Swords Dances, the speed of Extreme Speed, and a critical hit from Focus Energy. Forget his own enhanced stats; even a normal Sceptile would have had a high chance of a one-hit KO, unless the Golem had the "Sturdy" ability. And he had even used Focus Blast first just in case.
But this Golem had still held on. The concept of "willpower," something that doesn't exist in the games, was truly terrifying. It was like a second ability. In a life-or-death battle, the effect of this willpower was immeasurable. Just look at the movies and manga. The combination of bond and will was strong enough to bring the dead back to life, to forcibly twist the timeline, to allow an ordinary Pokémon to one-shot a god...
But in a small, ordinary battle like this... It's up to the trainer's choice, Will thought, looking at Gavin. If he forced the Golem to keep fighting, and it managed to grab him and use Explosion... with its 250 base power, its high Attack stat, and its eight-level advantage... it might just be able to take Will down with it.
But first, it had to "grab him." That alone was almost impossible. And Will still had his Focus Band.
"Golem, return. You've worked hard," Gavin said, making the wise choice. Forcing it to continue would only cause it more pain. There was no point. Even if it managed to take Will down, it would be meaningless. This was just an insignificant little match; there was no prize money or trophy. It would only result in both Pokémon being seriously injured. Even worse, an Explosion from a Golem of this level had a 100% chance of taking out some of the spectators and weaker Pokémon with it. And that "taking out" didn't just mean fainting.
"I lost! Sceptile, you are the strongest Sceptile I have ever met. Bar none," Gavin said, giving Will a decisive thumbs-up and a grin. He wasn't too upset about his defeat. This was also a characteristic of this era. Because the competitive scene was not yet intense, most trainers' desire to win was not particularly strong. Even if they lost, they could quickly recover and not be discouraged.
They just loved the activity of Pokémon battling and enjoyed the feeling of fighting alongside their partners.
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