I have added this story to my Patreon. You can support me and read the 50 latest and advanced chapters there. It also fed and motivate me to write more chapters!
Free Members will get 10 Chapters Ahead of the schedule on Patreon!!!
Link: Patreon.com/AVRKingsTL
—------------------—
Under the explosive charge of Flare Blitz, Annihilape was dragged backward, scraping across the ground until it reached the edge of the arena, while Arcanine maintained its Flare Blitz posture, pressing against Annihilape, seemingly unwilling to stop until Annihilape's last shred of stamina was exhausted.
"Now! Rage Fist!" Annihilape's predicament did not cause Ash to show the slightest panic; everything was within his control.
The one in the most danger right now was not Annihilape, but Arcanine!
At this range, and while still executing Flare Blitz, it was virtually impossible for Arcanine to dodge or use Protect to block Annihilape's Rage Fist, so he was guaranteed to be hit by this blow!
Annihilape kept one arm raised in defense while the other was already positioned at its waist, gathering power, and punching out!
"Boom!!" An incredibly terrifying black shadow shot out from Annihilape's fist, transforming into a highly intimidating punch. The black fist shadow was even slightly larger than Arcanine's body.
Arcanine, still engulfed in flames, was directly blasted away by the enormous black fist, exploding midway through its flight!
"Rumble!!" The Rage Fist landed directly, and a huge cloud of smoke enveloped the center of the arena. Annihilape remained standing in its punching posture, and judging by the continuous gasps of breath coming from it, it had not yet fainted.
As for Arcanine inside the smoke cloud, its condition was unknown. The sudden turn of events stunned Gary; just a moment ago, Annihilape had been completely suppressed by Flare Blitz, so how did the situation reverse in the blink of an eye?
And what in the world was that punch? Why was its power even greater than before!
Gary had noticed when Annihilape used Rage Fist to defeat Alakazam earlier that the power of Annihilape's Rage Fist seemed to have increased. If the increase had been slight, his eyesight might not have caught it, but the power difference was nearly double —it would be impossible not to notice that.
But Gary hadn't paid much attention at the time, believing Annihilape might have been experiencing a final burst of energy, which allowed it to land such a punch.
However, he never expected that this burst of energy was recurring —it was still happening now!
The power of this punch was even stronger than when it hit Alakazam before, and not by a small margin.
What? Is it that the lower its HP, the higher its attack power? But that doesn't seem right either. During the battle against Alakazam, Annihilape's stamina should have already been reduced to its absolute minimum.
If its stamina were quantified, Annihilape's HP shouldn't have exceeded twenty points. Now, after being hit by Flare Blitz, even if it barely endured the damage, its HP would only have dropped from twenty points to one point.
With just that tiny decrease in stamina, how did the power of this Rage Fist undergo another qualitative change?
If the previous Rage Fist was an Advanced move, the current Rage Fist had already reached the level of a Top-tier move, the same tier as Explosion/Blast Burn.
Naturally, there's no need to elaborate on how terrifying an Explosion/Blast Burn without drawbacks is. The punch Annihilape just delivered was exactly that —an Explosion/Blast Burn without drawbacks, perhaps at the cost of reducing its own stamina to the absolute minimum... Could this move be similar to Reversal?
While Gary was filled with doubt, the smoke on the field slowly dissipated, revealing Arcanine's figure inside. Arcanine was lying on the ground and looked like it wouldn't be able to stand up again.
With one move, Arcanine was instantly knocked out. Gary had actually anticipated this scenario; if Arcanine hadn't fainted, it definitely would have burst out of the smoke and delivered a decisive blow to Annihilape.
However, nearly ten seconds passed with no movement inside the smoke. It would be impossible for Arcanine to still be able to battle.
Nevertheless, when Gary truly saw Arcanine fall, his eyes seemed distant, and he felt a huge sense of disappointment.
Why... they were so close, yet why couldn't they defeat Annihilape?
If before there had been no hope at all, this was the moment with the greatest hope, yet under these circumstances, a full-stamina Arcanine was instantly knocked out by the opponent. He had even brought out the Extreme Speed combination move that he and Arcanine had practiced for who knows how long.
The combination of Extreme Speed and Flare Blitz was definitely a one-hit knockout level move for anyone seeing it for the first time.
Yet, the result was still his defeat. Gary weakly recalled Arcanine. Ash saw Gary's expression and his mouth moved slightly, seemingly wanting to say something, but in the end, he kept silent.
He believed Gary would pull himself together.
Gary did not disappoint Ash's expectations. After his initial feeling of powerlessness, he took a deep breath, and his face immediately regained its look of fighting spirit.
He still had four Pokémon left; the outcome hadn't been decided yet. Why should he give up?
"Third one, I choose you, Pidgeot!" Gary's third Pokémon was Pidgeot!
Normally possessing Mach 2 speed, after training, it could even reach Mach 3 or Mach 4. This was equivalent to three or four times the speed of sound. In terms of speed, even among all Pokémon, Pidgeot's speed was quite respectable.
Furthermore, sending out Pidgeot provided complete type suppression against Annihilape; Annihilape's Ghost typing had no effect on Pidgeot, while Pidgeot's Flying typing countered Annihilape's Fighting-type.
Actually, Pidgeot would have been a better choice for the second Pokémon than Arcanine, but Gary was too eager for success and wanted to rely on an absolute first strike to completely overwhelm Annihilape!
On the other hand, Gary was simply too wary of Ash; even when Annihilape looked like a flickering candle in the wind, he still felt that Annihilape possessed the power to turn the tables.
That was why he wanted to eliminate Annihilape quickly. The result was a double loss: not only did he fail to defeat Annihilape, but Annihilape turned the tide and instantly knocked out Arcanine.
The Pidgeot Gary sent out was only Mid-Professional level. Compared to his first two Pokémon, its level was indeed somewhat underwhelming, but it was already a pillar of strength within Gary's team. Excluding Blastoise and the first two Pokémon, Pidgeot was the fourth highest level.
This was also why Gary hadn't used Pidgeot against Annihilape initially; trusting Arcanine was one factor, and the level difference was another.
But now, there was no Pokémon better suited to dealing with Annihilape than Pidgeot.
"Pidgeot... Gary still has such a tricky Pokémon..." Ash felt a sense of unease upon seeing Pidgeot. If it were any other Pokémon, it might be fine, but Normal-type Pidgeot was immune to Annihilape's Rage Fist.
The inability to knock out the opponent in a single move was extremely disadvantageous for Annihilape.
In this situation, the best course of action would be to recall Annihilape, but after Ash and Annihilape exchanged a glance, he understood Annihilape's intentions: it wanted to continue fighting!
Regardless of winning or losing, it wanted to fight until the very last moment to conclude its first battle since evolving.
"I understand. Then let's continue, Annihilape! Let Gary see our resolve!" Ash nodded, deciding to let Annihilape stay on the field!
"You're still using Annihilape in this situation? If I didn't know you, Ash, I'd think you were giving me the win! But I won't hold back. Pidgeot, use Air Slash!" Continuing to battle with a Pokémon that had virtually no stamina left —wasn't this just handing over the victory?
But this was Ash. Until the very last moment, you would never know what kind of power his Pokémon could unleash. Even if it was lying prone on the ground, as long as it hadn't fainted, he might suddenly jump up and slap you senseless!
Although that description was a bit exaggerated, that was Gary's impression of Ash. This guy was a walking miracle, so nothing unreasonable that happened around him was surprising.
Following Gary's command, Pidgeot in the sky flapped its wings, unleashing countless blades of air formed by pure white energy.
The Air Slashes rained down like dense raindrops, blocking off every possible escape route around Annihilape. It looked like Annihilape had no choice but to take the hit.
"Detect."
Given Annihilape's current strength, even using Protect would make it difficult to defend against so many Air Slashes. As long as Pidgeot kept up the attack, Annihilape would definitely be worn down and defeated.
Therefore, Ash chose to use Detect, a defensive move on the same level as Protect!
The move Detect allows the user to see flaws in all attack paths. If evasion is possible, the body will automatically dodge. Only when dodging is truly impossible will Detect control the body to block the opponent's attack move with the minimal possible damage.
Essentially, this is a move similar to Protect; as long as the opponent's attack level doesn't exceed the user's too much, the damage can be completely avoided.
Moreover, this move consumes relatively less energy, focusing mainly on evasion. However, where there are advantages, there are naturally disadvantages.
The disadvantage is that if an un-dodgeable attack is encountered, taking the hit will result in damage. Even if the damage is minimal, if Annihilape takes any damage, using Detect becomes meaningless, at least for Annihilape's current state.
Even the slightest damage could likely defeat the current Annihilape, so Annihilape had to dodge every single attack without being touched even once!
"Swish, swish, swish!!" The Air Slashes continuously fell from the sky. Annihilape's figure on the ground kept dodging, narrowly evading the Air Slashes by mere millimeters, with no wasted motion.
The only sounds on the field were Annihilape's constant evasions and the Air Slashes slicing through the air and hitting the ground.
The storm of blades hitting the ground kicked up a large cloud of dust. After continuing the attack for more than ten seconds, Pidgeot finally ceased its assault.
Annihilape's figure on the field was now obscured by the spreading smoke, becoming invisible.
"Annihilape, use Outrage!!!"
Gary: ???
The surrounding spectators: ???
The command to use Outrage completely baffled Gary and the surrounding spectators. As everyone knew, Outrage was the ultimate Dragon-type move, a last-ditch effort used by Dragon-type Pokémon when cornered to turn the tide.
Once the move's duration ended, the user would attack indiscriminately, regardless of friend or foe.
Even among Dragon-type Pokémon, this was an extremely difficult move to learn. How could you, a non-Dragon-type Pokémon, use Outrage?
"Could Annihilape have the Dragon type?!" If Bruno had been excited when he saw Annihilape before, now it was Lance's turn to be excited.
If Annihilape really possessed the Dragon type, he truly wouldn't mind getting one. After all, being able to learn Outrage immediately upon evolving showed how high the purity of this Pokémon's Dragon type must be!
Even for Pokémon whose names included 'Dragon,' like Charizard and Aerodactyl, learning Outrage was extremely difficult.
But now, a monkey had managed to use Outrage immediately after evolving! You still dare say you aren't a Dragon-type Pokémon!!
...Regardless of the shock of the surrounding people, Annihilape's Outrage was already underway. Outrage is a move that unleashes all of the user's power in a wild, chaotic frenzy, a move with significant drawbacks but immense power.
Annihilape burst out of the smoke, its cauldron-sized fists slamming fiercely into Pidgeot, then switching to kicks aimed at Pidgeot's abdomen. Its four limbs instantly transformed into fighting machines, continuously bombarding Pidgeot's body, even causing Pidgeot to momentarily hover in the air due to the sheer force, unable to fall!
Pidgeot was relentlessly struck by Annihilape, its face showing signs of pain. Although Outrage did not have a type advantage, the base power of the move was simply too high. Combined with Annihilape being a level higher than Pidgeot, and its attack power exceeding its own level, it was hard to say if Pidgeot could withstand this machine-gun-like assault for much longer.
"Pidgeot, break free! Fly up!!" Gary shouted, urging Pidgeot to escape, but Pidgeot was already completely trapped in the vortex of Annihilape's fists and feet.
It was being attacked all over its body. Unless it could find a gap in Annihilape's assault or forcefully endure the blows to push Annihilape away, neither condition would be easy to fulfill.
Annihilape was currently employing a desperate, all-out fighting style, knowing that this was its final swan song.
When a gap appeared in Annihilape's attack, it would also signify that Annihilape had completely burned itself out.
"Boom!!" As the final loud crash erupted in the air, Annihilape finally exhausted all its strength and plummeted from the sky.
Pidgeot also fell alongside it. Seeing this, Ash immediately dashed onto the field, reaching the center of the arena in the blink of an eye and steadily catching the falling Annihilape. Pidgeot, on the other side, did not have such a powerful Trainer to help it; it crashed directly onto the ground with a dull thud...