Chapter 107: Misty Terrain

Lian observed Tanner's chosen Pokemon, an Audino—a Normal-type like his own. Clearly, Tanner favored using Normal-type Pokemon as a Trainer.

Lian promptly released Smokescreen, enveloping Audino in dense black fog, obstructing its view and preventing immediate attacks.

Smokescreen has always been a useful move, making it challenging for Audino to discern directions, thus becoming somewhat passive.

"Audino, use Light Screen," Tanner commanded, surprisingly not initiating an attack but instructing Audino to create a Light Screen.

Within the smoke, a shimmering Light Screen gradually formed, its translucent rainbow hues faintly visible amidst the haze.

"Charmeleon, use Flamethrower," Kalia responded simultaneously. Taking advantage of the Blaze ability boost and the cover provided by the smoke, this was the optimal moment to unleash Flamethrower.

However, Lian did not follow Kalia's command. Instead, he seemed to have anticipated Tanner's strategy and refrained from using Flamethrower.

Despite Lian delaying his Flamethrower move, someone with keen eyesight could have noticed a sudden appearance of a Fire Spin near Audino amidst the dense smoke.

Due to the obscuring Smokescreen, Tanner didn't spot the Fire Spin and instead commanded, "Audino, use Wish."

Wish is a status-type move that, after a delay, brings healing blessings to restore a Pokemon's injuries.

Since Audino wasn't injured, it was clear that the intended recipient for healing was Zangoose.

Lian had realized from the start that Audino lacked significant offensive capabilities, serving primarily as a support Pokemon. Consequently, Zangoose must be Tanner's main battling force.

Thus, all of Audino's moves were designed to assist Zangoose, which also explained why Tanner swiftly switched Pokemon. If Zangoose fell, relying solely on Audino would make the battle significantly challenging.

This was precisely why Lian chose not to follow Kalia's command immediately. Facing Audino alone posed little pressure, but if Zangoose recovered its injuries while having Light Screen to mitigate damage, the situation would become dire.

With the Smokescreen obscuring visibility, neither Audino nor Tanner noticed the Fire Spin until it was too late.

As the smoke began to dissipate, Tanner saw Audino trapped within a swirling vortex of flames, feeling quite astonished.

"How is this possible?"

For the first time, Tanner's expression changed, realizing that with Audino ensnared by the Fire Spin, he couldn't recall it and switch to Zangoose.

Kalia also recognized the situation, understanding Tanner's strategy: if Audino successfully cast Wish before switching to Zangoose...

Once the healing effects of Wish kicked in, Zangoose's injuries would rapidly recover, posing significant danger to Charmeleon.

Kalia marveled as she observed Charmeleon utilizing the cover of Smokescreen to seamlessly unleash Fire Spin, catching even Audino off guard.

This seemed like a strategic move combination. Fire Spin inherently had the drawback of being easily evaded, but when combined with Smokescreen's obscuring effect, it could effectively create a whirlpool within the smoke.

Now, the swirling flames completely surrounded Audino, engulfing its body with intense heat and continuous burning, hindering its movement significantly.

Upon hearing Tanner's command, Audino closed its eyes and initiated Wish, beginning to silently pray.

At this point, using Wish was somewhat futile, as Audino was trapped within the Fire Spin and couldn't escape quickly, making it impossible to return to its Poké Ball immediately.

Even if Wish were cast now, once activated, it would only heal Audino instead of Zangoose later on.

Seeing Audino ensnared by the Fire Spin, Kalia's eyes lit up. In essence, Fire Spin could be considered a trapping move, allowing difficult-to-land attacks to hit more easily.

"Charmeleon, use Will-O-Wisp."

Kalia was aware that her Charmeleon had learned Will-O-Wisp, making it the ideal choice at this moment.

With Audino trapped within the Fire Spin, unable to swiftly maneuver, and Light Screen reducing the potency of special moves, coupled with Wish's healing effect coming into play shortly, inducing an abnormal status on Audino seemed like a strategic move. The continuous burn from Fire Spin, combined with the Burn condition, would synergize perfectly with Charmeleon's Flamethrower attack once it enters Blaze Mode.

At that point, even with Light Screen and Wish active, Audino wouldn't easily withstand such onslaught.

By defeating Audino, Zangoose would lose its ability to recover through supportive moves, virtually securing Kalia's victory.

Even if Charmeleon were defeated, Grovyle still awaited as backup.

The reason Zangoose didn't continue attacking earlier, aiming to quickly defeat Charmeleon with Quick Attack, was because doing so might leave it vulnerable to be taken down by the next Pokémon.

Clearly, Tanner had meticulously analyzed all of Kalia's Pokémon possibilities, which was quite alarming.

However, by prioritizing stability too much, he inadvertently granted Kalia a moment to catch her breath. This allowed her to seize the opportunity and exploit his tactical error.

Lian promptly unleashed Will-O-Wisp, generating a swirling mass of purple flames that floated towards Audino. If released directly at normal speed, the opponent could easily evade it.

But in this situation, any slight struggle from Audino would result in getting burned by the Fire Spin, trapping it within the inferno, making escape impossible.

"Audino, use Misty Terrain!" Tanner swiftly responded as soon as he saw Kalia command Charmeleon to employ Will-O-Wisp.

Kalia's expression shifted. Misty Terrain is a field-type move that creates a pink mist covering the battle arena floor, preventing all Pokemon within it from entering any abnormal status conditions.

Realizing that Tanner's Audino had already learned Misty Terrain posed a significant challenge for Kalia. Now, Will-O-Wisp became largely ineffective unless she could first inflict a Burn on Audino before deploying the move.

However, considering the speed of Will-O-Wisp, it still had some distance to reach Audino. More importantly, despite enduring the burning from Fire Spin, Audino gradually started pulling away.

Simultaneously, Audino released Misty Terrain, filling the surroundings with Fairy-type energy. The entire battlefield instantly became shrouded in a layer of pink mist, creating a hazy atmosphere.

When Will-O-Wisp struck Audino, flames clung to its body. But within the next moment, with a hissing sound, as the flames came into contact with the pink mist, it seemed like a chemical reaction occurred, causing the flames to rapidly dissipate.

Misty Terrain can prevent new abnormal conditions but cannot remove existing ones. However, Will-O-Wisp evidently failed to inflict Burn on Audino.

At that instant, a beam of light suddenly appeared above Audino's head and descended upon it, resembling a divine blessing.

It was the effect of the Wish move, now transforming into healing energy to treat Audino.