Chapter 149: Flame Cage

As Staraptor charged towards him, Lian instantly unleashed his speed, evading its Wing Attack.

His mastery of Explosive Power was now highly proficient. Whenever encountering difficult-to-dodge moves, he relied on burst acceleration to typically avoid them, except for those with tracking capabilities.

After dodging the wing strike, Lian noticed that the discomfort had vanished—the rain had stopped falling. Looking up, he saw the dark clouds had dispersed, revealing clear skies once again.

Apparently, Zapdos, due to continuous battling, could no longer maintain Rain Dance and sustain the rainy weather.

Lian's spirits lifted immediately; finally, it was sunny again. Now, Fire-type moves would no longer be weakened.

However, he still prepared to use Dragon Breath. Having failed to induce Paralysis the first time, Lian remained confident it would work on the second attempt. Only when facing a paralyzed Staraptor would he feel absolutely secure in combat.

Staraptor is faster than Braviary, and this particular Staraptor clearly matched or surpassed the strength of Lian's Braviary. Without the advantage of speed, considering the level disparity, Lian stood little chance against Staraptor.

"Staraptor, use Double Team!"

At that moment, the mysterious figure issued a command. Hearing it, Staraptor promptly created five to six duplicates, surrounding Lian.

Lian felt increasingly challenged. The opponent was not a novice but a formidable Trainer with a powerful Staraptor. Now, using Dragon Breath would be ineffective as it couldn't discern the true form amidst the clones.

"Well then, let's give this move a try."

In the system space, Lian had developed numerous Fire-type moves, including some specifically designed to alter their forms. One such move was perfect for countering Double Team.

The clones generated by Double Team were non-offensive and would dissipate upon being hit by any move, making them vulnerable to area-of-effect attacks while resistant to single-target moves. However, against wide-ranging techniques, they could easily be exposed.

Lian didn't currently have a large-scale Fire-type move, but one of the Fire-type moves he developed within the system space could effectively counter Double Team.

He opened his mouth, gathering flames inside, and began spinning rapidly. As he rotated, the flames erupted outward in sync with his movement.

With each spin, scorching flames sprayed in all directions, engulfing the shadow clones surrounding Lian. Naturally, these clones were consumed by the flames and gradually disappeared.

This move wasn't particularly powerful. Initially, Lian aimed to create a tornado-like fire technique by spinning rapidly and generating continuous whirls around him, forming a fiery vortex.

However, he soon realized that spinning in reality would only make him dizzy and hinder his speed. To achieve rapid rotation effectively, mastering a skill like Rapid Spin would be ideal, but unfortunately, Lian couldn't learn it, so he had to abandon the idea.

Despite its limitations, the move still produced decent results. Although the swirling flames appeared weak, the Double Team clones were inherently fake, and upon contact with the flames, they instantly dissipated, leaving behind only the genuine Staraptor.

Lian stopped, feeling slightly disoriented. This move is best suited for Pokemon capable of high-speed rotations, as their swift spins can generate a flaming vortex. While lacking immense power, it provides strong defensive capabilities.

The most effective forms for releasing Fire-type moves are typically jets or explosions, which are also the most common methods, maximizing the potency of the flames.

Although this move may seem flashy, it actually consumes very little fire energy, serving as one of its advantages. Unfortunately, it doesn't align well with Charmeleon's abilities; otherwise, it could have been quite impressive.

Without utilizing body rotation to assist, Lian estimated that he would need at least a 50% Control Rating to spontaneously create such high-speed spinning flames.

This move could serve as an effective defensive strategy in the future, consuming minimal fire energy while providing protection—a truly excellent application of the technique.

"Caught on already? No matter, Staraptor, use Brave Bird!" The mysterious trainer continued issuing commands, somewhat surprised that Charmeleon had cracked Double Team. However, this wasn't a regular battle, and he didn't care if his Pokemon sustained fatal injuries; thus, he directly ordered Staraptor to employ Brave Bird.

Despite hearing the mysterious trainer's command, Lian remained unfazed. He was about to unleash a modified version of Flame Splitter, which he named Flame Cage—an advanced iteration of the original move.

Essentially, upon impact with Flamethrower, the flames would instantly split, forming a cage-like structure to trap the opponent. This concept was inspired by the Inferno move, where flames envelop the adversary. However, Inferno requires significant amounts of fire energy, necessitating both exceptional control and risking easy evasion by opponents due to its complexity.

Lian's Flame Cage was essentially a simplified version of Inferno, utilizing Flame Splitter to divide the fire into at least four streams, trapping the opponent directly. Although Lian hadn't tested it yet, there was no hindrance in deploying it now.

He had practiced this move countless times within the system space, and those memories were firmly stored in his mind. When using it for real, aside from limitations in Control Rating, there was minimal resistance.

After launching Flamethrower towards Staraptor, just as it was about to hit, Lian exerted his strong Control Rating to split the flames, creating four separate streams that instantly enveloped Staraptor.

This move resembled Fire Spin somewhat; however, while Fire Spin relied on rotational force to bind the opponent, Flame Cage directly immobilized them with fire. Although its power is slightly reduced compared to Inferno, it inherited one unique effect: a high chance of inflicting Burn status.

When Inferno hits an opponent, due to the extensive coverage of flames, it nearly guarantees inducing a Burn state. Similarly, Lian's Flame Cage excels by covering a large area of the opponent's body with flames, significantly increasing the likelihood of causing Burn status.

While not guaranteed at 100%, it still had an approximately 80-90% chance, which is terrifyingly high in combat scenarios, practically equivalent to certainty.

Four strands of flames ensnared Staraptor's body, resembling red-hot chains that continuously inflicted burns and restricted its movements.

This was Lian's first use of Flame Cage, and it appeared quite effective. However, given Staraptor's higher level, within less than ten seconds, it forcefully broke free from the fiery confinement.

Lian wasn't surprised; unlike Fire Spin, the Flame Cage cannot be sustained for long periods, with its binding strength gradually weakening until escape becomes inevitable.

Nevertheless, it served its purpose. By being tightly bound by flames for nearly ten seconds, coupled with Staraptor's low Special Defense, it almost inevitably resulted in a Burn status condition.

As expected, once Staraptor escaped the Flame Cage, it immediately entered the Burn state. The continuous pain from burning intermittently hindered its performance, preventing it from exerting full power.

Now, Lian no longer feared Staraptor. With the Burn status significantly impairing its attack capabilities, even using Brave Bird would inflict minimal damage on him.