Chapter 61: Gaining the Upper Hand

Chapter 61: Gaining the Upper Hand

Whirrrr!

Drilbur's body suddenly spun, a white light covering its entire form. It instantly transformed into a spiral of energy, deflecting all the clumps of mud.

Rapid Spin!

"Sand Tomb!"

Basalt shouted loudly. Since a frontal assault wasn't working, it was time to try a control move.

"Chari~"

Drilbur let out a sharp cry, looking somewhat excited. It raised its right claw high, then plunged it into the ground. Ground-type energy flowed out, quickly traveling to Smoochum's feet, instantly turning the soil beneath it into rolling quicksand that collapsed downwards.

As Sand Tomb was a physical control move, if Smoochum were to be hit, the consequences would be dire.

But… as a well-trained Pokémon, Smoochum obviously wouldn't be caught so easily.

Voom!

Smoochum's eyes glowed again. A terrifying psychic power swept out from its mind, and the rolling quicksand was stopped in its tracks, unable to get within half a meter of it. In the area enveloped by Smoochum's psychic power, a vacuum in the quicksand was formed.

"Smoo~chum~~"

Then, with a light leap, Smoochum spun its body and sprayed a cold stream of air at the surrounding quicksand, freezing it solid in no time.

Following Rock Tomb and Mud-Slap, Drilbur's Sand Tomb had also been rendered ineffective against Smoochum.

"You're really tough," Basalt gritted his teeth and sighed slightly.

Smoochum was a special attacker. The best way to fight it was actually in close combat. But the problem now was that Basalt didn't dare to let Drilbur charge in, fearing it would be caught by Confusion.

At this stage, Confusion was still a very broken move. Although there was a high probability that Drilbur could break free from it, Basalt didn't dare to gamble. After all, besides Confusion, Smoochum's Icy Wind was its ace. And the Ice type happened to be Drilbur's weakness. If it was caught by Confusion and delayed for even a moment while breaking free, a point-blank Icy Wind would mean the end of everything.

"Smoochum, construct a Reflect barrier!"

Taking advantage of Basalt's slight hesitation, Luna began her tactical counter-attack.

Voom! Voom! Voom! Voom! Voom! Voom!

As Smoochum's eyes flashed with a strange light, and after a series of vibrations in the air, six transparent wall-like barriers appeared, forming a perfect square that completely shielded Smoochum.

"This Smoochum has such strong control, to the point where it can construct six Reflect walls at once, and even manipulate them to form a square, completely enclosing itself."

Although he had seen Smoochum's Reflect before, upon seeing it again, Officer Tanaka still felt his eyes light up. This level of elemental energy manipulation was truly stunning.

"But… although the six Reflect walls have protected it from all sides, leaving no defensive blind spots, because there are so many walls, the psychic power is too dispersed. The durability and strength of the Reflect walls must be significantly reduced, right?"

Although Director King was only a Senior-level trainer, his eye for battle was not bad. He had seen the flaw in how Smoochum constructed its Reflect.

"Not only that, but constructing six Reflect walls at the same time will also increase the Pokémon's energy consumption," Coach Miles spoke up in a timely manner, a look of admiration in his eyes. He had just been wondering why Basalt hadn't stopped Smoochum from constructing the barrier. Now it seemed Basalt might be planning to fight a war of attrition.

Coach Miles knew about Drilbur's stamina; it was far more abundant than that of ordinary Pokémon. In a battle of attrition, the advantage was on Basalt's side!

Hearing this, everyone nodded. Stamina was an important factor that had to be considered in Pokémon battles. In the real world, there were many Pokémon whose movesets—covering attack, defense, and control—seemed perfectly balanced and unbeatable. But once you dragged them into a war of attrition and their stamina ran out, they would become lambs to the slaughter. Stamina had to be taken seriously.

"What does it matter if the consumption is a little higher? With the Reflect barrier complete, Smoochum doesn't have to worry about its safety for at least one attack. Next, it should be using the move Sing," Victor Wei jumped in again to sing a different tune. However, what he said was indeed reasonable, not just arguing for the sake of arguing.

"Smoochum, use Sing!"

Sure enough, once the Reflect barrier was complete, Luna gave the command for the all-out attack.

"Hmph! It's all over," Victor Wei said with a faint smile.

"Smoo-chum~~ Smoo-chum~~ Smoo-chum-la~~"

Smoochum closed its eyes and began to sing affectionately. A sweet melody, imbued with a mysterious power, began to drift through the air, seeming to have a magical ability to relax the mind and make one drowsy.

"There it is! Smoochum's move, Sing!" The commentator became excited again, his voice high and clear. "If it hits, the opponent will temporarily fall into a state of sleep, thus losing the ability to fight back and becoming fish on a chopping block."

Because if nothing unexpected happened, this might become the turning point of the match. And Smoochum would thereby seal its victory.

"It seems the winner has been decided," Officer Tanaka sighed slightly.

"Indeed. But for that Basalt to have come this far is already very remarkable," Director King nodded and said. "After all, Luna is the little princess of the Xu Corporation. Although it hasn't been long since she received her starter Pokémon, I heard that she has been studying the breeding of Ice-type Pokémon with Granny Shu since she was fifteen. Her foundation cannot be underestimated."

"Granny Shu?"

Hearing this, the other three all raised their eyebrows, but they were not surprised. Instead, they all thought to themselves, "Of course."

From the moment Smoochum had displayed its super-strong freezing ability with "Icy Wind," the few of them had already had their suspicions.

Granny Shu was one of the last remaining old-generation trainers in Seaside County. She was skilled in the breeding of Ice-type Pokémon, and among them, she was most famous for her development of the "freezing" ability of Ice-type energy. It was rumored that thirty years ago, during the flood season in Seaside County, a reservoir was about to burst its dam. It was Granny Shu who, with her Pokémon, directly used Ice-type energy to freeze and reinforce the dam's structure, thus averting the crisis.

Luna's Smoochum was clearly following in Granny Shu's footsteps.

Luna had a good family background, no shortage of resources, and a good teacher. It wasn't surprising that she could come this far. Basalt, on the other hand, was said to be a child from an ordinary family who had gotten this far purely on his own hard work and talent. It was truly not easy.

"SCREECH~ SCREECH~ SCREECH~~"

Just as the judges were sighing with emotion, a deafening noise, one that made one's teeth cringe and eardrums ache, suddenly erupted on the battlefield, making everyone who heard it get goosebumps.

The moment this noise sounded, it instantly drowned out Smoochum's sweet song. Not only that, but the effect of the noise also kicked in much faster than the song. The moment it heard the piercing noise, Smoochum had no choice but to interrupt its song, painfully covering its ears to try and block it out.

"A big surprise! A big surprise!"

"At the critical moment, Drilbur has used the move 'Screech'!" The commentator became even more excited. Things had taken a turn. Drilbur was not helpless against Sing.

"Screech, this is a skill that weakens the opponent's defense!"

As if afraid that some of the audience didn't understand, the commentator explained the effect of Screech.

After about three or four seconds, the sharp, piercing noise finally ended. A faint light flickered over Smoochum's body, and its defense had clearly been lowered considerably.

Unfortunately, a debilitating move like Screech also consumed a lot of energy, so Drilbur couldn't use it continuously. Fortunately, the move Sing also had high energy requirements. With Smoochum's current strength, it probably couldn't use it continuously either.

In this exchange, Basalt had a slight advantage!