Click, click, click!
"I got a perfect shot!" Delia sat with Yellow and the others in the audience, holding a camera and pressing the shutter button repeatedly.
She had just successfully captured the moment when Haxorus broke through the flames. Since she had come all this way to watch the match, she naturally wanted to take some photos as mementos.
Only Professor Oak was absent because Gary was competing at the Rock venue at the same time, so Professor Oak had gone over to watch Gary's match instead.
"Dragon Claw!"
The moment the flames dispersed, Ash gave another order. Haxorus's eyes focused after hearing the command, and he charged forward suddenly. His scarlet eyes left two slender red trails of light as he moved.
In the blink of an eye, he rushed toward Marowak, who hadn't yet recovered from the shock.
Green energy was released from Haxorus's claws, forming massive talons that swung directly at Marowak.
BOOM!
Dragon Claw's incredible force struck Marowak's body with a thunderous impact. Haxorus already had exceptional physical attack power to begin with.
After receiving two Dragon Dance boosts, his power had increased to an even higher level. At the same time, Dragon Dance didn't just improve attack—it also increased speed.
After two Dragon Dance speed boosts, even Giselle didn't have time to react. Haxorus had already closed the distance to Marowak. Forget about resisting—Marowak couldn't even dodge if he wanted to.
Marowak was hit by the tremendous force and flew straight toward Giselle. He sailed directly out of the field and crashed into the base of the battle platform at Giselle's feet.
Giselle could feel the vibration beneath her feet. She quickly grabbed the railing in front of her and looked down worriedly.
"Marowak!"
At that moment, Marowak lay on the ground below the battle stage, no longer moving.
"Marowak is down! Haxorus is incredibly powerful and fast! With that, Ash takes the lead!" Many spectators hadn't even seen what happened because Haxorus had moved too quickly.
"What a shame! That was too fast—I didn't have time to press the shutter!" Delia said regretfully from the audience, thinking it would have made an excellent photograph.
"I couldn't see it clearly either! Is Haxorus really that fast?"
Yellow was relatively unfamiliar with Haxorus, but looking at its size, she hadn't expected it to be so swift.
"Actually, Haxorus itself isn't slow to begin with. The most important factor is Dragon Dance!" Brock explained seriously, arms crossed over his chest.
"Dragon Dance?" For Yellow, a novice trainer, she still didn't know much about the effects of many moves.
"Dragon Dance is a Dragon-type move. When used, it increases both attack power and speed. If used multiple times in succession, the stacking effect becomes quite impressive."
Brock explained. Of course, this move wasn't without its drawbacks. Ash had simply kept seizing the right opportunities to use it.
When Dragon Dance is being performed, the user has no defense. In other words, if Giselle had timed her attacks properly, she actually could have interrupted it.
"Come back, Marowak! Thank you for your hard work. Now take a good rest!"
Giselle recalled Marowak with his Poké Ball, then raised her head and looked forward. She thought she had given Ash enough credit, but she hadn't expected to still underestimate him.
Haxorus stood on the field, his commanding presence still radiating a powerful sense of intimidation. Giselle took out her second Poké Ball at the same time.
"It's your turn now, Golem!"
Giselle threw the Poké Ball, and a Pokémon covered in rock plummeted from the air onto the field.
BOOM!
The moment Giselle's second Pokémon hit the ground, a loud crash echoed throughout the venue and dust scattered in all directions.
Golem was also the evolved form of Graveler and a heavyweight Pokémon as well. While Graveler was made entirely of stone, Golem was composed entirely of rock.
The average adult Golem weighed three hundred kilograms. Due to its size, its speed was quite slow, but its defense was remarkably high.
It was particularly skilled at defending against physical attacks. In other words, it had certain advantages when facing a physically powerful Pokémon like Haxorus.
"Golem? Did Graveler evolve since that time?"
Looking at the Golem on the field, Misty couldn't help but comment. Back when they were at the Pokémon Academy, Giselle had once defeated her Starmie with a Graveler.
Now it seemed that this Golem was likely the evolved form of that Graveler from back then. Misty still had some lingering anxiety about facing Golem.
"After evolution, its strength will have improved significantly. But Golem's speed is a disadvantage—Ash should be able to take advantage of that." Brock spoke up as well.
"So that Graveler evolved? Bring it on!" Ash naturally recognized this was the Graveler that had evolved since that time. Although he knew Golem's defense was formidable, he wasn't worried.
"Golem, use Stealth Rock!"
Giselle wasn't affected by the previous match's outcome and didn't launch an aggressive attack from the start. Instead, she began acting according to her own strategy.
Rumble!
After Golem heard the command, the rocks on his body glowed with light, then released several beams. When the light faded, pieces of rock remained.
CRASH!
The rock fragments shattered in the air, then scattered and fell around the arena. All the gravel seemed to disappear as if they had never existed.
The stones that had just vanished suddenly began to glow, then rose from the ground and floated around Haxorus. The next moment, they flew directly toward him.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
The gravel pelted Haxorus like raindrops. Haxorus instinctively closed his eyes and let out a low growl.
"Giselle has used Stealth Rock! Now Haxorus will continue to take damage. And if Ash switches out his Pokémon, the replacement will also be attacked by the effects of Stealth Rock!"
Stealth Rock's attack didn't deal much damage individually, but it would continue attacking. As Haxorus moved around, the attack would trigger again. At the same time, any Pokémon that was switched in would also take damage from Stealth Rock's effect.
It was a move that continuously wore down the opponent. Because Golem had incredible defense, pairing him with a move like this made Golem very suitable for prolonged battles.