Confide.
This seemingly ordinary debuff move became a sonic curse in Zoroark's hands, completely destroying Arbok's rhythm.
From the spectators' perspective, Arbok froze, its eyes turning vacant, and the glowing purple tail gradually dimmed.
But from Arbok's view, its opponent was no longer Zoroark…
Red and green wings blotted out the sky, a golden crest and tail feathers shining from above, high and unreachable.
Ho-Oh!
Arbok knew it was an illusion.
…But it simply couldn't break free from the overwhelming pressure!
"HO… OH!"
Ho-Oh screeched. With a flap of its wings, a beam of Extrasensory shot straight toward it.
Extrasensory hit directly, inflicting heavy damage on Arbok and making its mind ring from the impact.
Back from the spectators' view, all they saw was Arbok ignoring Mark's commands and stiffly taking Zoroark's Extrasensory head-on.
"Encore!"
"ARBOK, FIGHT BACK!"
Mark was as anxious as a burning Durant, trying his hardest to activate his "special ability" and apply it to Arbok in the middle of battle.
[Luck Surge]!
From Arbok's perspective, the invincible Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh in the sky suddenly stuttered like a glitchy projection, and its terrifying presence vanished in an instant.
Arbok felt its whole body lighten, regaining control of its body.
Instinctively, Arbok unleashed a Glare directly at the "massive" Ho-Oh.
Paralysis activated.
Zoroark's body stiffened, the illusion shattered!
In Arbok's eyes, Ho-Oh instantly disappeared, revealing Zoroark kneeling on the ground with electricity arcing across its body.
When Night Daze had failed to cover the entire field, Zoroark's illusion tactics did indeed have a small flaw.
But with Zoroark's strength and mastery of illusions, the chance of that flaw appearing was less than one in a thousand!
Unfortunately… the opponent was Mark.
No probability. Only certainty!
"You really are something..." Sato shook his head. Without overwhelming strength, anyone on the same level would have a hard time beating him.
"Arbok, use Poison Tail!"
"Zoroark, Extrasensory."
The clash resumed. Affected by Paralysis, Zoroark's Speed was halved. Instead of dodging, it stood still and launched an Extrasensory from its position.
Arbok dodged left and right through the incoming energy waves, nimbly closing the distance to Zoroark.
Whoosh…
CRACK!!!
With a sharp strike, Poison Tail landed solidly on Zoroark; but at the same time, Zoroark's Extrasensory also struck Arbok directly.
"C-CHAA!!!"
A painful screech rang out. Arbok was blasted all the way to the edge of the arena by the Extrasensory and lost the ability to battle.
Zoroark was heavily injured, but the bigger problem was that in addition to Paralysis, Poison Tail had also inflicted Poisoning.
With Mark in front of you, all probabilities truly became guarantees…
"Return, Arbok. Spiritomb, enter the battle!"
A flash of red light, like a potted plant, Spiritomb appeared, its wicked grin sending a chill down everyone's spine.
"Spiritomb, Will-O-Wisp!"
"Spiriririri~"
The eerie "laugh" echoed. Spiritomb conjured more than a dozen Will-O-Wisps flames out of thin air, then abruptly clustered them together.
The flames collided and exploded on impact, scattering smaller Will-O-Wisps in every direction, boosting both speed and accuracy.
Zoroark instinctively tried to dodge, but the arcs of electricity around its body reappeared as if haunted, leaving it momentarily paralyzed.
Pfft!
Will-O-Wisp hit. Another status condition for Zoroark…
Now Paralyzed, Poisoned, and Burned without missing a single one!
"Hmph! How about it? My [Absolute Status Strategy]~"
Across the field, Mark proudly stood with his hands on his hips. Combined with his special ability, the status tactic suited him perfectly.
And seeing that his opponent was none other than Sato's starter, Zoroark, Mark was practically bursting with pride!
"Zoroark, Imprison."
Sato's voice rang out. A strange red glow flickered simultaneously over both Zoroark and Spiritomb.
In an instant, Spiritomb felt that most of its moves had been sealed.
Both Pokémon were Dark-type, they shared many of the same moves.
"Taunt."
"Spiritomb! Use…-"
Mark froze. Almost all of the counter moves that came to his mind were ones Zoroark also knew.
Tactical planning was not his strong suit…
The next second, Taunt landed successfully!
Both Imprison and Taunt didn't require movement, minimizing the effect of Paralysis.
Immediately, Spiritomb felt even more of its moves had been sealed.
As for what it could still use? Even it couldn't remember clearly…
"Night Daze."
"U-Use… use… SHADOW SNEAK!"
This time, in his panic, Mark seemed to forget to activate his special ability. Zoroark successfully launched Night Daze.
But Shadow Sneak had to burrow underground first!
The next moment, Spiritomb was blasted out of the ground by the Night Daze and slammed hard into the ground.
"SPIRITOMB, OMINOUS WIND!"
Finally, Mark remembered to use one of Spiritomb's Ghost-type moves.
Ominous Wind stirred quickly, but the damage it did to Zoroark was less than what the internal Poisoning and Burn were already inflicting.
Still, watching the bright red glow of buffs shimmer around Spiritomb's body, one couldn't help but comment…
"That's ridiculous!"
Ominous Wind has a ten percent chance to raise all stats by one stage.
For Mark? Oh well~ One hundred percent!
"Again! Ominous Wind!"
"Sucker Punch."
Ominous Wind surged again, while Sato commanded Zoroark to launch a priority strike.
As expected, Paralysis triggered once more -again and again- and Zoroark's Sucker Punch failed, caught in another gust of Ominous Wind.
And this time, the wind was noticeably stronger.
Internally, the Poisoning and Burn continued draining Zoroark's stamina.
Even Joseph, watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but mutter, "That's dirty…"
All of Spiritomb's stats had increased again, its momentum growing stronger!
"SPIRITOMB, OMINOUS WIND!"
Having tasted the sweetness of it, Mark gave the order again; but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Sato shaking his head.
"Zoroark, use Punishment."
While giving the command, Sato also activated his Dark Energy for the first time, helping Zoroark temporarily suppress all negative status effects.
After two successful Ominous Winds, Spiritomb's stats had risen a total of twelve times!
Punishment had already reached maximum power, comparable to Self-Destruct!
Mark instinctively activated his special ability, trying to help Spiritomb dodge the "finishing move".
But… it was useless.
Dark Energy. Aactivated!
Zoroark regained full mobility, and Punishment landed squarely on Spiritomb's Odd Keystone.
One-hit knockout!
Spiritomb didn't even have time to scream.
Its foggy, grinning face was wiped out completely!