"A Rhyperior..."
The machine in Thorton's hand immediately began analyzing Rhyperior's data. After a moment, results appeared on the screen:
Lightning Rod Ability: our win rate is 60%.
Solid Rock Ability: our win rate is 50%.
Reckless Ability: our win rate is 60%.
The machine's screen displayed three possible scenarios, each judged according to which Ability Rhyperior might have.
Since Lightning Rod and Reckless offered very little benefit to Rhyperior in this matchup, those two Abilities would essentially be dead weight against Infernape, raising Infernape's chances of winning.
But if it was Solid Rock, Infernape's win rate would drop to exactly 50%. A perfect coin flip.
"How's the analysis?" Gary asked.
"I can't tell you the details. All I can say is that my odds aren't high," Thorton said.
"I see." Gary nodded, then immediately gave an order. "Rhyperior, Earthquake!"
Thorton was startled. He hadn't expected Gary to be so shameless, launching an attack out of nowhere. But he couldn't exactly complain—they were in the middle of a battle, after all.
Rhyperior stomped down with one massive foot, sending seismic waves rippling outward.
Infernape didn't panic in the slightest. Without waiting for Thorton's instructions, it dashed forward on its own and leapt into the air just before the shockwave could reach it.
"Stone Edge, spike formation!" Gary ordered.
Rhyperior punched the ground, and jagged rock blades burst from the earth, extending in a line toward Infernape. Just as Infernape was about to land, the ground beneath it shattered and a stone blade erupted upward.
"Infernape, smash it with Drain Punch!"
"Infernape!"
Infernape swung its fist down violently.
Bang!
The hard stone blade shattered under a single punch.
But Gary's assault wasn't over yet.
"Rock Blast!"
Rhyperior had already raised its arms level, palms facing forward. A flash of light burst from the holes in its hands.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Rocks fired out of the cannons in rapid succession. The first few shots struck Infernape directly before it could stabilize itself.
Infernape gritted its teeth and endured the pain, then swung its fists and knocked away all the rocks that followed.
Watching those punches, Gary confirmed that this Infernape had the Iron Fist Ability. No wonder it loved using punching moves so much—Iron Fist made them all hit harder.
"Infernape, Mach Punch!"
Whoosh!
Infernape shot forward in a single step, giving Rhyperior no time to react, and drove its fist into Rhyperior's abdomen. But Rhyperior weathered the punch with its solid body, not budging a single step, and immediately tried to grab hold of Infernape.
Infernape sprang lightly away, evading Rhyperior's bear hug, and put several meters of distance between them. Then it deliberately made a taunting gesture at Rhyperior, trying to provoke it.
Rhyperior's eyes flared. It was indeed angered, but it didn't charge in blindly. In close combat against an agile Pokémon, the one who moved first would only be exploited by the other side.
"Use Scary Face!" Gary ordered.
"Roar!!"
Rhyperior twisted its face into a ferocious expression, and a wave of fear struck Infernape head-on, making its body shudder. Its movements visibly slowed.
"Infernape, use Flamethrower to create some distance!" Thorton ordered.
Infernape leapt backward while spitting out a torrent of flames, which surged forward and engulfed Rhyperior.
"Use Stealth Rock," Gary ordered.
Rhyperior let the flames burn against its body, and punched the ground. Sharp stones buried themselves beneath the battlefield, hidden and waiting.
Thorton hadn't expected Gary to suddenly set up the field either. He had assumed that after slowing Infernape down, Gary would go on the offensive.
"Drill Run!" With Stealth Rock in place, Gary began his attack.
Ground-type energy wrapped around Rhyperior's entire body and began to rotate around it like a spinning drill bit.
"Go!"
Rhyperior charged straight at Infernape.
With Infernape's speed now reduced, dodging at range might still have been possible, but avoiding it at close quarters was almost certainly out of the question.
"Infernape, use Flare Blitz!" Thorton had no intention of dodging, choosing to meet the attack head-on.
"Infernape!!"
Infernape howled fiercely, the flame on its head suddenly blazing brighter. Fire flowed down and wrapped around its entire body, and then the red flames instantly turned into an intense blue as it launched itself forward.
Boom!!
The two collided, but there was no prolonged clash of strength. Their power was almost perfectly matched, and the impact simply exploded on contact.
The blast knocked both Pokémon backward.
"Flamethrower!"
"Stone Edge!"
The moment the two Pokémon steadied themselves, Gary and Thorton fired off commands at almost the same time.
Infernape spat out a stream of flames.
Rhyperior slammed the ground, launching Stone Edge.
Boom!!
Bang!!
Both attacks found their marks.
Even though Rhyperior had high resistance to Fire-type moves, with its relatively low Special Defense, it still took a certain amount of damage.
However, compared to the damage Infernape suffered, it was trivial—there was simply no comparison.
After that fierce exchange, Infernape had taken heavy damage. If it kept fighting, turning the tables would be very difficult.
Thorton frowned and thought to himself, This is bad. The machine only factored in the Pokémon's Ability data—it didn't take their moves into account.
"Infernape, come back and rest."
Thorton recalled Infernape.
Gary didn't quite understand why Thorton was withdrawing Infernape at this point—after all, Stealth Rock was already on the field. Whatever Pokémon came out next was guaranteed to be hit by it.
"Magnezone, I'm counting on you." Thorton sent out his third Pokémon.
In a flash of light, it appeared.
[Lv. 59 Magnezone / Quasi-Elite]
Clang! Clang!
"Zzzt..."
The moment Magnezone appeared, the Stealth Rock lurking beneath the ground immediately activated, jagged stones bursting out and slamming into it.
However, for a Steel-type like Magnezone, it was no big deal. Steel-types naturally resisted Rock-type attacks.
"Fire Blast!" Gary ordered.
"Roar!"
A spark flickered at the corner of Rhyperior's mouth before it spat out a ball of flame. The fireball swelled in size as it flew, blazing toward Magnezone.
"Thunderbolt!" Thorton ordered.
Magnezone's body erupted with a powerful electric current—but the electricity couldn't gather properly. Instead, all of it drifted through the air toward Rhyperior and was absorbed into its body.
"What! Lightning Rod?!"
Thorton truly hadn't expected it. Gary's Rhyperior didn't have Solid Rock after all, but the most useless of the three—Lightning Rod.
Boom!!
Fire Blast struck home, though unfortunately it didn't deal much damage. Ledian's Light Screen still hadn't worn off yet.