"About to take place at Arena One is the second match, between Contestant Baimu from Pyrite Town and Contestant Li Si from Twinleaf Town!"
The commentator shouted excitedly, "Both of these contestants are considered strong contenders for the championship, so what kind of match will they put on for us?! Let's wait and see!"
Both sides took their positions and threw out their Pokeballs.
Bang bang bang bang.
A rapid series of sounds.
"Pa-li!"
Porygon II appeared as usual; this time its partner Pokémon was Blissey.
"Happy~"
Opposite them, the Sigilyph, whose appearance resembled some eerie totem, flapped its wings and hovered in midair. Beside it stood the two-legged giant Rhyperior, covered in dark-red heavy armor, with one long and one short spiral horn on its head.
The spherical orbs that might be its eyes flashed with a strange light, and Rhyperior let out a low, barely restrained growl:
"Sai-thong!"
After the Referee confirmed everything was in order, he announced loudly, "Battle start!"
The Pokémon on both sides moved at the same time.
This time the quickest to act was Sigilyph. It first unfolded a semi-transparent, square Energy Light Shield in front of itself and Rhyperior.
"Light Wall!"
Clearly, Li Si knew very well which weaknesses needed to be patched up when facing Porygon II and Blissey.
And once the defenses were set, it was time for offensive Techniques to come on stage.
"Sai-thong!"
Rhyperior let out a muffled roar as it raised its thick, cannon-like arms, aiming at the distant Porygon II and Blissey.
A faint brown glow covered its arms. Countless gusts of sand appeared out of nowhere and rapidly converged into shape.
In the blink of an eye.
Countless glowing shattered rocks embedded themselves into the hollows of Rhyperior's arms, throbbing like scattershot ready to fire.
"Pa-li!"
Porygon II's body elongated in a flash of white light, its legs turning into round wheels, and it spun around to catch the jumping Blissey.
It was like an electric wheelchair, carrying Blissey as it veered off to the side.
"Rock Burst!"
A ferocious grin spread across Rhyperior's face. Its Meteor Hammer-like tail slammed heavily into the ground, and the muscles of its arms, contracted to the limit, suddenly swelled!
Full Salvo!
Thud! Thud!
Accompanied by heavy booms like war drums, fireworks seemed to ignite in Rhyperior's palms, and countless rocks blasted out like shells leaving a cannon!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh——
Amid the sharp tearing of the air, glowing rocks of all sizes formed a dense rainstorm, crashing down toward Porygon II and Blissey.
However, to Li Si's surprise, Porygon II relied on agile movement along the edge line of the field to successfully dodge all of the flying rocks.
The stones that missed smashed into the ground and shattered into fine dust. The big chunks landed with a bang, the smaller ones with a sharp crack.
The commentator shouted, "A complete miss! Porygon II used nimble movements to evade Rhyperior's Rock Burst!"
Li Si ignored the commentary. When he saw the blue glow in Blissey's eyes, his heart skipped a beat.
"Not good!"
He looked toward Sigilyph.
Sure enough.
Its body suddenly stiffened, and then, out of its own control, it crashed down to the ground.
[Gravity]!
One of Blissey's specialties!
"Sigilyph, use Spiritual Power to fly!" Li Si shouted.
Though Sigilyph had the Flying Attribute, the real reason it could fly was its overwhelming Spiritual Power. He believed its Spiritual Power should be enough to cope with the Gravity Space Field created by Blissey's Spiritual Power——
The fallen freak-bird convulsed violently, its entire body wrapped in blue light.
Then it stopped moving.
Li Si's pupils shrank sharply. He had clearly broken Gravity states with this approach before!
Could it be that… Sigilyph, a Psychic Attribute, failed to overpower a General Attribute Blissey in a Spiritual Power clash!?
This made no sense!
He looked across the field and saw Baimu giving a second wave of orders:
"Texture: Grass, Sunny Day."
Li Si didn't catch it clearly, but he knew he couldn't sit and wait to lose; he had to stall out the duration of the Gravity Field. "Rhyperior, use Sandstorm!"
"Sai-thong!"
Rhyperior raised both arms high and roared. In an instant, it was as if endless yellow sand surged out from beneath it, swirling around to form a terrifying sandstorm.
Sigilyph, closest to it, twitched its wings a little, but still couldn't be lifted by the sandstorm.
But the quicksand that should have dealt damage to it strangely passed right through its body, as if it didn't exist at all.
Without a doubt.
This Sigilyph's Trait is [Magic Defense].
Porygon II's eyes flashed with a sharp light.
The Trainer's prediction was right!
A mass of leaves rapidly grew over its surface, like jungle camouflage on a special forces soldier, covering up its originally shiny red and blue lacquered body.
Blissey sat on its back, pressing its hands together and letting out a chant-like cry.
"Happy~"
A golden wave of light was released from its body, converging in the sky into a huge light source that continuously emitted intense beams.
The raging wind drove yellow sand across the sky, but it was actually dissolved under the fierce light.
Unfortunately.
The Sandstorm did not dissipate just like that.
In fact, the two Weathers clashed fiercely, using the center of the field as their boundary line. The Sunny Day that Blissey used as a follow-up move actually failed to completely blow away Rhyperior's Sandstorm, unlike how Steelix's Sandstorm crushed Hail.
Clearly, unlike Abomasnow's Hail that relies on its Trait, Rhyperior was continuously generating the sandstorm at this moment to fight Sunny Day head-on.
This forced Blissey to keep releasing golden light waves toward the sky to maintain the intensity of the sunlight.
Commentator: "Rhyperior and Blissey have started a Weather war! Neither can do anything to the other!"
Baimu frowned.
A Weather tug-of-war lasting this long is the kind of thing that only happens in the anime world, like two Pokémon firing their ultimate moves and clashing beams in midair.
But what bothered him wasn't whether this made sense or not; it was that Blissey couldn't overpower Rhyperior.
There's a gap between non-same-type Techniques and same-type Techniques, not to mention that Sunny Day is a Weather Skill Blissey hardly ever uses.
Right now, both sides might look evenly matched, but in reality Blissey was losing ground step by step; it wouldn't be long before the field was fully taken over by Sandstorm.
However.
With Rhyperior being tied down by the Weather Skill and Sigilyph still unable to get up due to the Gravity Field—
This was the perfect output environment for Porygon II!
He shot his partner a firm look. "Go! Sunlight Beam!"
"Pa-li!"
Porygon II's eyes suddenly flared. The sunlight pouring down from above rapidly gathered in its eyes, making them brighten in an instant until they were like two spotlights with tens of millions of lumens!
Buzz!
Li Si was almost blinded by the intense light and hurriedly raised a hand to block it. Fortunately, the sand from the Sandstorm barely shielded him enough to keep him from temporary blindness.
He anxiously looked at Sigilyph, which still couldn't get up, and shouted, "Sigilyph, use Strong Mental Will! Help Rhyperior block it!"
Not being able to stand up didn't mean it couldn't use Techniques.
Li Si judged that Porygon II's Sunlight Beam would definitely target Rhyperior, which was locked in a stalemate with Blissey, rather than Sigilyph, which resisted Grass Attribute, so he hurriedly ordered it to fire a move to block—
As it turned out, his judgment was wrong.
Boom!
A dull thud rang out.
Two golden beams shot out from Porygon II's eyes, leaving behind the unique scorched smell that only appears when a blazing sun shines on dust. The seemingly terrifying sandstorm around Rhyperior was instantly pierced through!
Under Li Si's disbelieving gaze, the dazzling Sunlight Beam fell onto Sigilyph, just as the latter's Spiritual Power was being released around Rhyperior.
Boom!!
The ground exploded, dust and smoke billowing up!
Sigilyph's Strong Mental Will hadn't even fully formed before the Sunlight Beam slammed into it!
"Sigilyph!"
Li Si shouted as the rolling smoke was swept away by the storm winds, revealing the Sigilyph still lying on the ground, covered in dust.
The latter showed no reaction at all.
The commentator's voice echoed throughout the entire arena. "Sunlight Beam connects! Does Sigilyph still have the strength to fight!? The Weather clash between Rhyperior and Blissey is not over yet!"
The audience let out excited shouts, their eyes locked on Sigilyph, each with their own thoughts.
All of a sudden.
Sigilyph flapped its wings.
Its decent Special Defense, its Flying Attribute that resists Grass Attribute attacks, and the Light Wall it set up at the start all combined to let it survive the Sunlight Beam.
Li Si grinned. "Nice job! Now it's our tur—"
Boom!!
Another thick golden beam engulfed Sigilyph, and the rising smoke hid the smile that Li Si quickly wiped from his face.
Under Sunny Day, Porygon II's Sunlight Beam's Charging time was so short it was practically nonexistent. If one shot of sunlight didn't take Sigilyph down—
Then two shots.
It would fire until the target was down.
Baimu's expression remained especially calm.