Genji naturally understood this point, so he once again chose the fastest Pokémon in his hand apart from his ace to prevent its recovery.
Thus.
The situation for the Skarmory, still not in a good state, became a dilemma.
Da Wu made a decision, pulling out his Pokeball to swap it during the moment when Flygon finished its move, but Naihe Genji left no opportunity.
Flygon approached Skarmory, immediately flapping its wings to stir up Quicksand Hell!
Having lost the Flying Attribute due to Feather Rest, Skarmory no longer possessed immunity to Ground Attribute Energy and was trapped in Quicksand Hell.
Even if just for a fleeting moment,.
Flygon followed and rushed in, suddenly grabbing Skarmory and pushing it towards the ground together.
From its mouth, it shot a soil-yellow beam towards the earth, causing the ground to crack, with terrifying energy fluctuations surging from the fissures, ready to overflow at any moment!
[Power of the Earth]!
Bang!
Skarmory's back struck the ground, and the freshly erected blue light shield was shattered by the surging golden light wave, instantly engulfed by the vast Ground Attribute Energy.
Its hoarse wails were drowned out by the violent explosion noise.
The audience was stunned, seeing Skarmory proudly proclaiming its victory just minutes ago now being pressed to the ground?
The dust settled.
The fainted Skarmory left many inexperienced Trainers unable to accept it.
Compared to Skarmory's exhausting measures to defeat Shelgon, Flygon's win seemed too easy.
Baimu, however, clearly understood that Skarmory had given its all; Genji's hexagonal specialty with his main Pokémon didn't vanish simply because he faced a Champion. Da Wu, compared to this Old Celestial King, also had a certain gap in accumulated time.
Moreover, it alone forced out three of Genji's Pokémon, deserving praise from all observant people.
Incidentally...
In the grand screen close-up, Flygon suddenly staggered, with violet light appearing on its face and foam gushing from its mouth.
Severe Poison again!
Following Haxorus, Skarmory poisoned another Pokémon!
Da Wu similarly exchanged quickly, retracting one Pokémon while releasing another, and swapping in the six-eyed, pitch-black Claydol resembling a giant ancient statue.
Upon appearing, it immediately used Cosmic Power, boosting its dual defenses.
As a Pokémon of the floating trait with Ground Attribute, Claydol also possessed the ability to ignore Flygon's secret technique Tornadus.
Fortunately, Flygon's other unique skill, Lightning Flash, remained on its body, swiftly approaching with high-frequency wings to release a dark green energy wave.
Unexpectedly, Claydol did not dodge but instead, using Spiritual Power, constructed a Light Wall to resist.
With already impressive dual defenses enhanced by Cosmic Power and the Light Wall's dual assist, the non-system countering move had little effect when landing on it!
In the grand screen.
Seeing this, Flygon seemed a bit dumbfounded.
It wasn't the first time battling Claydol, yet its surprise indicated the latter had grown significantly over the past year—
No one said the Champion couldn't improve.
Baimu suddenly realized that the future Grandmaster Da Wu might be stronger than he is now, and the Dan Emperor probably the same.
"Hiss."
His heart was both shocked and expectant.
In the arena.
Claydol once again opened Reflective Wall, doubly shutting down Flygon's physical attack attempt.
Genji had to swap out Flygon again, sending in the severely poisoned Haxorus, with Invisible Rock erupting its fourth explosion.
Bang!
Haxorus staggered a step amidst the smoke.
Immediately, Claydol initiated Sandstorm, and Haxorus charged forward using Splitting Tiles. Although its effectiveness likely equated to a scratch, at least it could break two shields.
Da Wu naturally would not let Genji succeed.
In the final moment as Haxorus used its powerful leg muscles to leap high, the blood-red axes on its cheeks about to strike, Claydol vanished from its original spot.
Instant Movement!
A technique that leaves all slow, close-combat Pokémon in despair!
Due to its relatively slow starting speed, it's difficult to deploy before fast or long-range Pokémon, even Gym Leaders and the Four Heavenly Kings adept at Psychic Attributes don't dare randomly use it in front of same-level opponents.
It's typically used only for squashing the weak.
Who would have thought Da Wu not only had Claydol use it but actually used it to evade Haxorus' Lightning Flash, a move from a fast Pokémon?
Such bravery!
Baimu listened to the surrounding shouts as if they were cheering, knowing that if Claydol didn't evade, there would probably be quite a few people online secretly criticizing the Hoenn Champion for being reckless and arrogant.
Right now, success is naturally all about cheers and applause.
Da Wu himself surely understands this point, but he still took the risk to use Instant Movement, and the purpose was unrelated to showing off his Pokémon.
His real intention was the Frozen Beam after pulling away!
After Haxorus landed, Genji immediately guided it to evade Claydol's attack.
However, Da Wu thoroughly utilized the structural advantages of Claydol's body. Ordinary Pokémon can only shoot a beam of ice from their mouths; it can shoot two from its gourd-like arms!
Almost completely blocking all evasive spaces for Haxorus!
How can it dodge?
Da Wu practically tells you there's no way to dodge!
The lightning-fast ice beam hit instantaneously, and after a flash of intense ice-blue light, a lifelike ice sculpture of Haxorus appeared in the field.
Without a doubt.
Haxorus has lost its combat ability, otherwise, it wouldn't be frozen in an icy state while in a severe poison state.
"Evenly matched... No, slightly stronger?"
Baimu grasped his chin, assessing the strength of the main forces on both sides.
Unlike Genji who trains Pokémon's bodies and wills, Da Wu is more inclined to stimulate Pokémon's racial abilities.
This also allows Da Wu, no matter how many Pokémon with similar attributes he trains, to still exhibit different powers.
Among the Hoenn Four Heavenly Kings, Huayue and Furong are similar to him. Baimu's future path is also this one, hence he's dedicated to developing Hydreigon's three heads and Mawile's giant jaws at the back of its head.
Of course.
It's not to say the path Genji chose is not viable. Being able to reach the top tier of the Four Heavenly Kings proves a lot; physical strength and willpower are equally important, merely the distinction between primary and secondary.
On the battlefield.
Genji swapped out Haxorus; after a brief silence, he sent out Kingdra. The Invisible Rock powerfully exploded again, causing Kingdra to suffer a minor injury upon entry.
This is evidently preparing to gamble on a [critical hit].
As long as it can hit a critical spot, the enhanced double defenses and Light Wall and Reflective Wall can be ignored!
Surprisingly, upon seeing Kingdra, Da Wu immediately swapped out Claydol.
Not even wanting the increased double defenses from Cosmic Power, he sent up a Pokémon that looked like some prehistoric plant.
It's the Cradily with the Water Attraction trait!
Baimu felt a shock in his heart; he had a deep impression of this Pokémon, not only because of its fairly decent performance in the Grandmaster Battle but also because it had hidden traits.
In the game, hidden traits only appeared in the fifth generation, but in the third generation, Cradily already belonged to one of Da Wu's members in the game.
Baimu initially thought the anime's Da Wu should also be the game's panel—
But that's not the case.
In the Pokémon data circulating online of Da Wu, Cradily is prominently marked with the hidden Water Attraction trait!
And how will Kingdra face a Pokémon that instantly cut its strength in half by just appearing? Would Genji choose to exchange?
The answer is clearly no.
Swapping again would only waste time and still be hit by Invisible Rock; if he sends out Flygon, Da Wu will definitely switch to Claydol, and the result will be similar.
Moreover, sending out Kingdra is to gamble on a critical hit.
Using Dragon Attribute and other techniques have the same chance.
Kingdra started with Smoke Screen as usual.
Cradily chose to root, and illusory energy roots grew from beneath it, plunging into the ground, and spherical energy poured into its body.
In the Smoke Screen, Kingdra brought out its second move as a sniper—Shadow Clone.
Countless clones rushed out of the smoke towards Cradily; the latter stood unmoved, swinging eight tentacles as if it hadn't seen these Pokémon.
Stillness defeats movement.
It certainly is an excellent Pokémon employing a defensive counter-attack strategy, fully grasping the essence of enemy movement.
The clones rushed around but couldn't force Cradily to strike; Kingdra immediately chose to attack simultaneously with the clones, and countless beams of ice shot towards it!
However, among these ice beams, only one was real, and the others were illusions.
Cradily was well aware of this and thus allowed the ice beams to strike its difficult-moving body, and then...
Determined the opponent's position from the struck location!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Four tentacles lashed out through the air, unexpectedly stretching like spring whips able to extend or contract several times their length, and even though Kingdra was far away, they instantly touched its location!
Multiple junctions blocked together; Kingdra had no room to evade!