"Muk, use Rain Dance!"
Janine issued a command that even took Feng Che by surprise.
This Muk can learn Rain Dance? Feng Che was momentarily stunned. He quickly recalled—Muk could learn Rain Dance via TM, but the cost was usually too high for most trainers to bother. Besides, wouldn't the rainwater just dilute Muk's own toxins?
Feng Che remained on high alert.
Muk pressed its sludge-like hands together, its mouth moving as if chanting a low prayer. Massive clouds of purplish-black toxic gas billowed from its maw, coalescing into a dark, swirling cloud above the battlefield. Then, Muk fired a volley of Sludge Bombs into the heart of the cloud.
Hundreds of sludge projectiles detonated within the vapor, causing the toxic cloud to expand until it blanketed the entire arena. A low, artificial wind swept through, and a brownish rain began to fall in a steady drizzle.
Immediately, a sharp, stinging stench filled the air. Feng Che felt his eyes begin to sting.
"Not good, it's acid rain! Sigilyph, use Psychic to shield yourself from the corrosion!"
Sigilyph beat its wings, eyes glowing with blue light as it generated a psychic envelope to intercept the droplets. The brown rain hissed as it hit the floor, letting out acrid white smoke and an overwhelming acidic odor. A thick, violet mist began to rise from the damp tiles.
Acid rain mixed with toxic fumes, Feng Che noted. A regular Pokémon would have been dissolved by now. To think she could use Sludge Bomb and Toxic to create an artificial weather effect... this Muk is incredibly well-trained.
Feng Che used his telekinesis to toss a fist-sized rock into the mist. The moment the stone touched the rain, it was eaten away into nothingness.
Bathing in the acidic environment, Muk seemed to grow even larger. Its mouth stretched into a gaping maw, spitting out even more Sludge Bombs. Though Sigilyph intercepted many, several detonated near its barrier. The shockwaves nearly knocked Sigilyph out of the sky, and the seeping fumes eventually bypassed its defenses. Sigilyph's face turned a sickly, bruised green; it was poisoned.
Just as Janine let out a sigh of relief, thinking victory was in her grasp, Muk suddenly stiffened as if struck by a lightning bolt. It collapsed onto the ground, its eyes rolling back, completely incapacitated.
"What happened? How did Muk lose so suddenly?" Misty asked, turning to Brock.
Brock shrugged, looking equally confused.
"Sabrina, if I'm not mistaken... that was Future Sight, wasn't it?" Blaine asked.
"Yes," Sabrina replied, tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear. "It finally triggered, and it was enough to one-shot Muk."
"I see," Erika added solemnly. "Feng Che set up the move the moment Sigilyph entered the field. Janine's poison tactics are terrifying—if my Grass-types faced her, I'd only have a thirty percent chance of winning."
"Truly impressive, Mr. Feng Che. To have seen so far ahead," Janine said, recalling her Muk. "Go, my treasure!"
She released Ariados. The long-legged spider stared down Sigilyph with a predatory glare. Sigilyph used its remaining strength to clear the acidic residue from the field with psychic energy, leaving the floor pitted with thousands of tiny, corroded holes.
"Return, Sigilyph. You've done enough. Take the stage, Pidgeot!"
Feng Che's Pidgeot emerged, its golden feathers shimmering as it circled the arena like a streak of light. However, Janine's Ariados was a masterpiece of the ninja arts—a specialized hunter. Its compound eyes offered a 360-degree view of its surroundings. Back when it was a Spinarak, it had killed Fearow; now, as an Ariados, it was a specialized "Bird Slayer."
Pidgeot's vaunted speed looked like a crawl in the spider's eyes.
Ariados chattered its mandibles, the sound grating like metal on bone. It began to spin.
"Ariados, use String Shot Dance!"
Ariados performed a rhythmic, erratic dance while spewing vast quantities of webbing. Within minutes, the battlefield was transformed into a silver "Labyrinth of Silk." Having finished its dance, Ariados's aura shifted; it moved through the webs with ghost-like agility.
"A combination of Sword Dance and String Shot. Fascinating," Feng Che observed. "Pidgeot, Air Slash!"
Pidgeot unleashed waves of pressurized air. When the meter-long blades struck the webs, they let out a metallic cling.
"My Ariados was raised on a diet rich in iron ore," Janine boasted. "Its silk is as hard as steel. Ariados, String Shot!"
Ariados exhaled deeply, firing clusters of webbing at Pidgeot. The silk unfurled in the air like massive casting nets.
"Pidgeot, evade!"
This Pidgeot was the firstborn of the Pidgeot couple and had been raised on Salac Berry extracts. Its top speed could hit Mach 5. It banked sharply, the nets missing its tail feathers by a hair's breadth.
"Ariados, Poison Sting!"
Janine, surprised by the bird's agility, shifted tactics. Ariados opened its maw, firing a barrage of purple needles that rained down like a storm of arrows. Pidgeot wove through the gaps with ease.
"Good! Pidgeot, use Peak!"
Pidgeot soared into the high atmosphere. Reaching the apex, it flipped over and dove straight at Ariados, its beak glowing and extending.
"Ariados, more String Shot!"
Janine's spider had two ways to use its silk: nets to bind, or hardened arrows to pierce. It fired a volley of silken bolts upward. Using the acceleration of gravity, Pidgeot shattered through the iron-like webs and dodged the bolts.
Ariados's pupils shrank. It couldn't move in time. Thwack! Pidgeot's beak slammed into the spider's head, leaving a bleeding wound. Ariados collapsed.
"Wait... Pidgeot!" Feng Che cried.
The bird suddenly plummeted to the earth beside its opponent. Pidgeot's face turned iron-gray, its body convulsing. It had been poisoned just by touching Ariados.
Feng Che rushed to his bird's side, forcing an Antidote down its throat. Pidgeot eventually regained consciousness, but it was too weak to continue.
"Rest now, Pidgeot," Feng Che whispered, recalling it.
"Mr. Feng Che," Janine said, her voice dropping an octave. "That Ariados was my strongest partner. But next... I'm bringing out the Pokémon my father gave me for protection."