"Ominous Wind!"
Catherine commanded. She needed to clear away this Poison Gas as quickly as possible.
Spiritomb's entire body floated as the eerie wind howled, bringing with it a chilling sensation.
The eerie wind howled furiously, and the Poison Gas dispersed along with it.
Tetsuya was also in a difficult situation right now. Koffing's hollow body was composed of very light toxic gases, and the most troublesome opponents for it were "wind-based moves" like these. In the wind, it was very difficult to maintain the balance of its body. It seemed Catherine had done quite a bit of research on him.
"Release Poison Gas while circling around."
Right now, they could only release poisonous gas while dodging Ominous Wind.
Koffing circled around Spiritomb in the air while releasing poisonous gas, and Spiritomb could only follow Koffing's direction while blowing Ominous Wind.
Spiritomb was already in a poisoned state, and its vitality was continuously draining away. Finally, it could no longer endure it. Ominous Wind stopped, and its expression became very, ugh… ugly?
Tetsuya's tactics had been used very successfully. Catherine was now very worried about Spiritomb's condition. Could it really be slowly exhausted to death by Tetsuya like this? Right now, wanting to attack Koffing was also very difficult. Spiritomb could no longer hold on for much longer.
At the instant Spiritomb gasped(?) for breath, Koffing reabsorbed the scattered gas and sprayed it all around Spiritomb in one go.
Very quickly, poisonous gas shrouded Spiritomb. In such a state, the poisoning would only worsen. Before long, it would become unable to battle.
Now Catherine only had one final desperate gamble left.
"Feint Attack!"
Spiritomb used every ounce of its strength and rushed out from the range covered by the poisonous gas.
"Sludge Bomb."
Tetsuya said that as long as this Sludge Bomb landed, the poisoned Spiritomb would inevitably become unable to battle.
Sludge Bomb shot directly toward Spiritomb!
"Shadow Sneak!" 'It must succeed…'
Catherine said, leaving everyone shocked. While using Feint Attack, it could still use Shadow Sneak again?
Tetsuya also realized it. Catherine had already revealed Spiritomb's ace. During the charge of Feint Attack, it used Shadow Sneak.
Two black claws suddenly shot out, directly blocking Sludge Bomb's attack.
Shadow Sneak succeeded, and Sludge Bomb was completely dispersed. Spiritomb's Feint Attack had already gathered all the energy in its body.
It violently slammed Koffing to the ground, and Spiritomb followed up with Pursuit.
Koffing completely lost its combat ability, and when Spiritomb landed, it also fainted. The toxin had already eroded away its last burst of vitality.
"Spiritomb and Koffing have simultaneously lost their combat ability. The match continues!" The Shadow announced the result.
Even Yamamoto on the high platform of the battlefield had been attracted by this battle. Finally, something somewhat worth watching had appeared.
"Gliscor!"
"Houndoom."
Neither Tetsuya nor Catherine intended to take advantage of the other. Both simultaneously sent out their second Pokémon.
"Sandstorm!"
Catherine's Gliscor possessed the Sand Veil Ability. Tetsuya had also carefully observed her current tactics. He could only say that using Sandstorm immediately upon entering the battle made her intentions somewhat too obvious. 'Mmm, after all, she's just a little girl, and I'm treating this battle like when Trainers used to challenge my Gym…'
That move of Houndoom's, [Blazing Howl], had not yet been used here before. This was the perfect opportunity for it.
The yellow sand filled the space and swept across everything, even affecting the battles of the others. Gliscor circled in midair, its figure already becoming blurry.
The yellow sand scraped across Houndoom's body, affecting it no matter what.
Clearly, this Gliscor was not particularly skilled at using moves like Sandstorm. Its power was truly limited. However, what it needed was merely the Sand Veil Ability.
If it were up to him, Tetsuya would rather have a Gliscor with the Poison Heal Ability. That way, it could also cooperate with his Poison-types. But Pokémon with good Abilities did not necessarily have good potential, and Pokémon with good potential and talent did not necessarily have good Abilities. Wanting to catch a Pokémon that completely suited one's wishes was still very difficult.
The Gliscor within the Sand Veil did not affect Houndoom very much. A hound's sense of smell and hearing were both extremely sharp. Gliscor basically could not deceive Houndoom. Its position had long already been "Lock-On" by Houndoom.
"Swords Dance."
Catherine said calmly.
When dealing with Tetsuya, Catherine had also constantly been studying him.
From what Tetsuya knew, Catherine had a great capacity for planning, so when dealing with Tetsuya, she had also made many tactical changes. The main purpose of Sand Veil was still for Swords Dance.
" 'Howl'."
Tetsuya ordered. A Gliscor after Swords Dance was definitely not something to joke around with. Once it fully built up momentum, the battles afterward would become even harder.
Houndoom raised its head and released a howl that shook the battlefield. At this moment, the Gliscor within the Sandstorm felt somewhat dizzy. It was clearly being invaded by Dark-type energy.
Moreover, as the howling sound grew increasingly intense, the sunlight also became more dazzling. Under the intense sunlight, the Sandstorm gradually settled down, and Gliscor no longer had anywhere to hide, revealing itself.
"Fire Blast, Houndoom follow it."
Under Sunny Day, borrowing the power of the sun, Fire Blast became even larger and thicker, while Houndoom closely followed behind Fire Blast.
"Acrobatics, Night Slash!" Catherine utilized Gliscor's advantage of being able to fly to the fullest. With a flick of its tail, it soared into the sky and easily avoided Fire Blast by using its glide.
At this very moment, Gliscor swooped down, heading straight for Houndoom's back.
"Go through it and use Flamethrower."
Gliscor's flying belonged to gliding, so its flight was not very flexible. Once it began diving, it was very difficult to stop the impulse.
In the blink of an eye, Gliscor was about to crash into Houndoom!
…Only to see Houndoom flash through Fire Blast with a "whoosh~", immediately followed by a roaring Flamethrower.
Flamethrower propelled Fire Blast as it violently slammed into Gliscor, and then an explosion sounded as flames engulfed Gliscor.
"Beat Up."
The current Beat Up no longer needed flames… because right before them was already a blazing inferno!
Houndoom split into ten clones and pounce into the flames engulfing Gliscor. With Houndoom's Flash Fire Ability, every time it entered, the flames on its body grew increasingly intense, while the flames burning Gliscor became fewer and fewer.
Once the flames dissipated, Gliscor had already collapsed, while at this moment Houndoom's entire body was gathering volcano-like flames.
"…Honchkrow."
Catherine's third Pokémon. Gliscor's defeat just now was mainly because it could not fly normally, which allowed Tetsuya to take advantage of it.
Honchkrow had abundant vitality and terrific Attack. Most importantly, it could fly freely. Against a Pokémon like Houndoom that could not fly, it could be said to hold a huge advantage.
"Icy Wind!"
The Sinnoh Region's temperature was relatively low, and snowy mountains could be seen everywhere. It was only normal for Honchkrow to learn Icy Wind.
The freezing cold air rushed out together with Honchkrow's wings.
The flames on Houndoom's body gradually dissipated, while drops of water melted by Icy Wind fell onto Houndoom's body, naturally making it feel uncomfortable all over.
Icy Wind possessed the excellent effect of lowering the opponent's Speed. Naturally, Houndoom would not simply sit and wait for death…