Within Mismagius's illusory world, Koffing instantly fell into despair. Having suffered a painful past, Koffing naturally had a fragile mind. Very quickly, it saw the scene of its parents and kin all dying before its eyes. The atmosphere of death shrouded Koffing, and it began to cry and tremble.
"Sigh… come back, Koffing."
Tetsuya immediately recalled Koffing into its Poké Ball. He could not allow Koffing to be affected too deeply by the illusion, so he would rather forfeit the battle.
"I lose this round," Tetsuya said.
Only then did Morty let out a sigh of relief. However, just as Morty thought he had pulled one battle back… Mismagius suddenly fell from the air!
Mismagius had already been poisoned when it inhaled the Poison Gas earlier. As time passed, the poisoning only grew more severe until it finally collapsed.
"Mismagius!?"
Morty called out, his mind filled with mixed emotions. If Koffing had held on just a little longer, the one who would have lost would definitely have been Mismagius.
"…Come out, Spiritomb." Morty's third Pokémon was Spiritomb, the steadiest Pokémon on his team.
"Houndoom, you're up."
Houndoom leaped onto the battlefield. Its powerful intimidation aura combined with the King's Rock caused Spiritomb to instinctively shrink back. It had already lost in terms of presence.
" 'Howl,' " Tetsuya commanded.
"Dark Pulse!" Morty was unwilling to be outdone. Naturally, he wanted to deal as much damage as possible while Houndoom was using "Howl" to increase its Attack.
Houndoom let out a howl that pierced the arena. Instantly, the clouds parted and the sunlight grew much stronger.
Spiritomb fired Dark Pulse toward Houndoom. The black Dark-type energy spread outward, yet no matter what, it could not get any closer to Houndoom. It was as though some invisible force were blocking it.
"That's i-impossible… Howl only increases physical Attack, right? How could it be releasing energy that blocks Spiritomb's Dark Pulse!?" Morty could not understand it. No matter how hard Spiritomb pushed its Dark Pulse, the energy simply could not approach Houndoom. It could only watch helplessly as Houndoom finished using "Howl".
"Fire Blast, Flamethrower."
The primary purpose of [Blazing Howl] was actually to create the effect of Sunny Day, increasing the power of Fire-type moves. If it used [Blightfire Assault], its power would reach its maximum, but against Spiritomb, this was already more than enough.
Houndoom launched Fire Blast, then reinforced it with Flamethrower, causing it to reach Spiritomb in an instant.
With a loud explosion, Fire Blast detonated, and the flames immediately engulfed Spiritomb.
At Tetsuya's command, Houndoom did not continue using Flamethrower. Once the flames died away, Spiritomb had already fainted.
Another overwhelming victory!
This was absolute domination through sheer power, with no unnecessary delay whatsoever. Houndoom stood proudly with its head held high, looking every bit the king.
"Mamoswine, you're up first. This time, Beedrill will be my anchor."
Tetsuya said. Mamoswine stepped onto the battlefield, each step shaking the ground. With the Macho Brace on its body, its movements were exceptionally slow.
After weighing his options, Morty ultimately decided to use Banette, whose physical Attacks were formidable, against Mamoswine. After all, Mamoswine's movements were sluggish. By taking advantage of the sudden nature of Ghost-type Phantom Force and launching powerful surprise attacks, it was not impossible for Banette to defeat Mamoswine… right?
If only Morty knew…
The moment Mamoswine stepped onto the battlefield, the bright sunshine of Sunny Day vanished. Dark clouds suddenly filled the sky, the temperature plummeted, and a raging blizzard and Hail began to fall from above. In an instant, it became impossible to keep one's eyes open.
Banette's pained cries echoed from within the blizzard. The hail was so dense that striking its body was comparable to the damage dealt by many powerful moves.
"Banette, use Phantom Force and wait for an opportunity to attack!"
The heavy snow completely obscured Banette's figure, so Morty could only rely on his experience to battle.
At last, Banette's cries of pain ceased, and Morty finally relaxed a little. At the very least, Banette was no longer taking damage.
Even within the blizzard, Tetsuya could not see anything. However, he had psychic powers and could clearly sense the locations of both Mamoswine and Banette. In truth, after countless battles, Mamoswine could almost fight without his commands now. Even so, as a Trainer, it was essential to understand the situation of the battle at every moment.
Suddenly, Banette emerged from another dimension, and its Shadow Claw struck Mamoswine on the head. However, Mamoswine did not move even slightly. Such a minor amount of damage was nothing to a Mamoswine with such a sturdy body.
"Icicle Spear."
Using his psychic powers, Tetsuya had already pinpointed the positions of Mamoswine and Banette and immediately issued the command. If he had not given an order, Mamoswine would certainly have used Blizzard. Such a terrifying move was completely unnecessary here and might even have endangered Banette's life, so he chose a move with somewhat lower power instead.
Even Icicle Spear displayed astonishing power when used by Mamoswine. Five Icicle Spears were launched in succession, sending Banette flying.
"Banette… Baneeeeette!" Morty called out, but there was no response. He could not hear Banette's cries, nor could he see what had happened. Morty had no idea whether Banette was unable to battle or had hidden itself in another dimension.
Tetsuya already knew the answer. Banette could no longer battle. As Mamoswine slowly withdrew its icy aura, the blizzard and Hail gradually weakened, and at last Banette's body lying on the ground became visible.
At this point, Morty's last hope was finally shattered, and he recalled Banette.
"So… this is the Swinub that Elite Four Pryce gave you after it evolved?" Morty asked.
"That's right. It's also my strongest Pokémon now," Tetsuya replied.
Morty revealed a look of envy. "A Pokémon raised by an Elite Four… truly is extraordinary!"
Tetsuya could only nod. Even if Pryce were to see this Mamoswine now, he would probably be astonished. After all, it had absorbed Eternal Ice as well as the Eternal Ice aura within Pryce's own Piloswine. That was why it possessed such overwhelming Ice-type energy and could unleash such incredibly powerful Ice-type moves. If it had merely been the Swinub from back then, no matter what, absorbing a single piece of Everfrozen Ice alone could never have produced such power.
Although Mamoswine was currently wearing the Macho Brace, making it much slower, during its battle against Banette, it had not moved its body even once from beginning to end. Once Mamoswine trained its physical condition to the limit and could remove the Macho Brace, it would become an absolute mainstay in battle.
With that level of physical condition, it would be able to fully utilize Curse and Amnesia. At that point, Mamoswine would become an impregnable fortress while still possessing terrifying destructive power.
That he would maybe become famous in this life because of Ice-type Pokémon was something even Tetsuya himself had never expected.