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Chapter 241: Poison Sandstorm
🕑 Added 2025-10-05 11:01:59 +0000 UTCChapter 241: Poison Sandstorm
"Lileep, what's wrong?" Basalt noticed its unusual behavior.
"Nee-nee~" Lileep's expression was grave.
"Lileep says... we're surrounded!" Bronzong reported, its own telepathic voice laced with shock. Once again, it had failed to detect anything. This was getting frustrating.
Of course, Excadrill hadn't noticed anything either.
"In that case, the enemy is coming from the air? And they're Dark-types?" Basalt raised an eyebrow, immediately going on high alert.
"Dee-dee-dee~"
Just then, a melodious and graceful flute-like sound suddenly echoed through the forest. It was beautiful.
But when it reached Basalt's ears, goosebumps erupted all over his skin.
Grass Whistle. A Grass-type move that could put an opponent to sleep.
"Excadrill, Screech!"
At Basalt's command, a sharp, piercing sound quickly overpowered the sound of the Grass Whistle.
RUMBLE!
But just as the flute sound died down, a black shadow flashed across the tree branches, and a violent hurricane swept towards them.
"Bronzong, meet it with Flash Cannon!"
With its bell facing upward, the Steel-type energy within Bronzong rapidly converged, quickly forming a cannonball of light.
The beam of light, containing terrifying destructive power, easily pierced through the hurricane, tearing it to shreds and causing it to dissipate in an instant.
"Shift-ry! Shift-ry!"
Its surprise attack having failed, an annoyed cry came from high up in the forest.
Looking up, Basalt saw a large, ferocious-looking brown Pokémon. A long, shaggy white mane covered most of its face, resembling a spiderweb. It had long ears, a long, pointed nose, and a large mouth with clenched teeth. Its eyes were a cloudy yellow. Its hands were three wide leaves with brown "spokes," and its feet resembled traditional Japanese geta sandals.
"It really is a Shiftry."
Basalt's eyes narrowed.
It knew Grass Whistle, Hurricane, and was a Dark-type. There weren't many other options besides Shiftry. According to the Pokédex, some Shiftry were vicious and enjoyed deliberately harming travelers for no reason. It all added up.
"Shift-ry!"
"Nuz-leaf! Nuz-leaf!"
But what Basalt hadn't expected was that there was more than one.
As cries rose up one after another, the other Shiftry and five Nuzleaf also appeared. They leaped back and forth through the trees, completely surrounding Basalt and his team.
"This is bad. Basalt is surrounded!"
In the monitoring room, an examiner said with dissatisfaction, "This is why we shouldn't put too many of the same species in at once. They form gangs too easily, which is extremely disadvantageous for the candidates."
Unfortunately, no one else agreed with his complaint.
At that moment, everyone's eyes were glued to the monitor, eager to see how the super-genius Basalt would handle the situation.
After all, a genius must have their own extraordinary means. You couldn't judge them by ordinary standards.
...
Looking up at the two Shiftry and five Nuzleaf, Basalt couldn't help but swallow.
But thinking of the Pro-level Pokémon guardian shadowing him, he wasn't scared.
Besides, just because there were seven of them, did they really think they had him cornered?
A sandstorm team's greatest strength was group battles.
If you don't poke the tiger, you'll think it's a Hello Kitty.
"Shift-ry!"
After a moment's standoff, the numerically superior Shiftry clan launched the first attack. The seven Pokémon each flung sharp leaf blades, blanketing Basalt's position.
BOOM!
A hard rock shield appeared, protecting them from the first volley.
"Shift-ry?"
The Shiftry and Nuzleaf were surprised. They had clearly never seen a group-defense move like Wide Guard before.
"Sandstorm!" Basalt roared.
Lileep and Excadrill, who had been aggressively absorbing moisture from the ground during the standoff, unleashed their power at the same time. A violent sandstorm instantly formed, causing the Shiftry and Nuzleaf to flinch and retreat.
"Excadrill, use Drill Run and destroy all the surrounding trees!" Basalt commanded again.
The Shiftry and Nuzleaf were all leaping between the treetops, which put his team at a great disadvantage. He had to force them to the ground.
FLASH!
A brilliant light suddenly shone as Bronzong used Flash to create an opening.
CRASH! BOOM! CRUNCH!
Excadrill turned into a living drill and charged forward, plowing through and snapping all the nearby trees.
And so, the enemies in the treetops were sent into a complete chaos, forced to jump to the ground, though they weren't injured.
On the contrary, the anger in their hearts burned even hotter.
They had never imagined that, despite outnumbering him, Basalt would seize the initiative.
Especially this intense sandstorm; it was causing them great harm. The sand pelted their bodies, stinging painfully and bringing with it a strong sense of dizziness and weakness.
Huh? Wait a minute!
Why do my comrades all have a faint, dark purple tinge to their skin?
That's a sign of poisoning! Since when?!
The lead Shiftry was scared out of its wits. They had all been poisoned without even realizing it.
"You finally noticed?"
Basalt put on a pair of goggles, and his lips curled up.
You think a sandstorm team just creates a sandstorm to chip away at the opponent's health? You're underestimating us.
The high-level tactics of a sandstorm team included variations like Flame Sandstorm and Poison Sandstorm.
After Lileep had acquired its poison ability yesterday, Basalt had spent the night teaching it how to infuse its toxins into a sandstorm. He hadn't expected its first use to be so effective.
Sandstorm plus poison. When these two forms of passive damage were combined, the effect was greater than the sum of its parts.
In just a short while, the Shiftry and Nuzleaf had already lost a significant amount of stamina.
"Meteor Crash!"
Taking advantage of the enemy's shock and confusion, Basalt launched another attack, and this time it was a large-scale area-of-effect move.
Gravity was a Psychic-type status move that manipulated magnetic forces, so it was also effective against Dark-type Pokémon.
Countless rock projectiles rained down from the sky, sending the Nuzleaf and Shiftry scattering in a panic. The two Shiftry were fine; they were stronger and more agile. But the Nuzleaf couldn't keep up, and almost every one of them was injured.
Covering Basalt, Bronzong focused all its power on using Gravity to restrain the opponents, while Excadrill and Lileep launched a fierce assault.
One Ancient Power, and Lileep's stats were all boosted. Next, it began to use its roots to trap the opponents.
"Nuz-leaf!"
The Nuzleaf, low on stamina and not agile enough, were caught one by one.
One of the Shiftry was tied down by Excadrill. Its vaunted speed and agility were a joke in front of Excadrill; it was being completely run down.
The other Shiftry wanted to help, but seeing the Nuzleaf in trouble, it prioritized saving them.
Slice! Slice!
With its razor-sharp Leaf Blade, the Shiftry only had time to free two of the Nuzleaf. As for the other three, they had already been drained dry and knocked out by Lileep.
"Shift-ry!"
The Shiftry's face was filled with grief and rage, but it only lasted for a second.
Because the other Shiftry had just been defeated, and the two Nuzleaf it had saved were on their last legs. This Shiftry realized the battle was lost.
RUMBLE!
It unleashed another powerful Hurricane, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris.
When the wind died down, the Shiftry had vanished, leaving behind only the two injured and baffled Nuzleaf.
Their leader... had abandoned them and fled.
With only two nearly-Advanced-rank but heavily injured Nuzleaf left, the battle was over.
A short while later, the fight ended, and Basalt had six more tokens in his hand.
"You're lucky you're fast," Basalt muttered, spitting in the direction the Shiftry had fled. If it hadn't been escaping through the trees, where Excadrill would have had a hard time chasing it down, he would never have let it get away so easily.
How dare it ambush me. It doesn't know what's good for it.
In the monitoring room.
The examiners watched as Basalt's team performed as if they were using cheat codes, their eyes wide. They knew Basalt was strong, but the Poison Sandstorm was a breath of fresh air and had completely caught them by surprise.
The key was how effective it was. Using the sand to create scrapes on the opponent, and then letting the attached poison seep into the wounds... it was almost impossible to defend against.
"Against a Poison Sandstorm like that, even we wouldn't have many ways to resist it, would we? The only way is to try and defeat the opponent as quickly as possible."
Captain Wang scratched his head and said, "But Basalt's three Pokémon don't seem like they'd be easy to defeat. That Excadrill is too fast to catch. That Bronzong's defenses are insane, and it has that powerful Gravity to suppress movement. And that Lileep... Ingrain, Giga Drain, and Photosynthesis. It's ridiculous."
"Indeed. I have to say, the synergy between Basalt's three Pokémon is just perfect."
The examiners all sighed with emotion. A genius was a genius. There was no arguing with that.
While the examiners were marveling at him, Basalt and his team were on the move again.
After another half an hour, they finally arrived at the weakest point of the secret realm's spatial field.
When Basalt stopped, Captain Wang's eyes went wide. He finally understood why Basalt had been heading this way.
"That Bronzong is only Advanced-rank, and it can already sense the flow of the secret realm's magnetic field?"
Captain Wang stared, completely dumbfounded. As a member of the Secret Realm Guardian Team, he knew exactly where Basalt was.
Opening a spatial gate just required mastering the method and step-by-step training. Many Pro-level Pokémon could do it.
But to distinguish the strength and flow of a magnetic field required a very deep understanding of magnetism. It was an extremely advanced field of study.
Captain Wang knew this place was the weak point because he had been guarding this secret realm for ten years and knew it like the back of his hand.
But Basalt and his Bronzong had only been inside for a little over a day.
This... this was just insane.
"Sure enough, geniuses don't play by the rules," Captain Wang sighed. Looking at the heroic figure of Basalt on the screen, he suddenly felt a little old.
In the secret realm.
Bronzong was continuously altering the magnetic field, trying to open the spatial gate.
Vmmmm!
After about half an hour of trying, just as Basalt was about to fall asleep, a rapidly rotating gate of energy suddenly appeared.
Bronzong had successfully opened a spatial gate.
