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Chapter 78: Fierce Battle! Norman's Last Two Pokémon?
🕑 Added 2025-08-22 16:14:04 +0000 UTCThe worst part was that it was still under the control effect of "Encore," meaning it would continue to use "Bulk Up" next turn.
And the turn after that, Slaking would recover and use "Hyper Beam" to strike first, taking away all of Bewear's remaining HP!
Most critically, Cynthia discovered in the Gym battle that Gym Leaders seemed to have the ability to use healing items once, while she, as a trainer, was somehow banned from using any active items.
This meant her idea of using this turn to help Bewear recover HP with a potion to withstand that Hyper Beam was completely unrealistic.
With no other choice, Cynthia had to give up this challenge again and restart a new battle.
This time, she reverted to her original strategy—sending out Rotom to trade states with Norman's Swellow and Linoone using Thunder, using the confusion status to deal with Linoone while having Pelipper set up Tailwind.
Although this required certain probabilities to succeed, the chances of achieving this step were still quite good.
After two attempts, Cynthia successfully replicated this step, and Norman, as usual, sent out his Slaking to face Pelipper.
Cynthia didn't change much on her end, still selecting Water Pulse, dealing less than one-third of Slaking's HP while being directly taken out by Slaking's Giga Impact.
Next turn, she again sent out Ludicolo!
But this time, appearing during Slaking's rest turn, Cynthia didn't use Water Pulse, but another move instead.
—The HM move: "Flash"!
Flash was a move many Pokémon could learn. In adventure, it could light up surrounding spaces, letting players see the path ahead, while in battle, this move could lower the opponent's accuracy!
The key to dealing with Slaking was how to safely get through the turn it used Giga Impact.
If this were the real world, Cynthia felt "Protect" should work—this move could help Pokémon withstand any incoming attack as long as the level and power gap wasn't too large.
A Gym Leader-level Pokémon could even use this move to barely take an attack from an Elite Four-level Pokémon.
Unfortunately, too few Pokémon on her current team could learn "Protect"—this move seemed to require them to reach higher levels to master.
If she had to say, Sceptile had mastered a move called "Detect" back when it was still a Treecko. This move's effect was somewhat similar to Protect, also allowing it to completely defend against the next incoming damage.
But the problem was getting Sceptile to deal with Slaking—with its attack power, this would be quite difficult. It would probably have to use Bulk Up like Bewear to boost its offense before being able to take it down in one hit.
Otherwise, it would definitely be dragged out by potions and Leftovers until Detect lost all its PP, then get taken out by Giga Impact.
And once Sceptile used a boosting move, Slaking's "Encore" would probably come into play.
So, in this situation where even Sceptile couldn't take the field, with only Bewear to handle Slaking, the final method Cynthia could think of to safely get through that crucial turn was using the HM Flash.
This move wouldn't deal any damage after use, but would directly lower the opponent Pokémon's accuracy. And although Cynthia didn't know the specific calculation rules, previous battle experience had told her that Giga Impact's accuracy wasn't 100%!
After Flash lowered its accuracy, combined with confusion's probability, after multiple repeated uses, she could definitely lower Slaking's hit rate to minimum.
At this moment, as Ludicolo waved its claws, a brilliant, dazzling light instantly exploded in front of Slaking, making it squint.
Dark gray light flashed across its body, accompanied by two game notifications:
[Ludicolo used Flash. Slaking's accuracy fell!]
Immediately after, Slaking's turn was also skipped due to its Truant ability triggering and Giga Impact's side effect.
The Leftovers item didn't trigger since its HP was at full!
As the new turn began, Cynthia took a deep breath and directly clicked Teeter Dance.
With Rain Dance and Tailwind boosts, Ludicolo would definitely get priority, and this turn naturally had to be used to inflict confusion.
After the eerie, mystical dance, golden stars and swirls appeared above Slaking's head again.
Cynthia held her breath—this battle had reached its most crucial moment!
If Slaking wasn't affected by the lowered accuracy and didn't fail due to confusion, she'd have to start a new battle all over again.
Under Cynthia's gaze, Slaking's confusion effect triggered first, countless golden stars swirling above its head. But they ultimately vanished in an instant, restoring clarity to its eyes.
—The confusion effect didn't successfully trigger!
But at this critical moment, the deep blue energy that had surged from Slaking's body suddenly dimmed in that instant.
[Slaking tried to use Giga Impact, but it missed!]
Flash's accuracy-lowering effect had successfully taken hold!
This also meant Ludicolo had gained two more turns to act!
Cynthia didn't hesitate and had Ludicolo use Flash again.
Based on her current understanding of stat drops and raises in this game, lowering a stat twice was roughly equivalent to doubling the effect from the original baseline.
She wasn't sure whether this was calculated additively or multiplicatively, but undoubtedly, three consecutive Flash uses lowering accuracy by three stages, combined with confusion's trigger probability, would make it nearly impossible for Slaking to successfully attack with its every-other-turn opportunity.
Ludicolo swayed its claws as brilliant light flashed repeatedly in front of Slaking, dark gray light flashing across its body multiple times.
After two consecutive Flash uses, Slaking's accuracy had been lowered to three stages below normal.
More critically, when the new turn began and it raised its claws to use Giga Impact, the confused stars above its head suddenly froze, making its gaze become distant as its energy went haywire.
This time, the quite persistent confusion didn't naturally wear off, but directly denied it the right to attack.
Brilliant white light crashed down on Slaking's own body, dealing amazing self-damage as its HP bar rapidly dropped below half.
At this moment, Cynthia's gaze instantly sharpened.
She knew—the time to strike had come.
If Slaking missed Ludicolo due to lowered accuracy next time, Ludicolo would have a full four consecutive turns to attack!
Even with Leftovers healing, four consecutive attacks would be completely sufficient to take down Slaking's remaining HP!
But thinking this, Cynthia quickly realized the problem and frowned again.
The situation didn't seem as simple as she thought...
Norman still had one use of Hyper Potion to fully restore Slaking's HP that he hadn't used!
Sure enough, when the next turn began, Norman suddenly threw a purple bottle that smashed against Slaking, turning into green light points that completely restored its HP, exactly like before.
Fortunately, Cynthia had already realized this and didn't have Ludicolo attack again, instead using Teeter Dance again to inflict confusion on Slaking.
But at this moment, Cynthia was no longer as tense. After multiple Flash uses, Slaking's accuracy seemed to have been lowered to the extreme.
Even just considering hit probability alone, successfully using Giga Impact to hit Ludicolo was nearly impossible, let alone with confusion's effects!
Sure enough, just as Cynthia predicted, when Slaking's next turn came, confusion didn't successfully affect it, but its move missed again.
This turn, Cynthia had already switched to offense. The second Water Pulse hit Slaking and luckily scored a critical hit, directly taking away nearly half its HP.
Cynthia couldn't help but clench her fists. Good—at this pace, she could finally overcome this terrifying, absurd mountain!
But at that moment, as the new turn began, sudden change occurred!
Norman's image suddenly appeared on the field, throwing out a Poké Ball and directly recalling Slaking.
But Cynthia didn't feel frustrated or negative about this—quite the opposite, she had expected this.
With Slaking's accuracy lowered to minimum, given the AI level of NPCs in this game, they would definitely choose to recall a Pokémon at such absolute disadvantage.
Although this meant all the accuracy-lowering effects Cynthia had inflicted would become meaningless.
But the current Slaking had already lost half its HP, and Giga Impact's PP should have been heavily depleted too.
More importantly, Norman choosing to switch Pokémon this turn would not only let Cynthia see more information about his remaining two Pokémon, but more crucially, it would be equivalent to directly giving up priority.
After so many turns of battle, while the Rain Dance and Tailwind on the field had long since ended with time, Ludicolo's base Speed was what it was.
Next turn, it might also get priority—that was two consecutive turns of operating room!
In any case, Cynthia's earlier operations had already secured maximum advantage in this battle!
Now it depended on what Norman's second-to-last Pokémon would be!
The next moment, as Norman threw out a new Poké Ball, red light flashed, and a Pokémon's silhouette appeared on the battlefield.
It was a cute-looking Pokémon with deep purple and white fur, two tufts of wool-like protrusions on its head resembling horns, with an elegant appearance like a butler.
This was clearly a dual Normal/Psychic-type Pokémon—Indeedee.
This kind of Pokémon was quite common in upper circles. Due to its elegant appearance and high intelligence, it was often used as a butler-type Pokémon in noble mansions.
In battle, Cynthia rarely saw this Pokémon appear. Even some Psychic-type Elite Four and Champions rarely raised this kind of Pokémon.
The general assessment of it was just two words—pretty but useless.
But at this moment, having experienced Slaking earlier, Cynthia had no prejudice or contempt for this Pokémon.
On the contrary, she had become focused again.
Because she was certain Norman could send out this Pokémon, because it definitely possessed extremely strong combat power and some special ability.
Seeing Indeedee's appearance, the live stream audience was momentarily uncertain.
After all, the impact that the earlier Linoone and Slaking had given them was actually no less than—or even stronger than—what Cynthia experienced.
It's just that as non-trainers, they had been through this game's baptism too many times and found themselves gradually getting used to sudden shocks...
The chat began discussing in the stream:
[So what tricks can this Indeedee show us?]
[I bet this guy can also directly one-shot Ludicolo bro.]
[I bet this guy has guaranteed priority control.]
[I bet this guy looks soft and weak but is actually a super invincible tank!]
Watching the increasingly off-track chat in the stream, Cynthia's mouth twitched slightly.
These guys were guessing about Norman's Pokémon without considering normal Indeedee development directions. Even if Norman's Indeedee was abnormal, it wouldn't be raised in these directions...
As she pondered, after a moment's consideration, Cynthia finally chose to click Water Pulse. This was currently Ludicolo's strongest offensive move—there wasn't much better choice.
But the moment she input the command and the turn began, a somewhat familiar scene suddenly appeared before her!
Pink energy began flowing from Indeedee's body toward the ground, forming wave after wave of hazy purple mist that covered the entire battlefield.
Deep purple mixed with pink energy danced on Cynthia's screen, accompanied by a series of pink notifications:
[Indeedee's Psychic Surge ability activated!]
[The field is covered with psychic power!]
[Pokémon on the ground have their Psychic-type moves boosted by 30%!]
[Units on the ground are immune to priority moves like Quick Attack and Extreme Speed.]
[Pokémon with the "Inner Focus" ability will not be affected by the above protective effects.]
Looking at this information suddenly appearing before her, Cynthia couldn't help but furrow her brow slightly.
Psychic Terrain?
Obviously, this was different from weather moves, but somewhat similar to the "Electric Terrain" she had seen in the Electric Gym.
After encountering Electric Terrain and understanding its general effects, Cynthia then encountered the Grass-type exclusive Grassy Terrain. At that time, she wondered whether there existed corresponding terrains for other types.
Now it seemed the answer was obviously yes—the battlefield terrain before her was Psychic-type!
And this Indeedee's ability was somewhat similar to Pelipper's Drizzle, triggering such an effect just by appearing!
Cynthia fell into deep thought. You have to know that, whether weather or terrain, in the real world, they could provide extremely powerful buffs for either a single Pokémon or a group of corresponding-type Pokémon.
She really hadn't expected that the usually gentle-looking Indeedee contained such amazing power, possessing similar talent to Pelipper.
It's just that Pelipper's talent was setting weather, while this one's was setting terrain.
Looking at it this way, the trainer and research communities' attitude toward Indeedee would probably need to change.
After all, in the real world, Psychic-types were never weak—they stood at the pinnacle alongside Dragon and Ghost types!
Once there was a Pokémon that could provide such powerful buffs to all Psychic-types just by appearing; those Psychic-specialist trainers would probably cause a sensation hearing about this.
In Cynthia's memory, there really were several top trainers who fit this criteria.
Like Sabrina from Kanto region—though officially a Gym Leader, her strength had long reached Elite Four level.
Or Lucian from her own Sinnoh region, who specialized in Psychic-types and was always reading books.
Speaking of which... she had a pretty good relationship with Lucian. After all, he had read many books and had quite extensive knowledge about ancient myths and such.
Being in the same region, they naturally had many common topics to discuss.
She should quickly share this discovery with him after this battle ends.
As Cynthia pondered, she suddenly realized something—she seemed to have been lost in thought too long.
No help for it—the information from this new Psychic Surge ability was just too much. Even she needed quite a while to fully digest it all.
She took a deep breath and refocused on the battle at hand.
At this moment, Ludicolo had already finished using Water Pulse. Obviously, its Speed was much faster than Indeedee's.
This Water Pulse also dealt significant damage to Indeedee, directly taking away a full half of its HP. If it had been under rainy weather, it probably could have reached about 2/3 HP damage—unfortunately, the rain had long since ended.
Cynthia couldn't help but start thinking again.
—While rainy weather provided considerable buffs to Water-types, if she wanted to build a team around rain in the future, each rain activation only lasting a short 5 turns, was a major pain point.
To solve this problem, she'd either need to find ways to extend rain duration or add more Pokémon with Drizzle ability, like Pelipper, to her team.
That way, even if Pelipper lost battle capability, she could switch in other Drizzle Pokémon to continue the rain, barely achieving full rain coverage in battle.
But once battles fell into long, sustained struggles like just now, even this obviously couldn't solve the problem...
So, looking at it this way, rain team strategy and style had to be quick decisive battles?
As Cynthia quickly thought, Indeedee across from Ludicolo also launched an attack. Strong psychic energy waves burst from its body with pink light, exploding with powerful pressure that pressed directly on Ludicolo's head, bending its body somewhat!
[Indeedee used Psychic!]
[Indeedee's held item "Twisted Spoon" boosted its Psychic-type move power.]
[The psychic energy on the field enhanced its Psychic-type move power!]
Under the terrifying double damage boost, this Psychic instantly made Ludicolo's HP bar plummet like a roller coaster, finally stopping at barely 1/5 remaining!
You have to know, Ludicolo was a Pokémon with decent Special Defense!
And it was nearly one-shotted?
At this moment, Cynthia understood what it meant to break out in cold sweat.
But the good news was that under Psychic Terrain, neither side's Pokémon could use any priority moves to attack, meaning next turn, if both used moves simultaneously, the one to fall would definitely be the slower, Indeedee.
But Cynthia began hesitating again at this point.
You have to know, Norman still had one final Pokémon that hadn't appeared!
Would he choose to switch Pokémon this turn?
The next moment, as she input "Water Pulse" again, the new turn began, and Indeedee, indeed transformed into red light and was recalled by Norman!
What appeared next was a brand new Pokémon!
It was a brownish, sturdy draconic Pokémon with a kangaroo-like "pouch" on its chest, containing a young one that looked identical to itself!
The moment Cynthia saw this Pokémon, she immediately raised an eyebrow.
Norman's final Pokémon was actually a Kangaskhan?
