The strongest support character having wronged the strongest trainer, if this incident were to spread, it would surely excite the major media outlets of the Ming Long Kingdom, including tabloid reporters, for quite some time. Xia Huanao could even envision the unscrupulous reporters churning out headlines like:
Shocking, Ming Long Kingdom's Stars Turn Against Each Other: Was it Love Gone Sour or a Dispute Over Spoils?
However, these irrelevant matters were destined not to be Xia Huanao's concern. What he needed to focus on was the next wave of attack from the Pokémon.
Although he had developed strategies like Ice City and Electromic Wave, these tactics couldn't solve the problem permanently. Moreover, it had just rained, and the downpour had worsened the already not-very-thick ice, adding to the Pokémon's attacks. Thus, this defensive line was nearing its breaking point. A few kicks might be enough to bring it crashing down.
Xia Huanao and the others very much wished to establish or repair another defensive line on the spot. However, before the trainers could make any moves, they saw the Pokémon outside the ice wall suddenly part ways, revealing a Garchomp striding out with a swagger that seemed to defy everyone.
Xia Huanao and the others moved towards the direction where Garchomp stood. If their guess was correct, this would be the main attack direction of the Pokémon. Xia Huanao eyed the Garchomp standing in front of the other Pokémon, "They're only distinguishing between main and feint attacks now? The commander isn't very good. But then again, for Pokémon to have such awareness is very commendable."
Indeed, given the Pokémon's behavior patterns, this battle should have been fought like Li Yunlong attacking Ping'an County, to use Old Li's words: "No supporting attacks, all damn main attacks." The appearance of a single Garchomp was already quite surprising.
But the appearance of Garchomp was inexplicable. What level of secret realm was this? A typical college student's combat strength could at most handle Pokémon below level twenty. Garchomp's theoretical level was between 24 and 48. It shouldn't have appeared in such a secret realm.
Regarding the reason for Garchomp's appearance, Xia Huanao had two theories. One was that someone had taken advantage of the situation to send their Pokémon to cause trouble. In such cases, they would never be lenient and would fight them to the death. The other possibility was that other Pokémon had torn space and sent this Garchomp over. For instance, the God of Space, Palkia, got drunk and acted impulsively...
Of course, whichever theory was true, it was bad news for Xia Huanao. The Pokémon League was already stretched thin, and now this had happened. Those who dared to provoke the league were no easy foes. The second scenario was even worse; the outbreak of rampant Pokémon was to be expected, but now even Palkia was involved. It seemed that the spiritual realm of Ling Yao Star was likely doomed.
Naturally, Xia Huanao and the others had a third absurd conjecture: some particularly obnoxious organization had manipulated a foolish Palkia to cause trouble. If that were the case, things would become extremely troublesome.
Xia Huanao and the others braced themselves, unsure of Garchomp's intentions. If they encountered a particularly volatile one, and it didn't fall after taking a hit but instead evolved, that would be a real predicament.
Xia Huanao quickly asked the system to analyze Garchomp's information. However, before the system could respond, Garchomp initiated the attack. As Xia Huanao watched Garchomp open its mouth and spit out a ball of light, his first reaction was, "What kind of move is a ball of light?"
Shortly after the ball of light flew out, it transformed into many points of light, heading towards Xia Huanao and the others. Xia Huanao was greatly alarmed, "Holy crap, Draco Meteor?"
As the points of light drew closer, Meng Liuying was about to tell her Pokémon to use Protect, when she saw the Draco Meteor suddenly make a sharp turn mid-flight and then veer towards a Piplup nearby. The trainer of this Piplup was an excellent teacher from Jinghai City, but no matter how excellent a trainer, they couldn't train all their Pokémon to be exceptionally strong. Moreover, Piplup was a Pokémon this teacher had only recently captured.
Heaven knows how helpless the little Piplup was facing a Draco Meteor with 130 power, launched by a Garchomp at least ten levels higher. Even if it was a special attack move, and Garchomp's special attack base stat was only fifty, who could withstand such a barrage?
When everything settled down, Xia Huanao looked at the dejected Piplup lying on the ground and thought, "Garchomp, you've done all sorts of wicked things." However, this sentiment lasted only a moment because the move Draco Meteor, although in Garchomp's move pool, was classified as a tutor move. This meant wild Garchomp couldn't learn it.
This was troublesome. This was a Pokémon with an owner, meaning there must be a trainer with other powerful Pokémon not far away. While one trainer might not significantly impact the battlefield, who knew how many trainers were hidden there?
As he was contemplating, he saw Garchomp open its mouth and spit out another ball of light. The moment the ball of light flew out, a Pokémon appeared in front of Xia Huanao and the others, seemingly preparing to withstand Garchomp's attack with a move. However, just like the previous Draco Meteor, this one also halted its trajectory in mid-air, then changed direction and blasted towards another Pokémon not far away. Xia Huanao followed the direction of the Draco Meteor and saw a Prinplup flailing frantically at the incoming meteor, desperately trying to dodge. But Draco Meteor's flight speed and coverage area were excellent, and it directly defeated the Prinplup.
Garchomp looked thoughtfully at the Draco Meteor that completely avoided Xia Huanao. Then, as if stubbornly refusing to believe, it unleashed four or five more Draco Meteors in succession.
"So it does have an owner, and it's been trained specifically to use Draco Meteor's energy?"
Xia Huanao analyzed with considerable seriousness, while the people around him looked at him, "Aren't you worried about Draco Meteor hitting you at all?"
Xia Huanao had indeed gambled on that. As expected, these few Draco Meteors, without exception, first attacked Xia Huanao, then forcibly veered off mid-route to hit other Pokémon within the formation. Whether it was Piplup, Prinplup, or Empoleon, none escaped the impact of Draco Meteor. Not only these three unlucky fellows, but even a Togekiss watching from the sidelines was caught in the unexpected disaster and took a Draco Meteor.
One could say Togekiss was truly wronged. It was the farthest from Garchomp in the entire arena, yet it was hit by Draco Meteor. Fortunately, its Fairy typing made it completely unfazed.
Garchomp looked extremely displeased at the Draco Meteor scattering like heavenly blossoms. Did it have no pride? Xia Huanao, watching the bizarrely behaving Draco Meteor from afar, couldn't help but grumble, "This is no longer Draco Meteor, you might as well rename it 'Hydro Pump Missiles'."
Speaking of which, Xia Huanao couldn't help but recall a Pokémon from his previous life on Earth: Ash's Gible, also the originator of the Dragon-type Hydro Pump Missile. To be fair, if this wasn't Ling Yao Star, Xia Huanao would have thought this was some fool's Pokémon. But looking at Garchomp, Xia Huanao declared Garchomp had truly done all sorts of wicked things. After all, while Ash's Gible's move was called Hydro Pump Missile, it only expressed its affection through hitting Dawn's Piplup with love. But this Garchomp, having done all sorts of wicked things, managed to wipe out the entire Piplup family. Xia Huanao could understand hitting the Piplup family, as fundamentally they were different individuals of the same species. However, it didn't even spare Togekiss, clearly intending to eliminate the entire Piplup lineage. Would it still attack even if he placed a Pidgey here?
For such a Pokémon, Xia Huanao felt it would be sent to the deepest levels of hell in prison on Earth.
Seeing that Garchomp was no longer capable of releasing its heavenly bombardment, Xia Huanao decided to take the opportunity to defeat it. He didn't care about its remaining three moves; what if they were as unreliable as Hydro Pump Missile?
"Quack, Ice Beam."
Quack jumped up fiercely and unleashed an Ice Beam towards the Garchomp not far away. Garchomp was still immersed in its dissatisfaction with its errant Draco Meteor. It only realized the danger when it was hit by the Ice Beam.
It was a joke. Quack, with its maxed-out special attack, combined with Ice Beam, which had a quadruple super-effective advantage, was not going to reason with you. Garchomp only felt its world spinning before it collapsed. Xia Huanao looked at the fallen Pokémon and, for some unknown reason, threw out a special Poké Ball, which directly captured Garchomp.
"Holy crap, a discarded Garchomp? I should have thrown my own ball!"
Indeed, the special Poké Balls were exclusively for rescuing injured wild Pokémon. There was no capture relationship, so there was no need to release them. Who knew it was an ownerless Pokémon? Xia Huanao felt he had suffered a great loss this time.
A loss is a loss, but misfortune can be a blessing. However, they couldn't just leave the Poké Ball out there. What if it got damaged during a fight?
Xia Huanao glanced at Quack. Quack promptly jumped out of the city, picked up the Poké Ball Xia Huanao had thrown, and turned to return to the gathering point. Just then, another ball of light suddenly flew out from the woods behind Quack and headed straight for Quack's back.
Xia Huanao immediately recognized the annoying blue ball of light. He was all too familiar with this ball of light: the signature move of the Fighting-type, Hydro Pump Missile. Power 80, PP 20.
"Damn it, I'm such a jinx. I was just talking about Hydro Pump Missile, and now the real thing has appeared."