In just ten minutes, a perfectly good battle had almost turned into a one-man show for Li Xiang.
This wasn't a difficult thing to understand.
After suffering through half a year on Mist Island, he deserved some payoff.
Arcanine was quite strong, whether in endurance, speed, or offensive power. It even had some tricks left unplayed. Unfortunately for it, the opponent was Greninja.
Who could withstand this kind of hide-and-seek mixed with a coin toss?
The "mad dog" Arcanine was clearly the brawler type, good at fighting head-on. Facing a sly old fox like Greninja, it was bound to lose.
Even Mewtwo found Greninja annoying, as its ability to forcibly erase its presence meant Mewtwo had to resort to area-of-effect attacks to take it down.
Looking at durability, Greninja had taken one small Water Shuriken, two large Water Shurikens (one of which hit its flank), and Arcanine had also collided with it using Wild Charge.
And yet Arcanine still managed to walk out of the smoke. It was incredibly tough.
If Water Shuriken weren't such a fast-starting, fast-moving move, Arcanine might very well have recovered its stamina with Morning Sun.
This was a truly high-level trained Pokémon, and it was indeed formidable.
Unfortunately for it, Li Xiang's training level was even higher, high enough to ignore many things, including the opponent's training level and any tricks they kept up their sleeves until the critical moment.
He couldn't help but glance at Abigail. Her expression was peaceful and composed, as if she hadn't just lost.
To be honest, having known Abigail for so long, the most animated he had ever seen her was the day he brought tea leaves over.
When she opened the gift box and smelled the aroma inside, the look of pleasant surprise on her face was completely unguarded.
It reminded him of her nickname. She loved everything related to tea, especially black tea.
Unfortunately, Phantom Island didn't have any black tea trees.
Pop!
The sound of a Poké Ball opening brought his attention back.
The third round, and also the final round.
There was no need to switch. Going all the way with rock-paper-scissors was Greninja's consistent style.
What landed on the field was a cylindrical stone with irregular cracks and two holes.
Wisps of purple smoke emerged from it, forming a purple spherical gas cloud. Inside were many tiny, star-like green energy particles and a somewhat fierce-looking ghostly face.
Spiritomb, a Ghost/Dark-type Pokémon. Before Generation Six, it had no weaknesses.
The moment that ghostly face appeared, a wordless sense of fear and malice surged in all directions.
Li Xiang frowned slightly, then relaxed.
This was its Pressure ability. A Pokémon affected by Pressure would unconsciously consume and waste more attribute energy when using moves targeting an opponent.
This ability was quite troublesome, especially since Greninja was already very short on attribute energy, and Substitute was a particularly energy-draining move.
Even though he had only used Substitute once, the amount of energy used to make it move freely had been enormous.
This round needed to be finished quickly.
"Taunt!"
"Taunt!"
Both sides used Taunt directly, and both failed.
This surprised Li Xiang. Greninja had used Taunt first, and it was even in Camouflage state, so he thought it would definitely be faster than Spiritomb.
He hadn't expected the move to simply fail.
At this point, whether to continue with Taunt or choose to attack became a very serious question.
Spiritomb was a Pokémon that relied heavily on status moves to be powerful. It also knew Destiny Bond, a truly ghostly move. As long as Taunt succeeded, it wouldn't be a loss.
The problem was whether Taunt would succeed.
If it failed again, the loss would be disastrous.
After a brief moment of thought, Li Xiang decided to be straightforward.
"Smokescreen!"
"Phantom Force!"
So fast!
Just as thick smoke began to spread in the air, a dark hole appeared beside Spiritomb, sucking it in.
At the same time, at the origin of the spreading smoke, a small dark hole opened. Spiritomb flew out, and a purple vortex suddenly expanded, swinging through the air.
It hit nothing.
"Hm?"
Abigail frowned slightly. Greninja had definitely been right there, because Spiritomb's Phantom Force was almost instantaneous. It went in and came right back out.
The time taken was extremely short.
The move missing could only mean Greninja had dodged.
As she had thought, Greninja's body was currently leaning back, just barely avoiding the purple vortex.
With Spiritomb right in front of it, Greninja couldn't resist attacking.
Its body suddenly emitted a pink, girlish light wave!
Hidden Power Fighting! An ultra-close-range attack!
The light blazed brilliantly!
Although Spiritomb's defenses were decent, Greninja's offensive power was nothing to scoff at. If this move hit solidly, it could very well take Spiritomb out.
The creature didn't even show any signs of putting up a shield!
But just as Li Xiang thought Abigail had made a mistake and that he could secure the final round, the light stopped firmly in front of Spiritomb, enveloped by a pinkish-purple glow.
Clearly, this was Psychic. Only moves from the Psychic series were this versatile.
It was like a telekinetic shield... no, a telekinetic shield blocks, but this was freezing the move directly!
Li Xiang was momentarily stunned. Meanwhile, alarm bells went off in Greninja's mind, and it leaped away as fast as it possibly could.
The next moment, part of the Hidden Power Fighting light wave was reflected back!
Luckily, Greninja was fast, or it would have been hit in the face by its own move!
Freezing and reflecting. What are you, a knockoff version of Cynthia from another world!?
Li Xiang immediately recalled the source of this déjà vu.
In the manga special, Cynthia's Spiritomb could freeze moves using Psychic and then use them.
Even though it wasn't a same-type move, it had such an amazing ability.
Li Xiang swore he had never seen Abigail use this technique in her previous competitions. This was clearly something new she had learned.
As expected of a genius. She learned something so powerful right away, even freezing Greninja's move.
After admiring her inwardly, Li Xiang frowned again.
He didn't know the limit of Spiritomb's move-freezing ability, but in a battle of endurance, Greninja clearly couldn't outlast Spiritomb, which had entered the battle at full strength.
Just wait around to die?
That certainly wasn't Greninja's style.
So, back to the old strategy.
In the smoke, a faint white light flickered.
Spiritomb and Abigail noticed it immediately and used Phantom Force.
Open hole, enter hole, exit hole, attack. Smooth as silk.
This move was even more exciting than Teleport. At least Teleport had a noticeable wind-up. This one just wooshed right next to Greninja.
Fortunately, close-contact moves often didn't have a large attack area.
Greninja had trained in martial arts, so dodging such straightforward attack paths wasn't a problem.
While invisible, the two Greninja moved like they were playing jump rope, dodging the sweeping purple smoke mass from Spiritomb.
A Pokémon that used its own "face" to attack others was truly rare.
There probably wasn't another one like it in the world.
Dodging Phantom Force, the two Greninja quickly retreated. Their webbed feet touched the ground almost silently.
Another miss? It can dodge that well?
Phantom Force missing twice, even Abigail was a bit surprised. She hadn't realized Greninja had such a high evasion rate.
Suddenly, countless figures appeared on the field.
Greninja had used Double Team, trying to confuse Spiritomb's eyes.
Even if Spiritomb could freeze moves with Psychic, if they could bait out the move and attack in the brief window between, this creature definitely wouldn't be able to withstand it!
Sure enough, Spiritomb couldn't find Greninja's real body. It decisively used Ominous Wind, dispelling all those flashy copies.
At the same time, the dark, eerie wind stopped somewhere, successfully hitting a transparent object!
Got it!
Spiritomb's eyes lit up blue as it prepared to use Spite on it, draining its attribute energy.
Whether this was the real body or not, using Spite was definitely the right move.
But just as it was about to use Spite, overhead, a pink light suddenly blazed!
A transparent figure, descending from above, swung this light wave toward it!
There was nowhere to run!
If this hit, Spiritomb was done for!
But….
I've been waiting for you!
Spiritomb suddenly looked up. The blue light in its eyes transformed into pinkish-purple energy, restraining the shining pink light blade and reflecting it back!
The same move wouldn't work twice on a Saint Seiya, and it wouldn't work twice on Abigail either!
Bam!
A cloud of smoke exploded!
Something was sent flying backward!
Spiritomb decisively pressed its advantage. In front of its vortex-like face, a blackish-purple sphere formed.
Then, it resolutely attacked behind itself!
Spiritomb's vortex face spun rapidly backward, launching the Shadow Ball. It exploded two meters away!
It hit!
Do you think I'm stupid? Whether you're a substitute or not, I can't just ignore you!
Having used Psychic and set up its field, Spiritomb knew exactly where the two Greninja were positioned.
Time for the favorite game of guessing the real body. Was it the one on the left, or the one on the right?
"The left!"
Abigail's voice came through. It seemed the trainer had made her choice.
Left it is!
Spiritomb launched a Shadow Ball at the left one!
It knew that for Greninja, which had no means of recovery, two Substitutes plus previous losses were already the limit.
It had just been hit by another move. With Greninja's defensive level, it must have very little stamina left.
So, if it guessed correctly, Greninja was done for!
If it guessed wrong, it still had a chance. It had plenty of attribute energy left!
The moment the Shadow Ball flew out, Spiritomb thought of many things. At the same time, it turned toward the direction of the other Greninja.
That one had just started running this way—
Swish!
The sound of a blade being drawn, a sword leaving its sheath.
Beside Spiritomb, the light wave from Hidden Power Fighting slashed down diagonally like a blade.
It was so sudden, so completely unexpected.
"ninja."
[Sorry, you guessed wrong. Neither of them was real.]
A calm voice rang out from the empty void. Then came a flash of pink light and a towering cloud of smoke.
Spiritomb's consciousness suddenly plunged into darkness.