This kind of erratic staggering wasn't a result of high-speed movement alone. Whatever obstacles Zeraora encountered, he would normally pass through them effortlessly because of his extreme speed. Basically, nothing could stand in his way.
But now, as he was running, such an accident occurred.
Especially during high-speed movement, he had no way to stop in time. Just a small misstep, and because of such a minor accident, a large chain reaction would follow.
He stumbled suddenly and couldn't control his body for a moment.
However, he unexpectedly discovered that as he was about to fall, a fist glowing red gradually expanded in his pupils.
It wasn't that Lucario hadn't launched an attack—he had seized this opportunity. When Zeraora showed such a weakness, Lucario had already launched his assault. This way, Zeraora would suffer the full physical damage of Counter when he fell.
Zeraora, who was physically fragile, understood what such an attack represented. If his body was really hit by this strike, then the battle that seemed to be going in his favor might end right here. All the experience he could gain from battling Lucario would be wasted.
Such wishful thinking would be a miscalculation.
So even as he was about to fall, when he was about to be struck by this terrifying attack, he would do his best to weaken the damage to his body. After all, with his incredible speed, he could still avoid a significant portion of the damage.
"Are you waiting for this move?"
Meow!
At that moment, Zeraora's entire body fur stood on end, accompanied by golden lightning. This lightning almost formed a layer of thunder armor on the surface of his fur, just like the electric armor that a true thunder Pokémon could create.
It seemed that well-trained and powerful Pokémon could master this special technique, which could not only provide a certain degree of defensive enhancement to themselves but also hurt enemies who attacked them.
Of course, Lucario would never think that such lightning could hurt him, so he didn't hesitate at all when launching his attack.
Although his pair of fists weren't as fast as Zeraora's Thunder Punch, sometimes the heaviest blade has no edge—great skill doesn't require great speed. This didn't mean that the attack power contained in this strike was weak at all.
Although Zeraora's fur stood upright, there was still a subtle change. The tips of his fur drooped vertically downward, as if some aspect of bodily control made the fur on his body change to a certain extent.
Such a change was clearly shown in Lucario's eyes.
The power of his Aura wasn't only able to observe what was happening in the distance. What he could observe were all changes within his line of sight, even within his limit range.
He could not only see the fire of life flashing with different attributes but could even sense all the changes that occurred in each living body. Even if there was a slight change in a single hair, it could still be displayed before him.
This time, although Zeraora could use his lightning armor to offset a lot of power, to offset most of the striking force, he still needed to use other methods.
For example, with his body that had already reacted, it seemed he only needed to use his power to fly backward in the direction opposite to Lucario's Counter attack. That way, when he was struck by Counter's power, he wouldn't receive all of it. Even because of the opposing force of his backward movement, the actual force he would receive definitely wouldn't be that great.
But his imagination was always better than reality. When Lucario ended his Calm Mind, his eyes had undergone very obvious changes. Even Roy, who was watching this battle from the side, could feel that Lucario had undergone some qualitative change. Although there was no way to show it on the surface, as the Trainer, he knew the result from the first moment.
Perhaps the Aura power that could be used before had no way to achieve such a level, so the function it could perform was nothing more than viewing information. But now, the power of Aura that could be possessed through Calm Mind and cultivation itself had more than just such simple changes and functions.
Psychic was a kind of telekinetic ability.
The power of Aura belonged to consciousness. If the skill of how to use this aspect of spiritual experience and the quality of power underwent certain evolutionary changes, then the sensing ability that was originally only used externally could also develop to be used to attack or manipulate real or illusory matter.
Psychic, which could be controlled by Pokémon of the Psychic-type, had the same effect.
"It's too late for you to react!"
Lucario's voice was clearly conveyed into Zeraora's mind. It was because of this irresistible voice that made Zeraora stunned for a moment in his behavior. This moment of being stunned caused him no small flaw.
In an instant, Zeraora was wrapped in a blue glow more intense than light blue. After all, the way the fur on his body had changed already showed the kind of reaction he could make. This kind of reaction could surpass the extremely strong attack power that Counter, a Fighting-type move, could exert and weaken it significantly.
But once it was blocked by this psychic method, the strength of Counter plus the power of the skills that Lucario could use—one punch was enough to severely damage Zeraora.
The dark blue light directly wrapped around his body so that he couldn't control his body during the time of being wrapped. It was just like being controlled by a Psychic-type Pokémon's Psychic move—during this period, there was absolutely no way to resist.
The Psychic-like special ability that Lucario could use wasn't as powerful as the Psychic used by actual Psychic-type Pokémon, but it could still be used to slightly hinder or cause short-term effects in certain aspects. Once the actively created weaknesses were found by Fighting-type Pokémon, it wouldn't only be dangerous but also deadly.