Zhengyi saw for the first time a Pokémon capable of moving amidst the fierce clash of techniques and energies, and he was just about to give another command when he noticed Blissey's eyes glowing blue.
Baimu spoke up: "Telekinesis."
"Retreat! Shadow Clone!"
He shouted quickly, and the swift-reacting Cacturne instantly transformed into dozens, hiding both its real body and clones in the sandstorm, appearing hazy and illusory due to its Sand Concealment Trait, like a Mirage.
Adding to that Cacturne's cold gaze, it looked especially frightening.
Unable to lock onto a target with the naked eye, Blissey's Spiritual Power ended up targeting nothing, and from the outside, it seemed to stand there foolishly, not moving at all.
Zhengyi laughed loudly: "How about it, Brother Baimu? I've carefully studied your Blissey! Techniques like Gravity or Telekinesis to control, double wall defense, and so on... Those old methods are useless against my Pokémon!"
The puzzled spectators finally understood, and they looked in admiration at Zhengyi and the numerous Cacturne in the sandstorm.
Mr. Zhengyi is indeed a renowned Trainer—
Before they could finish praising, several Cacturne suddenly flew into the air from the whistling sandstorm. Most of them turned into smokescreens and vanished, leaving only one with a faint blue glow struggling desperately but unable to return to the ground.
"It seems you've misunderstood something."
Baimu looked calmly at the stunned Zhengyi and continued to command: "Magic Brilliance!"
"Happy!"
Blissey's eyes dimmed, and then an astonishing flash of colorful light burst from its body. The intense light forced the spectators to shield their eyes or look away, transforming into countless spears of light that shot toward Cacturne in the distance!
Wherever the spears of light passed, the fierce sandstorm retreated, and the false Cacturne clones disintegrated inch by inch, unable to hold on for even a moment.
Zhengyi's voice was urgent:
"Spiky Defense!"
The Cacturne floating in the air had its dark green spikes glowing, but just as they were about to form a green spiky shield, they were shattered by the spears of light that had already reached it!
Bang!
Smoke billowed.
"Nosehh!"
The burning pain made it stifle a low groan.
Although Blissey is not a Psychic-type Pokémon, its past experiences and long-term training using Superpower User's Meditation Techniques had developed its Spiritual Power to not be inferior to ordinary Psychic-type Pokémon.
Can't find it? Then manipulate the general area according to the Trainer's judgment!
And this was clearly beyond Zhengyi's expectations, as in his specialized training against Baimu's Pokémon, such a situation had never occurred.
He took a deep breath to calm down and shouted: "Use Retaliation to destroy the Spiritual Power on your body!"
Hmm?
Baimu slightly raised an eyebrow.
The essence of Telekinesis is indeed the Spiritual Power attached to the opponent's body for a long time. This is not an unimaginable secret—anyone with deep knowledge of Pokémon battles would surely know it.
But knowing and breaking it are two different things.
Utilizing Attribute Energy that restrains Psychic Attributes to inflict damage sounds simple, but in practice, it's like Ash Ketchum's Hawlucha using Cross Cut to break through Spritzee's Magic Brilliance and Trick Room—
One part relies on a sudden flash of insight, the remaining nine parts entirely on luck.
Of course, given Zhengyi's confident performance just now, he might have already mastered this technique.
Unfortunately, whether he has mastered it or not, he won't be able to use it so smoothly.
Baimu: "Electromagnetic Wave!"
Blissey took tiny steps forward, rubbing its short hands together like pulling out a noodle, drawing forth a flash of lightning that shot rapidly toward the Cacturne with thorny spikes emanating Dark Light!
Zap!
In the blink of an eye, the electric current surged into Cacturne's body, and the sudden paralysis almost interrupted Retaliation just like Spiky Defense mid-release.
"Nosehh!"
Its eyes widened, and as the Dark Light transformed into a long spike, it endured the paralyzing sensation and spun its body!
Shalalala—
A strange tearing sound followed, and with a burst of blue light scattering into a myriad of points, Telekinesis was indeed broken by Cacturne.
Impressive!
Baimu sincerely praised Zhengyi; even outside, there aren't many Trainers capable of such feats.
Unfortunately, the overall strength of the Pokémon was slightly lacking.
"Nosehh."
Cacturne landed smoothly, and Zhengyi let out a sigh of relief.
He had undergone quite a bit of tedious practice to counter Baimu's Pokémon, and if unexpected situations like the one just now occurred again, he would have no choice but to switch.
Fortunately...
Where's Blissey!?
He suddenly noticed that Blissey had mysteriously disappeared from the sandy field, quickly realizing that the other party had most likely used Miniaturization.
"It shrank! Look at the ground!"
"Noh hiss!"
Cacturne's gaze fell to the ground, and suddenly a blue light flashed before its eyes, followed by a strange feeling.
Zhengyi, watching Cacturne's form turn from vague and ethereal to solid amidst the dust, blurted out, "It's Trait Exchange!"
The onlookers outside the arena were utterly confused.
Their battle knowledge was insufficient to understand the many changes happening inside. It seemed like the previously dominant Cacturne was being toyed with by Blissey?
"Disperse Cotton Spores!"
Zhengyi shouted loudly, having given up on searching for the now-shrunken Blissey with the Sand Concealment Trait. With dust surrounding the arena, no matter how hard he looked, he probably wouldn't find it.
Why not employ a different tactic!
Cacturne's whole body gleamed with white light, releasing a massive amount of pure white, fluffy particles that floated everywhere, pushed even further by the sandstorm, almost covering most of the arena.
However, just as the Cotton Spores finished spreading, Cacturne suddenly stumbled backward as if tripped by something, and then its body began to move involuntarily.
"Noh hiss!"
Zhengyi was shocked, his gaze landing on Cacturne's heels.
He saw the palm-sized Blissey with a tense little face, using an incongruent great strength to spin Cacturne like a windmill!
"Stop with Spiky Arm!"
He quickly ordered, but Blissey moved with astonishing speed. After two big spins, it immediately released its grip, flinging Cacturne sideways!
Bang!
Cacturne landed heavily on the ground, the scattered Cotton Spores sticking to it, its face wrinkling in pain!
Zhengyi hurriedly exclaimed, "Stand up, Cacturne! Use Seed Machine Gun!"
"Noh hiss—"
Cacturne struggled to rise, but as soon as it started moving, tiny electric currents jumped around, a strong sense of paralysis forcing it to kneel.
Oh no!
"Dodge quickly!"
Feeling something was wrong, Zhengyi instinctively reached for the Pokeball, but it was too late.
Baimu waved his hand, "Jet Flame!"
"Happy!"
Blissey returned to its original size, placing its hands to its mouth as if blowing on a stove, cheeks puffed, "Whoo—"
A flood of intense flames surged forth!
Cacturne, regaining its mobility, dived fiercely to the side, trying to avoid the flames, but their range was too wide, only managing to dodge half.
Its lower half was engulfed by the flames.
"Noh hiss!"
Cacturne was in great pain, thinking it was over, but no, the Cotton Spores stuck to its body ignited easily, causing the raging flames to rapidly rise, completely engulfing it!
Whoom!
"Noh hiss—!!"
Cacturne's scream was horribly shrill.
Anxious, Zhengyi shouted, "Roll! Roll to put out the fire!"
The onlookers watched, horrified.
"Happy..."
Blissey, having finished blowing the last small puff of flame, looked at Cacturne rolling all over the place with a guilty expression. As Baimu's assistant, it often dealt with flames, so much so that one day it inexplicably learned Jet Flame.
But because its tactics usually leaned toward restriction, assistance, and stacking, it rarely used Jet Flame, so it never really practiced it much.
Little did it know the power would be even greater than when it first learned it!
Even it was taken aback.
When the soot-blackened Cacturne stopped rolling, it tried to stand and continue fighting, but as soon as it propped up its upper body, it lost its strength and collapsed.
Blissey hurriedly initiated long-distance injury assessment.
After discovering Cacturne's body was just covered in lots of dust along with remnants of Cotton Spores burned away, leaving swathes of scorched marks that made it appear pitch black, but in actual fact, it hadn't sustained too severe damage, Blissey breathed a sigh of relief.
"No big problem."
Understanding Cacturne's condition, Zhengyi also relaxed, sighing as he recalled Cacturne.
He said to Baimu in the distance, "Did you target the Cotton Spores to use the fire-type technique?"
"Pretty much."
Baimu responded, "You should release the second one."