"Chansey, Healing Fluctuation!"
A soft, bright white light emanated from Chansey, falling on Pixie, greatly alleviating the pressure on it.
Binina's willow-like eyebrows were furrowed.
Henry was very strong, with his three Pokémon, namely Sharpedo, Houndoom, and Drapion, all possessing extremely high attack power. Under successive fierce attacks, Binina could only defend more often.
In fact, Binina's strength wasn't necessarily much weaker than Henry's. It's just that due to the characteristics of her Pokémon, she was more on the defensive, with limited counter-attacking ability.
After all, whether it's Chansey, Pixie, or Wigglytuff, they all belong to Pokémon with not very strong defense. Especially in defense that isn't particularly strong to begin with, special defense takes up a large part.
And Henry was clearly well aware of Binina's strong special defense and weak physical defense characteristic, commanding his three Pokémon to continuously use physical techniques to raid, even having Houndoom, who is relatively better at special attack, abandon its strengths to choose physical attack.
So, it's not that Henry is much stronger, but that he just happens to restrain Binina.
If it were an opponent good at special attacks, the situation might have been different.
There's a saying: the best defense is a good offense.
And if she keeps defending and something goes wrong in one aspect, it will lead to a chain reaction.
Once she is defeated, the result for those sailors she protects behind her, facing those men with fervent eyes, is predictable.
Thus, Binina seemed calm in expression, but in reality, she was under a lot of pressure.
And the reason Henry dared to confront Binina after being thwarted on the Saint Anus was because he knew the characteristics of Binina's Pokémon, aware that his advantages were greater.
The mutual restraint among Pokémon is very evident, and without prepared means and methods to cope, a Trainer specializing in Fire-type Pokémon facing one specializing in Water Type, even if slightly stronger, won't stand a chance.
This is the necessity of constructing a reasonable lineup; a normal Elite Trainer Level expert specializing in one type would prepare a few collaborative defenses to guard against specialized targeting.
But it seems Binina didn't prepare.
Or rather, she prepared, but not sufficiently.
Binina kept contemplating methods, but last-minute efforts can't compare to a pre-prepared assault.
Ultimately, as the attacking side, Henry was slightly more well-prepared than her.
...
...
On the other side, Natsuhiko, who had boarded the ship, also joined the battle.
His appearance couldn't turn the tide; he didn't have such energy but did largely alleviate the pressure on the "Charming Star" side.
Beedrill, fully stacked with Deadly Needle Stab and possessing the Sniper trait, was too adept in facing groups of Dark-type Pokémon.
Every move almost successfully defeated a Dark-type Pokémon.
Dark-type Pokémon that hadn't reached Senior Level couldn't withstand even a face-off against Beedrill.
Natsuhiko's involvement caught a lot of attention from the "Charming Star" side.
They were curious when a man appeared on the ship.
But after the female pirate, who had brought Natsuhiko onto the ship, explained, they understood Natsuhiko's identity, and their gazes turned somewhat peculiar.
Much like a mother's eyes seeing her child finally grow up, those eyes drifted between Natsuhiko and their captain.
The people of the "Star of Blood" also noticed Natsuhiko.
"Damn! Stop that guy's Beedrill, the harvesting speed is too fast!"
"Who is that kid?! I haven't heard of any man on their ship!"
"Stop it! Stop it! Damn! My Mightyena..."
"..."
Attention inevitably comes with stronger opponents appearing.
Quickly, the opponent sent in a notable Boatswain trying to block Natsuhiko and Beedrill.
However, the reason Natsuhiko chose to get on the ship wasn't to find a place easier to attack the opposite side, but because here... there's the drama of warrior versus warrior.
If the other side sends a Boatswain, then let a Boatswain deal with it.
"Here comes a Boatswain, I'll leave this to you."
After speaking, Natsuhiko moved with Beedrill to another position.
Beedrill was like an assassin moving through the battlefield, leveraging its speed and super high attack power, starting from harvesting the small fries.
Meanwhile, Natsuhiko also kept part of his attention focused on the battle between Binina and Henry in the middle.
His presence could only be considered as embellishing the cake; truly determining the outcome were these two captains.
However, the more Natsuhiko watched, the more furrowed his eyebrows became.
Henry's restraint over Binina was too apparent, with successive strong attacks. If not for Binina's Pokémon's strong recovery ability, she might have long been unable to hold out.
Yet Pokémon can only endure so much pain. Healing techniques can restore physical damage to Pokémon, but cannot heal the pain in spirit and mind. Purely defending inevitably leads to failure.
It's quite unfortunate that neither Pixie nor Wigglytuff have mastered Fairy-type moves yet; otherwise, facing Henry's three Dark-type Pokémon wouldn't be so passive.
"Why not try the Shrinking Tactic?"
"Hmm?"
Binina, who was intently commanding the battle, suddenly heard a voice.
The Shrinking Tactic is indeed an option, but the timing is not right. If Binina had chosen this tactic from the start, the situation might not have become like this.
Both Chansey and Pixie can use the "Shrink" move. If Binina had known the opponent's offensive strategy in advance, she could have preemptively let the two Pokémon stack "Shrink" before the battle began. But now, if she lets both Pokémon "shrink," the Wigglytuff who can't "shrink" would inevitably endure the onslaught from three of the opponent's Pokémon.
Reducing the number of Pokémon would leave her more passive.
This is the difference between being prepared and unprepared.
Moreover, even if they shrank, it wouldn't necessarily make the opponent completely miss.
Binina didn't know who gave the reminder, but she felt that the way suggested wouldn't work.
She wasn't unaware of such a method.
But ultimately gave up on it.
Because she was already considering whether to use a "Song of Destruction" to perish together with Henry's Pokémon.
"Charming Body trait of Wigglytuff, let them hit, they won't dare attack recklessly; isn't Chansey's trait Celestial Grace? Let it throw Mud Bombs or Rockslides."
The voice rang out again.
Binina furrowed her brows, as if wanting to tell herself not to be disturbed while focusing on the battle.
But the last part of that sentence struck a spark of inspiration in her mind.
Right, using Mud Bomb in conjunction with Shrink could make it difficult for opponents relying on close-range physical attacks to hit.
Unless using area damage moves, but such moves mostly fall under Special Attack, and her team is more worried about the opponent's Physical Attack. As for Special Attack, she could honestly say that a single Chansey could withstand the attacks of the opponent's three Pokémon.
Wait, Rockslide?
A Chansey that learned Rockslide?
Binina finally couldn't help it and looked towards the voice.
She saw a man dressed in black, with a stern face, commanding a Beedrill to crazily reap the opponent.
A man?
Since when did the ship have an extra man?
Binina was momentarily stunned.
Natsuhiko noticed Binina's gaze; he indeed couldn't help but remind her previously.
Because the outcome of Binina and Henry's match greatly affected his safety.
The Shrinking Tactic core of Chansey and Pixie being so perfectly countered?
Such good cards played so poorly.
How "clean" can a trainer in the Pokemon Realm be?
He couldn't help saying, "Don't look at me, fight! Let Chansey shrink, have Pixie use 'Spotlight' on Wigglytuff to draw attention, share the pain to increase survival rate, then let Pixie shrink too, then shift the 'Spotlight' to Chansey, let Chansey use Substitute and throw Mud Bomb...."
After a long string of words, Natsuhiko took a breath.
Binina's mind couldn't help but flash through the tactics Natsuhiko spoke of.
'So it's just letting Chansey shrink...'
Then a slightly weaker, soft voice came, "What about attacks? Chansey hasn't learned Rockslide..."
Natsuhiko facepalmed; once the Shrinking Tactic forms, the opponent can't kill you, so why worry about attacks....
He replied, "Earthbound, Highly Poisonous."
Binina's eyes suddenly brightened.
"Oh, oh."
Thinking about how such a tactic, once formed...
Binina's face turned a flushed red with excitement.
Natsuhiko smirked.
A Chansey with Shrink + Substitute + Soft-Boiled + Earthbound combo.
"Tumor tactics" anyone?
Moreover, Pokémon in the Pokemon Realm aren't limited in the number of moves, coupled with Celestial Grace's Mud Bomb to lower the opponent's accuracy, along with Shrink to increase its own evasion rate...
Reducing the opponent's accuracy, enhancing its own evasion rate, Natsuhiko didn't believe that with such a combo, the opponent could still hit Chansey, unless Binina's luck was just bad.
Paired with Highly Poisonous, a fully formed Shrinking Chansey shouldn't have any problem taking on three at once, right?