Chapter 361: Numel's Ferocity
Dante was furious.
He had trained incredibly hard to catch up to Basalt. To counter Basalt's main team, he had traveled thousands of miles to capture an excellent Salandit and evolved it into a powerful Salazzle. Its ability was Corrosion, allowing its potent toxins to affect Steel and Poison-type Pokémon. Besides that, Dante had specially trained Salazzle's Attract/Captivate moves, knowing Basalt's Excadrill was male. And against Cradily's Grass-type roots, Salazzle had a solid advantage.
But who would have thought that Basalt would completely derail his plan by sending out a newly trained Pokémon?
Did Basalt really think this unevolved Numel could defeat his carefully cultivated ace? This was too much!
"What's going on?"
On the evaluators' platform, Bella Bai frowned, wondering what Basalt was up to.
Basalt's Numel looked good, but unevolved was unevolved. Its life force was far inferior to Salazzle's. It had almost no chance of winning against Dante, an undisputed Rookie King.
Unless... the Numel is using some kind of cheat.
"Trainers, take your positions! Battle, begin!"
The referee gave the signal, and the battle officially started.
"Salazzle, Fake Out!" Dante roared, his eyes cold and determined.
Salazzle was fast and powerful, but its weakness was obvious: 4x weak to Ground. Facing Numel, a Ground-type, it had to strike first. A quick priority move was essential to deny Numel the chance to use a Ground-type attack. Dante knew he was walking a tightrope against Basalt, but normal tactics wouldn't win.
If I can land this, the opponent is done for. Salazzle's true threat lay in its toxin. If Fake Out connected, the accompanying Toxic would follow, rendering Numel useless.
Swoosh!
Salazzle's slender fingers moved with unbelievable speed, lunging towards Numel. The speed was too fast; Numel had no time to react and braced itself for the hit.
"Dooom~"
Numel grunted as the attack connected, and a white steam hissed out from its body.
"It's over!" Dante sneered. Salazzle's Toxic was extremely potent under the Corrosion ability. It could even dissolve steel; a small camel was nothing. Toxic was a move Dante had perfected, and now, with the opponent poisoned, he could follow up with Venoshock for double pleasure.
But in the next second, Dante's smile froze.
The Salazzle, whose hand was still touching Numel's back, suddenly let out a shriek. Its hand shot back, and the skin was glowing red, as if it had touched a searing iron.
"It's... burned?"
The crowd was astonished. A Fire-type Salazzle had been burned? But Numel hadn't even moved.
"Dooom~"
Just as the crowd was wondering, bright, flowing magma surged from the vents of Numel's humps, quickly coating its entire body.
Numel had been channeling its latent heat to raise its body temperature and aura, waiting for the Salazzle to approach. Sure enough, Salazzle had taken the hit.
It all went according to plan!
As for Salazzle's Toxic? The immense heat of Numel's body had instantly vaporized it. The time Salazzle's hand was on Numel was too short for the poison to take effect.
"Dooom~"
Numel's eyes flashed with cunning. It knew it had hit its mark.
Numel, however, remained defensive, its center of gravity low. Stockpile!
But the field exploded.
"What is that? A Numel covered in magma?"
"I can't be seeing this! How can a Numel contain magma inside its body? Am I crazy, or is the world crazy?"
"Exactly! Magma is the domain of a Mega Camerupt! This is still a base form!"
...
The spectators were speechless. Even the evaluators were wide-eyed. They all looked at Bella Bai, signaling her to explain this absurdity. Bella was silent.
"Salazzle, Sludge Bomb!" Dante roared, forcing himself to move.
"Numel, Smog!" Basalt was unhurried. Fire and Poison don't cancel each other out, but Fire completely destroys Poison's physical form. As a gas, the poisonous sludge was easily nullified by the high temperature.
The gas is liquid, the gas is fire!
The poisonous gas was destroyed. Salazzle took another hit from the high-temperature Eruption, sending it tumbling backward.
"Earth Power!"
The ground shook. Ground-type energy targeted Salazzle.
BOOM!
The energy erupted where Salazzle landed. Salazzle was instantly knocked out. The 4x weakness to Ground was too much.
Watching the defeated Salazzle, Dante's eye twitched violently. So, it wasn't Basalt who thought he was inferior. It was the Numel itself that was too strong!
In just three moves, Salazzle was defeated.
"What a beastly Numel!" Dante clenched his fist. He was no longer arrogant. But his anger hadn't subsided. Basalt's Numel might be strong, but it was just too good at playing the "weak card."
"Salazzle is unable to battle. Will the challenger, Dante, please send out his next Pokémon." The referee waved his flag, urging the match forward.
Recalling Salazzle, Dante took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He threw out his second Pokéball.
"Hee-hee-hee-hee~"
A flash of red light, accompanied by an unsettling laugh, and a deep purple Pokémon appeared.
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