First Experience of Coordination

Flap, flap—

With the sound of beating wings, two Golbat flew out of a hollow in the tree.

Their eyes were red, as if Xia Yan and Lance's arrival had disturbed their rest.

Their enormous mouths opened, sending invisible rings of sound waves and ripples outward. As the waves spread, the ultrahigh-frequency sound made Xia Yan and Lance's heads throb with pain.

"Weedle!"

"Dratini!"

The two shouted almost simultaneously, and their Pokémon both knew exactly what they needed to do.

"Wuu!"

Weedle spat out a web crackling with arcs of electricity, directly casting it over the two Golbat.

"Muuwu!"

A yellow halo lit up above Dratini's head. Then, a clump of yellow, thread-like electrical current flew toward the Golbat as well.

Strangely, Weedle's Electroweb and Dratini's Thunder Wave merged together as they drew closer.

The lightning dancing across the web grew brighter, while the wispy yellow current spread over it like an extension of the web, doubling its coverage.

Neither Xia Yan nor Lance had expected this.

They exchanged glances, both seeing surprise in the other's eyes, before sharing a knowing smile.

An unexpected delight.

Seeing the Electric-type moves they disliked approaching, the Golbat immediately stopped using Supersonic and flapped toward opposite sides to evade.

But they had not expected the two unrelated moves to merge in midair, their effects extending and amplifying each other. The enlarged Electroweb instantly exceeded the range they had predicted they could dodge.

Bzzzt, bzzzt.

The current-laden web stuck directly to their bodies and wings.

"Ahka!!" The two Golbat were struck by the electricity and tangled in the web at the same time. Their wings flapped frantically several times before they barely managed to stabilize themselves in midair.

Yet yellow currents still flickered across their wings.

Paralysis!

"Lance, you take the lead. I'll support."

Xia Yan gave a low shout, taking advantage of their restricted movement to assign their roles.

Golbat were Poison-type and Flying-type Pokémon. Both Weedle's Poison-type and Bug-type moves were somewhat restrained by their typing, so forcing a direct attack was truly unwise.

If Xia Yan had been alone, he would have had no choice but to take the less reliable risk of attacking head-on.

But now, he was not alone. Lance and his Dratini were here too.

At a time like this, handing the main offensive role to Dratini was clearly the best choice.

"Alright!"

Lance had instantly formed his own judgment of the situation, but Xia Yan spoke before he could.

"Ahka!"

One of the Golbat recovered first. Enduring the electric shocks, it beat its wings and shot toward Weedle at tremendous speed.

Black mist emerged around its gaping mouth, coating its two sharp fangs.

A Dark-type move, Bite!

They were not stupid. Weedle clearly looked weaker, so taking it down first before dealing with the other one was the more sensible choice.

Facing the incoming Golbat, Weedle remained calm. Its faint purple eyes were filled with confidence.

"Run, then use String Shot."

At Xia Yan's command, Weedle's seven pairs of legs moved rapidly. At the same time, it spat out silk, targeting Golbat's wings.

With the silk slowing it down and Weedle's accumulated running training, it successfully avoided Golbat's attack.

At the same time, Weedle did not bite through the silk in its mouth. Its legs gripped the ground tightly, and the highly resilient thread instantly went taut. One end stuck to Golbat's wing, and using the momentum of its charge, Weedle prepared to forcefully redirect it like a kite.

The dragged Golbat sneered inwardly. A Weedle wanted to restrain it with strength?

It flapped its wings twice, ready to show Weedle the power of a Golbat.

But reality soon dealt it a heavy blow. As the taut thread pulled, it discovered that it had actually deviated from its intended flight path!

Weedle had overpowered Golbat in strength!

An arc was drawn around Weedle as its center.

On the other side, Lance immediately understood Xia Yan's plan when he saw Weedle's movements and called to Dratini, "Dragon Rage!"

Dratini suddenly raised its small head and opened its mouth, creating a pale blue energy sphere within. Then it fired a powerful blue-black, dragon-shaped shockwave at its opponent.

One of the signature Dragon-type moves, Dragon Rage!

The blue-black shockwave swept over the Golbat that had practically delivered itself to them. Surging flames instantly engulfed it, burning through the silk wrapped around it as well.

Golbat traced an arc through the air before crashing onto the ground nearby, losing its ability to battle.

But the next moment, a howling gust struck from the front. The other red-eyed Golbat had reacted as well. Seeing its companion heavily injured, it charged toward Dratini in fury with a Wing Attack.

Starlike white light glimmered across the bat's wings.

Dratini had just unleashed Dragon Rage. Its old strength was spent, and new strength had yet to gather, leaving it unable to dodge in time.

Just then—

A web flickering with yellow lightning appeared from the side. It perfectly anticipated Golbat's flight path and intercepted it before it could reach Dratini.

It was Weedle!

Since it was acting as support, it naturally had to do everything a support should do. Protecting the damage dealer was, of course, a support's greatest responsibility.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

After contributing the Electroweb, Weedle also sent three Poison Sting needles straight into Golbat's wing.

"Ahka!!"

The intrusion of the Poison Sting made Golbat cry out uncontrollably. It looked at its wing in shock, where dark red, nearly black, foul-smelling blood slowly flowed from three tiny punctures.

It was not unfamiliar with Poison Sting. It had seen plenty of them before.

As a Poison-type Pokémon, Golbat was not afraid of Poison Sting or poison.

But the toxicity of Weedle's three Poison Stings far exceeded its impression of the move. If its own poison had not been resisting it, it had no doubt that it would already have been poisoned.

What the hell kind of Poison Sting was that?

Yet the intense pain made it impossible for it to flap its wings again, leaving it unable to fly.

By the time it realized what was happening, it felt a scorching heat rushing toward it. Looking up, its vision was completely filled with a blue-black shockwave like blazing flames.

Before it could respond, it was instantly swallowed.

Having recovered, Dratini promptly followed up with another Dragon Rage, defeating the second Golbat as well.

The two Golbat had completely lost their ability to battle. The entire fight, from start to finish, had taken less than a minute.

Lance looked at the two Golbat lying on the ground, his eyes gleaming.

These two Golbat were not weak. At the very least, if Dratini or Weedle had faced even one of them alone, neither would have handled it so easily.

Weedle had sufficient control, but its moves struggled to inflict decisive damage on Golbat, whose typing restrained it.

Dratini had enough destructive power, but flying Golbat were far too agile, making the accuracy of its moves a concern.

Given enough time, they could still have worn them down slowly, but that would have felt completely different from the battle just now.

Weedle's control and Dratini's damage output had both played their proper roles at exactly the right moments.

For Lance and Dratini, it could be summed up in two words.

Comfortable!

They had never fought so comfortably before, able to attack without restraint or concern.

Xia Yan's coordination with them had also been displayed to the fullest in this brief exchange.

Lance raised the corner of his mouth and lifted a hand toward Xia Yan.

Seeing the gesture, Xia Yan paused before smiling in understanding.

Smack!

Their palms lightly met.

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