Boom! Before Liu Qing could celebrate, all the flames suddenly burst apart. A blue figure shot out and appeared above Arcanine, bringing its Bone Club down hard on Arcanine's head. Lucario deftly spun the club in its hand and struck again, then a third time. Arcanine grimaced in pain, staggering backward under the blows!
"Arcanine, pull yourself together! Flame Wheel!" Liu Qing immediately shouted.
Dazed by the blows, Arcanine snapped back to its senses at Liu Qing's command. With a roar, flames erupted over its body as it prepared to use Flame Wheel. Just then, the fourth strike of Bone Club caught it off guard, interrupting its move.
"Roar!" Arcanine was furious now. Its flames surged as it unleashed Flame Wheel, withstanding the fifth strike of Bone Club and charging toward Lucario. Lucario was even faster, bringing the club back in front of itself and spinning it rapidly to block Flame Wheel. Even so, the sheer force of the charge pushed it steadily backward.
"Aura Sphere!" Cynthia suddenly called.
On the battlefield, Lucario had been desperately holding its ground. At Cynthia's command, a growing sphere of light immediately appeared in its left hand. With a thunderous explosion, it blasted Arcanine away.
"Dark Pulse!" Cynthia pressed the attack.
The Bone Club in Lucario's hand dissolved into blue light. It brought its hands together and fired a black pulse at Arcanine as it tumbled helplessly through the air.
"Arcanine, Flamethrower Flame Wheel!" Liu Qing hurriedly shouted as Dark Pulse hurtled toward it.
Having crashed to the ground, Arcanine struggled to its feet at Liu Qing's command. It opened its mouth and spat out Fire Blast, then used Flame Wheel to plunge into it. It quickly became a wheel of blue-white flames roughly three meters across, bursting straight through Dark Pulse and barreling toward Lucario with terrifying heat.
"Oh? What a powerful combination move!" A flicker of surprise appeared in Kalasina's eyes as she watched from the stands.
"Earthquake!" Before coming to Kanto, Cynthia had watched Liu Qing's Kanto League tournament matches at home and knew about this move of Arcanine's. Only now that she faced it herself did she understand how terrifying it truly was. She hurriedly gave the command, hoping Earthquake could stop it.
Boom! At Cynthia's command, Lucario immediately punched the ground, making the entire battlefield shake violently. Flamethrower Flame Wheel was badly affected, but it still pressed onward.
This is bad! Shocked that even Earthquake had failed to stop Flamethrower Flame Wheel, Cynthia immediately shouted, "Lucario, Aura Sphere!"
Lucario also felt the tremendous threat posed by Flamethrower Flame Wheel. It held out both hands and formed a sphere of light, firing it at the flaming wheel that was already right before it...
Boom! A massive explosion erupted on the battlefield. The shock wave hurled both Pokémon away, sending them crashing to the ground.
Only after a short while, urged on by Liu Qing and Cynthia, did the two Pokémon struggle to their feet. They stared at each other, their eyes burning with the will to fight.
"Awoo..." Arcanine had barely stood up before it gave a mournful cry and suddenly collapsed again, unable to battle. Across from it, flames suddenly flared over Lucario's body. It swayed and dropped to one knee.
"Arcanine is unable to battle. Lucario wins!" Uncle Fu announced.
"Clan leader Bofeng, our side has taken the lead now." Kalasina glanced at Bofeng Yu's unchanged expression and smiled slightly.
"Is that so? Didn't you just say that the match wasn't over and the outcome was still uncertain, clan leader Kalasina? Why don't we simply wait for the final result?" Bofeng Yu replied. Kalasina made no comment, merely nodding before turning her attention back to the battlefield.
"Come back, Arcanine. You did very well!" After recalling Arcanine, Liu Qing took out his third Poké Ball. "Exeggutor, take the field!"
Liu Qing tossed the Poké Ball into the air. A flash of white light followed, and Exeggutor appeared on the battlefield, its three heads letting out a loud, discordant clamor.
"Lucario, Dark Pulse!" Cynthia called first.
"Exeggutor, stop it from moving!" Liu Qing ordered right after her.
On the battlefield, Lucario was just about to use Dark Pulse when flames flared over its body again, making it grimace in pain. At that moment, Exeggutor's Confusion reached it, holding Lucario firmly in place and leaving it unable to move.
"Lucario, break free!" Cynthia hurriedly shouted.
"Don't give it a chance! Nature Power!" At Liu Qing's command, green light flashed over Exeggutor's body. The entire battlefield began shaking violently, and Lucario's face twisted in pain before it collapsed unconscious.
"Lucario is unable to battle!" Uncle Fu announced excitedly.
"Spiritomb, go!" Cynthia sent out Spiritomb, which had already appeared once in the match. It materialized on the battlefield in a flash of white light, looking somewhat listless. Clearly, it had yet to recover from the backlash to its psychic power.
"Exeggutor, Sunny Day, Solar Beam!" Liu Qing gave his orders first.
At Liu Qing's command, the head on Exeggutor's front left immediately fired a ball of light from its mouth into the sky. The leaves atop its heads also began absorbing energy from the sunlight.
"Spiritomb, Silver Wind!" Cynthia immediately shouted.
At Cynthia's command, a gleam flashed in Spiritomb's eyes. It unleashed a silver whirlwind that howled around Exeggutor. Taking quadruple damage, Exeggutor looked agonized, all three heads screaming together.
Just then, Sunny Day took effect. The leaves atop Exeggutor's heads instantly finished absorbing energy and shone dazzlingly. A green-white beam blasted from its middle head, steadily canceling out Silver Wind before striking Spiritomb with a boom, triggering a massive explosion.
"Spiritomb, Dark Pulse!"
"Exeggutor, Solar Beam!"
Cynthia and Liu Qing gave their commands almost simultaneously.
A black pulse burst through the smoke from the explosion and raced toward Exeggutor. Exeggutor rapidly finished gathering energy again and fired a green-white beam straight into Dark Pulse. They collided with an earth-shaking roar and exploded, filling the air with smoke. A considerably dimmer green-white beam suddenly pierced the black smoke and struck Spiritomb in midair, engulfing it. Only after Solar Beam faded did Spiritomb fall to the ground, unable to battle.
"Spiritomb is unable to battle. Exeggutor wins!" Uncle Fu announced in an impassioned voice.
"Come back, Spiritomb!" Cynthia quickly recalled Spiritomb. She frowned slightly in thought before taking out her fourth Poké Ball and tossing it. "Milotic, come out!"
"Wow, what a beautiful Pokémon!" Liu Yuan couldn't help marveling at Milotic, whose entire body radiated a gentle glow.
"Of course! My big sister's Milotic is the most beautiful Pokémon in the world." Lusana looked smugly at Liu Yuan, who pursed his lips even as he looked on enviously.
"Milotic, Surf!" Cynthia shouted.
"Exeggutor, Solar Beam!" Liu Qing ordered as well.
A blue gleam flashed in Milotic's eyes. Then an enormous wave lifted it up and surged toward Exeggutor, filling its field of vision.
Faced with such a huge wave, Exeggutor dared not hesitate. It immediately began absorbing sunlight with all its strength. Before it could store enough energy, however, an enormous shadow suddenly fell over it, drastically slowing its absorption of sunlight!
"She actually used the wave to block the sunlight! Exeggutor, have two heads keep absorbing sunlight while the remaining one uses Confusion to catch Milotic!" Liu Qing shouted urgently.
Exeggutor's absorption of sunlight slowed a little further. Then its middle head's eyes glowed with multicolored light as it used Confusion, trying to catch Milotic atop the wave. But Milotic reacted quickly too. As Confusion approached, it flicked its tail and swam swiftly and gracefully through the water of Surf, leaving Confusion behind.
"Milotic, Ice Beam!" Surf soon reached Exeggutor and began crashing down toward it. At that moment, Cynthia suddenly gave her command.
"Woo..." Milotic gave a soft cry and suddenly stopped within the wave. It raised its head, gathering the energy for Ice Beam before its mouth, then fired an icy-blue beam radiating bitter cold toward Exeggutor ahead of Surf.
"Exeggutor, reflect Ice Beam back!" Seeing Milotic use Ice Beam, Liu Qing's eyes lit up as a good idea occurred to him, and he hurriedly shouted.
Exeggutor obeyed, catching Ice Beam with Confusion and reflecting it toward Surf. The wave about to crash down immediately turned into a wave of ice, and the freezing continued. Liu Qing's plan was to seal Milotic inside it.
"Using Milotic's Surf and Ice Beam to freeze it, then delivering the finishing blow with Solar Beam? That's a very good plan, but if he thinks that will work against Nana, he's being far too simplistic!" Kalasina couldn't help smiling slightly.
Watching Milotic gradually become encased in ice, Cynthia remained unfazed. She calmly called to Milotic within the wave, which had yet to freeze completely, "Milotic, Twister!"
A whirlwind immediately rose from Milotic's tail. Its tremendous spinning force swept up all the remaining water in Surf, and the frozen sections shattered, mixing into Twister. In an instant, it swept Exeggutor into the air before it could react. Moments later, the frozen wave formed by Surf had vanished, leaving only a huge tornado of ice and water connected to Milotic's tail, with Exeggutor trapped inside.
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