[It actually weathered Slaking's relentless attacks? Floragato is so strong!]
[V-create, which one-shot Roxanne's ace, could only match an ordinary Fire Punch. Doesn't that just mean Slaking is ridiculously strong?]
[And that was a V-create boosted by two uses of Shift Gear, with a massive increase to Attack.]
[I can't see how Floragato wins this. If Slaking keeps using Fire Punch, is Floragato supposed to keep countering with V-create?]
[Impossible. Besides the huge energy cost of a move like that, the last battle showed that V-create has the side effect of lowering stats!]
[Putting myself in Lao Shui's shoes is honestly depressing. How do you even fight this?]
On the battlefield, the battle had reached a fever pitch.
Thanks to the Attack boost from two uses of Shift Gear, along with the nearly 200% damage bonus from the Dark-type Bond,
Floragato's Low Sweep had dealt far more damage than expected.
Thud-
The dull impact rang out as Fighting-type energy exploded!
Slaking's muscular body actually lurched from the kick, and a muffled grunt of unmistakable pain escaped its throat.
Yes, its reaction was about the same as when Kubfu had used Reversal earlier.
That alone showed just how terrifyingly powerful this Elite Four-level Slaking was.
But the damage wasn't the key. What mattered was the negative effect: "Speed stage -1."
The dust and waves of heat had yet to clear.
Slaking's muscular body tore straight through the smoke, raging orange-red flames igniting once more around its enormous fist!
If even the audience could think of it, Norman, Hoenn's strongest Gym Leader, certainly wouldn't overlook it.
Switching carelessly to another move might let Floragato change its type with Protean and resist the attack.
With such an overwhelming advantage in strength, he was better off sticking to Fire Punch than taking that uncertain