That way, the opponent's special attacks would be coming from too far away, and Butch would not be able to hit that side either. The battle would reach a stalemate.
Butch had no need to get bogged down in a stalemate. Forretress pushed forward with a field full of traps.
Chapter 853: Two against six
Exeggutor used the Psychic-type move "Extrasensory," and Forretress countered with "Bug Bite."
The Bug-type attack dealt a theoretical four times damage, leaving Exeggutor critically low on HP.
Forretress's Barrier Points dropped below 94%, equivalent to less than half its maximum HP, triggering its held Sitrus Berry and restoring 2.5% of its Barrier Points.
Then... "Stealth Rock"!
Commonly called "rock hazards," it likewise took away one-eighth of the HP of opposing Pokémon that entered afterward. Since it could not stack, Butch had prioritized fully stacking "Spikes" after banning the opponent's Flying-type Gyarados.
As things stood, until Zhenyang had a way to clear the hazards, any Pokémon coming in would immediately lose four-eighths of its HP, or half its Barrier Points.
Zhenyang panicked, and so did Exeggutor. Unable to win a straight fight, they kept backing away.
As they retreated, Forretress, pushing the traps forward, felt it had gone far enough and scattered "Toxic Spikes."
Pokémon entering afterward would be poisoned upon stepping on "Toxic Spikes," while two layers of "Toxic Spikes" would inflict bad poisoning.
"Exeggutor!"
Zhenyang had hesitated, putting himself in an even more awkward position. Yet his hesitation had not been particularly noticeable. Butch's tactics were simply decisive enough: he knew when to lay traps and when to attack, on top of having an enormous type advantage.
Now, Zhenyang could only force Exeggutor to try to trade itself for Forretress.
Unfortunately, that was no longer possible. After Forretress was brought down to low HP,