Pokemon: Farm Story

Normally, Ruination is a move best used at the very start of a battle.

As long as it lands, it immediately halves the opponent's HP, giving the user a massive early advantage.

Perhaps due to the nature of Vessel of Ruin, the turbulent air currents were laced with an ominous black aura—like an inescapable curse, hidden yet perilous.

All the Pokémon caught in its wake felt a deep-seated fear welling up from the depths of their hearts.

Ogerpon remembered the days it once fled under the hateful gazes of humans.

Slowking recalled the helpless panic of searching for Uxie, only to find nothing.

And Persian…

Wait, why the hell did its mind suddenly flash back to when Natsume had pinned it down and put it in a chokehold as a kid?

Ah, that nostalgic feeling.

How utterly painful.

For a brief moment, Persian's eyes glazed over before it quickly snapped back to reality.

Compared to the fear of being dominated by Natsume as a child, this recent surge of terror was nothing.

To put it simply—nothing in its life had been that scary.

Aside from the occasional beatdown, everything had gone relatively smoothly.

—Slash!

A crescent-shaped water blade tore through the raging currents, heading straight for the ancient bronze cauldron atop Ting-Lu's head.

But the moment it made contact, the sharp edge of the Water Blade shattered instantly, dissolving into a spray of mist.

Something must have resurfaced in Gallade's mind, something unpleasant.

Its expression had turned completely dark.

The fragile grip it had on its emotional state—already on the brink of collapse—had now snapped entirely.

Emotional control?

What emotional control?

Right now, it only wanted to carve this tumor-brained thing into pieces.

The moment Gallade felt the restraints on its body disappear, it vanished.

When it reappeared, it was already behind Ting-Lu.

The emerald arm blades extending from its elbows gleamed with golden light.

Yet, something about its movements felt… off.

Despite the speed of its strike, there was an illusion—as if it were struggling to move through the depths of the ocean, exerting all its strength just to land a single blow.

But the instant that slash fell—

A blinding flash erupted as countless slashes condensed into a single, all-encompassing strike.

"…Yadon?"

Having retreated to Natsume's side for healing, Slowking tilted its head, gazing at Gallade.

Something about that guy felt off today.

Beside it, Gardevoir quietly turned away, unwilling to comment.

As its younger sister, Gardevoir knew all too well what its older brother was really like.

To put it bluntly—he had a short fuse and was terrible at handling pressure.

He always seemed easygoing, as if nothing fazed him.

But the moment things started slipping beyond his expectations, or when stress piled up—

That cheerful, friendly persona wouldn't last.

His frustration would rise, his aggression would skyrocket, and his urge for destruction would reach new heights.

Simply Put—It's Seeing Red.

"Alright, next up—Persian, you're in."

With a flick of his wrist, Natsume patted Slowking on the shoulder.

When Ruination erupted earlier, Gardevoir had teleported Natsume away from Ting-Lu, preventing him from getting caught in the blast.

He was, after all, the biggest safety net in this battle.

Forget getting injured—even if one of his Pokémon was knocked out, Natsume could bring them right back into the fight.

—"You have been revived. Now, get back in there."

Aside from the swapped-out Slowking, the rest of the Pokémon continued executing their strategy seamlessly.

They stuck to their roles, maintaining steady damage output—no reckless lunges, no unnecessary hesitation. They attacked whenever the opportunity arose.

Even Corviknight kept up its constant harassment.

Not that it expected to land any significant blows—mostly, it just wanted to remind Ting-Lu: Hey, your old man's still alive.

Incidentally, if psychological damage could be measured, Corviknight's taunting would be topping the charts.

"Yadon."

Nodding, Slowking casually snapped off a branch and held it like a scepter as it reentered the battle.

Not that the branch gave it any sort of power boost—

It just felt weird having empty hands.

Standing beside Natsume, Gardevoir narrowed its eyes.

With growing proficiency, it activated telepathy, its voice ringing clearly in Persian's mind.

Compared to before the battle started, Gardevoir's telepathic skills had improved noticeably.

As expected, the best way to master an ability was through live combat.

"Suosuo."

At some point, Zorua had appeared at Natsume's feet, quietly watching the fight unfold.

A satisfied gleam flashed in its eyes.

Most of these fighters had, at some point, learned a few tricks from Zorua.

And so far, none of them were embarrassing it.

If they couldn't even handle a half-awake dumb deer, Zorua would have to seriously question whether its training had gone to waste.

(Mightyena family & Yamper: ?)

That said, it looked like there wouldn't be any need for Zorua to step in.

"Roar!"

At last, Ting-Lu turned its attention to the one person standing at a distance, continuously healing his Pokémon—Natsume.

Realizing that this human was the mastermind behind it all, Ting-Lu's fury exploded.

It wanted nothing more than to trample him into a bloody pulp—

Then stomp on the remains for good measure.

And Ting-Lu didn't just seethe—it acted.

Ignoring the Gallade that had nearly diced its rear end and the Ogerpon pounding away at its body, the massive beast began a full-speed charge toward Natsume.

The once-settled sandstorm roared back to life.

A towering colossus surged forward, wreathed in a whirlwind of destruction.

"This… looks straight out of a disaster movie."

Natsume murmured, unable to resist the thought.

Even the most realistic special effects wouldn't be able to replicate the sheer, oppressive terror radiating from Ting-Lu at this moment.

Yet, despite the behemoth barreling toward him, Natsume remained calm.

After all, he had Gardevoir, who could teleport him away at a moment's notice.

He also had the little fox at his feet, eerily composed from the very beginning.

And in front of him—Persian and the others stood ready.

8 vs. 1.

The advantage was clear.

There was no scenario in which they lost.

"Yadon."

…It's actually running?

Seeing Ting-Lu charge forward at surprising speed, Slowking blinked.

Normally, massive Pokémon relied on a defensive counterattack strategy or a slow, methodical advance.

The number of behemoths that actually ran into battle was few and far between.

What was this, Ash's Torterra?

A Pokémon that fought with agility in its youth but refused to adapt after evolution?

"Yadon."

Grass Knot.

Raising its "scepter," Slowking activated a move it had learned on a whim to expand its arsenal.

The trampled grass beneath Ting-Lu suddenly shot upward, transforming into a mass of thick vines that coiled around its limbs.

Grass Knot was a move whose power scaled with the opponent's weight—

The heavier the enemy, the stronger the effect.

And Ting-Lu?

It was both massive and heavy.

That said, there was always a chance that Grass Knot could fail against Pokémon of immense size—especially Legendary ones like Ting-Lu.

As expected, the moment the vines wrapped around its legs, they immediately began to tear.

Slowking had anticipated this.

On its own, Grass Knot wouldn't be enough to take Ting-Lu down.

But this wasn't a duel—it was a righteous gang-up.

Immediately following Slowking, Gallade, Ogerpon, and Gardevoir all launched Grass Knot in unison.

The battlefield, once stripped bare by Ting-Lu's destructive march, suddenly flourished with life.

Like venomous serpents, the vines coiled around its legs, binding it in place.

Ting-Lu's momentum halted.

Yet, despite the entanglement, it refused to fall—it held its stance with sheer brute force.

A deadlock.

Until—

A shadow descended from above.

"Cawhaha!"

The King Descends!

Shouting some absurd line it had picked up somewhere, Corviknight unleashed its signature move for the first time in this battle—

Brave Bird.

A steel-plated meteor came crashing down, slamming straight into Ting-Lu's skull.

"Boooooom!"

The great bronze cauldron atop Ting-Lu's head rang with an earth-shaking clang.

And so did Corviknight's head.

For a moment, Corviknight swayed midair—

Like a sparrow that had just flown headfirst into a glass door.

It nearly tumbled to the ground, vision spinning.

That one hit had almost made it cough up last night's dinner.

But the results spoke for themselves.

The balance of the fight shifted instantly.

Ting-Lu's massive form began to tilt—its crimson eyes flashing with fury and defiance.

"This isn't tripping!

"You're just dragging me down!"

If Ting-Lu had read a modern textbook, it might have had a term for its current predicament—

Quartered.

When its colossal body hit the ground, the impact mimicked a small-scale earthquake.

Dust and debris erupted into the air, obscuring the battlefield.

But Slowking and the others showed no mercy.

A relentless barrage of attacks rained down upon the fallen titan, all locked onto their target via psychic precision.

Even Persian, who had been about to pounce, hesitated.

Yeah, nope.

Jumping in there right now would just mean getting hit by everything.

When the dust finally settled, Ting-Lu remained barely upright, gasping for breath.

The sound it made was that of a cornered beast, one prepared to launch a desperate final attack.

This was its last stand.

One more hit—just one—

And this harbinger of calamity would fall.

—Whoosh!

A sleek figure darted through the forest, leaping from branch to branch before landing gracefully.

As it touched down, its entire body ignited with radiant energy—

Like an arrow loosed from a drawn bow, Persian launched itself forward.

Giga Impact!

As a Normal-type Pokémon, Persian's move pool covered a wide range of types.

But against Ting-Lu, it lacked any major super-effective moves—

So, for a finishing blow, it had to rely on Normal-type powerhouses:

Giga Impact and Hyper Beam.

Against Ting-Lu's massive frame, Persian looked tiny.

Almost delicate.

Yet, that small frame crashed into the colossus with devastating force.

"BOOM!"

As the explosion of impact faded, Persian landed lightly, absorbing the recoil with only a slight tremor in its legs.

For a brief moment—silence.

Only the sound of Ting-Lu's ragged breathing filled the air.

Its crimson eyes locked onto Persian—then onto Natsume.

As if trying to burn their images into its mind forever.

At last, in that moment, Ting-Lu's labored breathing suddenly came to a halt.

Its eyes rolled back, and its massive body slowly collapsed with a thunderous crash.

If the initial impact had signaled the start of battle, then this sound marked its conclusion.

The legendary Pokémon, Ting-Lu, had met its defeat.

Even after it fell, the Pokémon remained on high alert.

Gallade cautiously stepped forward and slashed at it twice, testing for any reaction.

Only after Gardevoir and Slowking confirmed that Ting-Lu had truly lost the ability to fight and fallen unconscious did the team finally lower their guard.

"Woomah."

It's over.

Clutching its chest, Ogerpon's face showed a look of relief, as if a great weight had been lifted.

Only it knew how much pressure it had been under.

This was its first time battling an opponent of this caliber.

Throughout the fight, Ogerpon had been treading carefully, afraid that a single mistake could render everyone's efforts meaningless.

Even more so, it worried that Natsume might get hurt.

"Caw-caw!"

Damn it! Kill steal!

Corviknight swooped down from the sky, visibly disgruntled, and instinctively started picking a fight with Persian.

No reason, really—just sheer habit.

Persian, who had just been considering categorizing Corviknight as a "normal Pokémon," glanced at it sideways, then silently kicked it back into the "complete lunatic" category in its mind.

At this moment, there was no doubt—Corviknight's confidence must have been through the roof.

It was probably already planning its 800th challenge against Persian.

To date, Corviknight had never won a single match against it.

But hey, gotta admire the persistence.

"Garde!"

"Gall—uh…"

With the battle over, Gallade's emotional control system rebooted, leaving it a little awkward as it looked at its younger sister.

Reflecting on its earlier outburst, it wondered if maybe—just maybe—it had been a little too aggressive.

But honestly, it wasn't like it could control it that well.

Gallade muttered to itself in a low voice.

Managing emotions is something everyone knows they should do, but few can actually master.

A mental breakdown only takes a split second—for both humans and Pokémon alike.

"Yadon."

Slowking casually planted the branch it had been using as a makeshift staff into the ground, then silently walked forward, gazing down at the fallen Ting-Lu, lost in thought.

"Alright, now we need to figure out what to do with this massive headache."

Holding Zorua in his arms, Natsume frowned at Ting-Lu.

This thing was a real hot potato.

In every sense of the word.

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