Pokémon: Reborn as Lucario

Chapter 162: Double Battle Coordination

Strange, really strange.

This was Rio's feeling after looking at the data of the two Fire-type Pokémon.

An Elite-level Magmar was not strange. On the contrary, in the hands of such an arrogant fellow, to have a Normal-level Pokémon was what made Rio's jaw drop.

However, this difference in life tier was not the reason Rio felt it was particularly strange.

Rather, it was their almost completely opposite move sets.

First, look at Torkoal.

Among the large pile of moves it had learned, only one, [Eruption], was of its own Fire-type. And what was even stranger was that [Eruption], a move of its own type, was only a mere lv0, as if it had barely been used at all. It was at the lowest level, just like the Grass-type [Solar Beam] and the Fighting-type [Body Slam]. On the contrary, those several strange moves were at the highest levels.

Then look at Magmar. At lv30, it only had 5 moves. What was ridiculous was that not a single one of these 5 moves was a support move; they were all offensive moves, and all of them were lv3.

"What kind of move set is this?"

Rio stared, baffled.

Unconsciously, sweat from his forehead trickled down his cheeks.

Don't misunderstand; this wasn't cold sweat from nervousness or fear, but purely from the heat.

"Hot?"

Thinking of this, Rio only just realized that at some unknown point, the scorching sun high in the sky had become exceptionally clear. Its radiating, burning heat continuously scorched the earth. This place was already close to Fiery Volcano, so the temperature was high to begin with. Coupled with the baking of the scorching sun, it made the heat even more intense.

Wiping away a handful of sweat, Rio gathered his spirits.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the battle began.

As always, Míng Rìzhào planned to make use of Rio's speed advantage.

"Rio, use [Agility]."

In her understanding, leaving Torkoal aside for now, Magmar's speed was not bad. If the opponent gained the upper hand in speed, the situation would become quite passive.

So, the opening move was one that enhanced speed.

"Then [Quick Attack], the target is..."

Míng Rìzhào weighed her options. Torkoal, with its hard shell, probably couldn't be defeated quickly, so she placed her target on the other Pokémon.

"Prioritize defeating Magmar!"

Feeling his whole body become lighter, Rio used his most proficient move, [Quick Attack].

"Swoosh!" A streak of electric light suddenly erupted from the flat ground, and in an instant, it had already charged to the middle of the two opposing Pokémon.

The surrounding crowd exclaimed repeatedly, amazed by this mysterious Pokémon's speed.

"Ruru, prepare to use [Confusion]."

Míng Rìzhào kept her eyes fixed on Rio's path of advance, while also instructing Kirlia to accumulate psychic power, intending for Ruru to use her psychic power for support if Rio encountered any obstacles during his charge.

A double battle is to allow the two Pokémon on the field to form a connection with each other, to help and support one another. This kind of team coordination is the very essence of a double battle.

For Míng Rìzhào, Kirlia, who was good at long-range psychic power, and Riolu, who was good at close-range fighting, could happen to form a combat combination of ranged support for a close-combat pincer attack.

Seeing that streak of electric light attacking at high speed, the youth Micun was also slightly taken aback.

"This Pokémon... I've never seen it before. How can its speed be so fast?"

Micun waved his hand, commanding the Torkoal that was lying leisurely on the ground.

"Torkoal, [Clear Smog]."

Torkoal leisurely raised its head, stomped the ground with its front limb, and at the same time, forcefully sprayed a large amount of smoke from its nose.

The ground was cracked by Torkoal's stomp, sending a few clumps of mud flying. And these few clumps of mud were enveloped by the sprayed white smoke and thrown towards the advancing Rio.

"Here it comes, Ruru!"

Kirlia, almost in sync with Míng Rìzhào, unleashed her pink psychic power.

"Bang," "Bang," "Bang."

The clumps of mud were successively pulverized in mid-air and did not hit, leaving only wisps of white smoke to cover Rio.

Míng Rìzhào breathed a sigh of relief.

But what followed was a rapidly changing scene.

"Hmm?"

Rio, charging with his head down, suddenly felt a wave of emptiness inside his body. His steps faltered, and he fell to the ground.

And as Rio stopped, the electric light also dissipated.

"What's going on?"

Not only did Míng Rìzhào not understand, but even Kirlia also looked very surprised.

Rio, who had mastered [Quick Attack] to perfection, how could he trip while executing the move?

"Magmar, [Ember]."

A cold smile appeared on Micun's lips. The Magmar in front of him locked onto Rio, and balls of fire sprayed from its mouth. The bright red flames even had a trace of blue light mixed in.

"Is this the Hetero-Flame? Blue fire mixed in with the red fire. The temperature is probably even higher."

Rio, lying on the ground, had sharp eyes and quickly discovered the strangeness of the flames.

Before the sprayed fireballs even got close, Rio could already feel that raging heat. He quickly pushed off the ground with both hands, flipped over, and dodged the few fireballs that smashed onto the ground.

"Hiss, this flame really burns my paws."

He had managed to dodge the flames in time, but the small sparks that burst out and landed on Rio still made him grit his teeth from the burn.

"I get it!"

Míng Rìzhào recalled for a moment and immediately reacted.

"Rio, the move [Clear Smog] uses smoke to clear away a Pokémon's enhanced abilities. So our initial move of accelerating with [Agility] was nullified."

No wonder my body suddenly felt like it had rusted, Rio thought with a sense of understanding.

"And then, don't make contact with the opponent's flames."

Míng Rìzhào pointed at the scorching sun hanging high in the sky.

"The opponent's Fire-type moves, under the enhancement of the sunny weather, will be terrifyingly strong."

"Next, we switch tactics! We'll focus on Ruru's long-range combat!"

In a double battle, the advantage of being able to send out two Pokémon is that one can flexibly switch tactics.

Facing Magmar, which had [Flame Body]—meaning close combat could easily result in being burned—after her initial tactic of quickly finishing Magmar with speed was broken, Míng Rìzhào did not choose to keep letting Rio get close. Instead, she decisively switched to a battle style centered on Kirlia's long-range attacks.

"Ilu! (Pokémon Language) Rio, I'm going to start accumulating energy. Help me stop the opponent's attacks."

"Alright!"

Kirlia closed her eyes, and at the same time, a formidable psychic wave radiated from her body.

"Torkoal, use [Amnesia] and [Smokescreen]."

"Poof!" A large cloud of pitch-black smoke was sprayed from the holes in Torkoal's shell, spreading out. After this, the expression on Torkoal's face became dazed, as if it had forgotten something.

"Magmar, [Flamethrower]."

From within the black smoke, a pillar of fire gushed out.

"I've seen this kind of trick many times!"

Perhaps it was a common tactic among trainers, but in the battles Rio had fought before, many trainers liked to suddenly unleash moves in such vision-obscuring scenes, trying to catch the opponent off guard. It was indeed quite difficult to deal with at the beginning, but later on, with his increasingly rich battle experience, Rio could now very keenly judge the direction of the opponent's move attack.

The spraying flame naturally rushed straight towards Kirlia without hesitation.

It had to be said, the psychic wave that Kirlia was concentrating on accumulating at this time made even Rio, as her companion, feel a little alarmed.

"[Aura Sphere]!"

Facing the scorching flames, Rio rubbed his two paws together, and a large, azure blue energy ball was condensed.

The Aura energy ball was held up by Rio's right paw, and he forcefully sent it forward. "Hey, take this!"

"Poof!" The flame was directly dispersed, scattering into clusters of sparks on the ground.

"Rio, to your left."

Míng Rìzhào reminded him in time.

At some unknown point, Rio was already holding a small [Aura Sphere] in his left paw. He grinned cunningly at the Magmar that thought it had stealthily advanced to his left side. "Surprise!"

Magmar's [Fire Punch] and Rio's [Aura Sphere] fiercely connected.

"Bang!" The aftershock of the close-range energy collision directly sent both Pokémon flying back.

"Tch."

Seeing his sneak attack tactic fail, Micun pursed his lips.

And at this time, Kirlia's psychic power was ready.

"[Confusion]!"

"Boom—" The pink psychic power spread out as if to shatter the air. The visible energy wave pressed forward in a fan shape, its range so large that it completely covered both Torkoal and Magmar.

It seemed the opponents had no way to dodge and could only take this move head-on.

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