Pokémon: Reborn as Lucario

Chapter 165: That Which Is About to Appear

The Nidoqueen, sent flying, crashed heavily onto the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust.

The commotion was so great that the Pokémon in the midst of their own battles couldn't help but look over.

For an instant, the scene fell into silence.

The Pokémon from the Toxic Swamp were especially shocked. Elite Nidoqueen was one of their most powerful Pokémon, yet now she was beaten by a little pipsqueak with no way to fight back. This caused some of the normal-level Pokémon to feel a sense of fear, and their attacks against the Pokémon of Sunrise Valley and Crescent Lake unnaturally softened by a third.

Rio took a slight breath, wanting to use this opening to recover a bit of his strength. A large snake's mouth suddenly emerged from the group of battling Pokémon beside him, its fangs dripping with foul-smelling venom as it bit towards Rio at an unexpected speed.

Catching the enemy off guard, striking at their weak point—this is the nature of snake-like creatures. And Arbok, who was particularly adept at this, took advantage of the moment when Rio had not yet steadied himself, intending to repeat its old trick. After all, the last time, Arbok had also taken down the Elite Machop in a similar opportunity.

Unfortunately, last time it was only Machop alone. But this time, beside Rio, there were several pairs of eyes staring intently at Arbok.

"Don't even think about it!"

The first to react was Machop, who had suffered a great loss once before. His body sprang out like a spring, his palm held vertically like a blade as he delivered a [Brick Break] chop towards Arbok's neck.

Arbok had no choice but to roll on the ground, dodging Machop's chop. The venom that had been in its mouth dripped onto the ground, making the earth sizzle and corrode.

"Thanks, big brother."

Rio had only just reacted. Looking at the terrifying venom, he was still a little shaken.

"Be careful. His venom is very potent. It will be very troublesome once you're touched by it," Machop reminded Rio with a grave expression.

Arbok, whose sneak attack had failed, looked sinister. Its forked tongue flicked, making a "hiss, hiss" sound. Several smaller Ekans in the melee not far away, hearing its call, twisted their serpentine bodies and came to Arbok's side.

Suddenly, Arbok reared up, displaying the terrifying pattern under its cobra hood. The pattern resembled a horrifying human face. As it was suddenly revealed, a sinister aura rushed forth.

This bizarre and terrifying pattern made the Pokémon feel afraid, yet they couldn't help but want to take a closer look.

"Don't look at its pattern!"

Machop reacted in an instant, pushing Rio away and snapping him out of his transfixed state.

Rio was startled. He naturally also remembered what move this was: the signature skill of snake-like Pokémon, [Glare]. Snake-like Pokémon often have various patterns on their bodies to intimidate enemies. The [Glare] move utilized these patterns to captivate enemies, causing them to feel fear and fall into a paralyzed state.

Feeling a numbing sensation in his body, Rio secretly clicked his tongue. "Just a glance or two, and my body already has slight symptoms of paralysis. If I stared for a long time, I'd probably end up completely paralyzed, at their mercy."

[Glare] was truly worthy of being one of the most popular control skills in the games. Even in the real Pokémon world, it displayed terrifying power.

Seeing Rio and Machop's positions separated, Arbok and the Ekans seized the opportunity to advance, engaging them separately.

Facing the onslaught of the venomous snakes, for a moment, Rio and Machop could only counter move for move, from time to time dodging the sharp fangs or kicking away the whipping tails.

This stalemate was broken by the entry of an unexpected Pokémon into the battle.

"[Hypnosis]!"

Just as Rio and Machop were entangled with Arbok and its kin, Poliwhirl, with the spiral pattern on its belly, emerged from behind the former. Circular waves of light emanated from its hands, enveloping the Arbok group.

[Hypnosis] could cause Pokémon it touched to fall into a deep sleep, ineffective against Pokémon immune to sleep.

Clearly, Arbok and its kin were not among them.

"Thump," "Thump," "Thump," "Thump," "Thump." Unable to resist the drowsiness, Arbok and the Ekans fell asleep one by one, lying scattered on the ground.

With this engagement temporarily concluded, on another part of the battlefield, the Toxic Swamp's Elite Sandslash and other Pokémon were also being pushed back repeatedly.

Scyther zipped across the battlefield, at times attacking enemies with its sharp scythes, leaving behind a series of afterimages.

"[Petal Dance]!"

Verdant green energy emerged from the center of the giant flower on Flower's (Vileplume's) head, whipping up a blizzard-like storm of petals that swept towards Sandslash and Rhyhorn in front of her.

Grass-type moves against Ground-type Pokémon—super effective!

"[Water Gun]! [Ice Shard]!"

Water currents surged beneath Lapras, supporting its movement on land. It sprayed a thick jet of water from its mouth while emitting wisps of cold air from its body, condensing the surrounding moist water vapor into sharp-edged ice shards. The water stream and ice shards shot towards Sandslash and the other Pokémon with "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" sounds.

Water-type and Ice-type moves against Ground-type Pokémon—also super effective!

It was no wonder Elite Sandslash, despite its immense strength, was crying out in pain from the beating.

At this point, probably only a type-disadvantage master like Ash could save him...

Rio watched from the side, somewhat gloating.

Besides the battles of the Elite-level Pokémon, the ordinary Pokémon of Sunrise Valley and Crescent Lake, seeing their "big brothers and sisters" fighting so fiercely, experienced a great surge in morale.

"Atatatatata—"

The Oddish siblings, their little faces red with effort, swung the leaves on their heads with all their might, smashing the Diglett so hard they had to hide underground.

Ordinary Machop, Mankey, and other Fighting-type Pokémon, emulating Rio's meteor-fast fist technique, knocked over Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ one by one.

Even the weakest, like Caterpie and Weedle, desperately spat silk, wrapping the Koffing round and round, directly preventing the latter from floating.

The Water-type Pokémon from Crescent Lake, not being adept at land combat, mostly hid in the river, looking for opportunities to support the fighting Pokémon with Water-type moves.

For the Pokémon of Sunrise Valley and Crescent Lake, it seemed they had an overwhelming advantage.

The situation was looking great.

Without warning, Rio suddenly felt goosebumps rise on his skin, making the fur on his body stand on end.

"What's going on?"

Rio shivered, trying to smooth down his raised fur with his hand, his eyes turning towards Hegemon Nidoking, who had remained silent all this time.

Hegemon Nidoking, standing at the very rear of the Toxic Swamp Pokémon's formation, its face grew increasingly dark. An extremely oppressive low-pressure atmosphere emanated from its entire body, like a dormant volcano, containing a rage desperate to erupt.

"Useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless..."

A low mumble came from Hegemon Nidoking's mouth. It didn't move, but the blood-red energy around its body grew thicker and thicker, gradually condensing into a visible mist.

"Be careful, I have a very bad feeling."

Rio hurriedly warned Poliwhirl and Machop standing nearby. At this moment, a bad premonition flashed through his mind.

"Huff," "Huff," "Huff," Hegemon Nidoking panted heavily, scarlet gas噴 (puffing/jetting) from its nostrils. The ferocious red light in its eyes made this entire Pokémon look like a demonic ogre.

The Pokémon of Sunrise Valley and Crescent Lake unconsciously huddled together. Some of the more timid Pokémon even hid at the very back of the group, not daring to show their heads.

"What on earth is this?"

Rio's face was grave, but his heart was filled with incomprehension. He hadn't seen a similar scene in games or anime.

And in his Aura vision, he saw a red glowing point of light flickering in the center of Hegemon Nidoking's body. The red-black Aura covering Hegemon Nidoking was swirling towards this point of light. And as the strange red-black Aura on Hegemon Nidoking continuously strengthened, this point of light shone even brighter.

"This point of light, why does it look a bit like the Squirtle Boss's black hole?"

Suddenly, a flash of insight shot through Rio's mind. He unconsciously compared the phenomenon he had observed on the Squirtle Boss with Hegemon Nidoking's current strange state and was surprised to find that the position and size of this black hole were almost identical to this point of light.

"Could it be... Ah!"

Rio vaguely seemed to have guessed something, but was blinded by a sudden burst of light that made his dog eyes sting.

Machop, the Squirtle Boss, and the other Pokémon heard Rio's miserable cry. Before they could ask what had happened, the scene before them filled them with utter dread:

"ROOOOAAAAAR!!!!!!!!"

Hegemon Nidoking roared at the sky. The blood-red energy on its body suddenly condensed, then, in an instant, expanded at an incredible speed, "BOOM," forming a sphere that enveloped all the Pokémon within.

As far as the eye could see, everything was rendered a terrifying blood-red: a blood-red sky, blood-red earth, and all the Pokémon were covered in a layer of blood-red light, so red it was incredibly piercing to the eyes.

"Ah, my body..."

Machop, Poliwhirl, and the Squirtle Boss involuntarily sank to one knee.

When enveloped by the red light, a heavy pressure bore down on them, making it almost impossible to breathe. At the same time, they felt as if most of the strength in their bodies had vanished, and a sense of powerless weakness welled up from within.

The other Pokémon were even more terrified, frozen on the spot.

Conversely, the Pokémon from the Toxic Swamp seemed to have been injected with powerful strength. One by one, they recovered from their previous beaten and dispirited state, their eyes, just like Hegemon Nidoking's, all emitting a ferocious red glow.

Rio endured the stinging pain in his eyes and quickly checked the light screen:

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[Real-time Analysis]

Pokémon: Hegemon - Nidoking (Berserk) (Mind-Controlled) (Berserk Enhancement) (Male)

Level: lv40

Type: Poison + Ground

Ability: Poison Point (When hit by an opponent's direct attack, may sometimes poison the opponent)

Presence: Berserk Qi (As the Hegemon of the Toxic Swamp, feared by Pokémon, possesses a Hegemon's Presence—Berserk Qi; this presence can suppress enemies and simultaneously cause allied Pokémon to enter a berserk state, greatly increasing their abilities)

Moves: Earthquake (lv5), Poison Jab (lv4), Iron Tail (lv4), Horn Attack (lv2), Leer (lv2)

Pokémon: Elite - Arbok (Mind-Controlled) (Berserk Enhancement) (Male)

Pokémon: Elite - Sandslash (Mind-Controlled) (Berserk Enhancement) (Male)

Pokémon: Elite - Nidoqueen (Mind-Controlled) (Berserk Enhancement) (Female)

Pokémon: Normal - Rhyhorn (Mind-Controlled) (Berserk Enhancement) (Male)

Pokémon: Normal - Diglett (Mind-Controlled) (Berserk Enhancement) (Female)

Pokémon: …

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It's actually a Hegemon's Presence?!!

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