“Green!” As he tumbled and landed, Chen Kai flung out a Poké Ball like lightning.
Facing such a powerful enemy, seizing the initiative was crucial.
“Cha!!!” (Understood!)
A flash of white light, and Grovyle, “Green,” shot out like a Green whirlwind, its agile figure a blur.
The moment it was released from the Poké Ball, its sharp eyes locked onto the massive figure emanating a terrifying aura.
Inside the Poké Ball, it had already sensed extreme danger, and its power was already poised to strike.
Its arms crossed, the Leaf Blades on its wrists erupted with dazzling emerald light, and a massive cross-shaped energy blade instantly formed.
Green, using the momentum of its forward rush, sprang up like a spring compressed to its limit.
Fast!
Its speed was so great that by the time the Overlord Mimikyu’s huge, deep, abyssal black eyes barely caught a glimpse of a Green shadow, Grovyle’s X-Scissor, which concentrated all of its speed and power, was already slashing fiercely at its massive, tattered body like two intersecting Green rays of death.
“Swish—!!!”
The incomparably sharp Bug-type energy blade struck the target squarely, making a clear sound like thick cloth being torn.
However, just as the X-Scissor’s light blade struck the tattered cloth, the large, worn gray cloth covering the Overlord Mimikyu suddenly erupted with a strong, brilliant Pikachu yellow light, as if in a final burst of Radiance.
A huge, distorted Pikachu phantom, filled with endless sorrow and the obsession to protect, suddenly appeared.
This phantom was not fully corporeal; it was more like a final, tough energy barrier—the Disguise Ability had activated.
The Green cross-shaped light blade and the yellow protective phantom collided violently, their energies clashing and annihilating each other.
Green felt as if its Leaf Blade had struck a piece of tough, energy-filled thick leather; the immense recoil made its arms numb, and its attack was forced to stop.
And the bright yellow protective phantom on the Overlord Mimikyu’s body flickered and wavered violently under the full force of the X-Scissor, finally extinguishing like a candle in the wind.
The huge gray cloth it wore, which had barely maintained its form, instantly collapsed, becoming even more tattered and dull, as if all its vitality had been drained, drooping limply like a torn banner, covering the profound darkness of its true form.
On the tattered cloth, two huge, crossed, torn scorch marks were clearly visible.
Beneath the tattered cloth, those enormous, abyssal black eyes flashed with an extremely subtle hint of displeasure, like a mosquito bite, fleeting in the darkness.
It seemed to tilt its “head,” covered by the tattered cloth, as if examining its drooping “outer garment,” or perhaps re-evaluating the tiny human and his incredibly fast Green lizard before it.
“* * * —”
A low, prolonged, and displeased moan emanated from beneath the tattered cloth.
With this moan, a more condensed, colder, and more despair-inducing purplish-black resentful energy, even more so than before, coiled around the Overlord Mimikyu’s giant shadow, like a poisoned ghostly blade, exuding a chill that made the soul tremble.
Chen Kai instantly recognized this signature move of Ghost-type Pokémon—Shadow Claw.
“It’s coming! Green, Energy Ball! Stop it!” Chen Kai shouted sharply, his voice exceptionally clear in the silent storage room.
“Cha—!” Green reacted as swiftly as lightning.
Its palms rubbed vigorously together in front of its chest, like rolling a ball, and a brilliant emerald light ball, brimming with surging life energy, instantly coalesced and shot whistling towards the approaching Overlord.
“* * * —” The Overlord Mimikyu’s low, displeased moan carried a hint of nonchalance.
It casually waved its huge Shadow Claw, wrapped in purplish-black energy, as if flicking away a speck of dust.
“Whoosh—Thwack!”
The emerald Energy Ball was accurately swatted away by the Shadow Claw, arcing and striking the side wall, exploding into a burst of emerald energy Sparks that scorched another section of the torn Pikachu poster on the wall, yet failed to harm the Overlord Mimikyu in the slightest.
It didn't even spare a glance at the explosion; its massive figure, still with a strange etherealness, instantly closed the distance with Green, and the Shadow Claw was raised again, gripping down with a soul-rending chill.
But fortunately, Green, with its astonishing speed, had already conjured another Energy Ball in its hands before Chen Kai even shouted.
It aimed the Energy Ball at Mimikyu, attempting to trade blows, but unexpectedly, Mimikyu redirected its Shadow Claw, choosing to swat away the Energy Ball again instead of clashing head-on.
Seizing this opportunity, Green sidestepped, creating a small distance from Mimikyu.
The next few seconds became a chase of speed and death.
The Overlord Mimikyu’s Shadow Claw was like a persistent ghost, each swing carrying a fatal threat, with tricky angles and terrifying power.
Green pushed its speed to the limit, transforming into a Green afterimage, dodging and weaving within the cramped storage room; when it couldn’t avoid an attack, it retaliated with an Energy Ball, forcing the Overlord Mimikyu to defend with its Shadow Claw, dancing among blades, narrowly avoiding one fatal claw strike after another.
The sound of claws tearing through the air, the explosive thud of Energy Balls being swatted away, and Green’s rapid breathing intertwined.
Chen Kai, while dodging to avoid being caught in the attack’s range, observed the Overlord Mimikyu. Perhaps due to some reason, this Overlord Mimikyu’s actual level might not be too high, roughly Elite Level (around level 35), possibly even weaker than the Gengar outside?
Its true terror lay in its massive resentful aura (Overlord Aura), rather than absolute level suppression.
And Green was also Elite Level (around level 35) now, fully capable of fighting.
“Green!” Chen Kai, seizing the moment when the opponent’s claw strike missed and its old strength was exhausted while new strength had yet to form, his eyes flashing with brilliance, issued a risky but potentially the only game-changing command: “Switch to Ultimate Drain!”
Green also understood the situation; since the opponent had reservations, it would not hesitate.
The moment the Overlord Mimikyu’s next claw strike came again, it abruptly stopped its dodging motion.
Its arms no longer blocked; instead, they clasped together again in front of its chest, and its entire body’s Grass-type energy converged frantically at an unprecedented speed.
“*?!”
A hint of surprise seemed to flash in the Overlord Mimikyu’s abyssal eyes, yet it found it even more interesting; its claw strike did not stop, continuing its attack.
“Pfft—!”
The Shadow Claw, wreathed in purplish-black resentment, struck firmly on Grovyle’s crossed arms, which were held defensively in front of its chest.
Terrifying Ghost energy instantly invaded, and Green let out a painful grunt; the Leaf Blades on its arms visibly blackened and withered, and the immense impact lifted its feet off the ground, sending it flying backward.
However, at the very same instant the Shadow Claw hit, the emerald light, condensed to its utmost in front of Green’s chest, erupted.
“Cha—!!!”
A thick, incomparably robust emerald beam, like a torrent of life-draining energy—Ultimate Drain—shot out from Green’s clasped palms.
At such close range, the Overlord Mimikyu had no way to dodge.
“Sizzle—!!!”
The emerald beam of Ultimate Drain, like a burning hot iron, slammed hard onto the Overlord Mimikyu’s true form, which had lost the protection of Disguise and was barely covered by the tattered cloth.
Where the beam struck, the dense purplish-black resentful energy violently boiled and melted away, and a huge wave of pain, originating from deep within its soul, erupted from the Overlord Mimikyu.
At the same time, a pure, warm current, following the energy connection of Ultimate Drain, was continuously drawn from the Overlord Mimikyu’s body, flowing back into Green’s body.
The scorched wounds on Green’s arms, caused by the Shadow Claw’s erosion, began to heal and regenerate at a visible rate under the nourishment of the Green light.
Its backward-flying body also stabilized considerably due to this energy infusion; although it still stumbled upon landing, its eyes regained their brilliance.
“Yes!” Chen Kai waved his hand excitedly.
Trading injury for injury, blood for blood, his strategy was effective.
He accurately judged that the opponent’s level was not an absolute crush, and Green’s physique was sufficient to withstand a Shadow Claw without falling.
And Ultimate Drain not only caused considerable damage, but more importantly, it provided Grovyle with valuable sustain; at this rate of attrition, winning was only a matter of time!
However, a sudden change occurred.
An extremely bizarre emerald light, completely out of place with the surrounding resentment, like Toxic dye dripping into ink, suddenly lit up at the core of the Overlord Mimikyu’s purplish-black Shadow Claw, and then the entire claw turned Green.
This Green was not the vibrant emerald of Grovyle’s Energy Ball, but a dark Green tinged with the meaning of absorption and parasitism.
What was even more unsettling was that as the dark Green light illuminated, the originally clear and massive claw shadow began to violently twist and deform.
The claw tips were no longer sharp like hooks; instead, they retracted inward, elongated, and became extremely pointed, while the entire claw’s outline rapidly collapsed and reshaped.
The purplish-black resentment was forcibly molded like clay by the dark Green light, and in less than a heartbeat, the massive Shadow Claw completely changed its form.
Replacing the original five-fingered giant claw were two more solidified, massive, and ominously dark Green glowing fangs.
They were like the tusks of some prehistoric beast, or the deadly pincers of a giant Venus flytrap, composed of pure energy, yet possessing a sickeningly tangible quality.
“Wh-… What?!” Chen Kai was stunned, guessing that this was most likely the Bug-type move ‘Leech Life’ replacing the previous Shadow Claw!
It can change moves like that! And a normal Mimikyu doesn’t even learn this move!
Then Chen Kai remembered that the Overlord Mimikyu in Ultra Sun and Moon did indeed use Leech Life, but this was too unreasonable!
Regardless, in the game, Leech Life had a high power of 80 and was a Bug-type move, which was super effective against Grass-type Grovyle, making a war of attrition impossible.
A huge sense of crisis made Chen Kai’s right hand almost instinctively reach for another Poké Ball on his waist; he felt that he at least needed to send out Seadra to help make it a two-on-one fight.
Although doing so felt somewhat shameful, it was the only way to save Grovyle and break the stalemate.
His fingertips already touched the cold surface of the Poké Ball.
Just as he was about to press the release button, an indescribably cold and bone-chilling warning, like high-voltage electricity, coursed through his entire body.
This was not a visual or auditory warning, but a primal intuition from the depths of his soul screaming wildly.
This feeling was similar to the intuition Senior Lu Yang had mentioned, as if releasing a second Pokémon here, even if it was Iron Bundle or Iron Thorns, would immediately trigger some unbearable and terrifying disaster beyond the current battle.
The feeling was so clear and terrifying, like countless cold needles pressed against the back of his neck and heart.
Chen Kai’s movements froze instantly; he pondered the veracity of this intuition.
However, in that less-than-a-second hesitation and withdrawal, the battle situation had undergone a decisive change.
“* * * —!!!” The Overlord Mimikyu’s pair of sinister fangs, glowing with dark Green light, its ‘Shadow Claw,’ charged with a tearing shriek through the air, fiercely bit down on Green, who had just stabilized its posture.
“Cha…?!” Green also felt an unprecedented threat; the natural type advantage of Bug-type energy made the Grass-type energy within its body tremble in fear.
It instinctively wanted to dodge, but having received no new command, it could only follow its trainer’s last effective tactic, which was also the only counterattack it could make at this moment.
Its entire body’s Grass-type energy once again converged frantically, and a brilliant emerald light instantly shone in front of its chest—Ultimate Drain.
“Pfft—!”
“Sizzle—!!!”
The dark Green fangs of Leech Life and the emerald beam of Ultimate Drain struck each other almost simultaneously at extremely close range.
Leech Life hit, and the Bug-type dark Green energy, like maggots clinging to bone, fiercely pierced into Green’s chest.
A terrifying burst of Bug-type energy caused devastating impact to its Grass-type body.
Green clearly felt its precious stamina being frantically drained and plundered by those evil fangs; its vision blurred, and its consciousness began to fade, as if it would completely collapse in the next second.
The power was too great, coupled with the type advantage, making it almost unbearable.
Fortunately, Ultimate Drain also hit.
Almost simultaneously, Green’s desperately condensed Ultimate Drain beam also solidly struck the Overlord Mimikyu’s body, which was covered by the tattered cloth.
Where the beam hit, the purplish-black resentful energy violently boiled and melted away; the Overlord Mimikyu let out a painful whimper, its massive body staggered backward from the impact, and the resentful energy fluctuations on its surface became even more chaotic.
And most crucially, Ultimate Drain’s HP-draining effect took hold.
A warm current, following the energy beam, was forcibly drawn from the struck Mimikyu’s body, flowing back into Green’s collapsing body and will.
It was this crucial bit of replenishment, like a drop of sweet spring water poured into a nearly dry riverbed.
Although it couldn’t completely offset the terrifying damage of Leech Life, this life energy from the opponent, like a last-ditch effort, sharply pulled Green back from the dark edge of sinking consciousness.
“Cha…!!!”
Green let out a roar mixed with pain and defiance.
It didn’t fall, and not only that—
“Buzz!”
A surge of emerald energy, far more powerful, purer, and like a volcanic eruption than Ultimate Drain, erupted without warning from the deepest part of Green’s body.
This energy was so intense that it instantly broke through the pain and weakness caused by Leech Life.
All the Leaf Blades on Green’s body, as if injected with life essence, frantically unfurled, becoming even more vibrant emerald, even emitting a shimmering Radiance.
Its entire body seemed to be enveloped in a blazing emerald flame, and its aura suddenly soared to an unprecedented height.
Overgrow!
In the desperate situation of severe injury and near-collapse, Green’s Ability was completely unleashed to its maximum extent, and the power of its Grass-type energy received an explosive boost at this moment.