A few days later, on the same scorching beach, the intense sunlight poured down without reservation, heating every grain of sand to a fiery temperature, as if the entire world had been placed in a giant steamer.
The sea breeze carried a salty scent, gently brushing by, yet it couldn't dispel the tense and excited atmosphere in the air.
Dracovish and Xiao Gao stood face to face, fully prepared, their eyes brimming with confidence, as if declaring their absolute superiority to each other.
Xiao Mei leisurely held an ice pop in her mouth, comfortably seated under a sun umbrella, like a seasoned spectator, watching the upcoming exciting duel with great interest.
Hydrapple quietly coiled nearby, patiently waiting for the show to begin.
"Start!" Chen Kai stood in the middle of the field, waving his hand powerfully, his voice firm and loud, echoing across the beach like a grand bell.
This internal competition was his plan; after all, his vacation in Alola was nearing its end, and he needed to examine the Growth and progress of his Pokémon during this period.
Xiao Gao was the first to attack, choosing a steady and cautious strategy.
Its central main head's eyes suddenly narrowed, and a Green glowing seed instantly materialized within its broad leaves.
Following that, it elegantly swung its long neck, its movements as natural and fluid as flowing clouds and water.
"Whoosh!"
The Leech Seed, like an arrow released from a bowstring, shot accurately towards the Dracovish, which was already eager to battle on the beach, firmly sticking itself into the crevices of its thick back armor.
Faced with Xiao Gao's struggle with too many new skills, Chen Kai meticulously helped it filter out a few more practical ones.
Now, Xiao Gao has skillfully mastered Psyshock, Ultimate Drain, Solar Beam, and Leech Seed.
Chen Kai adopted a "single-threaded" special training method, allowing Xiao Gao to focus on mastering one skill each day. This way, Xiao Gao no longer suffered from the headache it had before, and its control over these four skills became increasingly proficient.
"Awoo?" Dracovish twisted its body in confusion, seemingly sensing an itchy foreign object on its back.
However, in just the next second, "Poof!" the Leech Seed instantly burst open, and countless tough Vines grew wildly like living snakes, instantly wrapping tightly around Dracovish's back armor, even attempting to climb onto its short, thick neck.
The Vines were covered with tiny suction cups, like greedy vampires, firmly adhering to its shell crevices and abdominal skin, desperately drawing out its stamina.
Visible Green light points were continuously drawn from Dracovish's body, flying towards Xiao Gao in the distance, causing Xiao Gao's three main heads to sway slightly and comfortably, as if enjoying a feast.
"Gah aow aow---!!!" Dracovish was instantly enraged, letting out a deafening roar.
It originally intended to charge directly and teach this "long-necked tree" a good lesson with its sharp giant teeth, but these annoying Vines on its body made it both painful and itchy, and its strength was constantly draining.
It frantically twisted its massive body, its giant feet thrashing wildly on the beach, stirring up a cloud of sand.
It lowered its head, attempting to bite the Vines on its back with its tooth-covered lower jaw, while desperately flapping its short, almost useless fins, trying to swat away the entanglement Vines.
"Crunch!"
"Rip!"
Some of the Vines were indeed torn apart by its terrifying bite force or broken by its thrashing.
However, the energy drawn from Dracovish's body immediately surged into the base of the Vines, and more Vines grew out at an even faster rate, like maggots on bone, stubbornly entanglement Dracovish, preventing it from breaking free.
Xiao Gao seized this excellent opportunity, its three main heads simultaneously raised high, pointing towards the sky, preparing to unleash the powerful Solar Beam.
Intense golden sunlight was furiously gathered, forming an increasingly dazzling and massive golden Energy Ball above its three heads.
Thanks to the scorching midday sun on the beach, this powerful Grass-type move, which normally required charging, was almost instantly fully charged.
"Buzz---Boom!!!"
A thick, incredibly massive golden beam of light, as if projecting the sun itself, carrying an aura of destruction, like a sharp blade, fiercely struck Dracovish, which was desperately struggling with the Vines and had no way to avoid it.
"Gah aow---!!!" Dracovish let out an extremely painful roar, a sound that seemed to pierce the clouds, shaking the surrounding air.
The immense impact blasted its entire body backward, plowing a deep trench in the sand, and even subtle scorch marks appeared on its back armor, looking shocking.
Although Xiao Gao's level was higher than Dracovish's, and Solar Beam was an incredibly powerful move, the expected situation of Dracovish being instantly defeated did not occur.
While Dracovish was grimacing in pain, its Dragon typing gave it extremely strong resistance to Grass-type attacks.
This Solar Beam, whose power was terrifying in sunny weather, only caused it significant injury but did not deliver a fatal blow.
Dracovish struggled, and surprisingly, it stubbornly stood up from the sand pit again, its eyes burning with even more ferocious rage than before.
The intense pain and the continuous torment of Leech Seed, like a spark, completely ignited Dracovish's ferocity.
Since it couldn't get rid of them anyway, it simply ignored the damned Vines on its body; its small eyes now only focused on the high and mighty Xiao Gao in the distance.
"Awoo---!!!" It let out another deafening roar, its massive legs bursting with astonishing power, and its entire body, like a blue cannonball released from a string, charged towards Xiao Gao at lightning speed.
During the charge, its tooth-filled giant mouth opened to its limit, and bone-chilling dark blue cold air furiously gathered on its teeth—this was the Ice Fang skill it had newly mastered after Chen Kai specifically went to Maliye Jing City to buy a Technical Machine for it.
Chen Kai thought, since he couldn't figure out Dracovish's innate skills, he might as well abandon Tackle, Water Gun, Protect, and Dragon Rush, and just learn new skills.
After a few days of special training, coupled with the assistance of the Technical Machine, Dracovish finally mastered Ice Fang, and when Chen Kai called out the command, it could accurately use this move.
The charging Dracovish made Xiao Gao truly feel the chilling, soul-shaking cold air rushing towards it.
Ice-type moves have a four-times effectiveness against Xiao Gao (Grass + Dragon), which was undoubtedly a huge threat.
Xiao Gao's three main heads instantly showed expressions of extreme terror; it frantically mobilized psychic energy, blue light flickering in its eyes, attempting to form an invisible "Psyshock" wave to stop the charging Dracovish.
However, Dracovish's speed and the inertia of its charge were simply too fast, and Xiao Gao's speed talent was indeed quite low; in the game, Alolan Exeggutor's base speed stat is only 45.
Before Psyshock could even be launched, Dracovish's ice-covered giant mouth, with the terrifying 50% biting power bonus granted by its Strong Jaw ability, bit down fiercely and precisely on the middle section of Xiao Gao's slender neck.
"Crack!"
The sound of ice shattering suddenly rang out, followed by, "Egg---!!!" Xiao Gao let out a distorted, mournful cry, a sound filled with unimaginable pain that instantly spread throughout its entire body.
Terrifying Ice-type energy exploded from the bite point, and dark blue frost, visible to the naked eye, spread like a plague, instantly covering Xiao Gao's ten-meter-long neck, followed by its torso, its three terrified heads, and its light Green tail head that was attempting to warn.
In just one breath, the Alolan Exeggutor, Xiao Gao, which moments ago stood ten meters tall and majestic, had now transformed into a massive, lifelike dark blue ice sculpture.
Its terrified expression and its struggling posture were eternally frozen within the crystal-clear ice, and the light Green head on its tail hadn't even had time to turn around and look at its attacker.
The ice sculpture, under the midday sun, reflected dazzling and cold light, sending shivers down one's spine.
The beach instantly fell into a dead silence; this horrifying scene, like a heavy hammer, struck hard at the hearts of the other Dragon-type companions watching on the beach, stirring up a silent ripple of fear.
Only Seadra continued to paddle idly in the sea, as if this fierce battle had nothing to do with it.
Xiao Mei, who was originally lying comfortably in her chair, sat up in surprise.
Third Boss and Xiao Qi even shrank back in fear; only Big Boss and Green were fixated on Dracovish's giant mouth, which was still emitting wisps of cold air, as if they too felt the soul-level fear of being frozen and brittle.
And Swablu, who liked to Slack Off, took advantage of Chen Kai's focus on refereeing and ran to nap under a nearby tree.
But the terrifying coldness completely woke it up; it flapped its small wings desperately in fear, flying frantically towards the guesthouse, intent only on finding its owner, Bai Weimin.
Its Flying type and the faint Dragon aura within its body were as insignificant as a candle in the wind, utterly vulnerable, in the face of that terrifying coldness.
Dracovish released its mouth, then began to joyfully shake its body, trying to shake off the parasitic Vines that had quickly withered and fallen off because Xiao Gao was frozen.
Chen Kai, mouth agape, retrieved Xiao Gao into its Poké Ball with an amazed expression, muttering, "It really is a beauty of strength…"
Dracovish, without its exclusive skill "Fishious Rend" and with a lower level than Xiao Gao, managed to achieve an over-level instant knockout, which truly shocked Chen Kai.
Chen Kai couldn't help but joke, "This child is terrifying, he must not be kept."
Fortunately, this was his own Pokémon, so there was nothing to worry about.
Chen Kai walked forward, raised his hand high, gently stroked Dracovish, and then gave it a few of its favorite high-energy Energy Blocks, saying with a smile, "Good! Keep up the good work!"
"Awoo!" Dracovish swallowed the Energy Block in one gulp, excitedly flapping its fins, looking endearingly clumsy.
After this battle, Chen Kai deeply realized that Xiao Gao must be equipped with Trick Room; its speed was simply too slow. Even opponents like Dracovish, whose speed isn't particularly fast, could charge all the way and release skills faster than it.
Moreover, Xiao Gao also needed a Flamethrower skill. His team was too vulnerable to Ice-type attacks, and he absolutely needed a countermeasure. While he hadn't encountered many Ice-type opponents before, it was inevitable that he would in the future.
After careful consideration, Chen Kai clapped his hands and decisively said, "Okay, let's go to the city. We also need to help Xiao Gao recover!" With that, he took out his Poké Balls and recalled all his Pokémon except Miraidon.
But before heading to the city, he had to go back to the guesthouse first—he needed to explain about Swablu to his grandfather.