Chapter 435: Gengar Supremacy
Dusknoir fell.
The battle process was remarkably straightforward, a simple combination of Teleport plus Shadow Ball, executed twice in succession. Dusknoir had been defeated without being able to mount any real defense.
Victor and Riley, who had been watching from above, immediately fell silent.
If they had doubted John’s earlier boasts about his overwhelming power, now they could only swallow their words and mentally acknowledge his skill.
Regardless of this Gengar’s subsequent performance, even if it was immediately defeated by Damian’s second Pokemon, it had at least achieved a one-for-one trade. There would be no blame to assign afterward.
As his opponent, Damian appeared completely unfazed. The defeat of his first Pokemon hadn’t caused even the slightest emotional fluctuation.
Dusknoir had simply been a... test.
Damian raised his hand, selected his second Pokeball, and released it.
His second Pokemon was Spiritomb.
A bizarre potted plant... well, to be more precise, it was a stone covered by strange gaseous energy. The flowing gas resembled a cluster of flowers, with a confused face visible on the surface.
Spiritomb was Ghost/Dark-type, which eliminated the typical Ghost-type weaknesses while possessing both Ghost and Dark-type advantages that could counter Gengar, indeed a solid choice.
Actually, Spiritomb was generally an excellent choice against Ghost-type Pokemon.
John studied Spiritomb thoughtfully. This species seemed to have no major weaknesses except for slow speed and relatively low physical bulk. He recalled that Sinnoh Region’s Champion Cynthia, also had a Spiritomb on her main team.
However, what concerned John most wasn’t the Pokemon Damian had released, but their surrounding environment.
The Z-Move Never-Ending Nightmare
that Damian had unleashed through Dusknoir hadn’t dissipated despite its user’s defeat.It seemed this had become a field-type condition similar to Electric Terrain or weather changes like rain.
Thinking this, John pulled out his Gameboy and switched to check Gengar’s status screen.
In its condition display, something unexpected appeared:
[Spirit World: In the spirit world, all Ghost-type Pokemon receive a 20% boost to all stats and a 50% increase in move power]
"Spirit World?" John raised an eyebrow.
So Damian had used Never-Ending Nightmare to establish a spiritual battlefield. No wonder there hadn’t been any follow-up ghostly hand attacks, the energy had been redirected to maintain this spiritual arena instead.
He was interpreting Never-Ending Nightmare as a "field-type condition."
"Interesting." This was another technique John wanted to learn.
His senior really was full of surprises!
However, opening a Spirit World battlefield when facing a Ghost-type opponent was a double-edged sword.
After all, Ghost-types were super effective against themselves, and with a 50% move power increase, combined with the type effectiveness multiplier, the results would be devastating.
Either you obliterate your opponent, or your opponent obliterates you.
Knowing that John had sent out Gengar, Damian had still chosen to have Dusknoir use Never-Ending Nightmare to set the stage. His confidence in himself was quite remarkable.
And why shouldn’t he be confident? As a master specializing in Ghost-types who had secured an Elite Four position, he was facing John, a trainer with only one Ghost-type Pokemon on his team.
Wasn’t Damian’s self-assurance perfectly natural?
"Spiritomb, Phantom General!" Damian took the offensive initiative again.
Immediately, a phantom emerged from the black shadow behind Spiritomb, gradually condensing into solid form!
Unlike the "General" and "Minotaur" that John had witnessed before, Spiritomb’s Night Shade phantom didn’t even have a humanoid shape.
It was a black sunflower!
The dark sunflower didn’t turn toward the sky seeking light, but instead drooped its head downward. Actually, John thought it looked more like a showerhead.
Greedily, John found himself wanting to develop a phantom technique for his own Gengar. He couldn’t help wondering what form Gengar’s phantom would take.
"Shadow Ball!"
The black sunflower immediately raised its head, targeting Gengar. Dark energy began gathering at its center, and within moments, a massive rectangular Shadow Ball large enough to obliterate an entire football field had formed.
But before the Shadow Ball could launch, the phantom sunflower suddenly lost its target.
Without anyone noticing, a thin gray mist had filled the battlefield, obscuring everyone’s vision and making it difficult for the dark sunflower to lock onto Gengar.
Of course, it didn’t rely solely on sight. The phantom was controlled by Spiritomb, so when Spiritomb lost track of Gengar’s location, the sunflower naturally became blind as well.
John kept his hands casually in his pockets. This was naturally Gengar’s handiwork.
The item Gengar currently carried was its exclusive Pokemon item: Stealth Barrier.
[Stealth Barrier (★★): Upon entering battle, automatically activates "Fog" weather. If no damage is received within 1 minute, automatically generates a shield based on user’s level. When weather is "Fog," shield strength is doubled and evasion increases by 3 stages. (Exclusive to Gastly, Haunter, Gengar, invalid when carried by other Pokemon)]
As the mist spread, an invisible shield materialized around Gengar’s body within the fog, enveloping it protectively.
"Ominous Wind!" Damian sensed something was wrong with the fog and immediately took measures to break the situation.
Spiritomb’s body swayed slightly, and an icy wind blowing from the depths of the spirit world swept forward, dispersing the encroaching mist.
At that moment, the empty space behind Spiritomb trembled slightly.
It was the purple pudgeball executing the same maneuver, using Teleport again to dodge the Ominous Wind while simultaneously appearing behind his opponent to attack. This time he was being even more audacious, forgoing his more powerful Shadow Ball in favor of using his own chubby little fists for rapid-fire punches.
"Shadow Punch!"
"Beautiful technique!" Victor called out, genuinely impressed.
"Down!" Damian suddenly shouted.
The Shadow Ball that had been condensed above the dark sunflower phantom immediately plummeted downward.
John’s Gengar wouldn’t have time to escape.
Spiritomb had used Shadow Sneak at the first opportunity.
Two thick, black vine-like appendages erupted from the shadows at Gengar’s feet, binding it firmly in place. Under these conditions, it couldn’t even use Teleport.
Gengar could only watch as the massive Shadow Ball descended from overhead, completely engulfing it.