Chapter 123 Battle with Lorelei (Part 2)
Lorelei looked at the raging sandstorm, frowned, and said, "Lapras, Hydro Cannon."
In an instant, Lapras launched a massive Hydro Cannon toward the Aerodactyl. Aerodactyl immediately flapped its wings, increased its altitude, and dodged the Hydro Cannon. Then, it used Rock Slide.
A large number of rocks appeared out of thin air and began to fall. Just as Lapras was about to move forward to dodge, a rock blocked its path. It tried to accelerate and circle around, but another rock was in the way. Several times, it attempted to speed up and evade the falling rocks, only to find another rock each time, completely preventing it from picking up speed.
"Hydro Cannon, blast them away!" Lorelei said with a frown.
Lapras immediately used Hydro Cannon, blasting away the falling rocks. But the next second, Ron struck the pose for a Z-Move. Aerodactyl was instantly enveloped in Z-Power, and countless rocks gathered around it, forming into a massive rocky mountain that suddenly crashed down toward Lapras.
Lorelei's pupils shrank as she shouted, "Lapras, Sheer Cold!"
Lapras took a deep breath, absorbed the surrounding radiant energy, and then fired a powerful energy beam from its mouth at the rock mountain. But aside from freezing one corner of the mountain, it had no effect.
The rock mountain crashed down with a violent tremor, destroying the entire ice battlefield. The ground sank nearly a meter. The rock mountain then shattered and dissipated into energy. In the massive crater, Lapras lay there helplessly, having lost the ability to battle.
"Phew." Ron exhaled heavily. So soon he's had to reveal his trump card—things won't be easy from here!
Lorelei recalled Lapras and sent out Jynx. She said, "Jynx, Trick Room."
Ron was speechless. Again?! But he had to admit, that move really countered his speed-based strategy. Ron gritted his teeth and said, "Aerodactyl, Hyper Beam!"
Aerodactyl immediately began blasting like a turret, firing Hyper Beams at Jynx. Jynx dodged while singing loudly. A black wave of energy came from her mouth, forming a red-black aura around Aerodactyl as well as herself.
"Return, Aerodactyl!" Ron tried to recall Aerodactyl.
"Mean Look," Lorelei countered, not allowing Ron to withdraw Aerodactyl.
Ron saw the red beam bounce back and helplessly called out, "Hang in there, Aerodactyl, take it down!"
Aerodactyl also understood that unless it defeated the Jynx in front of it, both would go down together. With that thought, the rate of Hyper Beam fire increased.
But unfortunately, within the Trick Room, Aerodactyl's speed couldn't keep up with Jynx. Even when the Perish Song time ended, Aerodactyl was still unable to land a hit on the now much faster Jynx.
Both Pokémon fell simultaneously. Ron recalled Aerodactyl, took a deep breath, and pulled out a Master Ball.
Seeing Lorelei also recall Jynx, Ron knew he still had the upper hand—he had only lost two Pokémon, while Lorelei had lost three. One of them, Weavile, was already severely weakened, so the situation still looked promising.
The two sent out their next Pokémon at the same time. Ron chose Celebi, and Lorelei sent out an Alolan Ninetales. Ron squinted: this Alolan Ninetales was probably the one he had given to Lorelei.
"Hail."
"Future Sight."
They both gave commands at the same time. Snowflakes began to fall from the sky as Celebi launched numerous Psychic orbs into the void. Then, Alolan Ninetales let out a long cry, and a blizzard howled toward Celebi.
Celebi took the Blizzard head-on, then scattered a handful of seeds toward Ninetales. Under Lorelei's command, Ninetales used its psychic powers to sweep away the seeds. As they hit the ground, they instantly turned into a mass of vines that lunged to entangle Ninetales.
"Quickly dodge with Agility," said Lorelei.
Ninetales swiftly dodged the encroaching vines, but the next second, two Psychic orbs knocked it into the vines, which then wrapped around it. Lorelei frowned. The next second, countless Psychic orbs struck Ninetales, knocking it out of the fight.
"Such a terrifying Future Sight," Sabrina commented from the side.
As a Psychic-type Elite Four member, and someone who possessed psychic powers herself, she understood the horror of Future Sight better than anyone—it completely locks down your escape routes, leaving no way out.
Especially since Celebi could travel through time, its control over Future Sight was terrifying.
"Weavile, clean up the battlefield," Lorelei said.
She recalled Ninetales and sent out Weavile. As soon as Weavile entered the battlefield, it unleashed a fierce Blizzard that shattered the vines into frozen pieces. Then it fixed its eyes on the small body of Celebi, gaze intense.
"Dark Pulse," said Lorelei.
A dark, sinister energy beam shot toward Celebi. Celebi flapped its small wings, dodged the attack, then launched an Energy Ball into the sky. The sun chased away the clouds, and the strong sunlight drove out the cold from the battlefield.
Without Ron needing to say anything, Celebi had already fired a Solar Beam at Weavile. Weavile dodged to the side, evading the Solar Beam, then countered with an Ice Beam aimed at Celebi.
A flash of blue in Celebi's eyes—Switcheroo! Celebi and Weavile swapped places. Weavile got hit by its own Ice Beam, then was struck by Celebi's Solar Beam as well, knocking it out before it could recover.
"Phew." Ron took a deep breath and exhaled. Just one left!
"Your turn, Articuno!" Lorelei said.
Ron's eyes widened, looking at the League members and the other Elite Four nearby. Pryce slightly shook his head and mouthed to him: Voluntarily caught.
Ron smiled bitterly. "Lorelei, you really kept this from me. You actually have an Articuno."
"Yeah, it started following me on its own. Only recently have I been able to command it," Lorelei said, patting Articuno.
Ron scratched his head. He knew things were about to get tough. After all, this Articuno was already at the level of a second-tier legendary Pokémon. With Ron's current Pokémon, none of them were a match!
"Looks like I'll have to wear it down one by one," Ron muttered.
"Articuno, Hail," Lorelei ordered.
Articuno let out a piercing cry. Dark clouds blocked the sun, and snow began to fall. Ron frowned—this was the essence of climate control, able to summon a true blizzard!
"Then... Future Sight, Celebi!" Ron said.
Celebi nodded. It knew that was all it could do—because it was no match for this Articuno.
"Blizzard!" Lorelei commanded.
Articuno flapped its wings, sending out a blizzard so fierce it was impossible to keep your eyes open. Ron gritted his teeth—this feeling reminded him of the snow mountain, that overwhelming force of nature. But this blizzard was in no way weaker than that one!
Celebi launched countless Psychic orbs into the void, looked at the roaring blizzard, and showed a bitter expression. It let out a few soft cries before being swallowed by the storm.
A high-grade Poké Ball on Ron's belt trembled slightly. It had sensed Celebi's voice—just one sentence: "It's all up to you now, Mewtwo."
The blizzard subsided, and Celebi lay in the snow, no longer able to battle.
Ron recalled Celebi, silent.