Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 124: Victory

Seeing a Level 60 Elite Four–talent Tangrowth appear, Rio raised an eyebrow. He had to admit—Erika truly lived up to her reputation as the nominal leader of the eight Gym Leaders. Her strength was real. This Tangrowth was the same level as Gengar, though slightly lower in talent. Gengar wouldn’t be able to steamroll this one like before. If Rio wasn’t careful, he might even lose—and miss the chance to show off with Charizard and the others.

"Tangrowth—Growth!" This time, Erika wasn’t about to hand Rio the first move.

"Tang~" Tangrowth spread its arms wide, absorbing the sunlight shining down. Its body shimmered faintly as it grew visibly larger.

"Gengar—Shadow Ball!" Rio naturally wasn’t going to let it boost itself with a support move.

"Tangrowth—vine grab and dodge!" Erika ordered coldly.

Tangrowth shot its vine-like arms toward a tree on the battlefield, hooked onto the trunk, and propelled itself like a spring, narrowly dodging Gengar’s Shadow Ball. Once it landed on the tree, Erika’s next command followed: "Tangrowth—Power Whip!"

"Tang~" Tangrowth’s arms lashed out like whips at Gengar, swift and fierce. A hit like that would deal significant damage even with Gengar’s type resistance.

"Gengar—Psychic, slow its strikes and dodge!" Rio quickly commanded. He didn’t expect Psychic to freeze Tangrowth’s attacks, but slowing them down would be enough.

"Gengar~" Gengar’s eyes locked onto Tangrowth’s fist-thick vines. The incoming strikes suddenly slowed, as if moving at a fraction of their original speed. Gengar weaved through them with ease.

"Gengar—Dark Pulse!" As the Power Whip attack came to an end, Rio gave his next command.

"Gengar~" A spiral wave of dark energy gathered and shot from Gengar’s mouth.

"Tangrowth—vine grab and dodge!" Erika repeated.

Tangrowth grabbed another tree and swung away, dodging Dark Pulse like a nimble monkey. No matter what moves Gengar used, Tangrowth kept evading. At the same time, Tangrowth’s vine attacks kept being blocked by Psychic. Both sides were getting frustrated.

Rio was even tempted to recall Gengar, send out Charizard to burn down all the trees, and then bring Gengar back in to fight—eliminating Tangrowth’s cover.

Wait—that tactic could actually work. A sudden idea flashed through Rio’s mind—a strategy perfectly suited for Gengar.

Just then, Erika gave another command: Tangrowth fired a barrage of Bullet Seeds.

"Gengar—don’t dodge! Take the Bullet Seeds head-on!" Rio called out.

Gengar looked back in confusion but obeyed. It stopped dodging, letting the dense seeds pelt its plump body. It winced in pain with each hit.

"Haha—good, good! Tangrowth, crush it!" The little boy in the audience cheered gleefully whenever Gengar got hit.

Erika frowned, puzzled by Rio’s sudden change in tactics—why let Gengar take damage when it could have dodged?

"Gengar—Shadow Ball!" Rio ordered a counterattack after the Bullet Seed barrage ended.

"Tangrowth—vine grab and dodge!" Erika commanded.

Tangrowth dodged once again.

"Tangrowth—Power Whip!" Erika followed up with a counterattack.

"Gengar—Psychic, slow it and dodge!" Rio chose evasion again.

"Gengar~" Gengar slowed Tangrowth’s vines and avoided the strikes.

What’s he planning? Erika’s brow furrowed deeper, trying to figure out Rio’s pattern—dodge, then don’t dodge, then dodge again.

After the Power Whip, Rio had Gengar use Dark Pulse. Erika, predictably, had Tangrowth dodge with vine grabs and counter with Power Whip. They seemed locked in a turn-based cycle. This time, when Tangrowth’s Power Whip came, Rio had Gengar take the hits again.

"Hahaha—good, good! Crush it, Tangrowth!" The little boy was overjoyed.

"What is he really after?" Erika’s frown deepened.

Two seconds later, she understood.

Tangrowth’s vine attack was nearing its end when its body suddenly stiffened, frozen in place. A dark, mysterious force had bound it—immobilizing it completely.

"This is... Cursed Body!!!" Erika gasped in shock, remembering Gengar’s ability.

She finally understood why Rio had let Gengar take damage earlier, then dodged the Power Whip afterward. He had been trying to trigger Gengar’s ability with Tangrowth’s weaker moves, causing it to be disabled by the immobilizing effect.

"Gym Leader Erika—you’re too late." Rio smiled. "Gengar—Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse—unload everything! Seize the moment and take down Tangrowth while it’s immobilized!"

"Gengar~" Gengar’s face twisted into a cruel grin. "About time I got to dish out some punishment!"

Without waiting for Rio’s prompt, Gengar formed a Shadow Ball and hurled it at Tangrowth. "Dodge now—if you can!"

"Tang~" Tangrowth cried out in pain as the Shadow Ball struck.

"Dodge—if you can!" Gengar followed up with Dark Pulse.

"Tang~" Tangrowth shrieked again.

"Dodge—if you can!" Psychic slammed into Tangrowth.

"Tang~" Three hits later, Tangrowth collapsed.

"Tch—weakling." Gengar scoffed, then turned to Rio. "Kid—not bad commanding. You’re at about half of Gus’s level."

Yeah, yeah—your Gus is the greatest commander in the world... Rio rolled his eyes, too tired to argue. He knew that if he started, they’d be at it forever—and he still didn’t believe Gus was better than him.

"Hey, little brat—your sister lost again! How’s that feel?" Gengar immediately turned back to the audience, continuing its taunts, clearly determined to drive the kid insane.

"AAAHHH! Big sister—can’t you even beat this stinky Gengar?!" The little boy was trembling with rage.

"Shut up. Aurora—take him away," Erika ordered coldly.

A trainee released a Ivysaur and dragged the boy out.

"Hey there, little girl—why are you so upset? He just wanted to watch. No need to be so petty," Gengar chimed in.

Erika’s glare could have frozen fire. Her chest heaved with barely contained fury. If she had a knife, she’d have risked her reputation to silence that insufferable Gengar. She couldn’t understand how a Pokémon could be this shameless.

"Calm down—calm down." Erika closed her eyes, forcing herself to breathe. Her strongest Tangrowth was down. Whatever Pokémon she sent out next wouldn’t be able to take revenge—and would likely just suffer another round of Gengar’s venom.

Half a minute later, Erika spoke coldly: "Rio—you win this Gym challenge."

She was done.