bookbashuk Chapter 480 Follow Me
Chapter 480 Follow Me
Chapter 482 Follow Me
"Gero hid the energy harvesting device in a wall cavity. Although we've temporarily isolated it with 'Mud Throw' and 'Light Wall,' we don't know if similar devices exist elsewhere—and this guy definitely still has a lot of previously absorbed energy stored inside him!"
Seeing the Iron Rock slowly turn towards the Chimchar, the handsome man had a bad feeling. While warning Lila and Wanlong, he sent out his Scorbunny and Espeon to his left and right, trying to rebuild their defenses.
However, Iron Rock ignored the two Pokémon blocking its way.
It simply lowered its head slightly, its orange eyes, like traffic lights, silently meeting the gaze of the little fire monkey standing proudly below. In that instant, all sound in the corridor seemed to vanish.
"Fast defense!"
The alarm bells in the handsome man's mind were ringing wildly. Almost at the same time he shouted the command, the wicked frog had already spun around and unfolded a semi-transparent arc-shaped barrier.
The next second, the bad frog was blasted away along with the barrier!
That orange-red afterimage, like lightning tearing through space, directly pierced through the "Quick Defense" defensive domain with pure and brute force!
Although the Frog was indeed injured, this attack was faster than usual and its power was unbelievable!
At this very moment, Espeon had just recovered from the exhaustion of maintaining "Psychic Beam" for so long and was struggling to keep up with Rocksteady's speed. As for Chimchar, it hadn't even lowered its "Taunt" gesture yet!
"Little Chimchar, get out of the way!"
The handsome man's shouts were almost futile. Faced with this attack, which was faster than any preemptive defense, there was no time to dodge.
But the little chimpanzee did not obey his command.
It didn't even try to turn around—exposing its back to the enemy at a time like that would only hasten its demise. It would have been better to try using the "Hold On" move instead.
So, the little Chimchar just stared intently at the oncoming orange-red light, its limbs slightly bent and its center of gravity lowered, as if gathering some kind of determination—or as if observing and calculating something.
Just as the giant horn of the Iron Rock was about to touch its nose—
The space in the corridor was subtly distorted.
At the same time, the little fire monkey's figure suddenly disappeared like a projected image that had been powered off.
Instead, there is the Metagross's heavy, mountain-like steel body!
The armor, reflecting a cold metallic gleam, unexpectedly filled the spot where Chimchar had been standing, and was covered with the pale blue glow of a Psychic-type move, "Turning Point"!
Clang!
The deafening clang of metal colliding was deafening.
Ironrock's "Quick Strike" landed squarely on Metagross's prized cross armor, sparks exploding in the darkness like cheap fireworks.
The latter was pushed backward several meters by this enormous force, but its body remained standing like a mountain.
After all, this move is a Normal-type move with little effect on Steel-types, and it's practically insignificant compared to the previous "Holy Sword".
The little fire monkey, who had narrowly escaped death, was now standing behind Metagross, its feet landing lightly on the ground, the flames behind it dancing energetically—as if it hadn't just brushed past death.
A smile spread across the little fire monkey's face.
It had been waiting for this opportunity from the very beginning.
No matter how fast a preemptive skill is, it can't outrun a move that has already been activated.
As soon as Chimchar used "Taunt," Detective Lila gave the order to Metagross, who had just recovered from the damage from "Holy Sword," to switch places.
Iron Rock's reaction was equally frighteningly fast.
When its attack missed, it immediately changed tactics without hesitation. Its body sank slightly, and the color of the energy ring under its hooves suddenly changed, bursting out with a dazzling purple light—this was the prelude to activating the Dark-type move "Abyssal Thrust"!
Lucario—"Look at me!"
Lila's command cut in during the energy surge, precise as a surgeon's scalpel. The previous storm-like suppression from Iron Rock was essentially built on extreme yet fragile speed dominance. Now, the sudden entry of the handsome guy and the little chimpanzee bought her team a crucial, complete tactical window.
Now, it is time for the truth of the power of the masses to take effect.
Lucario's "Look at Me!" exerted a force far exceeding that of "Taunt," forcibly changing the direction of Iron Rock's about-to-strike hoof, forcing it towards the distant Aura Hero—but this was a minor issue; all that was needed was to change the prepared move back to the Fighting-type "Holy Sword"—
Just as Iron Rock was trying to change its moves halfway through, it ran headlong into a huge, gaping maw that had been waiting for a long time.
Thunder God!
This authentic legendary Pokémon didn't use fangs or claws this time, but instead demonstrated its power in a more primal way: "Roar"!
A tremendous roar erupted from the depths of Lei Gong's throat, the sound waves striking the iron rock's metal skull head-on like a thunderbolt.
Since the start of the battle, the steel behemoth's fluid and unstoppable offensive was finally interrupted for the first time. It halted its attack, staggered back half a step, and its movements froze for a moment.
That one moment of error was enough to be fatal.
The eerie blue flames, as if possessing a life of their own, silently coiled around the back of the Iron Rock from the shadows behind it.
The candle flame of the crystal chandelier flickered silently, like a malignant infection clinging to the bone.
"Oh, I see. I see—"
Wanlong pushed up his round-framed glasses, his gaze behind the lenses as sharp as an owl's in the night—
"Only direct attack moves release a large amount of energy that can be harvested by the device. That's why this guy, like an obsessive-compulsive editor, goes to great lengths to interrupt every attempt we make to use support moves—it's not even a tactical preference, because if it stops doing anything, it immediately loses!"
Before the words were even finished, the chilling "ghost fire" and the dazzling "strange light" had already climbed up the steel joints of the Iron Rock.
On the other side, the handsome guy, along with the bad frog and Espeon, had already completed their encirclement.
This experienced detective also saw through the essence of the current situation—the only way to defeat this war machine that could continue indefinitely by absorbing the energy of its opponents was to refuse to provide it with fuel.
protracted war.
This is the correct answer to the question of completing the game without taking damage.
Use the most annoying disruptive moves to whittle down the opponent's mobility, replace offensive moves with cautious defense, constantly rotate your Pokémon using a rotation tactic to share the damage, and rely on healing items and recovery skills to maintain your own battle line.
In this kind of attrition battle, every Pokémon that can still stand is a precious asset—of course, Hugo's overly weak but unexpectedly crucial Chimchar needs to be carefully excluded from the direct confrontation on the battlefield.
At this moment, Iron Rock finally lost its domineering aura of triumph and was surrounded by six elves.
The orange-red light on its surface flickered, like an energy furnace beginning to overload.
The steel Pokémon's eyes swept around: Raikou's fangs, Lucario's fists, Metagross's armor, Chandelure's ghostly flames, Croagunk's poison claws, Espeon's shimmering light—
And in the distance, the little monkey with its tail on fire was quietly watching it.
The game has entered its most grueling and agonizing phase.
The iron rock remained motionless for several seconds, a rare occurrence.
Its mechanical head slowly rotated in an almost stiff posture, scanning every pair of eyes surrounding it and every energy that was poised to be unleashed.
Finally, those burning orange-red eyes fixed on the weakest little fire monkey at the edge of the encirclement.
The next moment, heavy footsteps rang out again.
It started slowly, then began to accelerate, screeching as it rubbed against the smooth surface of the electrical field.
Iron Rock launched its frenzied attack once more, the orange-red light trails left by its four hooves stretching longer and longer in the darkness, aiming directly at the location of the little Chimchar!
"Hold on!"
"Fast defense!"
Lila's and the handsome man's commands almost overlapped.
Their Lucario and Scorbunny responded immediately, blocking Chimchar's path like iron gates from the left and right, instantly creating a double energy barrier.
"That's not right."
Wanlong's pupils suddenly contracted—
"This guy's trying to run away!"
The crystal chandelier's eerie blue flames suddenly blazed up, whipping around the charging trajectory of the iron rock like a long whip, but only managed to entangle a burst of energy afterimages—a "stand-in"!
The orange-red clone disintegrated into specks of light the moment it was touched, and the real Iron Rock had already used this momentary cover to change direction during its sprint.
From the very beginning, its goal was not to launch a point-to-area attack, but to escape!
The heavy body made an incredible turn and rushed towards the side corridor that the handsome man had previously explored.
Metagross, positioned beside the escape route, swung its "Metal Claw" in an attempt to block the attack, but Ironrock merely shifted its body slightly and used its giant horn to execute a seemingly fierce but actually feinting "Tile Split," which sent Metagross's heavy steel body staggering half a step to the side.
A mere half-step gap.
But that's enough.
Before the sparks from the collision had even dissipated, Iron Rock had already accelerated again using the momentum of the recoil, its figure disappearing like a fleeting orange-red meteor, completely vanishing into the darkness deep within the corridor.
There was no roar, no hesitation, not even a turn of the head.
Just as abruptly it appeared, so too did it abruptly and decisively depart.
The empty corridor was left with only the faint glow of the remaining electrical field, the scattered energy dust, and the heavy breathing of Pokémon and humans.
Silence returned to the castle.
It was as if that steel behemoth had never descended.
"The person who was controlling it chose to retreat."
Wanlong said, carefully placing the pen back between the pages of the book, and the colorful glow disappeared—
"This at least shows that elves like these are extremely rare in the castle. For the person in the control room, it's a wiser choice to reclaim existing assets than to let Ironrock and us both suffer heavy losses here."
"At least we know how to deal with it now," the handsome guy shrugged. "But it seems particularly interested in Chimchar; a normal 'Taunt' move won't change the direction of an already activated 'Double Attack.'"
"Perhaps in the 'City Defenders' calculations, this little guy is the most threatening one among us." Wanlong patted the little Chimchar's head. "Of course, there is another explanation—strong emotions always lead to accidents. Perhaps it was the resonance between wills that allowed that Pokémon to temporarily escape Team Plasma's control."
"But ultimately, was it really a Pokémon?" Lila asked a particularly pointed question.
Indeed, although the Iron Rock looked like a normal Pokémon with attributes, abilities, and moves, its behavior was completely like that of a cold and ruthless machine.
That Pokémon doesn't even have Electric or Steel types!
How exactly did the opponent convert the collected energy of those techniques? And how did the Plasma Group control it? And since the opponent was able to display this power inside the castle, why hadn't the Plasma Group shown it up for so many years?
The group fell silent, briefly exchanging glances, but the tension of surviving a close call still lingered.
Lila crouched down and checked each of her companions' injuries one by one, using the most precious medicine on Raikou and Metagross, who were the most exhausted.
The handsome guy quickly unfolded his notebook and, using the faint light of Espeon's "Flash," hastily recorded the structural details of the battlefield—the material of the walls, the distribution of energy nodes, and the direction of the corridor where the Iron Rock disappeared.
Within the castles constructed by the "City Defense Division," any piece of information may have a pitifully short shelf life.
At that moment, the Chimchar that hadn't been put back into its Poké Ball suddenly raised its head.
Its nostrils flared rapidly as it took a deep breath.
Then, the beginner Pokémon let out a series of short, sharp cries, immediately attracting the attention of the shrew. The shrew patted its trainer's leg with its webbed paw and pointed at the unusually focused Chimchar.
"Hmm, did you discover something?"
Despite his doubts, the handsome man did not slack off when facing Detective Hugo's subordinate. He quickly put away his notebook and followed, completely bewildered.
The little chimpanzee didn't respond, but kept sniffing the air, as if it were tracking an invisible scent.
It strode forward without hesitation toward the deep corridor where the Iron Rock had disappeared.
After passing through several side paths, the corridor gradually narrowed, and exposed pipes began to appear on the walls, with a faint smell of metal and dust in the air.
The little Chimchar finally stopped in front of a ventilation grille embedded in the wall, just big enough for small Pokémon to pass through.
From the darkness behind the grid, a faint, rustling sound carrying an electric current could be heard—a few lone little fish were hiding among them. Faced with the Chimchar that approached alone, these Pokémon, especially weak after being separated from their group, mustered their courage and released a weak "electromagnetic wave" towards it.
The little fire monkey didn't even glance at them, and swiftly swung its paw.
The strong wind generated by the "random grab" precisely swept through the gaps in the grille, cutting through the alloy mesh. The small fish trembled in fright, slid out of the ventilation opening, and disappeared into the corridor.
"Is there something in here?"
Lila and Wanlong, who had finished their treatment, also rushed over and asked in a low voice.
The little fire monkey didn't turn around.
It focused intently on gently pressing a finger against the edge of the cold vent.
The next instant, a shimmering green light emanated from the tip of the monkey's paw, carrying the fresh scent of sprouting plants.
Grass-type move, "Grass Knot".
The light extended and condensed into a slender, almost transparent, emerald green vine.
Unlike its companions in the agency, Chimchar isn't very familiar with this move, so the vines look like they'll snap at the slightest touch—but it's enough for many tasks, such as unlocking doors and finding lost items.
Now, the vines released by the beginner elf seem to have a mind of their own, deftly slipping through the metal gaps of the grid and silently sliding into the darkness inside the pipe.
The little fire monkey closed its eyes.
Its ears twitched slightly, like a skilled thief trying to pick a lock. All its senses seemed to converge on the fingertip connected to the vine, feeling every tiny touch and feedback from the other end.
Time flowed slowly in the silence. Only the suppressed breathing of a few people and the faint rustling of an almost invisible vine rubbing against the pipes could be heard in the corridor.
After what seemed like an eternity—perhaps only a few dozen seconds, yet feeling like an eternity—the little fire monkey's eyebrows suddenly shot up.
The vines began to shrink back.
It finally opened its eyes, its gaze filled with excitement.
As the little fire monkey carefully guided it, the slender green vine slowly emerged from the depths of the pipe, its end seemingly wrapped around something extremely light and tiny.
Finally, the vines were completely reclaimed.
Near the pipe opening, which reeked of engine oil and dust, a faint, incongruous natural scent appeared—
Everyone stared wide-eyed.
In the little fire monkey's paw, a tender green leaf lay quietly.
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