Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 524 For Something Important

Douzi is currently fighting against the land cloud in the form of a spirit beast.

If N, who had just landed at the scene, had been a little closer to Salamence, the green-haired king might have been able to penetrate the smoke and dust, and hear the sounds of his friend's Pokémon partners fighting desperately, beyond the deafening roar of Landorus.

The Cloud God, which landed on the surface of the sea in Unova, neither plunged headlong into the area where wild Pokémon gathered, nor did it utilize its superior speed after transforming, but instead charged directly into the densely populated interior of Karakusa Town to wreak havoc.

These phenomena certainly did occur for a reason.

The reason is the girl blocking the front of the salon roll.

When the phantom thief was entangled with Thundurus, she personally experienced the gap between her partner Pokémon and the legendary ones. If she had worked harder when training her Pokémon, would she have been able to challenge the Cloud God more easily?

At this very moment, the douzi (a type of ancient Chinese divination tool) may be the answer to this question.

Of course, judging from the current appearance of this champion agent, he certainly has nothing to do with the word "composure".

Sitting atop Vulture Na, directing the attack, she hadn't yet been directly hit by the attacks, but her body was already covered in wounds from the flying stones and sand in the sand whirl.

That iconic baseball cap, so iconic on the film set in Raven City, had already been passed by by Land Cloud in a fleeting, tattered smudge.

Under bad lighting, half of the brim of the hat was completely erased.

That was bought for me by my mom!

The girl's angry shouts were drowned out by the sounds of the clash of moves.

However, the fact that she still had the energy to complain meant that the destructive beam, though powerful, was still within the range that could be avoided in advance.

While the opponent was recovering from the Destruction Ray, Serperior's Grass Knot and Greatsword's Freezing Wind tripped up the spirit beast Landorus from above and below.

The Mudfish, with the most stamina, used the "Share Pain" move from the rear, timely restoring half of the stamina of the artificial cell egg that was being used as a meat shield. The latter also took this opportunity to re-deploy the "Light Wall" and "Reflection Wall" that had been completely shattered by the destroyed beam.

A seasoned trainer can command multiple Pokémon in a full-scale battle simultaneously—Douzi's technical prowess as a champion representative was on full display at this moment.

Not only does the trainer need to be quick-witted enough to react to changes on every part of the battlefield simultaneously, but the Pokémon also need to have sufficient trust and understanding with the trainer in charge. The latter is the main reason why this tactic can be successfully implemented.

However, in this protracted battle, Douzi did not send out her trump card partner, Yanwu King. Besides concerns about team composition, it was also because Yanwu King's fire and fighting attributes were too disadvantageous against Landorus.

This partner's weaknesses—slow speed and difficulty in dodging attacks—go without saying.

Even though Douzi's Flame King has learned almost all the skills within its potential range, looking at the entire skill list, the only move that can counter the Flying and Ground type Landorus is the Water-type Hot Water.

Yanwu King isn't good at using special attacks either; rounding up, he's practically a sitting duck.

Although Douzi wanted to defend his partner, on this battlefield, Yanwu King might not even be able to serve as a roadblock. If he were to wander around in front of Tudiyun, he would be instantly killed by the area damage of Tudiyun's "Earthquake," which would be just a side effect.

In fact, besides Emboar, Serperior and Mudgill are also in a position where they are somewhat countered by Landorus's type. However, fortunately, Landorus does not use many Flying-type moves in battle, and Mudgill can avoid Landorus's Ground-type moves by positioning itself, so it is not completely suppressed like Emboar.

In addition, the roles of Serpent and Mudfish in the team are different from those of the former, who are positioned as warriors. Even if they are relegated to the role of disruptor or second-line support, they still have a considerable amount of room to perform.

Thus, on the field against Landorus, the following formation was formed: the artificial cell egg stood at the forefront to withstand the impact, Serperior and Scyther provided assistance and support from the flanks, Mudkip provided support and harassment from the rear, and Vulpix carried Dougoo to command from the air. In addition to constantly healing and enhancing the rotating Pokémon in battle, she also had to intervene in the battle from time to time when a crisis occurred in front of her to draw the firepower of the spirit beast Landorus.

While legendary Pokémon with excess energy certainly boast exceptional endurance, even with such relentless command from a Pokémon like Douzi...

These five partners, who can rotate flexibly, also possess almost theoretically limitless endurance.

With this haphazard tactic, the Fighting team managed to delay Landstorm's advance, even as reinforcements couldn't arrive in time. They also managed to redirect the Sandstorm's impact towards uninhabited wastelands.

However, even such a perfect lineup still has an upper limit to its tolerance for mistakes.

The problem wasn't with the fighting device, but with the abnormally powerful Earth Cloud.

To be honest, if it were the Land Cloud that had been captured by the Plasma Cluster in the desert before being transformed by the Revealing Mirror, defeated by Volcarona on the Tower of Heaven, and thwarted in its battle with Hatchiku, it might not even have had a chance to fight back against the well-prepared lineup of the Fighting Spirit.

But the earth cloud before them was a spirit beast form completely unrestrained by any external constraints.

Compared to the past, its physical attack power has undergone a qualitative leap. Let alone capturing, defeating, or thwarting it—even stopping this cloud god's frenzied actions for half a second would require a hefty price.

Even setting aside the immense energy emanating from the Earth Cloud at this moment, the enormous sandstorm that lingered around the Cloud God alone was enough to give any enemy who tried to approach it a hard time.

The bucket is about to give way.

It's not that there was a problem with any part of her command that led to Land Cloud seizing the opportunity to defeat her one by one. Land Cloud is still acting purely on intuition and can't think about such complex issues.

The biggest problem now is that she is getting closer and closer to Tangcao Town.

The wasteland used to restrain the land cloud had long been used up, and now they could only believe what Hugo said through the communicator and lead the cloud god to the outskirts of Tangcao Town, where all the residents had been evacuated.

Compared to the barren land with few obstacles, the empty buildings could serve as cover for Pokémon to dodge attacks. Inside those buildings, there were also many supply boxes specifically reserved for the Pokémon by the Champion, containing various medicines and Pokémon stat boosters from the Pokémon Center. Undoubtedly, that would be an ideal battlefield.

What Douzi needed to do at this point was simply to continue to entangle Landorus, keeping this legendary Pokémon at a distance from the last remaining crowd gathered at the Karakuri Town train station.

If there is still capacity, efforts should be made to avoid the sandstorm's impact on the more densely built-up city center as much as possible, in order to further reduce economic losses.

Compared to the previous struggles, this is not an unreasonable request, and it is even much easier.

However, as the girl, who had been fighting and retreating against Landorus, unconsciously slowed down the pace of her Pokémon's retreat as they approached the outskirts of the city.

Not far to the south of Tangcao Town is Douzi's hometown, Luzi Town. The architectural styles of the two places are very similar, and many outsiders even regard Luzi Town as the outskirts of Tangcao Town.

That's why Douzi knew.

Behind me, in those buildings that are now deserted, countless ordinary families like myself once lived—no, even now.

Perhaps I can control the intensity of the battle within a certain range; perhaps those people have already moved their most important possessions; perhaps after the disaster, the alliance and insurance companies will provide sufficient compensation for their losses.

Those everyday views seen from the window, those familiar walls stained with cooking fumes, those courtyards where Pokémon once played, those height lines that parents carved on the doorframes for their children—

Once the land cloud enters the city area, as soon as those beast claws enveloped in the cloud touch the ground, the "earthquake" that he and his partners had personally experienced countless times will undoubtedly turn into a tidal wave that shakes the earth and turns all this beauty into indistinguishable rubble.

The world shouldn't be like this; the girl couldn't tolerate such a "reality" happening before her eyes.

As Douzi hesitated, his shifty gaze met that of the Monarch Serpent and the others.

As you can see, these companions who had followed him since the beginning of the journey, upon noticing the trainer's expression, all of them, without prior agreement, stopped their retreating steps completely, just like the trainer.

"What a bunch of idiots."

Taking advantage of Landorus's missed Stone Attack, Serperior and Greatsword simultaneously used Grass Pledge and Water Pledge, transforming the sand-covered ground in front of them into wetlands that could slow down their opponents.

Mudfish laid out "invisible rocks" in the wetlands, while the artificial cell egg used its "gravity attack" on the Land Cloud, blocking its escape route around the wetlands and through the sky.

They are ready to engage in positional warfare with legendary Pokémon—which is undoubtedly hundreds of times more difficult than originally planned.

Without needing a trainer's signal, Vulture descended from the boundary line on the outskirts of Karakuri Town on her own and used the move "Roost" to recover her stamina.

At the same time, for the first time since the start of the battle, Douzi broke away from the command post and put both feet on the ground.

Then let's protect them.

This girl, who considers weaving dreams as her "ideal," also cannot stand idly by while others' dreams are ravaged by the cruel reality.

Douzi adjusted the baseball cap his mother had given him, a cap filled with memories, and turned his gaze to Tu Diyun, whose eyes were bloodshot and who was struggling in pain.

Unlike becoming the king's friend, she decided to save everything.

It's one thing if you have no power yourself —

But aren't there still like-minded friends?

At the same moment, it seemed as if it sensed the trainer's resolve.

On Douzi's shoulder, the sixth Pokémon, accompanying Emboar, slowly emerged with its petite form.