Bottom-tier trainers in the Pokémon world

Fortunately.

Kona finally found this one among all the giant tongue shells.

It possessed the strength of a Gym Leader when it was captured.

Shellder needs a Water Stone to evolve, so even if it reaches the level of a Gym Leader, it is still just a Shellder.

However, the fact that this Shellder could reach the Gym Leader level solely based on the food provided by Silver Academy and its own efforts demonstrates its exceptional talent.

Furthermore, since these Shellders are farmed, they don't experience the same difficulties as wild Pokémon, where once they reach a certain level of strength, they struggle to mesh with their trainers.

At least, the adjustment process is much simpler than with wild Pokémon.

So Lorelei followed Xia Yan's instructions and only used a Water Stone to evolve Shellder after Shellder had learned the move "Escape".

Ultimately, they obtained the current near-elite-level Clamshell.

Of course, it is undeniable that this spiny clam and Kona did not spend much time together, and their understanding of each other was certainly not as good as that between Wataru and the fossil pterosaur.

Furthermore, this spiny clam is slightly inferior in strength.

But regardless, a near-Elite Four level Cloyster, or rather, a "dragon-slaying Cloyster," is the main reason why Lorelei agreed to Lance's proposal today.

And this is the foundation that Xia Yan has always longed to possess, but has never been able to obtain...

Whether it's Lorelei, Lance, Steven, or Cynthia, their current strength may have been almost caught up by Natsuhiko.

However, their existing resources mean that they have far better conditions than Xia Yan in raising new Pokémon.

Silver Academy, a renowned academy in the Kanto region and even the entire Pokémon world, boasts a foundation that even Natsumi's teacher, Kikuko, might not be able to match, let alone Natsumi's.

However, this way...

Xia Yan couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.

This first match was very interesting.

He didn't expect that Du's "nightmare" would come so quickly.

Chapter 118 Dragon Slayer Shell

"Spirit-shelled clam, hatching!"

With Kona's voice ringing out, the battle officially began.

Hatching?

This move is not very common.

Then a faint glow appeared on the spiky shell, and its speed increased dramatically.

"Fossil Pteranodon, Stone Attack!"

Despite being somewhat surprised by the sudden increase in the speed of the Spiny Shell, Lance remained calm and issued commands.

"Roar--!!"

The fossil pterosaur suddenly flapped its wings twice, and sharp, pointed rock spikes formed on its sides.

Like dense raindrops, they swept towards the spiny shell.

The rock spikes covered a large area, and although the Spiny Shell had improved its speed, it was not very fast to begin with, so it was unable to dodge the attacks of these rock spikes.

Although the rock spikes that struck its thick shell eventually turned to dust, the Spiny Clam still squinted its eyes in pain.

Kona's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but her tactics remained unchanged.

"Spirit-resistant Clam, continue!"

The second "hatching"!

"Shell Split, I remember it's a move that greatly increases your Attack, Special Attack, and Speed ​​by lowering your Defense and Special Defense, right?" Cynthia said thoughtfully.

“That’s right.” Xia Yan nodded in agreement.

"Although Cloyster's Ice type is super effective against Aerodactyl's Flying type, Aerodactyl's Rock type is also super effective against Ice type. Cloyster has the advantage of Water type, but the advantage is not that great. Using 'Shell Smash' twice brings improvements in all aspects, but the physical defense is lowered, which is also an opportunity for Aerodactyl," Steven added.

The fact that the pterosaur's "sharp stone attack" caused the spiny clam pain is the best proof of this.

"Hmm. If Wataru can seize this opportunity, it could indeed be the moment to secure victory, but if the Aerodactyl fails to do so..."

Xia Yan couldn't help but shake his head.

"How to say?"

Just as they were talking, the battle between Lance and Kona reached a critical moment.

Du naturally wouldn't waste the opportunity to use the "shell-breaking" technique on the clam shell for the second time.

"Fossil Pterosaur, Rockfall!"

After witnessing the speed that comes from hatching once, Wataru knew that if the Spiny Clam hatched twice, the Fossil Aeroda would be at a disadvantage in terms of speed.

Therefore, this strike is crucial.

A massive rock, created out of thin air by the fossil pterosaur, hurtled towards the Spiny Clam with overwhelming force.

In terms of combat experience, among the five of them, only Xia Yan could probably rival Du.

His judgment on the timing was correct.

Regardless of whether the Shellbreaker successfully hatches, this Rock Slide attack will cause considerable damage, unless the Shellbreaker abandons the half-finished hatch.

boom!!

The massive rock shattered, breaking into tiny fragments.

click -

The emerald green energy shield surrounding the Spiny Shell also shattered.

Hold on!

Xia Yan couldn't help but smack his lips upon seeing this.

"It's time for a change of performers."

Daigo and Cynthia glanced at him.

Before they could even ask anything, the battle on the field intensified.

Upon seeing that the "rockfall" had failed, Du immediately ordered the fossil pterosaur to approach the spiny shell.

The goal is to draw it into close combat and minimize Cloyster's speed advantage.

however.

Kona, however, remembered what Xia Yan had once told her.

After hatching several times, the spiny clam must forget all its original fighting methods.

In summary, it boils down to two words: fight and retreat, fly a kite!

Kona didn't understand "flying a kite," but she did understand "fighting and retreating."

Therefore, he decisively ordered the Spiny Shell to retreat and commanded, "Ice Spike!"

As Kona clenched her fists, watching the rapidly retreating Clamshell shoot out sharp ice spikes that struck the Aerodactyl.

"As Senior Xia Yan said, once the Clamshell hatches, it's simply a relentless damage-dealing machine. At this point, you only have two options to unleash it: 'Ice Spike' or 'Rock Blast.'"

Kona's upbringing destined her to have little field experience.

But what she excels at is turning what she learns into her own.

She has grasped about 70-80% of the essence of Xia Yan's tactics.

"This... the number of 'ice spikes' is fixed at five. Is this a 'continuous attack' characteristic?" Daigo, who was watching the battle, frowned.

"It should be."

Cynthia echoed, then turned to look at Xia Yan, who was smiling beside her.

"Is this the tactic Kona learned from you? 'Shell Spin' combined with the 'Continuous Attack' ability, plus 'Ice Spike'?"

"Pretty much," Xia Yan shrugged.

What does "almost" mean?

“I also told her that she could bring either ‘King’s Proof’ or ‘Sharp Fang,’ but it seems she hasn’t given it to Clamshell yet,” Xia Yan explained.

Upon hearing this, Daigo and Cynthia's expressions stiffened.

"The King's Proof" and "Sharp Fangs"?

Each hit of the "Ice Spike" move triggers the effects of these two items, and Cloyster's "Continuous Attack" ability ensures that each "Ice Spike" attack will land five times...

In other words, as long as someone has normal luck, one of the two "ice spike" moves will inevitably put their opponent into a "cowardly" state.

This probability is almost as high as Togekiss with the "Heavenly Grace" ability releasing "Air Slash".

We also need to consider Cloyster's speed and physical attack capabilities at this point...

Ignoring their expressions, Xia Yan continued, "Actually, this tactic isn't that difficult; the difficulty lies in the requirements for the elves."

As far as I know, the move 'Break' is already extremely difficult for Shellder to learn, and once it evolves into Cloyster, the difficulty of learning it increases dramatically because its shell becomes exceptionally hard.

In other words, to replicate Lorelei's Clamshell, you would need to raise at least a Gym Leader-level Clamshell.

Before evolving, Shellder wasn't considered a particularly powerful Pokémon.

Training a creature to the level of a gym leader requires a lot of resources and effort, and it is also necessary to ensure that it can learn the "shell-breaking" move, which is quite difficult.

That's why this tactic hasn't been used by many people to this day.

"This is troublesome..."

Daigo snapped out of his daze and said with a rather complicated expression.

"I'm afraid it's not just a temporary problem," Cynthia added.

The two exchanged a glance, and Daigo quickly understood what Cynthia meant.

Ice-type is effective against not only Flying-type, but also Dragon-type.

And the spirit that crosses over...