"Ninetales, get ready for battle!"
"Woo~!"
The elegant form of Ninetales stepped gracefully onto the battlefield, meeting Heatran with a magnificient gaze.
Though there was still a considerable gap between their power levels, victory in battle is never just about raw strength—it's a delicate dance of strategy, timing, and synergy.
"Use Nasty Plot!"
Right from the start, Ninetales stood completely still as a menacing aura gathered around her. Her eyes gleamed with cunning as her brain kicked into overdrive, sharply raising her Special Attack.
Naturally, Tobias wasn't about to sit idly by while Ninetales powered up. But knowing full well that she possessed the Flash Fire ability, he wisely avoided using any Fire-type moves like Lava Plume.
"Heatran, Earth Power!"
"Heaaatran!"
With a powerful stomp, Heatran sent a significant shock through the battlefield. A jagged fissure tore across the ground, heading straight for Ninetales as tremors of earth surged toward her.
"Woo~!"
With a scoffing cry, Ninetales leapt into the air. Her body shimmered with a bluish glow—Psychic had been activated midair to give her lift, allowing her to fly above the attack and avoid the brunt of Earth Power.
"Power Gem!"
Seeing that Ninetales had the ability to remain airborne, Heatran didn't hesitate to follow up. Light energy gathered and crystallized into a radiant beam that fired directly at her, gleaming like a polished gemstone.
"Dodge with Agility, then close in!"
Still midair, Ninetales tapped into her psychic prowess to speed up, gracefully evading the beam with an elegant dive as she glided like a phantom. In the blink of an eye, she had closed the distance between herself and Heatran.
"Foul Play!"
Just as the two were nearly face-to-face, Ninetales unleashed one of her only close-range techniques. Her body shimmered with a dark aura before she lunged forward, slamming straight into Heatran.
Though Heatran outleveled Ninetales and boasted greater raw power, Foul Play uses the opponent's own strength against them, giving the move formidable impact.
Yet Ninetales hadn't expected what came next—Heatran didn't even attempt to dodge. As the attack landed, his body suddenly glowed with a shimmering steel luster—his defense had sharply risen!
It was Iron Defense!
"Body Slam!"
Fortified by Iron Defense, Heatran tanked the blow with ease, then surged forward in a blur of momentum, his massive frame crashing toward Ninetales like a runaway train.
But Ninetales didn't need Paul's command to react. She had trained long and hard with her partner for moments like this.
Even as she retreated mid-air, her nine tails began to glow with a metallic sheen—
Iron Tail, multiplied ninefold.
From every angle, her tails whipped downward, intercepting Heatran's charge. Each strike deflected a portion of the incoming force, dispersing the momentum in layers. Though barely, she managed to withstand the brutal assault.
Paul didn't let the stalemate drag out. With calm precision, he gave the next command:
"Use Psychic!"
"Woo~!"
Ninetales' eyes flashed azure as an immense wave of psychic energy surged forward. The exhausted Heatran, having spent much of his momentum, was suddenly lifted by force and slammed into the ground.
Then, with a symphony of strikes, her nine metallic tails came crashing down upon him—again and again, in rhythmic succession.
It was like she was performing a Steel Symphony—a relentless nine-part percussive movement played directly onto Heatran's body.
BOOM! BOOM! BANG!
In this haunting composition, Heatran was caught in a trance of punishment, his body pinned down by the unyielding rhythm.
Every time Heatran tried to rise, those metallic tails would strike from a new angle, pinning him back down without pause.
Tobias narrowed his eyes.
"…Heatran, use Magma Storm to break free!"
"Heaat—ran!!"
A sudden roar burst forth. From beneath the steel barrage, a vortex of searing lava exploded outward, scattering heated rock and flame in all directions.
The violent outburst finally forced Ninetales to retreat as the ground beneath her erupted in an inferno. The nine tails curled in instinctive defense as her body glided back through the air.
But the flash fire immunity she possessed didn't mean she could ignore the sheer force of the explosion itself—just the flames.
She panted lightly, body bruised, but her amber gaze remained composed.
Tobias, too, looked serious now. He was no longer underestimating Paul's Ninetales.
"Keep her in the storm—Lava Plume, now!"
It was a rare moment of calculated risk: even though Ninetales' Flash Fire could absorb the flames, Tobias wasn't aiming for damage anymore—he was reshaping the battlefield.
Flames erupted anew across the already-scorched field, turning the entire area into a blazing hellscape.
The heat distorted the air. Heated rocks and magma pools turned footing hazardous.
But Paul's voice remained calm:
"Ninetales, Calm Mind."
She closed her eyes in the middle of the flames, breathing deeply. Her form shimmered faintly as her Special Attack and Special Defense both rose.
The fire wasn't hurting her. It was empowering her.
Flames were absorbed into her nine tails like they were drawn to a magnet, further boosting her inner power via Flash Fire.
Then—
"Extrasensory!"
Her eyes snapped open, glowing bright gold.
Suddenly, Heatran's body locked up mid-motion. He let out a roar of surprise, frozen in place by a powerful, disorienting psychic force.
The move wasn't just doing damage—it was distorting his perception of time and space, creating phantom pressure from all sides.
Tobias clenched his jaw.
"Earth Power—break free!"
Heatran roared and struck the ground with force—
But this time, Ninetales was already gone.
A blur in the air. A flash of fire behind him.
"Overheat—full power!"
Woooooooooo!
From above, Ninetales unleashed a beam of blinding white-orange flame, brighter than the sun and hotter than any normal fire.
This wasn't a typical Overheat.
This was the culmination of three buffs: Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, and Flash Fire—her Special Attack stat was through the roof.
The blast engulfed Heatran entirely, pushing him back into the cratered battlefield.
When the flames finally died down, smoke and steam billowed everywhere. The field sizzled beneath the lingering heat.
And at the center of the smoking crater…
Heatran trembled.
Then collapsed.
"Heatran is unable to battle—Ninetales wins!"
The referee's voice echoed across the battlefield.
"Whew~"
Hearing the official verdict, Ninetales finally exhaled in relief and began panting heavily, no longer maintaining her usual graceful composure.
Though she had only taken a single hit during the battle, that one strike had been powerful enough to leave a mark. Coupled with her relentless offensive efforts, her stamina had been nearly depleted.
It wasn't an exaggeration—at this point, any of Tobias' remaining Pokémon could knock her out with a single well-placed attack.
"Your Ninetales is impressive." Tobias remarked, recalling Heatran back into its Poké Ball. "To think she actually defeated my Heatran."
He then pulled out another Poké Ball, tossing it into the air.
"But how will you deal with this one?"
From the capsule, a blur of motion shot skyward before arcing downward to hover at Tobias' side. Its aerodynamic body, shimmering in sky blue and white, was a clear testament to its incredible speed.
"Latios…" Paul identified it in his thoughts, but he spoke without hesitation:
"Gravity!"
"Wooo~!"
A sly glint flickered in Ninetales' eyes as she cast the Gravity field, instantly warping the entire battlefield with a crushing downward force.
Latios hadn't even made a move before an enormous weight pressed down on him, dragging his body closer to the ground.
In response, Latios gave a sharp flap of his wings, forcibly activating his Levitate Ability. His body began to shimmer faintly with psychic energy—an attempt to counteract the oppressive gravity with his own telekinetic powers.
Through a combination of raw force, natural ability, and psychic prowess, Latios managed to take flight even within the intensified gravitational field—becoming the first Pokémon, besides Electivire, to successfully resist Paul's Gravity trap.
Though his speed had clearly diminished, he could still fly.
"Return."
Seeing that Gravity wasn't enough to fully pin Latios down, Paul wasted no time. He recalled Ninetales on the spot—if she took even one hit from Latios' Psychic or Luster Purge, she would almost certainly be knocked out instantly.
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