Chapitre 44: The Hesitant Wandering Night Spirits
"Dusclops isn't as smart as you all think," Cain said coldly.
If just any Pokémon could organize a powerful tactical offensive, then the world would probably be dominated by Pokémon rather than humans.
"What does that mean?" Fantina asked in surprise.
"Disrupt it, have the four Pokémon attack intermittently. Gastly, you go to the the upper left, use Sludge Bomb," Cain explained without elaborating, not acting as a commentator, and ordered Gastly to attack directly.
One after another, purple poison balls were flung...
The Duskull army was focusing on using Will-O-Wisp to deal with the Sludge Bombs thrown by Gastly.
"I get it now."
Morty suddenly exclaimed, "Spiritomb, from the lower right, use Snarl."
The intimidating sound waves swept towards the lower right of the Duskull wall.
"Big brother Morty, what did you understand?" Fantina was somewhat anxious.
"Don't talk, prepare to attack from the upper right, you'll understand soon."
Morty waved his hand and stared intently at the Duskull army.
As expected, just as the Duskull's Will-O-Wisp was about to focus on Gastly's direction, Spiritomb attacked from another direction. Duskull was somewhat at a loss and began to focus the Will-O-Wisp towards Spiritomb's direction.
"So that's it, Duskull, use Will-O-Wisp from the lower left."
Raikou saw through the performance of the Duskull army and suddenly understood.
The tactics of the Duskull army were just the same; they only knew how to concentrate all their power to attack and did not know how to deal with dispersed and disruptive attacks.
So, when Cain and Morty attacked from two different directions, Duskull didn't know how to attack. The Will-O-Wisps swayed back and forth without ever gathering together.
At this point, the plan was more than clear.
While Duskull hesitated, Gastly's Sludge Bombs had already knocked down five of them in the upper left corner, and all of them were poisoned.
The moment Raikou's Duskull's Will-O-Wisp was fired, the enemy Duskull still didn't know how to attack, and Spiritomb's Dark-type move Snarl caused tons of damage to the Duskull army.
Fantina's Drifloon used Ominous Wind towards the upper right of Duskull, and at this time, the Will-O-Wisps of the Duskull army had completely dispersed. Although they maintained their formation, they didn't know how to fight anymore.
As Duskull hesitated, Cain's battle did not stop for a moment. The upper left corner had been cut off by Gastly, and without a coordinated strategy, the remaining Duskull were dazed. Out of the twenty, only seven were left.
Dusclops, was in a state of hesitation, until it realized that most of the Duskull had already been defeated.
Even when it realized the danger, the intelligence of a Ghost-type Pokémon was not enough to organize a more effective counterattack. It just ordered the remaining Duskull to abandon using Will-O-Wisp and directly proceed to the second phase of restraint tactics.
Seven Duskull were unable to hold back four Pokémon, among which five surrounded the Duskull of Raikou, leaving the other two unsure of how to attack.
Dusclops charged at the encircled Duskull.
"Gastly, use Shadow Ball."
"Spiritomb, use Feint Attack."
The targets of Cain and Morty were naturally the two separated Duskull.
Raikou also considered itself unlucky, as the Duskull being held back had no good attacking environment, becoming a mere punching bag for Drifloon, and soon lost its fighting ability.
"Stay close."
Cain shouted, and Morty understood.
Gastly, Spiritomb, and Drifloon stayed close together, causing the five enemy Duskull to lose their direction. They could only surround the three Pokémon, all of which could float in the air, making such a siege utterly meaningless.
Dusclops swung its fists, using Shadow Punch towards Gastly.
"You guys break out of the encirclement; I'll take care of these five," Cain said.
"Be careful, use Ominous Wind."
Morty and Fantina nodded at each other, suddenly rising into the air, with the strange cold wind blocking Dusclops' approach. Dusclops fought against Spiritomb and Drifloon with its Hex.
The Duskull surrounded Gastly but did not attack, which was precisely what Cain wanted.
"Use Shadow Hypnosis."
A mass of shadows enveloped Gastly, and as the Duskull looked at each other, waves of red light emanated from the shadows.
The five Duskull fell from the sky into a deep sleep.
As Dusclops was fighting against the Ominous Wind, Gastly had quietly snuck behind it.
Seizing the opportunity, Gastly showed no mercy.
Gastly's Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb hit Dusclops' back without any pause.
Suffering heavy damage and falling into a poisoned state, Dusclops could no longer support itself, and was swept away by the Ominous Wind.
Dusclops was slammed heavily onto the ground, as Cain's Gastly followed up with another Shadow Ball.
"We finally won."
Fantina took a long breath, having been here for twelve or thirteen days, and this result should satisfy her family for now.
Morty and Raikou didn't have the simple mindset of Fantina, looking at Cain with almost admiring eyes, feeling that this person was becoming more and more mysterious. Initially, they thought he possessed extraordinary tactical acuity, but now he gave them a feeling of having insight into everything.
Today's tactics had been summed up since the first time Cain failed the challenge. Faced with a united attack from the Duskull, a normal person's train of thought would naturally be to resist together. However, their own abilities were limited.
So, the only option was to disrupt their tactics. The Duskull army without a unified command simply relied on fixed tactics, making it easy for them to expose their weaknesses. Once their attacks were scattered, they naturally lost their direction, and the following tactics became even more difficult to execute.
Cain and his three teammates successfully passed the third level and handed in their answers to Gym Leader Yan.
The speed at which Cain and his teammates cleared the challenges indeed caught Yan off guard. After all, transportation in this era was not very developed, and some TMs from the Unova region had not yet arrived. To put it bluntly, the entire Ecruteak Gym no longer had any impressive TMs to offer.
With no other choice, Gym Leader Yan gave each person a Spell Tag.
A Spell Tag is a cursed piece of paper that can be attached to a Ghost-type Pokémon, increasing the power of its Ghost-type moves.
Such items were highly valued in the market, along with similar items like Charcoal, which enhanced the power of Fire-type moves; Mystic Water, which increased the power of Water-type moves; and Miracle Seed, which boosted the power of Grass-type moves.
Some of these items were natural, while others were made from special materials. Mystic Water, for example, was made by the Maya priests from the Whirl Islands, who extracted it from the pure ocean water. When held by a Water-type Pokémon, it helped them better sense Water-type energy, making their Water-type moves stronger.
Charcoal came from a secluded aristocratic family in the Ilex Forest, said to be made from special wood within the forest, imbued with energy for Fire-type Pokémon. The production process was still very primitive, making it a top-quality item for Fire-type Pokémon.
Miracle Seeds, which enhanced the power of Grass-type moves, were natural. Of course, each Pokémon had its own suitable item, and there were many types of items, each with different effects and values determined by their rarity.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone