"What terrifying strength."
"Ethan's Pokémon usually follow a technique-based path. A Pokémon that fights relying entirely on its body... this Rhydon must be the first one, right?"
Seeing how easily Ethan's Rhydon had defeated the opponent's Rhydon, Lucas Silver and the others couldn't help but feel slightly shocked.
"It really is strong. This level of physical toughness can already go head-to-head with an Aggron."
Lucas was also surprised for a moment, then gently shook his head. Generally speaking, Pokémon like this required long periods of physical training and enormous amounts of resources to develop to such a level.
Clearly, they could no longer regard Ethan as just an ordinary civilian. As an Advanced-level Pokémon researcher, he already possessed his own foundation and background.
Boom, boom, boom!
On the field, the battle continued.
After Jason Brands withdrew, another student stepped onto the stage to challenge him.
"Rhydon, use Take Down!"
The gray figure charged across the battlefield at full speed.
Boom!
With another loud crash, Rhydon rammed straight into a Golem and sent it flying.
In frontal clashes, Rhydon was simply unstoppable; there was no Pokémon capable of halting its charge.
"This Rhydon's physical condition is far too strong."
"Yeah, I have no idea how senior Ethan trained it."
Below the stage, the watching students began to discuss animatedly.
With just this one Rhydon, Ethan had already defeated two Pokémon from the opposing side.
And without exception, all those opponents had been sent flying directly after a head-on collision with Rhydon.
"So Rhydon is this strong..."
"No wonder Professor Harris said so confidently that Rhydon would become my new trump card!"
Ethan himself felt somewhat surprised, and at the same time began drawing conclusions about Rhydon's performance during the battle.
Although this Rhydon had undergone extremely rigorous training, most of its time had been devoted to the "body-training method of the move Smack Down," with Professor Harris not allowing it to learn other moves.
It should be known that Professor Harris, as a veteran researcher, had a Rhydon whose move mastery was simply terrifying; it had practically learned almost every move a Rhydon could master.
But precisely because it had spread itself thin learning too many moves, that Rhydon had never managed to find its own path, which had become the greatest bottleneck to its advancement.
Therefore, Professor Harris did not want Ethan's Rhydon to follow the same path as his own, and hoped that under Ethan's training, it could forge its own style.
And it was precisely because Rhydon had devoted almost all of its time to training its body that its physical condition had reached such a terrifying level.
As now, facing this Pidgeot sent out by the opponent, its air slashes struck Rhydon's body and left only faint white marks, not even breaking its defense.
"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on with this Rhydon?"
Seeing Rhydon continuously take the air slashes from the ground and remain completely unmoved, all the spectators were stunned.
"Although that Pidgeot isn't particularly strong..."
"For Rhydon to completely ignore its attacks... that defense is really absurd."
Lucas also clicked his tongue silently and mentally compared this Rhydon with his own Aggron.
The result was that although Rhydon's strength might be inferior to Aggron's, its defense far surpassed it!
"Did this Rhydon devote all of its time to training its body?"
"That seems very likely. Although it can endure Pidgeot's aerial attacks purely through toughness..."
"Against a flying opponent like this, Rhydon doesn't seem to have good ways to deal with it. Didn't it learn moves like Stone Edge?"
At the same time, doubts began to arise in Lucas's mind. If he knew that Rhydon had truly devoted all its time to physical training, it wouldn't seem so strange that its body was this tough.
On the field, Ethan was also pondering this issue. Facing an aerial enemy, without any long-range moves, Rhydon seemed to be at a disadvantage.
"Smack Down... among all of Rhydon's moves, Smack Down is the one it has mastered the best. But relying on Smack Down alone isn't enough to hit a Pidgeot flying at high speed. I need to find a way to make it faster."
Ethan's gaze sharpened, and he gave the order: "Rhydon, smash the ground and use the rocks from the terrain to execute Smack Down!"
"Rhhydodnn!"
After hearing Ethan's command, Rhydon roared excitedly a couple of times.
Boom!
With a heavy stomp from Rhydon, the entire field trembled, and the ground beneath its feet suddenly cracked.
Boom!
Rhydon roared furiously and plunged both hands into the ground.
With a powerful pull, it grabbed a random chunk of rock, leaned its body back, and adopted a throwing stance.
Rock-type energy gathered in its hand as Rhydon executed the move Smack Down, and with a powerful one-handed throw, it hurled the rock fragment at high speed toward Pidgeot in the air.
Rhydon's strength was truly immense, and combined with the enhancement of Smack Down, both the speed and the power of the attack increased by more than a level.
Pidgeot, suspended in midair, had no time to react and was struck head-on by the stone.
Boom!
A loud explosion rang out.
The rock fragment burst apart in midair, and a wave of Rock-type energy spread instantly, completely enveloping Pidgeot.
Under that energy, Pidgeot felt its body become heavy; no matter how desperately it flapped its wings, it couldn't maintain its balance, and its figure fell heavily from the sky.
Seeing this, Rhydon roared excitedly and charged forward, unleashing a powerful punch onto Pidgeot, whose terrifying force smashed it straight into the ground.
"Huh? That Rock-type energy that was enveloping Pidgeot..."
"Can the additional effect of the move Smack Down apply Rock-type energy to the enemy and generate an effect similar to gravity?"
Ethan's eyes narrowed slightly. He felt that the move Smack Down seemed to have other possibilities for development, and that this might help Rhydon compensate for its problem of low speed.
(End of chapter)