Sceptile's hand started to glow in green glow and then its speed increased to an unbelievable degree. It became very hard to even see its figure and it passed and used 'Leaf blade' to Venusaur.
The first attack did hit as Venusaur was not able to comprehend that speed. Then it used the move 'Wood thorns' around it as a cover to protect itself. Sceptile didn't notice it and then it was pierced from the attack.
The move had a hint of poison inside it as it directly pierced Sceptile, it was poisoned by it.
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Wood Thorns (Venusaur) (Level 40): could affect 10 meter radius. Before it was only 5 meter.
(Level 45): The speed of the move is instantaneous. The opponent would not notice it.
(Level 50): The tip of the thorns consists of poison which has a very high rate of getting the opponent poisoned.
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Sceptile didn't have any healing moves to counter it. So, it first used 'Swords dance' to increase the power of its attack moves and then moved on to the attack. This time it was very careful with the thorns. However, it didn't know that Venusaur had other moves that could change the battle.
Venusaur then used 'Field control'. The woods that came out as 'Wood thorns' immediately covered it like armor. The armor looked very unique with thorns coming out of it. This gave Sceptile a headache.
Axel could tell that 'Grassy aura' had a limited time and it came with consequences. So, Sceptile wanted to finish this battle as fast as it could. However, the defense and healing moves of Venusaur gave it a lot of pressure.
Sceptile still didn't sit still. It increased its speed again and then used attacking moves. The wood thorns were destroyed repeatedly but Venusaur was quick to cover it again.
'Grassy terrain' was also healing it passively and poisoned Sceptile was losing its health slowly.
Finally, it couldn't take it anymore.
It gave a huge roar and its power increased even more. It had used 'Overgrow' to increase the power of its grass-type moves. It looked like its health had decreased a lot.
Then everything changed.
The aura of Sceptile took a sharp turn. It increased rapidly and even Axel was surprised by this increase of its power. Axel had already looked into the move description and he knew that it must be 'Overturn'.
This move will only last for 2 minutes but it was a powerful move and the move 'Bullet storm' could only be used during 'Overturn'. The cool-down period of this move was around 1 week. So, obviously, the move was disastrous. Axel could not believe that others could also train their Pokemon in such a move.
Sceptile then started to attack. This time, it didn't care about the wooden thorns and it didn't care about the armor. It immediately used 'Leaf blade' and then gave a hard smack to Venusaur. The armor was taken off and Venusaur was hit by the attack.
Venusaur then used 'Growth' which increased its defense and height. It was also able to recover some of its health after using this move.
However, the attack became more deadly than before. Venusaur used 'Vine whip', 'Razor leaf', and other moves like 'Energy ball' and 'Grass Pledge' but it was still being overwhelmed by all the attacks.
Axel knew that Venusaur was still not serious and it was trying to save its stamina. It had not brought out its big guns. It had many healing moves and it had not used all of them.
Finally, it could not control its anger. It had been very patient with this Pokemon but now it was going to show what a grass-type Pokemon could do.
It was already over a minute and Venusaur had lost a lot of health. It might even activate 'Overgrowth' after some seconds. This ability could only be activated after the health of the Pokemon had reached 1/3rd.
It gave a huge roar and then canceled 'Grassy terrain'. The time of 'Grassy terrain' was also going to be over. After it canceled the move, it immediately recovered 50% of its HP.
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Grassy Terrain (Venusaur) (Level 40): It could now only heal Venusaur and not other Pokemons.
(Level 45): The move would complement with 'Field control' and reduce the stamina consumption of 'Field control'.
(Level 50): Cancel the grassy terrain after it has been cast but Venusaur will recover 50% of its health instantly. Cannot use the move for 1 day.
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Ding!
Venusaur's special defense has been raised to SS rank.
Ding!
Venusaur has fulfilled all the conditions for the rank-up.
Ding!
Venusaur is ranking up to king rank now….
---
Suddenly the green and purple glow enveloped Venusaur. It was ranking up.
"Oh, come on!! It is ranking up now?", shouted Hymer.
The battle was at its peak point and now it was ranking up. Hymer was furious. Since it was ranking up, Sceptile had to wait for it and the time for its move had been completed. It could not even use its most powerful move 'Bullet storm'. Hymer was obviously frustrated.
Axel didn't need to use a type-enhancing item for Venusaur cause Venusaur already had that locket from Celebi.
The locket also started to glow and Axel went near it. He wanted Venusaur to know that he was there for it. Ranking up could be a very scary experience for some Pokemons. Venusaur was fighting before and then it suddenly ranked up. So, it was confused for some time but seeing that Axel was there for it, it started to relax.
The rank-up process took 10 minutes and by this time Sceptile had already gotten out of that stage. It was already very weak and could not battle anymore. So, it fainted.
After the rank-up process finished, the locket cracked and the glow inside the locket started to flow around Venusaur. Axel could hear multiple notifications from the system but he ignored it for now. He could see it in the future but now he needed to see if Venusaur was doing okay.
Venusaur didn't growl or get out of hand after the rank up but it took some time to get used to this new stage.
"Since Sceptile had already fainted, Venusaur wins!!!", shouted Agnes and the crowd gave a huge roar.
Hymer was not happy with this result. Sceptile was so close in using its most powerful move 'Bullet storm' and finishing the battle but Venusaur started to rank up at that time and it had to stop. The time of 'Overturn' ended and then due to many injuries, being poisoned, and lack of stamina, it fainted.
"A lot of drama is going on here. First, Salamence ranked up and now Venusaur ranked up. They will have their battle at the last. Who do you think would win? Will it be Venusaur or will it be Salamence? We will have to wait to find out."
###
The end of the pseudo-king rank section was very anticlimactic. Sceptile lost in an unusual way. Aggron also lost in the same way. Hymer was not having a good day today.
However, this was life and he had to suck it up.
"Meg, are you sure about this?", asked Axel.
"Yes, I am sure. I am not going to participate until I have tier 3."
"It is up to you. You are not going to rank up to tier 2 very soon but tier 3 would take a lot of time. Slowemperor was an exception."
"I know but I still want to be at the top. I am your official starter."
Axel could only sigh after hearing it. Nidoking didn't want to participate in this competition cause it thought that it was very weak and it wanted to improve itself. It also said that it would be inside the home for a long time until it reaches tier 3.
It was very close to reaching tier 2. At least that was what he was hoping. Its special defense, special attack, and attack was already over B rank but it had still not reached tier 2. This surprised Axel a lot. The system also didn't give any information about it and it was silent. So, Axel only had some guesses.
'It must be due to 2 cores of Nidoking.', he thought. That would be the only reason for it not ranking up. Otherwise, he didn't have any other reason.
Nidoking had a ground and a poison core and since it had 2 cores, it might take some time to rank up to tier 2. But where would it end? B rank in stats was tier 2, S rank in stats was tier 3 and then it was another rank up. If Nidoking needed to be in S rank to be in tier 2, then when would it rank up to tier 3 and then to pseudo-champion rank?
Axel had to calm down and try to think in a reasonable way. He would have to let it make as an opportunity.
"If you don't want to participate, then I can understand. But I may have some way to make you even stronger. Do you want to hear it?", asked Axel.
"Of course. I could get some help now.", replied Nidoking with a smile.
Axel first looked at some of the moves descriptions that interested him.
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Poison spread (Nidoking): (Level 40)- Can effect 3 Pokemons.
(Level 45)- The spread speed of poison inside a Pokemon has increased
(Level 50): may counter resistance.
(Level 55): The user can cancel the move and 'Poison damage transfer'. This action would let the enemy to not be poisoned but the user can gather a huge amount of health points.
Poison damage transfer (Nidorino): (Level 40)- Can effect 3 Pokemons.
(Level 45)- Can transfer 30% of the damaged caused into Nidoking's health. Previously it was only 20%.
(Level 50)- Doesn't need to be in constant touch with the user or its poison linking it to user. It could be transfered without any contact for 3 minutes.
(Level 55): The user can cancel the move and 'Poison spread'. This action would let the enemy to not be poisoned but the user can gather a huge amount of health points.
(Level 60): Can use 3 substitutes to use the move and the power of the move would be 2 times.
Substitute (Nidoking): (Level 40): Can create 2 substitutes.
(Level 45): Substitute could also assist it in a move.
(Level 50): Its substitute can now attack too. The power of the substitute would be 30% of the original power.
(Level 55): Can create 3 substitutes.
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Nidoking's poison powers were increasing at an interesting rate and then it would be more powerful in the future. Axel also wanted to improve its ground-type moves but he was not having any good ideas on it. Nidoking was good in both of them but it was better in poison-type moves cause it had been training in poison type moves for a long time.
Axel wanted it to learn a new move in ground type category that would not only cover itself with rocks and sands but also improve its defense and hiding abilities in that area.
He had already created one for the poison type and it had some miraculous effect
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Poison armor (Nidoking): Cover itself with solid poison which would slightly increase the special defense and defense of the user and also make the enemy poisoned if touched.
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Now, this move was not excellent or game-changing. However, Axel believed that when this move leveled up, they would have some interesting effects.
Axel wanted to make the same move for its ground core. First, he decided to look at its entire status page and the move description before making a decision.