At the mountain spring, Venusaur was utilizing its Ingrain state to facilitate Photosynthesis, immersing itself like a plant to better sense the gathered life energy.
However, given Venusaur’s Semi-Elite strength, mastering a high-level energy like life energy was still quite difficult.
Venusaur had been attempting to comprehend it ever since it reached the Semi-Elite level, but after all this time, there was still no progress.
This left Venusaur feeling inevitably frustrated.
“Ab—” Absol, having arrived from the slope, barked twice to signal a desire to spar.
Absol had always enjoyed challenging powerful Pokémon.
However, Ronan had never allowed Absol to battle the Elite Four-level Grass-types on the mountain because the gap between a Gym-level Absol and an Elite Four-level Pokémon was simply too vast.
Another reason was that although the Elite Four-level Pokémon on the mountain were formidable, they didn’t exert much power in these encounters, mostly treating Absol with the protective attitude of a mentor toward a junior.
They could guide his training, but they wouldn’t truly engage him in combat until he reached a certain level.
As a result, Absol usually spent his time wandering around, looking for strong Pokémon to challenge on his own.
Now that Venusaur had broken through to the Semi-Elite level, although its level was higher than Absol’s, it meant he finally had an opponent he could go all-out against.
How could he not be thrilled?
Venusaur was already irritable due to its inability to grasp life energy.
Hearing Absol’s request for a battle, it agreed immediately.
Normally, Venusaur wouldn’t have agreed so easily, but its mood was currently at an all-time low.
Both Pokémon felt a surge of intense fighting spirit in their eyes, eager to start the battle immediately.
Although they desperately wanted a hearty confrontation, they still maintained some reason.
They knew better than to fight near the spring.
If they did, not even mentioning Ronan, Tangrowth would definitely let them know what the wrath of a mild-tempered soul felt like (*￣m￣).
The two Pokémon moved from the mountain to an open space on the south side of the farm.
The spacious area had no obvious obstacles, with only a few large boulders scattered across the ground.
The faster Absol arrived first from the mountain, waiting with a fighting spirit that reached its peak.
Once Venusaur arrived, it noticed something different about the eager Absol, but it didn’t dwell on it.
After taking its position on the other side of the field, it began to square off against its opponent.
Venusaur’s Semi-Elite pressure poured down toward Absol.
For a moment, the overwhelming aura made Absol’s body go rigid.
However, as his Pressure ability activated, Absol charged forward fiercely, pushing right through Venusaur’s intimidation.
Before charging, blue sword phantoms materialized around Absol, bolstering his aura even further.
Watching Absol rush toward it, Venusaur became more cautious.
Even for a Pokémon of its caliber, taking a Throat Chop reinforced by Swords Dance head-on would be painful.
Absol’s Throat Chop slammed into Venusaur.
The massive three-meter-tall body shuddered, causing the flower on its back to sway violently.
“Bana—!” Venusaur let out a roar as several powerful vine whips extended from the flower on its back, lashing out at Absol.
With a nimble leap, Absol managed to dodge them.
Just as Absol landed, he smelled a cloyingly sweet fragrance that made his head spin.
But as the dizziness set in, bouts of pain from his body jolted him awake from the dazed state.
Once clear-headed, Absol quickly used Quick Attack to evade the subsequent Razor Leaf.
After dodging, Absol let out a long howl, condensing sharp stone blades and hurling them at Venusaur.
Simultaneously, he unleashed a wave of Dark Pulse.
After firing the Razor Leaf, Venusaur had already activated Grassy Terrain and Sunny Day to recover some of its lost stamina.
It fired beams of golden light from the flower on its back, intercepting most of the incoming stone blades.
The remaining stone blades were shattered one by one by its vine whips.
Then, enduring the Dark Pulse, it began to use Ingrain to set up its buffs.
As Absol rushed in to launch a Shadow Claw, countless thick roots burst from the soil, lunging toward him like grasping claws.
Venusaur’s limbs were slightly sunken into the soil as it controlled Frenzy Plant to attack Absol.
Against a Pokémon like Venusaur, which had a massive health pool but low movement speed, Absol could use his agility and high attack power to engage in a hit-and-run strategy.
Venusaur also understood that Absol was much more agile than itself, and those terrifyingly powerful physical attacks were painful.
Thus, it didn’t hesitate to use Frenzy Plant to restrict Absol’s movement.
Within the chaos of Venusaur’s Frenzy Plant, Absol nimbly dodged the lashing roots.
Having boosted his physical attack by two stages through Swords Dance, he continuously used Shadow Claw and X-Scissor to destroy the oncoming roots while dodging.
Amidst Venusaur’s all-out Frenzy Plant, Absol’s speed grew faster and his attacks became more precise.
After tearing an opening, Absol used one of the lashing roots as a springboard to leap out of the entanglement.
Immediately, the blue sword phantoms appeared again.
Taking advantage of the moment Venusaur was stuck in a recharge state, Absol seized the time to strengthen himself.
During the power-up, Absol’s aura suddenly surged, and a powerful force erupted from within his body.
In the heat of the battle with Venusaur, Absol had broken through the barrier to the Semi-Elite level.
The thrill of his growing strength caused him to let out a low growl.
With his aura surging, Absol raised his head and used Night Slash to charge at Venusaur.
Although Venusaur was forced to take the hit, it finally broke out of its recharge state.
Once free, Venusaur swung four vine whips to lash out at Absol.
Absol managed to dodge the vines, only to be struck directly by an Energy Ball.
However, as he was sent flying, he retaliated with a Psycho Cut.
Having been blasted back by the Energy Ball explosion, Absol used Quick Attack the moment he landed to dodge the Petal Blizzard coming from behind.
The powerful Petal Blizzard instantly pulverized the boulder behind where Absol had been standing.
Just as Absol was about to use Stone Edge, he was bound tightly by vines emerging from his own fur.
It turned out that when Absol had used Giga Impact to attack Venusaur earlier, it had successfully planted a Leech Seed on him.
Bound by the Leech Seed, Absol felt his stamina draining and began to struggle violently to break free.
However, Venusaur used a single Giga Drain to suck away the last of Absol’s remaining energy.
With no strength left, Absol could only collapse helplessly.
…
After the battle, Absol lay within Venusaur’s Grassy Terrain to recover from his injuries and replenish his stamina.
Although he had lost the battle to Venusaur, the impact was negligible compared to the joy of breaking through to the Semi-Elite level.
Even though the battle between Absol and Venusaur seemed intense, less than two hours had passed from the time Absol left the slope to the end of the fight.
Ronan was still in the flower garden with Flabébé, searching for flowers.