"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…"
Facing the continuous barrage of Shadow Balls flying toward it, Pidgeot's body flickered unpredictably through the sky. With every flash of movement, it effortlessly dodged every single attack from Aegislash.
"What a troublesome and difficult opponent…"
Looking at the incredibly swift and agile Pidgeot in the sky, Wikstrom could not help but feel a headache coming on.
However, despite finding it extremely troublesome, Wikstrom had no intention of stopping his offensive. Now that Pidgeot's speed and evasive ability had already been pushed to their limits, continuing to rely on long-range attacks was clearly useless.
So he immediately changed his strategy.
"Aegislash, use 'Autotomize' to increase your speed!"
Wikstrom swept his arm forward and issued the command to Aegislash.
"Clang, clang…"
Floating in midair, Aegislash's body suddenly began to glow with a silvery-white radiance. The material composing its body seemed to transform from heavy metal into light metal.
With its weight reduced, Aegislash could float through the air much more easily and effortlessly, while its movement speed also increased considerably.
On the other side of the battlefield, Ash was not simply going to stand there and watch Wikstrom and Aegislash make their move.
Pidgeot had already used 'Agility' repeatedly, pushing its speed to the absolute limit. So when Wikstrom ordered Aegislash to increase its speed by reducing its weight, Ash also issued his own counterattack command.
"Pidgeot, now it's our turn to counterattack! Use continuous 'Air Slash' attacks!"
Ash snapped his fingers crisply, his expression calm and filled with confidence as he gave the order to the Pidgeot soaring through the sky.
"Pidgeot~!"
"Whoosh, whoosh…"
High above the battlefield, Pidgeot spread its wings and swept them downward. Razor-sharp blades of compressed wind, thin enough to seem capable of slicing through steel, immediately shot toward Aegislash.
"Aegislash, switch to Shield Form and use 'King's Shield' to block them!"
Seeing Ash and Pidgeot launch their counterattack, Wikstrom immediately ordered Aegislash to retreat into defense.
"Clang, clang…"
Aegislash sheathed its blade, and countless honeycomb-shaped energy plates rapidly extended and spread outward. In the blink of an eye, a massive energy barrier appeared directly in front of Aegislash.
This was one of Aegislash's signature techniques—'King's Shield'.
Not only did it possess defensive capabilities comparable to the absolute protection of 'Protect', it also had an additional effect: when struck by a contact-based physical attack, it could reduce the opponent's Attack power.
However, the normally overwhelming 'King's Shield' had lost some of its usual dominance against Ash's Pidgeot today.
That was because under Pidgeot's hit-and-run strategy, it basically maintained a safe distance and relied on long-range attacks to deal damage.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Just as Aegislash raised its King's Shield, the Air Slash blades launched by Pidgeot's sweeping wings came crashing down upon it.
A series of thunderous impacts immediately rang throughout the battlefield.
King's Shield lived up to its reputation as one of Aegislash's strongest defensive techniques.
Although it successfully blocked Pidgeot's attack, Air Slash was a ranged special attack rather than a contact-based physical move, so it could not trigger King's Shield's secondary effect of lowering the opponent's Attack.
Moreover, as an 'absolute defense' technique, King's Shield had another weakness.
In the game, every time King's Shield was successfully used, the probability of successfully using it again on the next attempt would decrease by 33%.
But in the real Pokémon world, this weakness manifested differently.
After each use of King's Shield, the speed at which Aegislash could sheath its blade and switch from Blade Forme into Shield Forme for the next activation would decrease by 33%.
It was somewhat like the repulsive force between the two poles of a magnet. As the two poles approached one another, they would naturally resist.
Likewise, Aegislash's 33% reduction in the speed of returning to its defensive form acted almost like magnetic repulsion.
Regardless of the exact explanation, one thing was certain.
On the surface, Pidgeot's Air Slash had been blocked by King's Shield, making it seem as though Pidgeot had accomplished nothing.
But in reality, Aegislash had still suffered a hidden loss.
Both Wikstrom and Ash understood this point perfectly.
"Pidgeot, keep using Air Slash!"
After one attack failed to produce results, Ash did not hesitate for even a moment. He once again commanded Pidgeot to attack.
His objective was extremely simple.
He wanted to force Wikstrom to repeatedly make Aegislash use King's Shield to defend itself, continuously reducing the speed at which the technique could be activated until eventually Aegislash could no longer use King's Shield in time.
Ash's objective was clear.
Furthermore, when Aegislash had used King's Shield earlier, there had not been the slightest trace of confusion or surprise on Ash's face.
It was obvious that he understood this technique extremely well.
Wikstrom did not dare to gamble on the depth of Ash's knowledge.
After all, Ash was practically considered a 'son-in-law of Kalos', so he was bound to have a considerable understanding of Pokémon native to the Kalos region.
Therefore, Wikstrom absolutely could not allow Ash to accomplish his goal, nor could he simply let the battle proceed according to Ash's rhythm.
"Aegislash, meet it head-on! Use 'Swords Dance'!"
This time, Wikstrom did not order Aegislash to use King's Shield.
Instead, he chose to use the rotational force of Swords Dance as an alternative defensive method.
"Clang, clang!"
Aegislash responded with a metallic cry before rapidly spinning its body.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The defensive capabilities of Swords Dance had already been demonstrated by Escavalier in the previous battle.
The Air Slash blades struck the spinning sword-shaped vortex formed by Aegislash, only to be directly deflected.
Aegislash was a Steel/Ghost-type Pokémon, so Flying-type attacks were already greatly weakened against its Steel typing.
And now, with Aegislash using Swords Dance to spin and deflect the incoming attacks, the damage was reduced even further.
The Air Slash blades were blocked.
Ash did not find this surprising in the slightest.
Wikstrom had already noticed what Ash was trying to accomplish. Since he could not allow Aegislash to keep using King's Shield, while Flying-type attacks were unable to deal meaningful damage, Ash was now left with only one final option under his current strategy.
A rapid assault!
"Pidgeot, don't stop! Use continuous 'Air Slash' attacks at your fastest possible speed!"
Ash swept his arm forward and once again issued an aggressive command to Pidgeot.
"Pidgeot~!"
High above the battlefield, Pidgeot spread its wings and raised its head, releasing a clear, piercing cry that echoed throughout the arena.
The next instant, Pidgeot attacked with both wings in rapid succession.
One after another, razor-sharp blades of wind were launched toward Aegislash, forming a furious web of attacks that seemed to cover the entire sky.
It was as if Pidgeot intended to tear Aegislash apart completely.
At this point, Aegislash had suppressed its own strength to the same peak Gym-level as Pidgeot.
Faced with such a fierce barrage, Wikstrom did not dare to hesitate for even an instant.
His command immediately rang out.
"Aegislash, use 'Power Trick', then use 'Sacred Sword'!"
"Clang, clang…"
Upon receiving its Trainer's command, Aegislash immediately sprang into action.
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