Chapter 123: Fist of Eternal Heaven and Earth

"Guard Split combined with Psyshock... could it really go that smoothly?" Clefable muttered, picking its nose while watching Abra activate Guard Split, clearly skeptical.

"Abra! Abra!" Abra immediately retorted with an active protest.

Amu hadn't intended for Abra to be his main attacker. He needed it for those precise moments to secure a surprise, decisive victory against specific opponents. Unlike Nidoking, Abra didn't need to be able to handle every situation.

At this point, Amu looked toward Clefable. "Have you mastered Fire Punch?"

"Of course! Who do you think you're talking to?" Clefable boasted with an arrogant air.

"Who? The coward who was too scared to make a peep when Abra intimidated you," Amu teased, striking where it hurt.

Despite his words, Amu had noticed that "Pippi" was not only naturally strong in physical combat but also possessed excellent aptitude for punching moves, learning them incredibly quickly.

Just as Clefable was about to argue with Amu, Amu began operating his trainer's remote interface and asked, "Do you want to learn Focus Punch?"

"Yes!" Clefable replied immediately.

"Alright, I'll rent Focus Punch for you," Amu agreed right away.

In truth, Focus Punch wasn't a very practical move, but Clefable thought it looked cool—a Fighting-type move with a staggering 150 base power, and it wasn't even that hard to land!

Seeing that power, it was obvious there had to be a drawback.

Focus Punch itself didn't cause damage to the user, but the "timing of activation" was extremely delicate.

In the games, Focus Punch involved gathering energy before attacking. Although it happened within the same turn, the energy gathering was a priority action, and the attack was a delayed effect. In a single turn, the user would almost certainly gather energy first and then unleash the attack. If the user took damage during that interval, the move would fail.

In other words, you only used this move if you could "read" that the opponent wouldn't attack that turn. If you guessed correctly, the move would be effective.

In this real Pokémon world, Focus Punch still only consumed one skill slot. However, it required the user to "start gathering energy with priority when the skill gauge was empty." Once the skill was fully charged, it would offset this priority action. The attack would then trigger only when the skill gauge finished filling a second time, without consuming that second charge.

Essentially, you had to start gathering energy immediately after the previous move was unleashed, and you couldn't attack until the next skill was ready. It only consumed one skill gauge, but the user remained in a "gathering energy" state for the duration of two full skill accumulations.

While it didn't fail just from being touched, the energy gathering was very obvious. If the user took a heavy hit during this time, the skill would be interrupted. Almost no one would give their opponent such an opportunity. Usually, Focus Punch only appeared in 2v2 battles where a teammate had a reliable way to pin down both opponents.

It was just as impractical as it was in the games.

But Clefable thought it was cool!

And Amu... he had his own considerations.

"Also, you still don't know what to 'Mimic,' do you?" Amu looked at Clefable with a sly smile.

Seeing this, Clefable couldn't help but shiver.

"Wh-what? Of course I'm going to mimic something powerful!" Clefable said, immediately on guard.

In the games, Mimic allowed a Pokémon to repeat the last move used by an opponent or ally on the field.

However, in this real Pokémon world, it was like Ditto—it couldn't instantly transform into an opponent but needed time to study them. The function of Mimic was to "learn" a move in advance.

While it lacked the mobility of instantly copying the previous move, it was arguably more practical. It allowed a Pokémon to ignore genetic limitations and learn a move. Essentially, the genetic segment corresponding to Mimic had high plasticity, allowing it to temporarily imitate the genetic segment of another move.

However, moves mimicked this way were often difficult to master deeply, making them unsuitable for complex attack patterns.

Furthermore, once Mimic had taken the form of another move, it wasn't impossible to change, but it required much more preparation time than a normal move swap. It wasn't something one did lightly. And "Pippi" was currently preparing to find a "super powerful" move to mimic!

Gengar drifted over, complaining, "It's because you, Boss, didn't fully inherit the 'Eternal Flame.' Otherwise, rumor has it Senju Hashirama could use 'Geomancy' on his own Pokémon, Gastly..."

Amu: ...

Geomancy was Xerneas’s signature move. After one turn of preparation, it boosted Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed by two stages each. That was for normal Pokémon; the effects when "mimicked" were a different story, and no one was quite sure what a true Geomancy effect entailed!

Upon hearing "Geomancy," Pippi clearly began to drool. After all, it was a move that could "only be mimicked from a Legendary Pokémon," which was the height of prestige.

Amu shot Gengar a sharp look. "No, no, no. Pippi, do you even know what Geomancy does? It boosts Special Attack. What does that have to do with you?"

"Eh?" Clefable blinked, clearly unaware of that fact.

Clefable looked at Gengar, who immediately started whistling and looking around, pretending not to notice.

It was obvious Gengar had been "tempting" Clefable without explaining the details.

"I suspect... it wanted you to mimic Geomancy so you could then learn 'Baton Pass'!" Amu guessed with a malicious grin.

Gengar broke into a cold sweat, while Clefable gave it a deadpan stare.

Well, if it could Baton Pass those boosted stats to Gengar, Gengar felt it could sweep an entire team—provided the opponent wasn't significantly stronger.

Before Clefable and Gengar could bicker, Amu suggested, "You can learn Focus Punch first. Later, when Haunter learns 'Destiny Bond,' you can mimic its Destiny Bond!"

When Gengar reached level 54, it would naturally awaken Destiny Bond. It was currently level 52 or 53, so it would definitely reach 54 within the next three months.

"Destiny Bond? Isn't that just a suicide move?" Clefable frowned, looking at Gengar with disdain.

Indeed, the effect of Destiny Bond was to lock onto an enemy. If the user was knocked out during the effective duration, they would automatically unleash a terrifying surge of Ghost-type power to take the enemy down with them—provided the power gap wasn't too large.

The "duration" was certainly not short, but once another move was used, Destiny Bond would fail, and it couldn't be used consecutively.

It was a highly technical move, usually used just as an opponent's attack was about to land.

Otherwise, an opponent who was prepared would never force an attack on a target in a Destiny Bond state; they would wait for it to expire, or if they knew stat-boosting moves, they would use that time to buff themselves!

"No, no, no, that's how a normal Destiny Bond works... but think about it: don't you also have Focus Punch? You could use Destiny Bond, then immediately follow up with Focus Punch. You'd be in a state of both 'mutual destruction' and 'energy gathering.' The opponent would either have to take the mutual destruction or prepare to eat your heavy punch! And once Focus Punch is unleashed..."

Once Focus Punch was unleashed, the effect of Destiny Bond would vanish because a move had been performed. But since Focus Punch only triggered when the next skill gauge was full, you could immediately use Destiny Bond again and start gathering energy for another Focus Punch...

"As long as you master this 'collision' tactic—ahem, I mean, this 'Life-Sharing Fist'—the opponent will either suffer a minor loss by taking you down, or they'll hesitate and suffer a massive loss..."

Under Amu's guidance, Clefable was instantly convinced!