Chapter 418: The Destruction Factor
The air crackled with energy as Blaziken’s kick connected with devastating precision. The sound was crisp and sharp, followed immediately by a thunderous roar of impact.
Mega Houndoom had been charging forward at breakneck speed with Flare Blitz, but now it was flying backward even faster, completely unconscious before it hit the ground.
John had gotten his answer about Blaziken’s power the moment Mega Houndoom went down.
[Defeat Houndoom LV85, Blaziken gained 18,220 experience]
One-hit KO!
When his Pokemon’s level wasn’t lower than the opponent’s, a super-effective move would instantly defeat the enemy. This was the minimum combat capability of John’s team!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
John and Blaziken stood perfectly still, not launching any attacks, but the sounds of collisions and explosions continued to echo from within the thick haze.
[Defeat Crobat LV85 | Gardevoir gained 13,360 experience]
[Defeat Weezing LV85, Gardevoir gained 13,220 experience]
[Defeat Weezing LV85, Gengar gained 12,557 experience]
In less than a minute, a sudden gust of wind blew away the thick black smoke.
Archer and Proton stood there with blank, dull eyes, their Pokemon scattered around them, completely defeated.
Just moments ago, Archer and Proton had launched their attack, but their real goal hadn’t been to defeat John, it had been to retreat.
The appearance of John, the Hoenn Region Champion, meant this base had been discovered by the Hoenn Alliance. Even if they somehow defeated John, the Alliance would continue their assault.
There was no longer any point in maintaining this base.
Besides, how easy did they think it would be to deal with a regional champion?
Archer and Proton had no interest in fighting John to the death.
Retreat was the smart play.
Weezing’s Haze was supposed to be the perfect smoke screen.
Too bad their every movement had been completely under John’s watchful eye.
Want to run?
Not happening. If they escaped, then this whole trip would be for nothing.
Mega Gardevoir and Gengar had teamed up to take down both the Pokemon and their trainers in one swift operation.
Under such overwhelming power, the two top Team Rocket executives hadn’t stood a chance, they were both hypnotized.
"So... is anyone else hiding in the shadows?" John looked around the room.
"No," the hypnotized Archer replied unconsciously.
"Really? No way." John was genuinely surprised. Didn’t Team Rocket have any legendary Pokemon? Dark Sea Mauville had one, didn’t this place?
The dungeon level was only 5 levels lower.
"What about legendary Pokemon?"
"None."
John expressed his disappointment. "Then what’s this base even for?"
"This base serves as Team Rocket’s outpost for conquering the Hoenn Region, and it’s also our main headquarters for all non-frontier operations," Archer answered honestly.
Was he wrong? No legendary Pokemon here? Just a regular Team Rocket hideout?
John rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Well, if he captured Archer and Proton, he could wipe out all the Team Rocket hideouts in the Hoenn Region.
"Garde~ (Look at this)" Mega Gardevoir suddenly reminded him.
John looked where Mega Gardevoir was indicating. In the center of the room sat a device that looked like a thermos bottle, containing a red solution.
"What’s this?"
"Destruction factor," Proton answered this time.
"Destruction factor?" John remembered this was a Pokemon item consumable. The effect seemed to greatly increase attack power, but it caused a very long period of confusion status.
"It’s genes we extracted from Mewtwo’s body," Proton explained.
"Genes from Mewtwo’s body!" John raised his eyebrows slightly. He remembered that in the game, the only way to get the destruction factor was to obtain it from Mewtwo.
"So you have Mewtwo?"
"Never."
"Then why do you have a destruction factor?"
"We kept it from when Mewtwo was created."
John nodded slightly. Mewtwo was a Pokemon created by Team Rocket using Mew’s genes, so it wasn’t surprising that Mewtwo’s genetic material remained.
He reached out and grabbed the thermos containing the destruction factor.
This thing was definitely getting confiscated!
However, to John’s surprise, the destruction factor didn’t appear in his consumable inventory, but instead appeared in his valuable items column.
[Destruction Factor: When carried: Physical Attack and Special Attack increased by 50%, Psychic power increased by 50%, and all moves gain "Penetration" effect... (Penetration: Ignores 20% of target’s physical and special defense)
Pokemon level 70 or lower have a 50% chance of becoming confused each time a move is used.
When used: Physical Attack and Special Attack increased by 100%, Psychic power increased by 100%, and all moves gain "Destruction" effect. (Destruction: Ignores 50% of target’s physical and special defense, and inflicts injuries that cannot be recovered quickly)
Pokemon level 100 or lower have a 100% chance of falling into Confusion status for 256 days each time a move is used.
(Note: Creatures that carry and use this item will receive the attention of a certain Pokemon)]
This was the first time John had seen a Pokemon item that functioned as both a consumable and a held item.
And it was obviously a legendary-tier item.
It was ten thousand times stronger than the destruction factor he’d seen in the games!
50% increase when carrying it, double the effect when using it!
Looking at it, John couldn’t help but swallow hard.
The best way to use this destruction factor would be as a consumable. For Gardevoir, the 100% Special Attack boost and doubled Psychic power was equivalent to quadrupling its lethality!
However, the negative effects of using it made John temporarily abandon the idea of letting Gardevoir use it directly.
Using a skill with a 100% chance to fall into confusion that lasted for 256 days? No thanks.
He should honestly raise Gardevoir’s level to 100 before using it.
As for the fact that the destruction factor might draw the attention of a certain Pokemon, John figured it was obviously Mewtwo. But... it didn’t matter. There was no Mewtwo in the real world, and the Mewtwo in the game world was beyond his reach for now.
So, for the time being, the destruction factor would be given to Gardevoir as a held item.
Gengar and Blaziken on the side looked incredibly envious.
No helping it, this was Gardevoir’s second legendary-level Pokemon item.
The first was the Lustrous Orb.
There should have been three pieces. The third was a legendary-level Pokemon item called Garcidea, which John had given to Totem Venusaur after Gardevoir didn’t need to carry it much.